Another early start

Another early morning, the cats can’t understand it. I went into the forest on foot and headed over to the South-East of the forest. I don’t know if they were out visiting or still in bed but, there was no sign of the family of deer

I wasn’t expecting to get many mushrooms as the Eastern side of the forest is not as productive as the Western side. It was, thus, a surprise to come across a Cep almost straight away – a good start!

I like the walk around the Eastern side of the forest; it gives me time to think and, if I get it right, I tend to pop out of the forest on the Western side near the village of Lanouee. Lanouee has 3 bars – it’s strange that I often end up there?






Another reason I like to start out on the Eastern side is that not many people go there. It is more difficult to access, there are less places to park – you have to be committed to go mushrooming there.

The solitude sometimes suits me; I love meeting people in the forest and chatting but sometimes, when I want to think, it’s good to be alone but doing something. Having just been offered a small property at a very low price, I have a lot of thinking to do. Perhaps my renting days are going to come to an end – does this mean I have to start being a grown-up?

So, I was lost in a world of my own when I finally noticed that it had started to rain. I headed into the interior of the forest to shelter. Here, the trees are mainly pine. According to the books, pine trees aren’t so good for Ceps. Guess what I found there! I guess the Ceps round here haven’t read those books.

It’s always such a joy to find nice mushrooms like these. You just know how good they are going to taste, how easy they are going to be to cook and what’s more, where you find one (or two in this case) you find others.

I found enough to fill another basket – just over a kilogram. These are going to be sliced and gently cooked in butter (with shallots and garlic) and then put into freezer boxes which will then be topped up with butter mixed with finely chopped Ceps. The frozen buttered Ceps will be the start of many a great sauce during the spring when there’s not much around in the forest.

As it is Sunday, of course, I got lost again! It wasn’t too bad this time as, although I didn’t know where I was – I knew where I wasn’t! Getting lost meant that I didn’t make it to the bar but did get home in time for Desert Island Disks – oh, it’s sad being an expat, isn’t it!

During the three quarters of an hour or so that I spent finding my way back to the main road (from where I could take a bearing) I did manage to find another 2 kilograms of assorted Bolets (not Ceps but nearly as good).

Some of these will be eaten with fresh local eggs for breakfast (what a naughty breakfast!) and the rest will also end up in a chicken and mushroom stew which will be portioned up and put into the freezer so that I can enjoy them throughout the year. I would give more of the mushrooms to Madam (my landlady) but, when I offered yesterday, she let on that she hadn’t finished last year’s!

Mental note: Need to find new freezer (industrial model) and other mushroom recipients.

I am starting work at 10am next week – thus I will be able to pop into the forest for an hour or so every morning.

This means that I’ll be starting work nice and calm and relaxed, and ready for anything that might come my way. I’ll also have something to talk to my colleagues about. They’ll know better than me, of course. They always do! And, as soon as I mention how I’m going to cook my mushrooms, I’ll be treated to hoots of derision – everyone here has their own recipes, handed down from one generation to another – and, for them, it’s almost an offence to vary from them. I’m pretty sure that I know what we’ll be talking about at lunchbreak for the next few days!

Any little Ceps (like the little one in the centre of the picture to the left) that I may find will be stored in jars filled with flavoured olive oil (another story, another website). What could be better as a Christmas present than a litre jar of perfectly preserved baby Ceps – not a lot, apart from a giftwrapped Kylie Minogue, that is!

I have just found a small electric mushroom dryer for sale for 40 Euros – I am just so tempted!

I have been doing a lot of thinking about some of the kind emails that I have received over the last week or so. I didn’t realise so many people were visiting this site until I looked at the webserver log files. Not just French and British visitors but one from Australia and another from New York! I guess I’ll have to keep on my toes ensuring that the site gets updated regularly. I was especially happy to hear from Joe that MushroomDiary.com is the site of the month on her husband Dave’s own website Les Bocages and also mentioned on her own site Wicklow Wench, Abroad. Many thanks. Both sites are well worth a look (or two) and anyone who calls their children Crash, Bang & Wallop has got to be worthy of respect.

Over the next week I shall be getting the maps of the forest onto the site (with my standard routes) and getting the link page sorted. I am waiting from a response from MycoWeb (a department of the University of Stockholm) to see if I can put their database of pictures onto MushroomDiary.com – according to their website, they have no problem with sharing the data but I’d rather hear it from the horses mouth first.

So, off to have a little nap (oh, these early mornings – and then walking 10kms yesterday & 25kms today – must be getting old!), the cats are waiting for me on the bed – and then, refreshed, I’ll pop out and take a look at those Chestnut trees.

All the best

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