A real web "log"

Har, I'm feeling punny. Here's a pic of one of the wackier gifts I have gotten this year. It's a mushroom log. More specifically, it's a shiitake mushroom log. At first I laughed at it. Remember the "log lady" from the old David Lynch series? It was kind of like getting a pet rock, I thought, but then when I investigated further, I realized that this log actually is infused with spores of said mushroom, and can keep producing them for weeks at a time for a number of years. Whew! They are my favorite mushrooms, and I've never had them fresh, and they are so good for you.

As it happens the instructions are rather involved. I had to soak it for 12 hours in water, thump it three times on each end to "activate" the growth, and then keep it in a shallow bowl of water at all times. One the mushroom babies start to appear you must keep them misted. Quite an involved process. For now I have placed it on the dining room table as a rather rustic centerpiece. I will post updates to this weblog as soon as I get some of the little guys. If my cat is any indication, they should be pretty good. My cat was chewing a bit on the log before I submerged it.