Honey What's Under Your Cap?

Honey Mushrooms - These are my very favorite mushrooms and the only ones I pick.
You know they are good because other insects like to have a go at them.
I like to pick them when they just sprout, very young around 5 am. They grow in bunches so it is important to cut the stem so the roots stay in place and so they can regrow.Otherwise you lose a very good, replenishing crop of fungus.

Ours are usually found around birch trees but the ones in this picture are said to be found around oak trees.

Mushrooms are good for you as they contain selenium- (esp portabello) They also have cancer fighting agents in them especially prostate cancer.
They contain
three essential B-vitamins: riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid and potassium.

They help regulate blood pressure, and keep balance between water in the fat and muscle tissues.


My Mom pickled them in vinegar, pickling spices and oil and we just couldn't get enough of them.

I never knew what they were called in English but thanks to a Ukrainian stamp I found,on the net, they had an English translation.

After a morning of collecting, we had to rush home and put them into salty water so as to make all the little insects and worms come out of them. Then they were sorted, thoroughly washed, parboiled and pickled.

The whole winter we feasted and feasted well as they go with any dish and can also be fried with onions garlic and garnished with sour creme. MMMMM!


It is dangerous to pick mushrooms you don't know. We never risked it even if people said other mushrooms like the puff ones, were good.
If you don't know it, don't pick it.
I always think if other creatures eat it then its ok. It's hard to come by a good mushroom if you go late because the insects get them first. lol

Some how the ones from the store are not that good. They have no taste.

2/3 c. white wine vinegar
1/2 c. water
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp. salt
5 peppercorns
1/2 bay leaf
2 whole cloves
1 lb. medium mushrooms
1 to 2 tbsp. olive oil

Place vinegar, water, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaf and cloves in medium saucepan. Heat to boiling over high heat. Stir in cleaned mushrooms. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 10 minutes. Remove form heat and cool to room temperature. Spoon into glass jars. Spoon oil on top. Cover tightly. Refrigerate at least 5 days before serving. Yield: 3 cups.

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Not fun being old.......

OLD people have problems that you haven't even considered yet!

An 85-year-old man was requested by his Doctor for a sperm count as part of his physical exam.

The doctor gave the man a jar and said, 'Take this jar home and bring back a semen sample tomorrow.'

The next day the 85-year-old man reappeared at the doctor's office and gave him the jar, which was as clean and empty as on the previous day..

The doctor asked what happened and the man explained, 'Well, doc, it's like this--first I tried with my right hand, but nothing. Then I tried with my left hand, but still nothing...

'Then I asked my wife for help. She tried with her right hand, then with her left, still nothing. She tried with her mouth, first with the teeth in, then with her teeth out, still nothing.

'We even called up Arleen, the lady next door and she tried too, first with both hands, then an armpit, and she even tried squeezin' it between her knees, but still nothing.'

The doctor was shocked! 'You asked your neighbor?'

The old man replied, 'Yep, none of us could get the jar open.'

A Birch Eye View

I spent my week end continuing making hats and scarves.
I have 6 sets and all different. Can't get myself to pick up a camera though
to make a collage Maybe later. lol
My son gets 2 in the green color cause those are his school colors.
I have one green scarf left to make for him
Now I have to go to the dollar store and see if I can get those dollar gloves to include in the sets.
They are very nice and hardly worth making for that price although my son would like those
fingerless wrist warmers and those all you need is to buy woolen tube socks and cut off the feet part. The feet part can be sewed up and crocheted around to make nice slippers and the top is ready to wear without much fuss. On the soccer field it will be cold and every little bit helps.

Other than that I love Birch Trees. I can't get over that they can be used to write on and when I was a kid people would go into birch areas to pick wild mushrooms. Those were the days.

My Dad and I would go very early in the morning and bring back 2 x 50 pound potato bags full.
Then the rest of the morning would be spent sorting cleaning, cooking and canning. It had to be done fast before the mushrooms spoiled.
This my Mom was great at. Canning was her specialty. We would have tons of pickled mushrooms for winter and they were good. Sometimes we'd eat them out of the jar and sometimes we'd fry them with eggs or onions with sour creme. They made for a lovely condiment.

These are days when I really miss my parents. They did so many crazy things lol
and I remember every day so vividly like they happened yesterday. There is nothing nicer than working like a family team. Today we don't have families like this anymore.
Reminds me of the Waltons.
Well, here's a few puns.
I found one yesterday on CNN : Police shoot dead dog for biting.lol

Puns for educated minds

1. The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall.. The police are looking into it.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

15. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

17. A backward poet writes inverse.

18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you'd be in Seine.

21. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'

22.Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says 'Dam!'

23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my electron.' The other says 'Are you sure?' The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.'

25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

26. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.