Chicken Mushrooms

Mushrooms are beautiful and they taste divine. We have a brand new urban farmer and food purveyor in Philly and you can see their logo on the right.

Their blog is Chicken Mushrooms. If you go there, you will learn more about Mushrooms than you ever wanted to know. 

You will find recipes for Mushroom delicacies there. You can buy a kit to grow Mushrooms. You can find out about Mushroom Seminars teaching how to find wild edible Mushrooms and how to grow your own at home.

I love Mycopolitan's Statement of Purpose:

In short we’re building Philly’s first mushroom farm where we plan to:

1-Grow gourmet varieties for local restaurants and a retail establishment or two

2- Grow and make stuff for hobbyist mushroom growers of all levels

3- Research new varieties such as the namesake of this blog which hasn’t had much press lately

4- Research new agricultural and environmental applications for fungi

5- Go wherever the mushrooms lead us.

Halloween Pumpkins

Halloween is my favorite holiday. How could it not be so? The air is crisp, the harvest is home and dressing up your hearth or porch.. Here are some pictures and websites to help you plan your decorations and help you celebrate. 

The Zombie Brain Pumpkin comes from skulladay.com. 

Pumpkins can be carved and they can be painted, etc.

Oil based glossy house paint works the best, especially if you want to put your pumpkins outside on the porch. Oil based paint is durable, glossy and adheres well to pumpkin rind. A decorated pumpkin will last without rotting from Halloween through Thanksgiving.

Glossy acrylic paint is a good choice if you are working with children. It washes off.  Do not buy small containers of hobbyist paints unless you are only going to paint one or two pumpkins. Go to an art supply store for premixed acrylic paints in a wide variety of exotic colors in a generous size.
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Rosemary Grilled Shrimp

It is far too hot to cook indoors. This is my favorite grilled Shrimp. I have a Rosemary shrub in my garden. I can pick a stem of Rosemary and pull the leaves off right into the marinade. If you have no Rosemary bush, use one tablespoon dried Rosemary. Dried herbs are more pungent than fresh.

Ingredients:

1 cup Olive Oil
6 cloves Garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh Rosemary
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/4 cup Parsley, minced fine
1 cup fresh Lemon Juice
1 tablespoon Lemon Zest
1 dozen Jumbo Shrimp (10 to 15 per pound)

Shell and devein Shrimp. Combine Oil, Garlic, Rosemary, Cayenne, Parsley, Lemon Juice and Zest. in a nonreactive bowl. Add Shrimp and toss in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Stir occasionally.

When ready to grill, remove Shrimp from marinade. Broil or Grill about 4 minutes per side. Baste shrimp with marinade while it is broiling or grilling.

Brock Davis Plays with His Food

My favorite part of catering was creating beautiful tablescapes with flowers, and drapery and artistic whimsey. And I loved making the food look beautiful on the plate. That work has given me an appreciation of Food Art wherever I find it, on the canvas or on the plate.

You want to go to Brock Davis website, if only to see the Banana Peel Trucker Hat.