Jess Liotta 🍄
@jessliotta
Dual class 🇺🇸/🇮🇹 (siciliana, e imparando italiano). I’m a mushroom forager, parent to two very cool kids, silken windhound owner, and food obsessive; be ready for me to be annoying about all the above. PNW now, CA before, PNW before that. She/her
Got planted tank #2 initially spun up today; 4-6 weeks and it’ll be mooore neocaridina shrimp and mystery snail time (and maybe a couple wee dwarf aquatic frogs, tbd on water parameters). I put this one directly beside our downstairs toilet which is really gonna be a crowd pleaser
True PNW luxury might be being blessed with finding a thimbleberry patch so prolific that you and your child can collect enough (before a looming thunderstorm arrives) for a batch of six perfect thimbleberry muffins
BONUS ROUND Quick side trip to some summer chanterelles and lobster mushrooms from a cool microclimate on the north side of the Columbia; not pictured: the monster haul of thimbleberry we also scored
I have transitioned Miro’s aquarium to fully planted, and we now have 10 cherry “Bloody Mary” neocaridina (and 8 Pygmy corydoras) and I am. Obsessed!!! with them. They are so active and so fucking cute it kills me. Already planning the next tank build
Corn pasta is definitely a thing in Italy! And I made some the other day (sautee corn then blend half into a sauce with pecorino and a little pasta water to emulsify it all and mix with pasta and the still whole sautéed corn). So goooood
Kaiser's website is anti-ADHD because it's so goddamn slow to log in that I always end up switching to another tab while I wait, only to find that it's automatically logged me out 15 minutes later because I forgot to go back
Shit, we moved 2 kids, a very tall dog, 2 cats, and my carnivorous plants from California to Oregon in a mini cooper. Admittedly the cat carriers took up the front passenger seat and my spouse drove the VW GTI, but still. If that car had been functionally electric I *never* would have let it go
No love in the show ring for Caper, but he had a blast and performed very well at fast dash, clocking his personal best of 29.01 MPH average over 100 yards and earning his BFAST title ☺️
This last year Kai & pals founded a robotics team at their school, and they're doing a fundraising push to expand to include the middle school and build a dedicated practice room. They're only $48 from their goal, and hoping some kind soul(s) will help close the gap. tinyurl.com/94uym7rw
The wee frogs have moved into the Big Terrarium! Although they have grown so much in 7 months they look SO TINY in there
NWS area forecast discussion says we will likely see 95+ today and especially tomorrow, and they’re the full-on gold standard for weather knowing. Plus high overnight temperatures, 60-65+, even up to 70. FWIW my back yard weather station currently showing 91.9 🫠 forecast.weather.gov/product.php?...
Pay attention PDX; Lindo Yucatán at 84th and Division is fucking legit as hell. NB patience is key as they are clearly having victims-of-own-success issues (slightly harried staff, wrong order details, forgotten things etc) but we don’t even GAF they’re so GOOD
Oh yeah ALSO! There was a nighthawk hovering over this spot doing a loud SQUAWWWHHEE sound for literal hours. I barely had reception, but I tried to google why the hell it was doing this and all I could get to load was this AI overview. It is, uh, really quite something
On the other hand the place we camped looks like this and that’s a big plus
Now that I’ve done the whole final assembled thing all put together, all I want to do is make ANOTHER even prettier one haha. Some of the ones in Palermo pasticcerie are INCREDIBLE looking
In the alt text I forgot 2 VERY IMPORTANT points: 1. There’s pan di Spagna sponge cake lining the inside soaked in hood strawberry syrup I made 2. The ricotta has mini chocolate chips & diced hood strawberry, AND I whipped fresh sheep cheese into it to mimic traditional Sicilian 🐑 milk ricotta
I’m preparing for my silly Pix bake show contest interview, and last night I made this pistachio marzipan. I want to note there is 0 food coloring in here. This is pure pistacchio verde di Bronte DOP I hauled back from NW Etna, aka the best goddamn pistachios in the world ☺️
Tfw you go to a restroom and are not immediately available for your child
I’m taxiing a hitchhiking silken windhound up to the PNW and man, they look even more silly in pairs
A demonstration of the 3 types we found screenshot from my Instagram story, for those curious about morphology
I was sorting the pile of morels that folks found into M tridentina and M snyderi and was like. What. What the hell is THIS doing here????
Led a group of folks out to find some morels in the Sierras and gosh did we have success. Three entire different morel species (including Morchella americana at 5300’+! What!!)
Anyway neither turkey, turklet, dog, nor Jess were harmed (rip my coffee tho) Here’s mama glaring at me malevolently from up the hill
Yesterday was an incredible day for Sarcodes sanguinea sightings- a real California treat. This weird as hell plant is a mycoheterotroph, fully lacking chlorophyll and getting all its energy from a symbiotic relationship with Rhizopogon mycelium!
Caper and I drove 12 hours and ended up at our destination of Twain Harte CA! Now it’s van bedtime and tomorrow, morel site scouting