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[MaximumZero]

Question: Do english-speaking people call all mushrooms 'mushrooms'? I mean, no regional/common names?

Is it because you think all mushrooms taste the same? V:

Well, all mushrooms are mushrooms. If you want to specify, use the type beforehand. See: shiitake mushroom, enoki mushroom, portobello mushroom...

[RedKing]

Question: Do english-speaking people call all mushrooms 'mushrooms'? I mean, no regional/common names?

Is it because you think all mushrooms taste the same? V:

Well, all mushrooms are mushrooms. If you want to specify, use the type beforehand. See: shiitake mushroom, enoki mushroom, portobello mushroom...

^^^^^
Pretty much this.

Some categories like "button" mushrooms may encompass numerous species. Simple reason is that the English-speaking world doesn't have quite the love affair (or variety) with mushrooms that places like Eastern Europe do. I know mushrooms are a huge deal in places like Poland, Ukraine, Finland, etc.


You'd think that being predominantly cool and damp, Britain would have a larger variety and greater appreciation for the fungus, but apparently not.

[Haspen]

Oh. Oooh.

Pity, you're missing out v: Some mushrooms are utterly horrible when fried, whilst some are crunchy juicy goddesses of spicy aroma. Some get all soggy and feel like you're eating slugs when boiled - some retain the spongy chewiness (they're best for meat stews).

PS: Just checked wikipedia. All mushrooms I see use latin, obscure-looking names :I

[RedKing]

Yeah. Since English never really evolved a lot of words for mushrooms, we tend to either use loanwords from Italian (Cremini, portabella) or Japanese (shiitake, enoki, matsutake) or we use the scientific genus/species name. At least when discussing edible mushrooms. There's all kinds of weird folk names for the poisonous kind.

Never knew this bit though:

The term "fungophobia" was coined by William Delisle Hay of England, who noted a national superstition or fear of "toadstools". He described the "fungus-hunter" as being contemptible and detailed the larger demographic's attitude toward mushrooms as "abnormal, worthless, or inexplicable". Fungophobia spread to the United States and Australia, where it was inherited from England. The underlying cause of a cultural fungaphobia may also be related to the exaggerated importance placed on the few deadly and poisonous mushrooms found in the region of that culture.

[Pnx]

Huh, you know, I always thought the mythical "Red Cap" was always supposed to be some kind of metaphor for Amanita Muscaria.

[Sappho]

I won a bag of chia seeds in a raffle from my taiji school along with a recipe for pudding. The recipe requires a blender though, and I still don't have one (coming close to breaking down and buying one) so I went online and searched for things to do with the seeds. I quickly found that it's very easy to make an "energy gel" by just combining some seeds with water and letting them sit. These things are cool! I added a bit of honey and lemon to make a tastier version which I'm currently gulping down. I can see how they'd be easier to eat blended or crushed though.

I think I'll try making some pudding with them. I have some chocolate soya milk I could mix them with. I bet that'd be tasty all on its own. Anyone else ever play with these things?

[penguinofhonor]

Spoiler: happy april fool's day (click to show/hide)

[Glowcat]

Okay, you totally got me.

For a moment I believed Sappho started posting again.

[penguinofhonor]

So my mom baked a chicken with a ton of spices and crap and it was delicious. Now she's making chicken salad out of a different, un-spiced chicken, but it got me wondering.

Would spicing a chicken that you were going to make into chicken salad affect the salad's flavor that much? Because I think it could have very delicious results. But there's also a chance it wouldn't do that much and would be a wasted effort.

[Sirus]

I've had spicy chicken in a salad before. It actually works quite well, though I imagine that it's a case-by-case kind of thing.

[Haspen]

My mother makes a salad outta curry chicken, mayo and instant noodles, and few veggies (pickles, corn and red paprika).

It's definitely tasty

[MaximumZero]

I prefer spiced chikkin to unspiced when it comes to chikkin salad.

Mmm...chikkin.

[Sappho]

I have really been enjoying my food lately. I'm resisting the urge to talk about my food on facebook by posting on here instead. : )

First off, that tahini sauce/paste I posted a while back is a miracle. I use it all the time. Just a few hours ago I spread some on a pita, threw some lettuce and cucumber and tomato on it, sprinkled it with salt and pepper and a bit of fresh parsley I had left over from making tabouleh a while back, and a spoonful of yogurt. Amazingly delicious sandwich and surprisingly filling thanks to the tahini.

Thursday night I neglected to prepare a lunch for work on Friday, and then I overslept a bit Friday morning, so I quickly boiled up a half cup of rice, while it was cooking shredded some daikon radish, carrot, and a bit of ginger, mixed it together and threw it in a tupperware container, then dumped the rice in next to it, wrapped my bottle of soy sauce in a plastic bag in case of leakage, and tossed it in my backpack. Delicious lunch in about ten minutes.

Another good quick lunch idea came from a Czech friend: sautee thinly sliced onion and mushrooms in a little olive oil with marjoram, parsley, a bit of basil, and spicy paprika, plus a little salt and pepper. While it's cooking, toast up a couple slices of good dark bread (works best with Czech bread, which contains caraway). Spread the onion/mushroom mix on the bread (add a slice of cheese if you're fortunate enough to not be lactose intolerant) and eat. I also put some sriracha (chili/garlic) sauce on this for an extra kick.

I just impulse-bought a bag of wasabi peas from the local Vietnamese shop while buying veggies. Never had them before and they are amazing. Gonna start keeping them on hand regularly for when I need a snack. Trying to stay away from salty crap as much as possible.

I actually read lately that a study has found evidence of a link between refined salt and eczema. I suffer from terrible eczema and nothing seems to be helping it, from vaseline to steroid creams, so I've bought some good-quality sea salt (the article seemed to indicate that the missing minerals in refined salt, rather than too much of the salt itself, might be the real problem) and am trying to home-make everything possible, since I know anything I buy will be loaded with refined salt. We'll see if it helps. I'm going to try to bake some pita break tomorrow to replace the store-bought kind which apparently is a large hidden source of salt.

Finally, a question: I've had plum wine in restaurants and loved it. I just bought a bottle of it at that Vietnamese shop and am looking forward to drinking it, but I've never had a bottle of it before and am not sure how to treat it once opened. Is it like hard liquor, where you can just put the cap back on and store it for as long as you want, or do I need to either refrigerate it or drink it all quickly to avoid it spoiling? Thanks!

[Bauglir]

Most wines will keep at room temperature indefinitely*, so it's mostly a matter of what temperature you prefer it to be served at. If it's more than 20 proof, you can be pretty confident that the alcohol will keep it from spoiling, no matter what you do to it.

*Many wines might be oxidized once they're unsealed, but storage temperature isn't going to significantly affect that as far as I know. I don't think it's as big an issue for plum wine, either, since I don't think it tends to have quite the same tannin content as grape wine. If the label also mentions containing sulfites, you don't even have to worry about it turning to vinegar, which can happen if you're unlucky or put some undistilled vinegar in. Refrigerating should slow that process down, if you're paranoid.

[Sappho]

The label is almost entirely in Chinese, but there is a small label stuck on it in Czech which just says it's plum wine, made in China, 10.5% alcohol content, ingredients: green plums, water, sugar, yeast, caramel, flavors, and to store in a dry place and protect from sun rays and frost (I like that they say it that way, rather poetic). Nothing about what to do with it after opening, but I opened it last night and just put the top back on after, I think it'll be okay if I drink it within the next few days. The top isn't just a cork, it's one of those corks with a plastic cap on the top that makes it easy to remove and replace.

Also, last night I forgot that alcohol with such high sugar content will cause massive hangovers if you don't drink loads and loads of water with it. Not going to make that mistake again anytime soon!