Yellow Mushrooms
One of the joys of running, is the little surprises we meet along the way. Of course, some of that stuff had been there all along, it`s just that I never took the time to notice.
Take this little mushroom I found on yesterday`s trot. I never saw a yellow mushroom in my entire life. Nothing exotic about it, I am very sure. The field, after all, was peppered with them. It`s just that I never noticed.
And this, I think, could be the grown up version of the same yellow fungus. Now, I`ve no idea what these little fellows are called. I`ll have to ask Hedwigia or Moorhen, my two naturalist blogging pals. I just like them for being pretty and for marking a certain time of the year. And for putting a little joy into my running.
Just as this following picture does….
Yes, it seem like no length since I ran passed golden waves of corn. And now those same fields are transformed into acres of stubble. It`s a nice view, just the same and a reminder that everything passes.
Home from my ramble, somehow or other, I am pondering carb uploads. Specifically how I can get them into me and in the the most delicious and simplest of ways.
A Girl Called Jack provides the inspiration. Ah! yes! White Soda Bread. Something I used to make a lot a very long time ago. I don`t know why I stopped.
Jack blogs mainly, about dealing with poverty. Her food writing is very much with poverty in mind, as she aims to provide the very best of food for the poorest of pockets. Well, of course she`d need a good old Irish staple to fit the bill here.
Soda bread was once the staple of every Irish home, along with the revered potato. If there were international tables for carb consumption in the 19th and early 20th century, I`d bet the Irish were carb kings. We flourished, and very cheaply, because we thrived on carbs.
And easy carbs at that. No major skill needed to produce this great bread. No kneading-you just gently shape it into place. No fancy ingredients needed either.
White Soda Bread
- 1 lb/450 grams Plain Flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- I tsp sugar
- 350 mls(approx.) sour milk (or butter milk)
Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
Make a well in the centre.Pour in most of the milk.
Pull the flour in around the well of milk with your hand, mixing it all up into a dough. The dough should coming together nicely, but not wet and sticky.Add a little more milk, if the dough hasn`t all come together. Add more flour if it is too wet.Turn out the dough onto a floured surface. Shape with your hands into a round. Cut a cross along the top.
Place on a floured baking sheet and put it in the oven at 450 for ten minutes and 400 for a further 30 minutes.
Take the bread out and tap the bottom of it with your knuckle. If it sounds hollow, then it`s done. If not, eave it back in the oven for another five minutes.
Allow to cool before smothering slices with homemade jam, or Ballymaloe relish and cheese. Or lashings of butter, if that`s your thing.
You`ve earned the carb overload. It`s just another one of the delights of running.
redhenrun 
Runners are certainly attuned to the turning of the seasons. Next step will be two T-shirts not one. And the end of summer is marked for me by the sunflowers dying – so sad.
Soda bread indeed – I never miss a chance when in Ireland. I believe the last slices I had were at the tea rooms in the Phoenix Park.
Ah! the tea rooms! Now, they can be a bit of a squash and a squeeze. Nicer though, if you get to sit in the courtyard in the sun.
Is two tees your max in Jersey? No thermal base layers or even Guernsey sweaters, then? Lucky you if so!
Still managing on one t here at the moment-unseasonably warm, but enjoying it!
Yes, outside feeding the birds! It does get cold here actually, though I’d freeze before putting on a Guernsey sweater 🙂
Oh, I`m glued to my fleecy tops in winter. Shivering just isn`t my thing.
I love seeing the nature changing as I go running, you really notice things you wouldn’t in a car!
There aren’t too many mushrooms here cos it’s too dry (but we can find them a wee bit further north) but I’ve been revelling in the Virginia Creeper turning red in the last few weeks!
Always wondered how to make soda bread. Now I know, but what’s a mls?
Oh gosh, I never thought about the metric equivalents. Thank you very much for that question, Paige. Mls is millilitres. Which is a fat lot of use to you in Imperial Measurement land. One pound of plain flour and approx 14 fluid ounces of sour milk or buttermilk along with the teaspoons of salt and breadsoda should do the trick. So glad of the feedback. I prefer metric measurements myself anyway, and won`t make that mistake again.
Ha ha! Yes, I couldn’t resist toadstools! Mind you, I can’t name them, but I’m pretty sure they’re different species – fat lot of use that is! I love the little yellow one.
Ok, I`ll just have to go back again and get another look. I thought the bigger one had a tinge of yellow on it`s head. Maybe I should do the taste test and compare effects instead 😉
Those darling little mushrooms —or were they? Went on a very enlightening fungi walk a while ago and was astounded at the sheer numbers of toadstools and types of edible mushroom —but make sure you know which is which — some are deadly.
Oh, I`m too much of a scaredy cat to go there. I love ordinary old field mushrooms though, the really wild sort. Damn pity I can`t see any of them about nowadays. There was nothing quite like them fried in butter with lots of salt. Yum!
Hop over …..!!
Oh don`t worry. Hopping and hoping are all good!
Love the little lemon mushrooms – so glad you noticed them.
Jack’s blog sounds interesting ….I’ll hope over and say hello!
Apparently, she`s making quite a name for herself already in the UK. She`s billed as an austerity blogger and political commentator and more recently, has been given a cookery column in The Guardian.
Many years ago I worked fir an Irish man and frequently made soda bread. Thanks for remaining me of it I must make some soon, lovely sliced and toasted!
Ok so my typing is useless this should be ‘for’ and ‘reminding’!
It`s ok. I`m happy fir to be remaining you any time!
You learned how to keep an Irish man happy! Hope that skill was useful to you at some later date! 😉