Big batch of mushroom soup

I’ve mentioned before about my habit (acquired during my decade in the hospitality industry) of skinning mushrooms.
I break off the stems, and peel off the skins (The stems I always use at the same time as the garlic, finely chopped, or I pop them through the garlic crusher).

The skins I freeze in either plastic tubs or ziplock bags.
The caps I either use straight away or freeze. Just remember that grating is an easy way to prepare mushrooms, should you need it.
Depending in what I want to do, tapenade, soup, pizza, pasta sauce, bread, I have the skins as a valuable resource to use when I choose.
This soup is a great winter warmer by itself, but if you want to add a couple of steps you can, when you have finished making it:
1) add thickened cream and make it a soup for a more civilised occasion, then swirl more cream in the centre of the bowl as you serve it.
2) add truffle oil and serve it in a demitasse, making it a good addition to a cocktail menu, or degustation meal.
Recipe 

• 35 g unsalted butter
• 2 brown onions finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 1000 g mushroom (caps)
• 500 g mushroom (skins)
• 1-5 massell vegetable stock cubes, depending on your tastes.
• 1.5 L water

Method

In a big pot heat the butter.

Cook onion until soft.

Add garlic. 

When garlic has cooked add mushroom skins.

When skins have cooked add mushroom caps, stirring regularly.

Add stock and water.
Bring to boil, then simmer with lid on for half an hour.
Blitz with a hand blender.
Voila.

Leucadendron. June 13: time enough.

        

Psychotherapy I. June 12: time enough

I finally called one of my prospective counsellors today.They certainly have a nice phone manner.

It will be interesting to see if I can get some help from them.

It’s always about my own uncertainties and lack of self worth.

The sense of hurt and betrayal that has caused me problems my whole life.

It should be interesting to undergo some psychotherapy.

Little coconut cakes

This is one for my work, where I have a truck-load of people who various allergies, diets and peccadillos. 
A simple recipe, with the appealing combination of lemon and coconut. I mix the dry and wet ingredients together in mixer with regular paddle.

Then I spoon the mixture into the paper cases for baking. The chocolate is optional. But everything tastes better chocolate coated.

Recipe

• 400 g coconut flour
• 50 g desiccated coconut
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 organic free-range eggs
• 2 cans of coconut milk
• 100 ml coconut oil, melted then allowed to rest at room temperature.
• The finely grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
• Plus chocolate (optional)

Method 
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line muffin tin with brightly colored paper muffin cases. 

Sift the coconut flour and baking powder, and salt into the mixer bowl, then stir in the lemon zest and desiccated coconut. 

Add the egg, coconut milk, coconut oil and lemon juice and pour this into the dry ingredients. Mix on a medium speed until just combined. 

Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin holes, to about two-thirds. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Repeat until mixture is used up or just make up the rest into a cake tin and bake.

If you like, dip each one in chocolate, and return to cup cake liner.

Teeth. June 3: time enough

I went to the dentist today.

Three cavities.

Two small.

One big.

Price to be discussed at a further date.

Mushrooms. June 2: time enough

Mushrooms are cheap at Coles in Footscray. Well, yesterday afternoon anyway. Today, who knows? Mars and I had gone for a walk to Little Saigon to see if there were bargain bags to be had. Many bargains. No mushies on special. All around $10-11 kg. Which is fair enough. Mushies are usually at $13-14 at the bigger supermarkets. Meh. What ever.Headed over to FM (Footscray Market) but realised they were closed.

Grabbed a steamed bun each:

Mars had chicken. I had BBQ pork.

Wandered over to Cheaper By Miles. Many bargains. No mushies on special. 

Wandered over to the Coles. Realised that that the 4 pack pre-packed corn and the 250g pre-packed mushrooms were most excellently priced. 50c a cob for corn. $7 a kilo for mushies. I was, WTF? Mars was, yum, corn. Loaded up and headed off.

Which brings me to now. 

My friends are often surprised at my mushroom food preparation methods.
First, stems. Break off. Can be fried and added with white meat. Or diced and added with the garlic. 
Second, skin. Remove the skin and freeze. I keep the skins for the white truffle soup (or any mushroom soup) for midwinter.
Third, flesh. I freeze them loose for a couple of days to zap a bit of the moisture, using the frost free freezer. Then bag em.

Starting studies. June 2: time enough

As previously mentioned I am engaging in some techniques to encourage a more positive outlook on life.
Things have gotten a little bit too self-destructive and angry over the past few years. I intend to do something about it.

There were more than a few signs along the way. The weight gain. The lack of motivation. The regular drinking. The poor diet choices. The absence of creative output. The dearth of exercise. 

So as a part of being a more happy me, I decided I’d do a Mindfulness Diploma. 
I downloaded materials this afternoon.

I look forward to blogging about it as I complete my studies.

Headache in the tub. June 1st 2015: time enough.

As I write this I am sitting in a rapidly cooling bathtub semi-filled with water and bubbles.

I am going to pour myself a glass of Bunderberg ginger beer (diet) and Dimple whisky (12yo blended scotch).

I was surprised to see that I have not written anything at all in the last years. Within my mind, I’ve written text galore in response to Dad’s death in July, six years ago since that was the time when I most acutely felt how much time had passed me by while I was basically marking time by watching him die.

But here I am, making those same shallow observations over half a decade later.

It makes me angry at myself for having a pulse.

There.

I finally said it.

I am angry at myself for being alive while Dad is dead.

I’m going to have my drink now.

Book review. June 1st 2015: time enough

Dear Diary,

Life is precarious. 

I find myself unhappy for so many different reasons. 

Although Dad died six years ago, I find it disturbing my sense of self more, rather than less, as time progresses.

I have headaches almost every day, now. I definitely need to get back the optimetrist. I certainly need to get back to the gym. And my senses are whack. 

I never thought I’d be a migraine experiencing person. I simply thought it would happen to others. Like grief really.

Hopefully today marks a new positive direction, as I have enrolled in a few online courses, that I will be combining with some other methods to help sort my head out. Hopefully.

But it’s not just me.

Anyway: book review for today is as follows

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1295680256

Awesome read, highly recommended.

I really enjoyed this book.
I thoroughly admired the premise of a strong female protagonist in this book.
Especially as it was published in ’86 and I read it not long after.

Especially as she (Ayndra) smoked pot and blew shit up.
The fact that ‘The Road and The Hills’ is book one of ‘A Walk in the Dark’ and is based on the tme of Alexander the Great really worked.

Can I say it was brilliantly constructed and well-crafted?
You will just have to read it and find out for yourself.

  

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