While we were in Southern California we went to a Sunday Farmer's Market in Encinitas. It was held at a Middle School, where each graduating class got to leave a mosaic on the outer wall of the building. The effect was stunning. Here John and I are in front of work of the Class of 2008.
In a lot of ways, California feels ahead of the rest of the country, less corrupted by mediocrity. Like the San Francisco hippies of the 60s, this California farmer's market felt just a little more "pure" than the local Florida ones. Like, the worms ...
… and the green drinks ...
… and the mushrooms.
Coconut oil is getting big everywhere these days, though.
Those mushrooms look like enoki mushrooms (enoki take) -- a staple of mine when I lived in Japan because they were cheap. That is what they are called here, too. In my dictionary, enoki translates as hackberry. Whatever! Beech is buna-no-ki. Ki means, among many things, tree.
ReplyDeleteI bet you're right, Barbara. I always think of mushrooms as somewhat exotic and expensive. John is much more of a mushroom fan than I, but I bet I'd like what the Japanese do with them.
DeleteMostly they get thrown in the pot with the other veggies or stir-fried. They have one type of large mushroom that has its season in November, I believe. It is called a pine mushroom -- matsutake. They are expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 30 years ago, when I was there, you could buy them gift-wrapped for something like $60/per mushroom, maybe more.
DeleteWow. You sure those expensive mushrooms didn't have some aphrodisiac or hallucinogenic properties as well? $60 a mushroom and 30 years ago … that's expensive!
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