Mushrooms ... we love them so !

From Britannica :

mushroom, the conspicuous umbrella-shaped fruiting body (sporophore) of certain fungi, typically of the order Agaricales in the phylum Basidiomycota but also of some other groups. Popularly, the term mushroom is used to identify the edible sporophores; the term toadstool is often reserved for inedible or poisonous sporophores. There is, however, no scientific distinction between the two names, and either can be properly applied to any fleshy fungus fruiting structure. In a very restricted sense, mushroom indicates the common edible fungus of fields and meadows (Agaricus campestris). A very closely related species, A. bisporus, is the mushroom grown commercially and seen in markets.

Never had them fresh when I was growing up. Mum would buy them in the can or the glass jar and only pater and I would eat them. I learned how to eat them fresh when I started college and had a roommate who liked them and was quite fussy about their preparation. He insisted that the caps all needed to be peeled. I'd comply and ue the skin as compost. Competing was exotic for tenants lf a junior-4 apartment in New York City! I'm surprised at how many people hat them with a great passion. One of the oldest vegetarians that i know has a dislike for anything that sprouts (including mushrooms).

I think of them in so many favorite dishes: Barley and mushroom soup, omelets with sauteed onions, a delightful pizza topping, salade niçoise, an excellent part of the vegetable kingdom to use for dipping, minced and used in bread making, minced and used in flavoring butter. Also pairs well with cheese. Can be used with meat, dairy, or total vegetarian menus.

Then there are the folks who are into hallucinogens. Yea, I'm guessing you thought that that was going to be the subject matter of this entry. (Not) sorry to disappoint, but drugs have no place in my life or lifestyle and I spend scant little time talking or thinking about them. I have never felt the need to take an exogenous substance to alter my state of consciousness. My thinking is, if my state of consciousness cannot get to a different state without a narcotic, then maybe my state of consciousness was never meant to be in that state.

They are almost always in the fridge. I use ceps that are either white or brown and--when there is a little more ready cash at hand--I like some of the larger Portobello mushrooms.

To each his own.