Mother's Day Snack

IMG_8365, a photo by CaptainShen on Flickr.

Mom + Park + Snack = Awesome day.

Check out our spread!

The Forage: Episode Two, and: A Little Instructional, Plus: too many punctuation errors in this title.

So, on a morning sprint not too long ago, as the little town of Denton stretched its bright and strange eyelids, I found some mulberries. They were scant and the tree a tad sickly, but they did a good job of reminding me of one of my favorite pickin' trees elsewhere in Denton. I returned home with a LOT of them, only having picked a little of what the tree had to offer (of course I left the red berries to ripen for later pickings!). 250 grams, to be exact-- uh, minus the handfuls I threw back during picking.

I hoped on my bike after prepping my Foragin' Bag. It is imperative to truncate the 'g' on 'Foraging' when prepping your Foragin' Bag. It just helps you, you know, get in the mood or whatever. The following is just little stuff for a casual picking-- nothing too hardcore.

YOUR BAG

Bandana/Cloth* (to tie into bags to carry/clean up, whatever)
Ziploc Baggies
Hard Container (for dainty items)
Knife
Small Scissors
Small Flashlight

Of course, its good to have a guide-book and familiarize yourself with your area (really, if you start eating strange mushrooms and throwing back unknown berries, it is NOT my fault). On a simple casual outing you can expect to come back with the ubiquitous green onions and chives (a bit grassy by this time of year), dandelion greens (best picked before the yellow flower appears). Certainly with a little more romping you can find delightful little mulberries, wild blackberries, and pears. I've even seen wild asparagus and what I THINK was wild carrot (it was too young to tell).

Be careful, guys, and happy eating.

*I believe that bandanas are absolutely necessary for anything you do, ever.

Foraged! Found Food (and some found links)

A few links: 

These people take food presentation and photography to an entirely different level of artistic beauty.

I made Adobong Pusit Sa Gata from 'Home Cooking Rocks' and I have GOT to reccommend it. Next I plan on making their Mushrooms, and I suggest you follow suit. This site is full of deliciousness, and is very primally workable.

Good News--- the bee hive found recently in the walls of my alma mater is being given a chance at survival! Or, at least, delayed execution. Its said to contain something like HALF THE BEES IN NORTH TEXAS.

_____________________

Foraging has always been something of a natural concept to me, and I was never one to be afraid to nibble on a leaf (or, perhaps more stupidly naively, a berry) as a kid. I LOVE the idea that we are surrounded by edible things, and there is no reason to stop at things that have been picked by someone else and 'labelled' for sale.


Eating for free is an alluring idea. Pair it with the romanticism of a whimsical stroll through a sunny field and you have created my Thursday-- and my salad. OK, maybe not really. Maybe you've just imagined my salad's accent-- scant seasoning-- whisper of--... alright, so not much. But the point isn't the AMOUNT of food-- it is that I danced (uh, stomped) through a grassy Texas field and found food!


I was told there was wild asparagus growing in a certain area by an amazing friend (Jim, the patriarch of my "Denton Family*). I made my way to where I thought he meant, found a place a few blocks away to park, and made my way over with little more than a bandana to carry my findings in and a car key. Not even my camera came. Dry yellow grass up to my knees and brush collecting in my Vibrams, I followed a kind of old path and wound around the entire property finding nothing that looked even remotely vegetable-like. The grasses I saw I knew of as different spring onions (three, actually) and I plucked a few, but wandered with growing disappointment toward the stalks that seemed to never come. Instead of taking a logical path around the back of the property (hours later), I decided to cut straight through the overgrown middle.


There amongst the grasses, in their yellow-green frailty, I saw them. How and why I spotted them as I traipzed on past, I don't know-- but there they swayed.


ASPARAGUS!


I plucked a few and left more so they could grow into something more substantial later on.


I think I'll toss them in vinaigrette and top my salmon with them.


Happy Eating!


*Bios to come later, after my Primal Birthday Revamp. TOMORROW!