Shroomin'

We found a lot of these Chanterelles in the brush.

Since I've been living in the Pacific Northwest I've had a lot of experiences that I wouldn't otherwise.
I've definitely eaten a lot more seafood than I ever have before, I've seen a lot of plays and visited top-notch museums.

We are an eclectic family. We love the outdoors, living so close to nature and harvesting food we grow ourselves, but we also like the city and all it has to offer.

I've been waiting for mushroom season. I have a wonderful recipe for mushroom pie that I wanted to make using fresh mushrooms. There are a lot of them here. We have guided tours led by the parks department on identifying edible mushrooms. I've never participated in that program, but would if I could work it into my schedule.

But I found out I don't have to, because Chuck knows about mushroom hunting. (I sometimes wonder when I'll find his cape with the big S on it. He knows how to do so many things.) Mushroom season is finally here.

Last week we went mushroom hunting one afternoon when Sean got home from school. Chuck took us to the property he owns in the middle of our town that is vacant and undeveloped. Chanterelle mushrooms grow here, mostly in overgrown wooded areas. We spent a little bit of time at the property and harvested a bag full. But the recipe calls for eight cups of mushrooms, so Chuck went out on our property here at the house and gathered another large bag full.
His tip is to cut them at the base, not pull them. He has been going back to the same spots for years, and each year he finds them there.

Sean took his pocket knife and enjoyed crawling under the
brush to look for the prized mushrooms. 

Another one!

We ended up giving those away because we had too many meetings and our schedules were too full to be able to cook at home and actually be here to eat it. Sad, but we ended up going out to a restaurant to eat that night because there was just not enough time before the next meeting.

There is another edible mushroom that grows on our property that we'll harvest for this pie. I plan to get out and hunt for them this week, and I'll make the pie next week. This week is another busy one.