Thursday, August 13, 2009

Crayfish parties.

It was a cold and foggy morning today. The themometer only reached 5C (41F) degrees. The sun came for a moment just to be covered by fog again.

Sweeds loves crayfish and every year around this date we have crayfish premier. Parties all over the country has these animals as the center of attention for all of August. Our own species of crayfish has almost died out totally because of a fungus giving it Crayfish pest. So nowdays our lakes and rivers are filled with the north american Signal crayfish. It´s a bit different taste but very close anyway. Crayfish parties is almost more important than Christmas for many people :-)


I don´t know many different sorts of mushrooms, but I know more than most. I have no idea if this is edible, but it´s beautiful anyway.


It was so dark in the forest so I had to adjust my camera to be able to take any pictures. A bit to light I feel.
The ones we catches here isn´t enough for our needs of this delicious little animal, related to spiders :-) So we import loads of them from many places of the world. Mostly Turkey and China, but nowdays also from Louisiana in the US. But for many people the catching is the important thing. They put out cages late in the evening and emrties them early in the morning. So You can imagine the panic amongst them when they heard that it´ll be a bad year for crayfish catching. The summer has been to cold so they aren´t big enough. I have friends that had a crayfish party last weekend. They were twenty people, but only cought fourty crayfish that was big enough :-)

For the party we docorate the place we are going to be at with colorful lanterns, usually moon shaped with prints of crayfishes on and there are usually lots of candles and kerosene lamps. Flowers of course and usually sprigs of dill ( dill is important when boiling the crayfish here). Lots of strong drinks are served (different kinds of schnaps, I can´t stand schnaps though it´s disgusting) and mostly snapsvisor (schnaps songs) are sung.
This mushroom however I know. We call it "Finger mushroom". It´s edible, but not more. But I love the color on it. I wish there were a way to keep them to use as decoration inside. But these rot immediatly.

This and the one below is edible though. it´s perfect to mix with other mushrooms.



Further north it´s another tradition that starts now (down here to but mostly further north) It´s the fermented herring party. This is something I avoid though. The fermented herring doesn´t taste that bad to be honest, but the smell!!! I once dropped a can of fermented herring on the floor and it exploded. I was covered with it and I was sure I smelled for several weeks aftewords :-) But those who likes it does this every year.






The morning started out as very foggy and cold, it was only five degrees centigarde (41 fahrenheit) outside. The sun did get through for a couple of minutes, but then the fog came back again. Later on rain and thunder passed by. Now it looks as if the sun might get through the clouds again. Autumn is here now even if it will be longer or shorter periods of heat too. Well that´s the way it is. Now mostly of our forestflies will die, but an even worse will come. It´s creepy and we call it Moose fly. I´ll tell You about that fly when I´ve seen the first one. I get cold chills down my spine just thinking of it!
Have a great day now!





My plums will soon be yellow and ripe. They are many and really big this year.


10 comments:

jaz@octoberfarm said...

ewwwww....moose flies???? are they called that because of how big they are? you really have some creepy flies there christer!! i love mushrooms and i wish i knew enough about them to pick them in the woods. when we eat rawfish here they are usually spiced cajun style like in new orleans. do swedes suck the heads like we do here? it is going to be very hot for the next week here. ugh!! enjoy your cool weather and let me know how erna is doing! joyce

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
No they are not big those flies, but they usually stays close to mooses and other deers. I really get cold chills down my spine thinking of them!!!

I know enough of different mushrooms to be able to use them in different ways, but not enough anyway I feel. There are so many one can eat.

We suck the heads too, but we spice them in a differant way. We boil them in water with salt, dill and something more I think. But I love them the cajun way too :-)

Erna is still doing fine, but now we´re closing in to the critical period. Just to wait I´m afraid.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Anonymous said...

Will your plums survive an early frost over there? I think they look the best of all you've got growing there. I love mushrooms but only trust what I can buy to eat from the store. I never encourage campers to eat mushrooms whenever we camped. Too many bad stories from my childhood. But yours look great on camera, that's for sure. Also like those lit photos of the enchanted forrest. All you need is a witch brewing her broth for a magic spell. Have a good one! Best to Erna. I'm praying she will do fine.

NinaH said...

Oh! How I long for a craw fish party! Mmm! But I rather skip the nordic "surströmmming"!;-) My mother was from up north & wanted to have it. Father & I took a walk!;-)
----- Yes- as you said: it´s great that we made such friends on the forum & stay friends still many of us! Have you been to any meeting this summer- except you visit at Ls place?

john said...

No crayfish,
but we were at my daughter and son-in-law's home for the US Midwestern Kubb Championships over the weekend. A great time with 48 teams playing from 9 in the morning to 8:30 a night.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32073689@N00/sets/72157621876818249/

Anonymous said...

Not much on Crayfish here in maine although they sell them in local food stores. Here it is time for a lobster party as the are softshell at this time and quite reasonaable in price. Nice post today you always have a nice tale to tell making your blog a favorite. Enjoy the autum weather we are heading into a heat wave.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
Yes, they usually has no problems with the first frost if it´s not to strong. Sometimes they even get sweeter if frost comes, but they are sweet enough as they are.

I pick those mushrooms I know is edible, I never take a chnance with those I´m not sure of :-) I also avoid picking white mushrooms because the lines of the white toadstool. It is deadly poisounes and the internal organs stors working after a while. I know how to look for the differenses but one day I might be tired and miss to check properly.

There might be witches out on the bog, bogs are mysterious You know :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Nina!
I also have problems with the raw feeling when eating surströmming. So I can´t eat pickled herring or cold smoked salmon because of that :-)

No I haven´t been to any forum meetings this summer. I was going to Karins that lives on the other side of the bog, but remembered it to late. So this year will be a forum meeting less year I fear.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi John!
So You have a Kubb champoionship in The US! It´s so fun playing Kubb!

I´ll check that link later!
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Woody!
Lobster tastes so delicious! But they are not allowed to fish them over here until november I think. They are expensive too, but then it´s a good thing that I know some that fishes them :-) :-)

No heat wave over here. It´ll be rainy and the temperature will go down a bit. Especially mornings are cold now.
Have a great day now!
Christer.