Plenty

Yesterday we took our friends Jeffrey and Shana to Francis Point. On the way there, I was keeping an eye out for oyster mushrooms but didn’t see any. We sat out on the point watching a prawn boat haul in traps as an eagle hovered around, waiting for the heads. Seals kept their watchful distance. Walking back to the car, I suddenly saw two dead alder trees completely covered in mushrooms! I’d looked at those very trees earlier but the light hadn’t been right, I guess. We had bags in the car and filled two of them — IGA shopping bags! — with the nicest ones and left the mature ones there. There are also many tiny guys coming along which we’ll go for next week (unless someone else gets there first…).

So this morning John has spread out most of the mushrooms to sort and  clean

and will cook them in a little butter and olive oil for the freezer.

The rest we’ll eat fresh over the next few days. And in the time it’s taken me to write these few sentences, the house has filled with the delicious smell of oyster mushrooms in Sicilian olive oil…