But I'm a fun-gi....

Went to Jasmart on 23rd & Lex hoping to get fish sauce without having to go down to Chinatown (I'm averaging 1 bottle a year--by myself!! :P). Did NOT find fish sauce--instead found mushrooms, chrysanthemum leaves, and (baby bok choy...sold by...THE PACKET?!?!).

Do not know what I'm gonna make with them--probably a steam packet with fish sauce (maybe soy or MISOOOOO), lemon, butter...like at Typhoon on St. Marks & 1st ave (fanplasmic japanese 'tapas' and whatnot...plus they're open super late. Cow tongue was good--so's other shiz but that's for another post).

So I bought enoki mushrooms too but I couldn't find a suitable idea for how to shoot them (as in pictures, not...pistols). Plus...why bother with ordinary enoki when you can feast your eyes on BEECH MUSHROOM!!!! ^_^ They're much bigger than enoki, but they're like enoki crossed with the Super Mario mushrooms :)

I also got "maitake" which just reminds me of shitake but less fun to say, maybe like SHIKAKA! (anybody for what movie that's from? it's a little tran-sian. :)) Anyway, according to Wiki:

Grifola frondosa, referring to a mythical griffin, commonly known as Sheep’s Head, Ram’s Head and Hen of the Woods or Maitake, is an edible polypore mushroom. It grows in clusters at the foot of trees, especially oak. The Japanese call it "maitake" (pronounced [maitake]), literally meaning "dancing mushroom." Hen of the woods should not be confused with the similarly named edible bracket fungi, chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus), also known as "sulphur shelf".

But anyway...I really do love mushrooms (the Princess Toadstool kind, not the druggie kind). When I was about 10 or 11, I used to just sautee mushrooms in a wee pot with onions and soy sauce and eat it. by itself. when I was 16 I ate rice and bbq sauce. by itself. The other day I ate leftover Southern fried chicken with basil marinara tossed in, with rice, and tabasco sauce. IT WAS FRICKIN" DELISH. *shrug*.

The chyrsanthemum leaves tho...I know in Vietnamese cooking it's used in "canh"/soupy soup or tossed in with meats. I don't even really know what they're called in Vietnamese--I didn't even know what the hell they were with the label from Jasmart, I had to google it from the Japanese phrasing on my receipt. BY GOLLY I WILL MAKE SOMETHING OF IT!! Think spinach meets arugula with a less citrus/bitter flavor. Look u can see the little chrysanthemum bud in the middle rightmos area :)

I like cold honey chrysanthemum tea from Cha for Tea (in Ca, a little too sweet) and Lee's Sandwiches (also in CA, not as sweet, way too much ice). I honestly bought all this stuff from Jasmart just so I could take pictures with them--but maybe 2% to experiment with various mushroom flavors, possibly making fancypants mac & cheese with fancypants mushroom for my "roast on the roof". EH. we'll see.

All right, one more shot of the shroomies--but the little beechies nestled in the big beech shroomies! :P

:)