December Mushroom Hunt

A few days ago I got impatient waiting for the rain to clear and decided to go out hunting, rain or no. Even before I began the hike, I spotted clumps of mushrooms along the side of the road from the car. I had to pull over a few times, but eventually enforced mental blinders on myself so I wouldn't crash.

Within ten feet of the trail-head, I came upon this minor disaster. Where did you guys come from?

Aha! You delicious, inaccessible beauties!

Well, no matter. I hiked for a few more hours in a light drizzle. The forest was an utter chaos. There were several places where the main trail was blocked entirely by fallen trees, and there was, in general, a huge amount of debris. I spotted a lot of Boletes, but they were all too decayed to be of interest.

Sadly, there were no more oysters to be seen, but our regular chanterelle spot didn't disappoint, and I returned with a good, if dirty, haul.

I decided to make a creamy polenta with sauce of mushrooms sage butter sauce. (This is a little less than half the mushrooms)

By the time it was ready to eat, I was too excited to remember to take any more photos, though. The next evening we also made our traditional pasta with mushroom garlic cream sauce with the other half of the mushrooms.