I’m not sure what time of day I prefer to nap; anytime works for me, but there is something remarkable about taking a nap after breakfast. I enjoy a varied breakfast menu with coffee, juice, then rotating between pancakes, cereal, eggs, fresh fruit, pop tarts, cheese Danish, bagel & cream cheese, toast with jelly (please do not tell my doctor), waffles, cold pizza (Again, please don’t tell my doctor), etc. Today I enjoyed biscuits and gravy! (Again, please don’t tell my doctor!) I then go directly to my “Comfy Chair” and snuggle under a warm throw blanket, with dogs and a cat surrounding me. It is a ritual that is loved by all in the Vernier family.
As I progressed into REM levels of sleep, I felt a tugging on my shoulder: “Joel, get up. You promised you would go get mushrooms for my Beef Stroganoff recipe, tonight’s dinner.”
I promised, so I begrudgingly woke up, got up, and dressed up!
My journey to enjoying eating mushrooms happened when I was young. I was not always a mushroom aficionado; as a child until eight, I would turn up my nose at them, shrivel my lips and say “Noooooo!” to eat them. I called them the “Fungus Among Us!”
I would pick off my mushrooms from a pizza and feed them to my dog. Then on one Sunday at a movie matinee, I saw the film Journey To The Center Of The Earth based on the Jules Verne book and starring James Mason and Pat Boone! Their food supply runs out; imagine being trapped and lost miles under the earth with no food.
I found that I was getting hungry and ate my popcorn faster and faster as I worried about my friends in the movie. Then Pat Boone falls through some sand and discovers a mushroom forest! They then proceeded to cook up mushroom steaks, mushroom pie, mushroom stew, mushroom porridge, mushroom everything! They made shoes out of a kind of mushroom leather, clothing, hats, and a variety of other necessary items.
I was elated that they would not starve in the movie. I was intrigued that they seemed to enjoy the many variations of epicurean delights they ate with vigor! When I returned home, I asked my mom if we could have some mushrooms with dinner! She cooked up some mushrooms in butter, garlic, and salt, and I loved it. I have been a mushroom addict ever since! I always wanted to go out and hunt them! One of my friends used to hunt mushrooms all the time, and he wanted me to go “Shrooming” with him. We talked about going one spring, I called to remind him to plan our outing, but it turned out he made a mistake and picked and consumed the wrong mushrooms. After a couple days in the hospital, he felt just fine.
Only about 3% of mushrooms are poisonous. Then I read from the Cleveland Clinic, “So, in summary, there’s no way to tell whether a mushroom is poisonous or not. There are thousands of different kinds of mushrooms.” I decided to look for an expert to teach me how to go mushroom hunting.
The only mushroom hunting I do now is at the grocery or local vegetable stands. I love mushrooms! So many recipes call for mushrooms. Grilled mushrooms, mushroom soup, salads, on pizza, steaks, in omelets, just about everything is better with this delectable fungus! There are so many edible types: Button, Portobello, Shitake (Be careful how you pronounce this one!) Oyster, Morel Porcini, and a delicious one called Maitake, also called Hen of the woods. Time for my after-shopping nap in my “Comfy Chair!”
“Remember, every day is a gift! Some are just a little more fun to open than others.” – Joel Author of: The Guinea Pig In The Freezer. joelmvernier@aol.com
© Joel M. Vernier Sept 9, 2022
