This Is Just to Say

Backwards, and fierce.

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold


-William Carlos Williams, 1934

And also to say, it's July!  Memorize a poem month for me and Amy.  We capped off Bowling month with a final trip to Imperial Lanes last night.  We took the kids, Poo Poo Head was there and joined us for a couple games, and I bowled a turkey straight out of the gate.  It was a banner evening of bowling.

We spent way too much time trying to fit a free table we found on the corner into my kitchen.  It was so cute and retro, but after many attempts and cleaning behind appliances, it just never worked.  Upon our home improvement defeat, Amy was saying her goodbyes when we realized that we had not taken our picture for this month.

She came back in and we got to work.  We were inspired by a poem by Ogden Nash titled, "Reflections on Ice-Breaking."  It goes a little something like this:

Candy is dandy
but Liquor is quicker.

I have to say, it was a fun night.  It felt like the Holidays all over again.  Laughter and good tidings.  and one of our best monthly photo shoots yet.

I picked up a Norton Anthology of Poetry from Seattle Central yesterday.  I am hoping that I don't "lose' it like I did the mushroom book in April.  I had to buy the library a new copy and then I found this one in a bag in Tallulah's room.  Now I have this gem to commemorate Mushroom month.  Really? a tux and a horn and you're foraging for mushrooms?  What?

Yesterday, instead of reading my Anatomy & Physiology, I leafed through the poetry anthology.  Reading certain poems aloud in hopes to find one that "felt" right.  My kids thought I was crazy.  When don't they?  But I do think I found a few good ones.  Poems I remember from my undergrad.  Auden, WCW, DH Lawrence, TS Eliot.

Then, Amy introduced me to Dorothy Parker.  Amazing.  I'll save that one for tomorrow.

Until then,
Adieu

-Melissa

Crumbed Zuchini-Mushroom Ragout

Posted by Amy Baranski

I've been sampling my way through the Mushroom Cookbook by Mimi Brodeur (with Mushroom Fajitas and Roasted Butternut Squash & Shitake Cap Soup). Today I'll share another recipe. But first a note about the cookbook: It's to the the point, but I can't say much else. The author fails to portray a poignant sense of self in her writing, nor does she seem to centralize the role of the mushroom in each recipe. That said, the recipes, though ordinary, make a sufficient meal.

Herbed Crusted Pork Chops with
Crumbed Zucchini-Mushroom Ragout 

Quick, Mushrooms to the Rescue

posted by Melissa

It all happened so quickly.  I went to a meeting to discuss the possibility of being able to go to school while still collecting my unemployment, and I left that meeting registered for classes.  That was less than two weeks ago, and yesterday I started school. 

My first class of the day is Intermediate Algebra, every day at 8am.  Homework every night, a quiz every Friday, and a graphing calculator...all included.  I have never even held a graphing calculator, did they have those the last time I took an algebra class in the early 90's?  Then I run home to take my kids, that were hopefully well behaved at home, to their school.  And  back to my school for Introductory Chemistry.  This class is also meets every day and has a lab once a week.  Home work also every day, quiz every Friday and worst of all, I have to find a small group to get together with every week for a worksheet project.  I also have a short, Healthy Families class that meets a few times this quarter.

I am very excited.  I love school.  I love a traditional school, the comfort of the textbook matching the lecture.  The clear rules and grades.  I love science and math, the way everything is logical and makes sense, fitting into equations and graphs.   I didn't know I loved those things so many years ago in my undergrad.  I thought passion and love were things only the arts and literature could accommodate.

April seems to be starting off quickly as well.  Mushroom month is five days in, only 25 more days to go.  I better get going on the fungi finding!  Much like Amy, I have been incorporating mushrooms into my grocery market foraging.  My mother-in-law was  in town this past weekend and she shared that market foraging was the only kind of mushroom foraging she felt comfortable with me doing.  I assured her that Amy and I are going to be taking a legit class, backed with scientific research, to learn how to safely forage in the wild. 

My plan for the month is to:
1.)  Continue to cook with mushrooms, and master the art of photo sharing the cooking process like Amy.  I love seeing her cooking in every stage. 

2.)  Attend the classes I mentioned above through the PSMS, Puget Sound Mycological Society, every Thursday.

3.)  Impart some knowledge I have learned through my herbal medicine education on medicinal mushrooms throughout the month on the blog. 

Paul Stamets, the man in the video that Amy posted earlier this month, is a wealth of knowledge on medicinal mushrooms and mushrooms in general.  After reading his interview in The Sun magazine a few years back, I really got excited about mushrooms and what they can do for the body and for the future of humanity and the Earth.  I urge you to read this two page section of the interview, and perhaps find a copy of the magazine or Paul's book and read on some more.  In fact, if I can fit it into my homework/school/blog/family schedule, I am going to try to read his book as well.  Here is another article on Paul Stamets from the Seattle Times. 

Maybe by the month's end, we'll see if we all think mushrooms can save the world as well.

-Melissa

Mushroom Fajitas

 Posted by Amy Baranski