fungusqueen - Tumblr blog

[fungusqueen]

I just donated the revenue from a mushroom sticker sale to Balsam's evacuee fundraiser. If you'd like to donate to them directly, here is the link. I'll be donating all revenue from my online shop to evacuee funds to help Palestinians who are trying to evacuate before the border closes.

[fungusqueen]

So for the time being, I'm going to be donating 100% of revenue from my online shop to help a friend of a friend, Balsam, and her family, raise funds to evactuate Gaza, (which as I'm sure you're aware, has been the target of an Isreali genocide). If you want to donate directly to the GoFundMe and read more of her story, here is the link. I'll post proof of donated funds if there are any. My online shop is predominantly mushroom-themed, as is my blog, but I think mushrooms and the love of mushrooms can and should be used for social justice causes. Palestinians and other indigenous peoples are the biggest caretakers of the earth and we need to support their survival where we can, or we won't have a world left to love. My shop link is here in case you missed it embedded above.

[fungusqueen]

dude, some customers at work cross the line so hard, so I cross the line too. if they're going to joke around, i'll meet their energy or have fun with what they're throwing at me for my own entertainment. so this guy comes up to me and my coworker today, and my coworker says "hi, how are you today?" and this middle aged white man says "oh, I'm having a good day, I'm having a better day than I deserve." and my coworker says "oh that's good to hear but why don't you think you deserve to have a good day?" and he's like "because I'm a sinner, redeemed by jesus christ and jesus christ only." and mind you, my coworker is christian and doesn't need to be converted; and I'm not a christian, and I also don't want to be converted. my coworker is just politely saying, "I hear you," and this guy continues to talk about how bad he is, how he was born into sin....so i'm like, "so...what was your last sin?" and he looked so caught off guard and started thinking...but then he was like "wait, do I have to tell you? what is this, confession?!" and he busts out laughing and is like "damn! you almost had me confessing my sins! you're a tough one!" and he turns to my coworker and says "imagine being married to her! she would never let you look at another woman! or misbehave!" and he turns to me and switches gears and says "if I was married to you, I would never look at another woman!" and then he starts talking to my coworker more so I let them talk and take my cue to disengage, but some people are just so weird. like maybe your cashier doesn't want you to try and convert them, maybe there are funnier or better things to talk about. i definitely don't want to be hit on either. but I actually lowkey did want to hear about his sins if he's just going to have no boundaries. anyway, I probably shouldn't engage with customers like that at work but what else can I do

[fungusqueen]

I'm trying to eat more beans so I finally bought the Bob's Red Mill 13-Bean Soup Mix...which is just a bag of 13 assorted beans...and the soup is so good. I added onion, garlic, parsley, celery, and carrot, and a little store-bought veg broth, but the beans create their own hearty broth that's not necessarily one distinct bean-flavor, it's an interesting combination. I think next, I will try to cook it as a base for chili

[fungusqueen]

I worked an 8 hr shift today but I think I might have listened to this song for around 4+ hrs since it was released around 10pm last night. And before that, I had her live show recordings of this song on repeat in the car. Anyway, please enjoy this silly lyric video of the new Chappell Roan song! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and maybe even scream to it in the car like I do :-)

[fungusqueen]

while at work yesterday, i was obsessively thinking about eating a mango on my next day off. like the thing I most wanted to do for pleasure at the moment was just devour one, or several mangos. and one of my coworkers asked me what my plans were for my day off and I knew he wouldn't understand so I'm like, "oh probably do my taxes and do some laundry". even though I knew I had plans to pick up mangos from the grocery store immediately after work. the arrival of spring has left me feeling ravenous for fruit. my mango craving also has me wondering if I have a vitamin A deficiency

[fungusqueen]

I have a life-long goal to recreate (at home) the food I eat in restaurants. and one of the sub-goals of that big goal is to get good at making vegan ramen broth. there are three vegan ramens from 3 different restaurants I've been trying to recreate and tonight, I think I cracked the code. there is room for improvement, but it dawned on me that two of the three restaurants almost CERTAINLY use tomato, which I haven't tried in my homemade recipes before tonight. tonight I also added homemade almond milk INSTEAD of coconut milk and it definitely has the flavor profile I was looking for. I also added yellow squash to my broth and I think it helped balance out the other vegetables.

Overall I used:

Handful of shiitake mushrooms, cut in strips, added to the hot pan (without oil) to release moisture and cook. Then I added a generous amount of olive oil and...

One large white onion, two bulbs of garlic, one bunch of celery, four large carrots (all chopped) (salt added) -> cooked until reduced

Then I added water, brought it up to heat, simmered for about 30 min and added:

Two yellow squash (chopped), 6 campari tomatoes (blended in water), added ginger powder, more salt, pepper, soy sauce). Then simmered for an hour.

At the end I added sesame oil, homemade almond milk (almonds blended in water and strained), and chili oil

And for now, I think it's one of my most successful broths, without requiring homemade/store-bought vegetable broths or bouillon

[fungusqueen]

one more life update: I finally have a little more free time (not really but I'm trying to be more intentional about making time for myself) so my plan is to prioritize making some mini quilts to submit to my local county fair's quilt competition. I need to double check the size requirements for each category, but quilting is something I've missed so much and haven't been able to do for awhile. I might even keep some quilting/hand-sewing supplies in my car so I can really maximize my time between errands etc. or just have a little container in my day bag for quilting on-the-go or even outdoors. My dream is to spend more time outdoors this spring and it would be nice to work on my hand sewing in the shade under a tree or somewhere with a nice view and snacks

[fungusqueen]

i've been summoned to jury duty and I have mixed feelings because on one hand it means my schedule is disrupted, I will probably lose money (not enough hours of pay compared to my regular work schedule because that happened the last time I had jury duty), and I'm not thrilled with the whole process (I don't think I will be chosen)...but on the other hand it means I have a rare excuse to not go to work so I think I just need to make the most of this and enjoy a little variation in my routine and maybe set myself up for little adventures before and after jury duty

[fungusqueen]

there's another round of rain in the forecast for SoCal, i'm sort of thinking I might try to create some guerilla gardens, or even just start seeds in spots I know might do well. the days are getting longer and even though it's cold, the signs of spring are definitely here and it makes me excited to spend more time outdoors

[fungusqueen]

Russula sp. in the oak duff

[fungusqueen]

Russula sp. in the oak duff

[fungusqueen]

Pink-spored mushroom

[fungusqueen]

Pink-spored mushrooms

[fungusqueen]

Little mushroooms growing from a fallen log

[fungusqueen]

Cute Russula sp. mushroom from last winter

[fungusqueen]

Blue staining bolete from last winter