10 September 2007
swampy times
It's no coincidence that the word for mushroom in Icelandic, sveppir, resembles the word "swamp". They know a thing or two about wet weather and the fungi who love it! The past two weeks of almost non-stop rain has created the perfect breeding ground for the most luxurious mushrooms I've seen in quite a while. Their variety looks like the kind of thing that a mushroom gourmand would get all rhapsodical about- long cylinder ones, tiny sprinklings of black ones, fairy parasols, seats for the toads that don't live in Iceland, and everything. They're creeping across the lawn of my house, inching towards the door, they're in the swath of land on the far side of Tjörnin, they're cropping up in the shrubbery around laugardalslaug. A few weeks ago in Heiðmörk, the woods were rustley with people collecting them. I'm no shroom expert so I quake at picking the wrong kind, so I celebrated in my own way on Saturday with a homemade mushroom soup, using store varieties, of course. It's just the kind of weather for it what with all the rain, after all.
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5 comments:
I am so jealous - soup weather is hard to come by in Florida. We still make them and turn down the air conditioner :)
hexe: sounds like something my brother and I once did when we were kids in the middle of summer. Desperate to recreate the coziness of a Vermont winter bedtime, we turned our fan on full blast, then rolled in the dew on the lawn before trotting up to bed and burying ourselves in blankets. The cozy feeling only lasted about 10 minutes before we were once again panting hot, but it cemented my identity as a cold weather/wooly things lover.
An abundance of mushrooms. Yet another reason to add to my list of why Iceland is the most perfect place on Earth.
Where have all your pictures gone, E? I'm seriously missing your photography!
Stay warm!
-Sarah :O)
sarah: well, an abundance of mushrooms doesn't mean I can EAT them. I need to make a friend with a shroom expert.
photos.. haven't taken much because my routine's been pretty much work-pool-rollerblade-laundry-sleep-eat. Nothing worth photographing, although there has been some gorgeous early morning light outside my kitchen window of late, and our fall colors are starting to come in earnest.
Not sure the connection is to 'swamp' as in 'swamp' ie marsh. More likely 'svamp' which is the generic Scandinavian for shroom. Although there could be a connection of course. Yes you need to make friends with a shroom expert. Or what about your stores? Don't they have a good selection?
R.
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