At last !

Days and days of rain,
finally it's mushroom time -
or are they toad stools ?

It has been a frustrating week for us. Our second last week here, hoping to get as much climbing as possible done, and it has rained and rained. And rained. Every time the rain stops long enough to even think it might be possible to go out, it rains again. On the week-end we had wild showers but the last couple of days have been gentle pitter pattering falls interspersed with misty not-quite-rain.

There's no denying it was needed after such a hot dry spring.

We did some work on our blog - added a couple of new pages for anyone interested in our gear for this trip. We re-read our books. We skyped some people. Then finally the sun and the mushrooms came out !

Fairy ring champignons, to be exact. We found a couple in our own backyard, then plenty more further afield.

Just outside our door !

Not having found Fairy ring champignons before we followed the proper precautions in identifying them - checked that it was the correct season, checked the size, shape and colour of the stem, the cap and the gills, then took a spore print. We were quite sure of what they were but better safe than sorry!

Everything matched perfectly, so we went and picked some more.

Just a few to start with - now we know where they are.

They're not very large, just as well we know where there's more...

And the final test - the taste test. Well, not just a taste test. Since we haven't eaten this type of mushroom before it's best to try a few to start with, just in case your body doesn't like them. These mushrooms need to be cooked before eating, otherwise they can be poisonous.

Yum.

 

So Neil fried up a few, very simply in butter with salt and pepper and we had a few morsels each on some fresh baguette. With a slightly nutty flavour and nice firm texture, we are looking forward to plenty more for dinner tomorrow night.

Neil's already planning rabbit with some of the (very fresh) red currant jelly that Sylvie gave us on Sunday (bottled that morning) to go with his. I think I'd be happy with just a huge plate of mushrooms !

And hopefully we'll get to climb tomorrow...

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words by Gabby, pictures by Neil and Gabby