Although this realization is often coupled with a sense of nostalgia and romanticized reminiscing of that far too short season, i don't mind autumn - in fact, it's quite welcome. I'm not gonna launch into that whole spiel about this being the time for some post-summer introspection, regular exercise, new projects and lighting candles when the rain pelts on your windows on a dark and dreary night. Nope. I'll leave that to womens' magazines (seriously, they tell you the same thing every year, WTF?). Instead, i'll tell you what i think is awesome about this season. In two words: mushrooms & movies.
The former were found in copious quantities in a rainy forest in Nuuksio over the weekend. First time in my life that i found torvisienet, which is why i was particularly excited upon spotting the curious looking fungi hiding under a fallen tree trunk (my mushroom book warned me one may easily mistake a torvisieni for a fallen leaf or other decaying plant material on the forest floor. You don't say? Luckily, that's not the case with any other mushroom). In any case, i reckon heading into the bush for some dinner ingredients is something everyone should have a go at. And there's still time, too, as the mushroom season extends until the end of October, at least (according to the aforementioned mushroom book, anyhow).
On the movie front, there's Helsinki International Film Festival, Rakkautta & Anarkiaa. Choosing which ones to see is the hardest part; there are so many movies it's confusing. I reckon your best bet (if you haven't got your tickets yet, that is) is to get a festival pass (11 films/70 euros), leaf through the catalogue, and pick your favorites. Unless you're on the ball with this and getting around to it early, you'll probably not get tickets to all the ones you wanna see. But i reckon this is a good thing, cause this way you can spend your remaining tickets on movies you wouldn't normally choose to see. It's nice to be taken out of your comfort zone and field of interest every once in a while - even if it is only cinematically. Personally, i'm quite looking forward to seeing Heartbeats, All That I Love, Dharma Guns and L.A. Zombie, among others. As well as spending most of my evenings this week in the comforting darkness of a movie theatre.
Back at the ranch, the fungi was about to meet its end. The 'shrooms were thrown in a pan along with some onions, soy cream and a good handful of spices and herbs, and ended up on a plate with some wholewheat spaghetti, topped off with some parmesan. There's something awesome about eating food you've foraged yourself. Even if it is from a stretch of forest crowded on all sides by houses and infested with other urban foragers, and even if that thing moving on the sizzling frying pan happens to be a slug that's crawled out of one of the mushrooms, seriously wishing it wasn't gonna end up as the protein constituent of your next meal. When this amounts to too much excitement for autumn, i recommend you light those candles and invest in some knitting needles.
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