Mushroom Weekend

The weekend before Hell Week, I prepared by staying home and doing as much of my homework ahead of time as possible.  Oh wait, no –  actually, I headed up into the Idaho Panhandle to hunt for mushrooms with the Palouse Mycological Association.  Braving the damp and chill, we set out for Priest Lake (Idaho’s Crown Jewel, apparently) in search of matsutake (japanese for “pine tree mushrooms”).

Sad to say, we didn’t find many.  I made this big guy mine, and some other folks found a few, but apparently this was nothing compared to previous years.

I wasn’t too bothered, though. I mean, it’s hard to be crabby when you’ve got this view outside your cabin door.

It’s ridiculous how crystal clear all these mountain lakes are up here. Have they never heard of algae?

Overnight, the fog rolls in.

We didn’t find enough for a big feast, but we all got to try a nibble of the famed matsutake, here marinated in grilled over the camp fire after being marinated in oil, ginger, garlic, lime, and a dash of soy sauce. I have to say, it made me understand people’s disappointment: delicious!

Matsutake wasn’t the only mushroom collected… Most of these aren’t edible, but they were gathered as samples for the mycology classes at WSU. They make a lively display, anyway.

More pics of mushroom weekend here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 9:28 am and is filed under food, scenery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.