even more foraging

We're suckers for a bit of wild foraging here at innocent, Ceri and Meera went last week in Wales and Lucy and the girls went last September by the seaside. Our Simon even does it for a living with the help of Carlos, kind of.

So I thought I'd have a crack at it myself on Saturday, but in the heart of London on Hampstead Heath with Andy ( a fungi to be with). Here's my haul which is largely made up of laccaria laccata, or deceivers as Andy likes to call them.

I also found that mushrooms that live on fallen trees and are the same colour as your wellie boots are edible surprisingly.

Spot the mushrooms.

Spot the foragers.

A lovely autumnal day for it.

Please note: Never eat anything you find in the wild unless you are 110% sure you know what it is, or the professional you are with is 100% sure. Especially if it lives on fallen trees and is the same colour as your wellie boots.

rainy days

Lawn bowling may be off today

But I found the first conker of Autumn on my way to work this morning.

So it's not all bad.

(Disclaimer: Conker pictured may not actually be the first official conker of 2008 but it's definitely the first one I've seen this year)

you (gooseberry) fool

Green, hairy and a bit odd looking, gooseberries are as tasty in smoothies as they are perfect for puddings to cheer you up when it's cold, grey and drizzling outside.

Especially if you've just made a prat of yourself on the way back from the shops, attempting to make that trying-not to-slip-over-on-mushy-leaves dance look cool.

How to make a proper gooseberry fool

Ingredients

25 g butter
450g of gooseberries, topped and tailed
4 tbsp of sugar
340ml of double cream

What you need to do:

1. Melt 25g of butter in a saucepan, add the gooseberries and sugar and cook on a low heat till the gooseberries are nice and mushy.

2. Mash the gooseberries through a sieve to get rid of any pips or skin and allow to cool.

3. Whip the double cream, gently fold in the gooseberry mix and divide into posh champagne glasses. Leave to chill in the fridge for an hour or so and then serve your fool with some little shortbread biscuits.

So darned easy, you'd be a fool not to make it (sorry)