Morning Off

I wasn't quite feeling up to par today, so I stayed home from taiji. I feel okay right now, but I suspect that it would have been a bad idea for me to drive to IF and back. Since I stayed home, though, I got to play with tear gas, skin-burning chemicals, dead birds, Japanese fungus, dried seeds, roots, and a host of other things. *grins* In other words, I made chicken stew. It still has about an hour to cook. I've never put Shiitake mushrooms in a stew before, but the raw piece I tried had a nice, woody flavor. Slightly strong aftertaste, though. But since I only got four mushrooms (roughly an inch and a half in diameter), I figure that they won't overpower the rest of the stew.

UPDATE: I started feeling much better shortly after eating the bit of shiitake, but I was also eating a fresh-peeled carrot and half a sweet potato. And I feel even better after eating some of my stew. I'm halfway tempted to credit the shiitake, but chicken stew/soup in general is supposed to be good for colds, too. *shrugs* Though I have to laugh at some of the claims made for shiitake. "Strengthens the immune system! Good for treating HIV!" Anyone else see the irony there? Now, when they claim antiviral properties and good for treating HIV, that, at least, is reasonable. I don't know how true it is, though.