Today was my day for mushroom picking with my old friend from Yemen days, Sami. The weather was wet. Sami wasn’t free till early afternoon as he had doctor’s appointment. When the rain eased I wandered out back to Market Square and visited Market Hall which I had missed yesterday. It wasn’t a true market place any more but more cafe/deli style outlets.
The pricing there was a little more expensive than New Zealand and with everything else I had seen I concluded that Helsinki can be about the same cost-wise as New Zealand if one was careful, but typically more expensive. However, for some things like high-end restaurants, the Euro went as far as an NZD which meant that it would be 50% more.
I met Sami around 1300 at the Stockmann department store and took the metro out of town to meet his friend Yanni who had a car. We drove into the countryside and then parked up and walked into the forest.
The damp loose forest floor comprising of dirt and decomposing leaves, combined with the summer warmth and autumn rain had caused a variety of mushrooms to sprout. I didn’t know the names of all of them but neither did them. They appeared to prize the Yellow Chantarelle, Black Trumpet and Porcini but settled for a lot of others that they knew were not poisonous.
We saw some moose (elk) droppings and insects associated with these beasts but the actual animals proved more elusive.
We returned to Yanni’s place and cooked up the Porcini and nameless ones. To appreciate the delicate flavours, they were just stir fried with a little salt and pepper. The mushrooms made a good accompaniment to the spaghetti bolognaise. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to savour the Chantarelle and Trumpet.
Sami and I walked back to the metro to get back to town. It was a short but sweet reunion; I think it had been 8 years since we were hostel-mates next door to each other in Sana’a, Yemen.
Unfortunately I had a bad headache brewing. I think the mushroom-hunting involved looking downwards a little too much which put my neck in an uncomfortable position. Fortunately I managed to fell asleep and woke up in the morning completely fine.
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- Sami and Yanni take me mushroom picking.
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- The chanterelle is quite a highly sought-after mushroom. I saw them quite a lot in Baltic markets.
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- This is quite similar to the ordinary button mushroom.
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- These seem familiar but …
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- She came with us to pick mushrooms.
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- The porcini mushroom is highly rated.
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- The black trumpet is richly flavoured.
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- Moose (elk) droppings,
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- Berries.
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- Ignore the ones you’re not sure of.
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- Ignore the ones you’re not sure of.
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- Part of the day’s pickings.
