There's a helluva lot to do, and not much summer left to do it all.Casting supporting roles. Locations. Filling out our crew. Trying to raise a few more production dollars. Rewrites. Production design. Rehearsals. More rewrites. Scheduling. Budgeting. Testing equipment. Meetings...
It might be a blessing that much of New York and New Jersey has been experiencing an unusually warm, dry summer. If it wasn't such a crummy time for foraging, I'd be much more tempted to be out prowling Western New Jersey for chanterelles and black trumpets rather than sitting in front of the A/C in my Brooklyn apartment preparing for an October shoot.
I still get out of the city once a week or so...and I've thankfully been finding just enough edible fungi to stoke the fires. I crossed paths with the chicken mushroom (Laetiporus cincinnatus) pictured above last Sunday. Nothing makes a finer tempura than fresh, young chicken mushroom, in my opinion. It also takes to braising very well. I've also had a pretty good summer for different bolete species, but very few chanties and no lactarius or black trumpets to date. Such is life.
And so, while the Mister Softee trucks are still rolling, we'll be busy laying the groundwork for production...and praying for a massive deluge of rainfall come September. The mushrooms must be ready for their close-ups.
