Stalking the Wild Mushroom

Photo: Hebert, Simon, Sophie and Graeme. Yester-day was Bastille Day. The Deil's Cauldron Restaurant held its annual gourmet barbecue and Petanque celebration. We arrived at 7 and played a game with Karen and Alistair. (We lost. Badly. But we still had a good time.)

What is a gourmet barbecue? For starters there were escargot in a cream sauce, mushrooms in a cream sauce, mussels in a garlic butter sauce, and roasted froglegs with fresh lemon slices (these were particularly yummy!). Main course choices were grilled steaks, coq au vin, and salmon packets with boiled new potatoes, vegetable brochettes, and a salad bar. Following the meal, the salad bar was dismantled and a sundae bar set up in its place which included meringues (plain or hazelnut), ice cream, fresh strawberries and raspberries, chocolate or butterscotch sauce.

We joined the table which featured the one honorary Frenchman, a fellow named Hebert (pronounced AY-behr). Also at that table were Simon and Sophie from Comrie's deli and their other guest, Graeme. They all met as cooks working at the Turnbury Resort Hotel on Scotland's west coast. If it sounds familiar, that's because the British Open Golf Tournament as well as the Scottish Golf Open have been played there.

Simon and Sophie had brought baby Amelie, who is cherubic at 8 months old. Her gourmet cookout meal consisted of a bottle of milk. Mostly she slept while the rest of us drank wine or beer, ate our way through all the courses, and chatted. During the course of conversation Hebert mentioned that if it was nice this morning, he was going to go mushroom picking. I was so excited at the prospect of finally getting to search for mushrooms with someone who (a) knew where to look and (b) knew what to look for, that I asked if I might go along. In the end, four of us went: Hebert, Simon, Don, and me.

"Morning" turned out to be a bit late because a number of us woke up with what, in the Scots vernacular, is referred to as "a sore heid". In fact, Simon and Hebert were at the Deil's Cauldron until 2 a.m. because chef Brian just kept pouring the French wine. Ooh la la!

We didn't leave for our mushroom safari until about 11 which gave us plenty of time for cups of coffee, the Sunday paper, and a nice brekky (breakfast). We all piled into Hebert's car and he drove us to the place he knows where chantarelles and ceps can usually be found. He said it was a bit early but because we had so much rain lately, we may be lucky.

We took a vow of silence about the location and dutifully played follow the leader, crossing a ditch, climbing a stone wall, and walking over another fence which had fallen down in one spot. Into the forest we went, sometimes splashing through drainage ditches (I had on my Wellies!) looking for ceps and then creeping through forest looking for the bright yellow chantarelles. We did find chantarelles but no ceps. It is just too early. The chantarelles were mostly small ones but we did manage to get a few good sized ones. We have put them away in a brown paper bag in the fridge to have on Tuesday evening when the Benjamins are with us. Perhaps I'll make a chantarelle risotto. Mmmm.

We went for a Sunday drive on the way home, taking a couple of back roads just to admire the scenery. We saw some beautiful views as the day was sunny and bright. We also saw a couple of hares in a field and, in another field, a small deer. When we stopped to watch the deer, it grew skittish and bounded off down one hill, up another, and vanished beneath some trees.

When we got back to Comrie, Don said he was going to take advantage of this gorgeous day to play some golf . Hebert said he'd like to do that but hadn't brought his clubs (he lives in Crieff). Don said he had an extra set of clubs and would be happy to take Hebert to the Comrie Course as his guest. So they are away now and I'm about to go to the studio to sew.