Gay Guy in Seminary: Day 166 (Chanterelles)

Kimberlee, Haley and I went on another walk today, and I came prepared with a small kit I had put together just in case we came across some edible mushrooms. It consisted of a very large plastic container, a steak knife and a medium sized brush inside of a small backpack. I knew we would be walking up the path that passes the chanterelle and blewitt patches that I've found. What I was not prepared for was the sudden downpour that we found ourselves in.

When we arrived at the chanterelle patch, it seemed like there was nothing there, so we kept walking. But, as I was about to leave, I noticed a disturbed spot of earth and leaves that looked like something was pushing up from underneath. I brushed some of the leave aside an found 2 enormous chanterelles! I'm not sure if it's a varietal thing, but the chanterelles that I have found there always seem to be just barely breaking the surface, and are quite really after they're picked, quite unlike this pretty "cooking show" quality mushroom in the picture above. It's so weird how they're just growing there by this guy's driveway. I had to cut the bigger one in half just to fit it into the container and it had the most beautiful earthy apricot fragrance. I hope I'm not taking mushrooms from someone who's expecting them to be there, LOL.

It started raining shortly after that, and the only blewitt we found was infested with worms, but it was at a completely new patch, so now I know of yet another place to find them! It's too bad that they get infested so fast, because they seem to be really common around here.

By the time we got back to the apartments, we were soaked. None of us had brought an umbrella.

It took me a while to clean the dirt off of the chanterelles, and following a tip I found on the Internet, prepared them simply by sautéing them in some butter. The website said they would taste almost like steak that way, which I think was a bit of a stretch, but I can see how they would be a really great meat substitute. Texture-wise, these things are amazing! I can't wait to go chanterelle hunting for real in a forest! I just need to figure out where a good place to look would be.

I'm finally hanging out with my Aunt Ellen tomorrow. She lives in South San Francisco, but I haven't seen her since before the Fall term started. Hopefully the weather's better!

Gay Guy in Seminary Day 149 (More Fun With Mushrooms)

Some more local shrooms:

I went on a walk with Marlene today in the rain. It wasn't a mushroom hunt, but I brought my camera just in case. At most, I thought we might find some blewitts. As we were huffing our way up a hill, I caught a glimpse of yellow on the side of the road. I walked over, thinking it was just going to be another mushroom, but when I got closer, I noticed the ruffled edges. We were not walking in the woods, so I thought there was very little chance we could have stumbled across a patch of chanterelles. I tried to look underneath to see the gills, as that would be the tell-tall sign for whether or not they were indeed the much sought after chanterelle mushrooms, but they were growing too low to the ground. Finally, curiosity and a small dash of hope and excitement won the battle in my head and I decided to just pull one of them up to look. I couldn't believe it! The gills were more like wrinkles, just like chanterelles were supposed to have, and it was very hefty for its size, another feature of chanterelles. It was a chanterelle! I quickly pulled up the other two, one of which was a monster at 4 inches across, and put them in my jacket pocket as I had not thought to bring anything to carry possible mushroom finds.

In my excitement, I failed to take a picture of them as we found them on the ground, but here are two of them sitting on Marlene's stove about to become a sauce for our pasta:

They were good, but I find it hard to justify their $20.00 a pound market price. Still, It was a very exciting find and we will definitely be keeping tabs on the area where we found them for any future tasty morsels! :-)