tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post7082803446539266852..comments2023-10-31T15:39:09.651+01:00Comments on box elder: Snatching time between...Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-60002475329893771722012-11-06T13:58:24.233+01:002012-11-06T13:58:24.233+01:00Z - I think most of your sweet chestnuts died in a...Z - I think most of your sweet chestnuts died in an epidemic. Barbara Kingsolver's (rather preachy) novel 'The Prodigal Summer' talks quite a lot about it, and attempts to breed resistant new strains. I only go for very obvious mushroom, pink/brown gilled field and horse mushrooms from patches I've been gathering for years, occasionally shaggy ink-caps and giant puffballs if I can find them, I never see a cep. There's a patch of some nearby which I'm 99% sure are a kind the foraging guide describes as 'choice', but I won't risk it. These pumpkin seeds are a bit on the small side, and very fiddly to shell.<br /><br />Hliza - oh you should watch DA! You'd love it I'm sure; treat yourself to a boxed set and maybe watch it with Iqa when she's home. The chestnuts here are only half the number I found, I put the best ones in a dish and we eat them straight; I roast them on the fire but Tom just peels the shells off and munches them raw. These I peeled and blanched and froze, they go with all kinds of things, sweet and savoury, especially Christmas dinner!<br /><br />Julia - duxelles are finely chopped mushies reduced with shallot, garlic and butter, you put a spoonful into soups and stews or onto meat, and as RR points out, spread between the pastry and meat for beef Wellington. I freeze individual small amounts in cake papers.<br /><br />RR - I love beef W. but once got ill eating it (cooked rare) re-heated. You can always economise (a bit) by making individual ones with a small piece of fillet each wrapped separately... Do you use pate as well as the duxelles? Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-77152887770904265972012-11-05T09:17:54.253+01:002012-11-05T09:17:54.253+01:00A mushroom duxelle. The first - admittedly minor -...A mushroom duxelle. The first - admittedly minor - step towards Beef Wellingon. All you now need is forty quid's worth of fillet.Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-91256344986171044302012-11-05T08:53:38.743+01:002012-11-05T08:53:38.743+01:00Now off to look up duxelles. We only see horse che...Now off to look up duxelles. We only see horse chestnuts here too, but mushrooms are a way of life here as you probably know! <br /><br />Juliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02381204473168533313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-90246108735427281392012-11-05T05:05:41.125+01:002012-11-05T05:05:41.125+01:00I do wish I can sit down and follow Downtown Abbey...I do wish I can sit down and follow Downtown Abbey but I never have the time. What do you do with those chestnuts?HLizahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04501423875033391870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-38013531189932515922012-11-05T01:54:25.115+01:002012-11-05T01:54:25.115+01:00I rather enjoyed the pumpkin seeds I salvaged and ...I rather enjoyed the pumpkin seeds I salvaged and roasted. I think we only get horse chestnuts here, and I'm too untutored to try mushrooms. Zhoenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03515663141425057088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-50310724696437770092012-11-04T22:50:51.480+01:002012-11-04T22:50:51.480+01:00Thanks R. In fact that 'life is not a Hollywo...Thanks R. In fact that 'life is not a Hollywood movie' was rather one of the conclusions of the programme, which was informative and intelligent, not merely despondent. Good route for Tuesday! Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-54777606287431959902012-11-04T22:11:56.225+01:002012-11-04T22:11:56.225+01:00Oh! If I were closer, I'd bring over several b...Oh! If I were closer, I'd bring over several bottles of ale and we'd speak of hope in the good ol' US of A. I'll be doing my part Tuesday morning heading off in the wee hours of the morning to vote. What is 4 years? A drop in the bucket of history. The sleeves aren't ready to be rolled down yet, and life is not a Hollywood movie. The free things in life, among them chestnuts and mushrooms, are to be cherished.<br /><br />Prost sweet Lucy and Tom and Molly!Rouchswalwehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01393987883437907945noreply@blogger.com