Mad about Mushrooms . . .

Annual NAMA foray planned for Upstate New York this year

Here's another opportunity to create and/or nurture mycological comradeship and to increase your knowledge of all things mycological:  NAMA's annual foray, which is scheduled for August 8-11 at Paul Smith's College on Lower St. Regis Lake in Upstate New York.  We're confident that you'll be delighted with the event and enriched by attending. 

Steven and I still treasure memories of our initial NAMA foray 26 years ago, and the very special occasion it offered to be with those who had committed themselves to enhancing amateur mycology.  We waited 25 years to attend our second NAMA annual foray, which was held in Salem, Oregon last year.  We won't make that mistake again, waiting another 25 years to register for another NAMA foray, you can be sure of that.  Perhaps we'll even see you at Paul Smith's College!

Is there a link between eating mushrooms and memory?

Nicholas Bakalar wrote the following piece for the New York Times a couple of months ago suggesting that older men and women who ate mushrooms several times a week were at reduced risk of developing mild cognitive impairment.  We think that the information offered is so important that we have pasted it verbatim below.  We hope that you, dear reader, will also find it to be thought provoking.

A Cautionary Tale

We certainly started off confidently, decked out in our finest mushrooming gear, and headed up the mountain in search of puffballs and verpa.  But things quickly came to a halt when we found our favorite spots still quite damp from melting snow and lacking the blue flowers that typically signal that all is well in the mushroom fields.  Undaunted, we decided to randomly stop at a couple of new-to-us spots and investigate what treasures these locations might hold. 

We pulled off to the side of the road with the intention of me meandering back into the forests lining the roadway in order to check for current and future possibilities.  Steven inquired:  Shall I turn the car around while you're gone?  I replied:  Sure, great idea. That's when things started to go amiss.

June 2019's Recipe of the Month: Celebration Peking Meat Sauce Noodles

We're celebrating the recent visit of our Asian "daughter" and her new husband with this month's recipe, Celebration Peking Meat Sauce Noodles.   Yes, the long-awaited visit of the duo last month was and is certainly a cause for jubilation. 

Theirs was a whirlwind journey starting in China, then leap-frogging to Los Angeles, then over to Las Vegas, then North to Brightwood and concluding in Seattle where the couple began their long journey back home to Nanning.  The visit was a time filled with touring and festive occasions, most noteworthy of which was their marriage at Mt. Hood's historic Timberline Lodge, with its new beginnings and promises made memorable by their commitment and affection for each other.

So, it is that we offer a recipe in tribute to our Chinese loved ones, and to all those who love and have loved others.

The culinary finale of the wedding at Timberline was
a tiered wedding cake festooned with fresh roses.