i know it reads like i don’t eat normal food anymore — even to me — but of course this is not true. no, really. it’s just that in the light of lovely shiny cakes, mushroom blogging might seem a little boring. however. since i did learn from someone today that “boring” does not mean it is not good, i shall tell you what became of the mushrooms i bought this afternoon at harris farm.

i think you know the ones: a tray of enoki, shiitake, shimeji and oyster mushrooms, a tidy harvest for just under $6, and a perfect serving for two. i sauteed them with minced ginger and garlic, in sesame oil with a little salt. i tossed them through some pre-cooked soba noodles with a glug of soba dipping sauce and a good sprinkle of sesame seed furikake; just a few minutes of warm mushroom contact infused the noodles with a lovely, earthy aroma. i served it up with panfried salmon and grilled baby bokchoy. if, before cooking, you are generous with the grinding of salt and pepper on the salmon skin, you will be rewarded with a crunchy sheet of saltiness to nibble at in-between all the other stuff.

the kid, when she found out it was salmon for dinner, began asking for “some salmon, in my hand, please” on the way home from school. she ate it all, before deftly and fastidiously removing every single strand of enoki hiding out amongst the soba, and placing them in a tidy tangle by her bowl.