Little surprise at the Canadian Oasis yesterday

Xuefeng

Yesterday, during dinner, we suddenly brought up the topic of mushroom picking from last year. With the recent rain, we wondered if any mushrooms might have appeared.

After dinner, I instructed Fairy Xinrui to bring a large basket and come with me to the lawn to pick mushrooms. Just as we left the kitchen, we noticed a bunch of white mushrooms growing under the pine trees next to the parking lot. After gathering those, we headed towards the garage, and, to our delight, Fairy Xinrui spotted a peony nestled between three poplar trees. There were two flowers: one in full bloom and the other still in bud. We were astonished to find a Chinese peony here—who brought it? When did it appear? How did it get here? Could it be that the Peony Fairy knew we were coming and set up camp here in advance?

After admiring the peony, we searched for more mushrooms on the back lawn. To our amazement, we found several large mushrooms less than 30 meters from the kitchen. These mushrooms are quite unique; we encountered and ate them last year. They are very fragrant, meaty, and dense. I decided to name them "Stone Mushrooms." The mushrooms we picked last night are enough to make two large dishes.

The alfalfa in the front and back yards is abundant. Since we haven’t been able to keep up with it, we didn’t eat any from spring until Fairy Xinrui arrived. Since her arrival, we’ve been picking a basket of alfalfa every day. Now, we almost have a large plate of alfalfa salad daily. I sprinkle a bit of salt, add some Sichuan pepper oil, and a touch of sesame oil—so delicious! The wild flavor is amazing, but I worry that eating wild food every day might make us too wild ourselves. And I’m especially concerned that if Fairy Xinrui and Fairy Xinrui get wild, I might not be able to handle it alone!

2019-07-06