Morchella Esculenta

Yay, I'm feeling like me again!  No more illness for this gal! 

This year, like every year, I had been hoping to find the elusive morel mushrooms.  It started back in April before I became ill.  I went searching the quarry, Summit, the woods behind the church, practically anywhere I thought they might be.

If a spot, looked mossy, or shroomy, than I looked.

And I found shrooms-- just not the right ones. 

Until today!  Yes, indeed, today was the day that I found my first ever morel mushroom, or Morchella Esculenta for students.  It happened, so oddly.  I was just ending a sentence to my friend on how I feel hunting for morel shrooms are in the same class as hunting for unicorns, and griffins, ( I've never had any luck in finding them for the past 5 years.) when all of the sudden, I looked down at the ground and low and behold-- morels!

They were not real big.  My friend had a Pepsi with him, so we used it to show size.

Sure enough, there was an elm tree nearby too.

It totally made my day to stumble upon these.  Also, what was weird, is I was commenting on how looking for morels was like Easter Egg hunting for grown-ups-- and right after I said that, guess what he found??--  A golden Easter Egg with $10.00 inside!  :)  True story!

 Here was our bounty for the day:

I thought the bird feathers would make pretty flies.   I cleaned up the morels, cut them in half lengthwise, and soaked them in saltwater. 

As they soaked, I cut myself a bouquet of lilacs from the neighbor's yard.  I love lilacs!

 

I basically put fresh lilacs in every nook and cranny, in my entire house.

 

Okay, back to the shrooms.  So, after they soaked for a bit, I sauteed a few pieces in butter.  Then sampled it.  Eh, it was... well... just so/so.  It tasted woodsy and like a mushroom.  To be fair though, I've really not had much of an appetite.

I've heard folk's rave over frying them like fish; in a light breading and gently cooked in butter.  So, I tried that next.  They were still just so/so.  I don't hate em, but I didn't really love em either.  It may be due to just getting back to eating normal again.
 

For the past few weeks, I've not ate much at all.  Mostly, I've felt nauseated and stuck to the brat (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) diet.  Today, I craved sour, and had a Greek yogurt with sour lemon sauce.

And a banana.  This is why, I can't really say much about the shrooms yet.  I'm just not a fair judge right now.  One thing I did like of the morel, was the chewy texture.  When I feel more ambitious, I think I will try them fixed in a yummy white wine sauce over grilled chicken.  Perhaps drying them would be a cool thing to try also.

As for the big news-- drum roll please--  it looks as though sometime this summer I will be moving back home to the Valparaiso area.  Which, for this blog, means only a change of the name might be in order.  :)  Any suggestions?