Neighborhood leaf peeping

I've been wanting to take pictures of the fall foliage in our neighborhood for years, but somehow I only got around to it last weekend. I thought the time had passed and it was going to be a down year for fall colors, but it turns out everything was just delayed into the middle of November by climate change. Mom and I did a clockwise tour of MCS, snapping pictures as we went. Mom also made herself a little collage of some of the prettiest leaves, which she collected from other people's property, while I walked away and pretended not to know her. Here are the leaves she gathered: 

 

And here are some of the trees we ogled during our neighborhood tour:

 

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I've banged the drum for the benefits of using a powder made out of dried mushrooms (preferably shiitake) as a good source of umami in a dish. It's quick and easy to make, especially if you have a dedicated spice grinder, and lasts for ages in a glass jar in your cupboard. It has already shown up on UaKS as a major umami booster in Black Bean Umami Chili, Mushroom Risotto, and Vegetarian Mushroom Thyme Gravy. I've included in each of those recipes a link or instructions for making the powder, but I thought it might be useful to have a separate D.I.Y. "recipe" as well. When using the powder, add it to the dish before the majority of the cooking happens, so the powder has a chance to rehydrate. In other words, you probably shouldn't make something, taste, and think it needs a little flavor boost, and then sprinkle some mushroom powder onto the dish like a finishing salt; it'll just taste dry and dusty. If you're experimenting with adding mushroom powder to a dish, a couple of teaspoons is probably a good starting point.

Mushroom Powder

 

Time: <5 minutes

You can also use dried porcini mushrooms, but dried shiitakes are cleaner, cost about half as much, and have a meatier flavor, so they're a much better choice.

 

15 grams (~½ cup) dried shiitake mushrooms (see note)

Place the mushrooms in a spice grinder (a coffee grinder used only for grinding spices). Grind to a fine powder, 15 to 30 seconds. Don't take the top off the spice grinder too quickly or you'll find yourself in a mushroom cloud. Store in an airtight container (like a clean spice jar) in a cupboard out of direct sunlight. It should last there for quite a while. Add to dishes before cooking so that the powder can rehydrate in the cooking medium. Makes about ¼ cup.