Mushrooms!

June 16, 2005 · Posted in General, Recipes · 2 Comments 

Hooray! My first successful wild mushroom expedition!

Simon and I visited the Tokai Arboretum at about one in the afternoon, and surreptitiously left the path in search of mushrooms. We found a huge number of saffron milk-caps (Lactarius deliciosus) and one mushroom known in Polish as the “little hare”, which is apparently xerocomus subtomentosus. We then went to visit my parents (on the occasion of my father’s return from his visit to Poland), and I prepared the milk-caps for dinner by frying them in butter and adding fresh chopped parsley. They were very nice, but also really rich. I think I will try using them in stir-fry next time. The “little hare” is drying in the oven – you use those in soups and stews, and drying is the most common method of preservation.

We also saw some purple-capped members of the genus Russula – which my mom assured me over the phone are not edible, but which are apparently not only edible but really good, according to a Polish mushroom guide on the web – and some little orange mushrooms that grow on logs, as yet unidentified.

I got a jar of pickled milk-caps from my mom. Yum.

Since it is customary in Western culture to be extremely paranoid about wild-mushroom picking, I include a disclaimer: some wild mushrooms are extremely poisonous (although the majority of inedible mushrooms simply taste bad or are likely to give you a runny stomach, and some species are only toxic when raw). Do not eat random things you find growing in the forest unless you are reasonably sure that you should. Familiarise yourself with an illustrated list of highly toxic mushrooms before you go.

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Review: Webcomics, Hellsing, GITS 2, Fanfiction

June 5, 2005 · Posted in Reviews · 2 Comments 

I have once again gone foraging for new webcomics, this time using the novel technique of entering “fantasy webcomic” into Google and seeing what comes up on top. Here's what I've found:

No Rest for the Wicked

I was initially put off by the sketchy manga-style art and the fairytale parody theme (both of which are so often done very badly), but the nice-looking layout of the main page was an encouraging sign and after a few pages I was hooked. The story is funny and interesting, and the art quality is actually much better than it initially appears. And Puss in Boots is hot. I'm such a sucker for cute, sarcastic manga furries guys with cat ears.

Juathuur

It's about a community of magic users who live on a giant raft. The art is very nice, and the story is intriguing – there are glimpses of some kind of political conflict.

Schwarz Kreuz

It's about Nicholas Von Helsing, who has become a vampire (presumably unintentionally, since he's apparently very depressed about it) and is now working for a covert supernatural-bad-thing-hunting organization. Some elements seem very derivative of the Hellsing anime/manga series (especially noticeable since I watched the series yesterday), but the art is good and I'm also a sucker for both secret paranormal investigation societies and brooding long-coated antiheroes, so I'm going to stick around.

The link is to an old page which is apparently no longer being updated. There's a redirect to a new page there, but the new page is inactive. I'll have to investigate later.

Edited to add…

Desert Rocks

This is described as a “fantasy road trip” comic – it soon becomes apparent that it is taking place in a world which is not our own, but the fantasy elements are very subtle and revealed gradually, as is the political backdrop of the story.

And now for something completely different…

OK, not completely different.

Last night we watched Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and Hellsing with Kevin and Neil. It was very enjoyable.

GITS was fansubbed and appeared to be missing half the dialogue – it may have been less confusing if we could actually understand everything the characters were saying. The animation is partially computer-generated, and it's absolutely breathtaking. As in the first movie, the drawn animation is amazingly lifelike. I highly recommend the movie if only for this – you will probably be too busy admiring the view to mind that you aren't quite following what the characters are doing, or that the mystic and portentious philosophy has lost something in the translation.

I had seen some of Hellsing before, fansubbed, and I remembered not being particularly impressed. I'm really glad I saw it again dubbed, because the dubbing was much, much better than the fansubbing. It actually all made sense this time, and was funny and engaging. It did not look good when Seras Victoria first appeared (she sounded very whiny and annoying), but fortunately she improved very rapidly. I definitely recommend this version. Look out for the humourous little clips after the credits of each episode.

I'm finding out if it's possible to order the manga through Outer limits.

And I might as well tack on a fanfiction recommendation…

Of Rust and Stardust, by Miss Moppet, is a short piece of Harry Potter fanfiction. It's a mystery focused on Pansy Parkinson, and believably blends into the established canon with the sort of nefarious wizarding family intrigue that is one of the most interesting aspects of the setting. It is a work in progress and currently leaves off on a cliffhanger – I have been eagerly checking back for the next installment.

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