Morels

We had the best time this evening. Granted, Hannah is sick with a Spring cold and Abigail was tired (and mad because I didn't duck low enough and she got whapped in the head with a branch while she was riding in the baby backpack!), and Andy had homework...but we went hunting nonetheless.

And we found them! We probably picked - I dunno - 30-40 morels. Ahh, they smell like the mountains themselves. Earthy, damp and alive. According to all of the websites I've seen on morel hunting, you aren't supposed to tell where you found them. Therefore we owe a big ole' THANK YOU to CL for his pointers and for turning us on to a patch. I am hooked!!

We sauteed the first batch in butter after flouring and egging them and they tasted better than anything I've ever eaten before in my life. They taste like life itself. My mouth is watering just thinking of them. I'm going to try and not be such a greedy gut and dry these by hanging them up near the wood stove tonight.

Anything and everything you read about foraging for food in the wild cautions that one should not eat wild mushrooms under any cirucmstances unless they have been positively identified. So I checked my ID and ate. Just kidding. But a morel is a morel and not easily confused with other fungi.

At the first bite of the warm, spongy and meaty morel morsel (alliteration rears its ugly head), I would have been fine if I had died right then. In fact, I told Andy to just be sure to take care of the girls and not to mourn my loss as I was confident of my salvation. (And I am SO looking forward to Heaven, anyways!). And just smirked and said, "eat it!" But, alas, I didn't die! However, as I'm writing this, I'm making a mental note to drill Hannah on the topic of mushroom safety. Well, Andy ate some too and he agreed that they were delicious. Eating fungus didn't kill him either :)

I can hardly wait for Saturday. We'll be heading back into the woods!