Rain brought in some mushrooms :)

There are two important factors to having good mushrooms growing in the forests. One factor is having it rain, and the other is for the weather to be warm enough with some sun. Now we had it rain for a few days and a little bit of warmth, but now it is pretty cold outside all day and night. So for the one day that it was good enough conditions, we went out into the forest and found some mushrooms. It was really quite odd though, and only by accident that we even went looking. you see it has been very cold here and we haven't been seeing even many of the bad mushrooms outside, let alone the good edible ones. I was out in the forest the other day and while throwing some old bread under one of the pine trees for the birds, I noticed a large Birch Bolete, so we went hunting :) As we wandered through the woods we found some more Birch Boletes and some Orange Birch Boletes and one or two Chanterelles. Here is a picture of an Orange Birch Bolete that we found.

As you can see from the picture above, the Orange Birch Bolete has an orangeish-redish kind of cap as opposed to the tan or brown cap for the regular Birch Bolete. Magda made an awesome mushroom soup out of what we found as usual :) *Correction Magda sauteed mushrooms, it wasn't a soup because she didn't add any water. I have different tastes than her in mushrooms, and when it comes to mushroom soup I just tend to like the mushrooms that make the soup more crunchy, and the Birch Boletes do that. When we are out mushroom hunting we will often find many inedible mushrooms, and some that are edible that we will have to identify, so we walk past them. We might pick one on occasion to bring home and identify, and we might just take a picture because a mushroom looks cool. The following little mushroom we find sometimes when we are out hunting. It is small, and white, and translucent, and pretty cool. I doubt it is edible but we always like seeing them in the woods. 

This was probably the last time we will go out mushroom hunting this year. The rain has moved in, and the ground is wet, but it is just too cold outside to allow for any good mushroom growth. Magda went out looking today and did not find anything to be proud of. I will definitely be missing the edible bounty when I am out on my walks, but the change in scenery always allows for some good photography. I am looking forward to taking some pictures of birch trees without their leaves and the snow when it starts to fall. Lydia loves the snow and is always asking "When will the snow come, and my birthday?!" Her birthday is December 23rd. Lydia's school is not very far from our house, maybe a mile or a mile and a half. We have promised her that when the snow starts to fall and the ground gets covered a little bit I will take her to school on her sled. This will be a lot of fun for her, and a little bit of a 'Rocky 4' kind of workout for me :) Well off to bed now so good night :) or of course good morning :).

Reunited with my lovely wife finally :)

It is really nice to have the whole family back together again. Magda is already starting to notice some of the differences in how Mila the Destroyer acts compared to three weeks ago. For one The Destroyer is now fully aware of how to get a DVD playing. Mila also knows that the two remote controls are involved, so she brings them to you. Mila also knows the for the TV to work you must have a disk in the player so she will bring you a DVD case, walk you over to the player and open the DVD case for you. If she is bored with the current movie then she will walk you into her sisters room, motion for you to pick her up so she can be closer to the DVD rack hanging on the wall, and she will make a new selection :) The cats have also put on some weight while Magda was gone but I don't think I had anything to do with that, what I think is that they sense cold winter and their tiny bodies and brains say hey I need to get fat this time of year right? I am also probably responsible for putting away some clothing incorrectly in Lydia's room. Yes I still have a hard time figuring out the difference in some of the clothing for my girls, and will put some of the large t-shirts we have for Mila into Lydia's stuff. Our girls are currently going through a little bit of a growth spurt and we have been getting both of them some bigger clothes, which also doesn't help for my putting away of the clothes. Mila the Destroyer is also cutting some teeth right now which means more moodiness, changing of t-shirts more often from her constant zombie like drooling all over them, and her finding more toys and things to shove into her mouth to make the pain feel better. This is quite normal of course unless you are looking all over the house to see where her new teething toys have gone, you really never know where you might find a spatula, rubber basting brush, wooden spoon or any other soft handled or tipped object. So now that Magda is back from her trip mama Ewa is off the hook for feeding me. It is sad to know that I won't be forced to eat a bunch of food right now but I am happy to have my wife to cook for me again :) Magda is also remembering just how fun it is to deal with Lydia and her ability to ignore everything that you say because Lydia of course knows better than you. I love my daughters and really wish that Lydia would try a little harder to listen. Well Mila decided to tell us in her own special way last night that she was ready for bed by splashing around in the kitty water bowls, which is always fun to clean up. At the moment the Destroyer is asleep in her crib and Magda is out mushroom hunting :) Yes after being away for several weeks she has been itching to get out into the woods and try to find us some little friends for a soup later :) She just got back so here are some mushroom pictures :) Well friends good morning or to some a late good night :)

3 weeks no wife, 2 girls, 12 days and counting

Well these nights I have been dominated with a lack of sleep because of the random sleeping habits of both of my girls. I beginning to notice that I am probably not the only one who misses my wife at night and can't sleep because of it.  Mila has been on a steady routine of waking up at 5:00 for an hour and then up again at 6:30.  She sometimes gets up at 12:00 or 3:00 but those are easy and just require a bottle and changing her diaper as she drinks. I have had two visits at night now by older sister Lydia, one was a bad dream and another time she said it was because it was dark :) Lydia doesn't try to sleep with us that often so twice in a week is a bit rare but I don't mind having someone snore next to me.  Mila the Destroyer has also been crashing for a two hour nap from 9:00 to 11:00 or 11:00 to 1:00 or so. Well it's cold outside if you haven't read my previous post and that means that Mila is either bundled up more for our walk or destroyer of the house a bit more.

Besides the layers that Mila has on you can see that we dug out her winter gloves to keep the little fingers warm. The gloves are actually pretty cool because they are attached by a string so The Destroyers' usual games of throwing things from the stroller as we walk along did not include the gloves. To make the gloves stay even more the string part connecting them together runs through the GAP hoodie sweater she is wearing :)  So cold and no rain makes it poor mushroom hunting but Mila and I can still enjoy the nice scenery of our walks which provide nice views of meadows and woods all over. 

This is a picture of a grassy field that lines a dirt road that we travel along. The grass is about waist high and it has these cool looking puffs of soft grass that are like a bushy cat tail. 

This is a picture of a young birch forest along that same dirt road we travel. I only stepped into it for the first time on a walk last week and from the birch boletes that I found this section of forest it will be making it onto my list of places to check for mushrooms. One thing that I have figured out about mushroom hunting is that there are particular woods and nature areas that will produce the perfect environment to grow different mushrooms, so depending on the season and what you are looking for you and kind of develop a list of where to go hunting. I have started developing a mental list of good spots to pick mushrooms, black berries, blue berries, and lingon berries which we are currently using for an experiment to flavor liquor so I will write about that later. Lydia was being a pill today and the only way I was able to get her to listen was to threaten her with the destruction of something she holds dear, a lollipop. I really don't like to yell at my older daughter or younger one for that matter and I need to find a good venue for Lydia to vent her energy. I think when she starts to get involved in sports like soccer or something she will be more manageable, that and when her sister can talk more we will know what is really going on when we are not watching :) Well mama has been awesome taking the girls downstairs for the last couple hours while I caught up on some sleep :) I need to bring them upstairs now, and start the bath, and get them in it so good night for now :)

3 weeks no wife, 2 girls, week 1 over :)

Well being apart from my wife is draining besides missing her so much.  My girls can be awesome but also quite a handful.  Lydia my older daughter has a way of trying to be too cleaver with what is going on, and tries to manipulate the situation in hope that I am not paying attention to what she is doing in the moment.  For instance when there is a bang sound coming from where the two girls are playing together, and Mila starts crying, Lydia knows that I would be mad if she caused the pain, so she will quickly tell me that Mila tripped and hit her head on the wall.  What Lydia will not volunteer in a situation like that is that she was spinning circles in front of Mila, and encouraging her to do the same and young Mila just can't do all of the fun moves without banging into things. I know that Mila the Destroyer is built like a tank and can take the abuse, but I still get sad when the poor girl bangs into something and starts crying. Lydia on the other hand is totally a princess and her favorite Disney princess is Rapunzel so she thinks that is who she is.  Lydia will even go so far to be afraid that if she cuts her beautiful blond hair, that it will turn brown and will not grow anymore :) So despite their age difference I will still hear Lydia screaming at times because Mila has her pinned on the ground and it pulling her hair or suffocating her. Yesterday was a typical day, Lydia to school and Mila to destroying the house and our afternoon stroller walk and mushroom hunt.  It has not rained in a few days so new mushrooms are not growing in the woods so fast, and most of the experts have already been out fiercely picking. I am usually lucky and bring home a few birch boletes like I did yesterday.

I also come across many of the poisonous amanita mushrooms like this one while I am out searching for edible mushrooms.

but today I was just blessed with the beautiful scenery of the Polish forests and a few animals greeting us along the way. At one point on the walk a pheasant floor almost over us crossing the road and honking as he did. I took out the camera hoping to get a picture but it unfortunately hid in the tall grass on the other side of the street.  I also come across many frogs and the occasional toad as I walk through the woods.  Here is a picture of one of the many common frogs :)

Before I could go on my morning stroller walk with Mila today we went about our normal daily routines. We have both been suffering from a lack of sleep at night so I decided to use one of the old single parent tricks which I will share with you.  The trick is to sleep when your baby is sleeping! So this isn't a new lesson to teach people, and I hope it is common sense, but when you are feeling sleep deprived because of your little one and your day will allow it, then do it :)  I slept for about an hour mid-day. Well football practice was good tonight and I think we will be well prepared for the championship tournament on the 13th. I have to get used to the fact that practicing football in the fall in Poland is much colder than practicing football in the fall in Northern California it was cold on the field tonight :) Well I should get to sleep now, goodnight all.

3 weeks no wife, 2 girls, days 4 and 5

So if you have been reading my blog even a little bit you have noticed a few patterns of what goes on in my little world which largely revolves around my girls.  I get to indulge in American Football, the gym, and mushroom hunting among other treats.  I have talked about how difficult it can be to feed Mila the Destroyer and that holds true for everybody who has tried except for one person.  Mila will pretty much eat anything that my father in law is eating and if she notices him at the table she promptly insists to sit on his lap and is ready to be fed.  Here is a picture of them from yesterday :)

She looks very sweet and innocent from pictures because she really likes to have her picture taken but I should probably film some video so you can see some of the household destruction in real time :)  She is pretty good company though when we go out for stroller walks and look for mushrooms.  

Happy Mila

Mila and the first two Birch Boletes of the day :)

The first two Birch Boletes as pictured with Mila

A family of Birch Boletes

I must admit that it was pretty strange for me to find so many Birch Boletes all in one place.  Usually when I am finding Birch Boletes they are spread out a little bit that is if I am even finding them at all.  Like I said I am in a country of experts in hunting mushrooms so I really have to be lucky to stumble upon some good mushrooms.  My only clear benefit is the size of the forests in Poland and that it takes many people a long time to look through them :)

Slippery Jack

This was a big Slippery Jack that I found and put my hand next to it to show scale. It was in really good shape considering that these tend to fall apart pretty quickly.

Amanita

So this is a poisonous mushroom and very non-edible but they are very pretty to look at and I can't resist taking the occasional picture of them :)

And now a sequence of making Kaszanka :)

Melting butter, onions, garlic and salt

Added Kaszanka

Making a smiling face as I will be happy later :)

The Kaszanka will fall apart and mix with the other ingredients 

Smiley face on my plate :)

Kaszanka is like flavor country when you eat it and some people I know here refer to it as "Polish Caviar" myself included :)  Kaszanka is a blood sausage and typically consists of pigs blood, pig offal, and buckwheat stuffed in a pig intestine. Well I am going to try to get to bed now as who knows how badly my girls are going to sleep again.  I think that it is probably a little bit of Murphy's Law that they are sleeping funny when mommy is out of town.  I hope you liked the pictures from today hopefully more to come soon.

3 weeks no wife, 2 girls, day 3

Well last night I had a horrible time trying to sleep because the girls didn't want to sleep.  Lydia was shifting and flipping in her bed constantly and making the occasional loud vocalization. Mila was up randomly in the early hours and then up at 4 and back to sleep and up at 5 for an hour and then up at 6:30 and stayed up.  I have been exhausted after doing this for a few days.  When mom returned from taking Lydia to school and going shopping she saw that I was beat and she took Mila while I got a much needed nap.  The nap lasted for about 30 minutes before my father in law started using a tile saw :)  We are currently working on finishing our master bathroom and my father in law is awesome at doing projects involving the house especially his tile work.  So I got up and did a few cleaning projects as usual and made dad and I some coffee and then went downstairs to check on mom and Mila.  It was already time for lunch so we ate and then I took Mila for a walk in her stroller. Now if you remember my last post I was commenting on how the rain and somewhat warm weather should bring some mushrooms out and of course I was right :)

Birch Bolete

Birch Bolete

Birch Bolete

Slippery Jack

Jack Rabbit

Birch Boletes

The mushrooms I found while walking Mila today

Grass Eggar Caterpillar 

So a pretty cool walk today found some good mushrooms and was able to identify the caterpillars that I have been seeing all over the place.  It seems the caterpillars turn into some pretty cool moths. I would have liked to go out into the woods and look for more mushrooms today but it just wasn't possible while watching Mila the Destroyer.  I also couldn't burden mom anymore that I did, that nap albeit short was very nice and needed. Well if I am allowed to go out hunting tomorrow I will try to remember my camera to take some more pictures of the mushrooms as I find them in the forest before I pick them. I think it is pretty cool to see them how they are growing and not just laying down on a table :) And to all of my mushroom hunting friends, happy hunting and good night :)

3 weeks, 2 girls and no wife day 2 -Snowglobe

Snow globes are often very pretty to look at and can be highly entertaining to children but they are not the best items to be handed over to little toddlers who just like to shake and throw things and get excited when something breaks.  This is a common sense kind of message and if I had to guess my older daughter Lydia was involved in the accident and surrounding conspiracy to cover it up.  Yes I do say conspiracy because she was not the only person to avoid telling me about the broken snow globe.  You see on Tuesday night I went to football practice and left the girls with their grandma to watch them and when I got home there was no mention of it.  Yesterday while I was playing with the girls in the afternoon laying on Lydia's purple IKEA carpet Mila comes over to me and hands me a large piece of ragged glass while trying to place another small piece into her mouth! The next thing I did was of course throw the house into lock down and perform a hazmat type of sweep shaking, picking and vacuuming up any remaining small pieces of glass. So other than the broken glass it was a pretty snow globe, I think it was from Disneyland or the Disney Store. The snow globe had Minnie Mouse inside and was also one of those rotating music boxes so it's too bad it had to meet its demise.  I managed to get some cleaning done around the house while the Destroyer was asleep and also had a nice walk with her in the stroller in the afternoon.  When you are pushing a stroller this time of year you should always glance into the woods and look for edible mushrooms.  It is almost like a national duty or right here in Poland to pickup mushrooms from the woods.  When there has been rain and it's not too cold mushrooms are going to start growing in the woods and fields and everyone here knows that.  In fact when you are traveling around the roads and you notice there are a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road there are definitely people out with wooden baskets or plastic bags for gathering mushrooms. Mushroom hunting is also a sport for people of any age and I have seen people as little as three and very old Grandmas and Grandpas walking the forests finding the edible bounty :)  Here are a few pictures of the mushrooms I found yesterday while taking Mila for a walk.  If you look very closely at the first picture you can see that I intentionally left part of the stroller and Mila's foot in the background :)

The first two mushrooms are Birch Boletes and very easy to identify by the thick blackish-white scraped away stalk, light to dark brown rounded cap and sponge texture underneath the cap.

The third mushroom is a King Bolete or Boletus Edulis and it is also easy to identify by the thick stalk very light to dark brown rounded cap and sponge underneath the cap.  The King Bolete can very a great deal in color and shape depending on where it is found but the cap and sponge are key to easily identify a Bolete.  Well it is raining today so I probably won't be taking Mila The Destroyer for a walk but it does mean that if it doesn't get too cold I will be out looking for mushrooms tomorrow or the next day.  Well while Mila is still asleep I am going to make some coffee and get some other things done, bye for now. 

*update!  My Polish wife is on a business trip to USA right now and because of her jet-lag she is up reading an corrected me that the Bolete at the bottom is a Queen Bolete and not a King Bolete because it has a yellowish-Brownish stalk and it is yellow underneath the cap.  Yes Polish people can instantly identify and make subtle distinctions, too bad she can't help with the girls from a distance :)

Mushroom hunting :)

This is a picture of my morning mushroom haul :)  It consists of Queen Boletes, Birch Boletes, Jersey Cows and Slippery Jacks.  I am not sure on the exact scientific name for Slippery Jacks but that is what we call them and they are pretty easy to identify.  First of all, I must admit that I am a complete amateur to when it comes to cleaning and preparing the mushrooms for eating because I just really enjoying walking in the woods and fields trying to find them.  My wife is the utmost expert on mushrooms, she is Polish so it just comes naturally to her and everyone else in this country to know what all the different mushrooms are, immediately.  For instance, the two yellowish mushrooms in the upper left hand corner are two that I picked while out in the woods and I brought them back for her to identify. She looked at them and instantly gave me the Polish name for them, and we went online and found out that they are known as Jersey Cows :)  The good news about that is that I now know what they are and will start gathering them.  In Poland or California, when hunting mushrooms, you really can't go wrong picking mushrooms that have a sponge underneath them.  The really bad mushrooms that have a sponge underneath will, I think, at most be bitter, ruin a soup, or make you use the restroom more often, but they can also be identified really easily through books and this marvelous thing we call the Internet.  I pick one kind of mushroom that has gills underneath the cap, and it is called a Parasol mushroom or Macrolepiota Procera for the Scientific name.  The Parasol mushroom is fantastic when you pan fry it with some butter. I really cannot begin to describe the buttery flavor and texture that the mushroom ends up with but it makes me smile :)  Preparation for the parasol mushroom includes separating the stem from the cap and cutting the bottom part of the stem that still has the dirt from the forest floor attached.  Then you wipe away any extra sand or dirt you see on the mushroom and get your pan out ready to fry with some butter :) All of my morning mushrooms can be used for soup or stew and their cleaning methods include separating the stem from the cap to check for any unwanted worm damage, cutting the bottom part of the stem to remove the dirt and forest floor, and then scraping along the stem to remove the top layer of crud before putting it into a pot. The Slippery Jack is the only one that requires additional care.  First of all, they call it a Slippery Jack because the cap of the mushroom is actually kind of slimy, which will also help you to identify the mushroom pretty quickly!  So you start out like the Birch, Queen Bolete or Jersey Cow and then you have to peel the skin off of the cap of the mushroom. Peeling the skin off the top of the Slippery Jack is more work but necessary in order to put it into the soup. Actually, I was told, some people don't peel the skin off of the caps which makes the soup gluey. All, I know it's a must in my wife's home as my mother-in-law would not accept it any other way! The Queen Boletes are good for soup, preserving, drying, sauteing or stuffing into pierogi so we do some combination of all the different methods.  BTW pierogi are another fantastic food item that the Polish people do very well and I will be doing a blog entry on the diversity and deliciousness of them later :)