I never thought I would say this but today, I went MUSHROOM HUNTING! How many people can say that they went trekking through the woods searching for the fungus that would become the night's dinner....well, Ryan and I can. Martin wanted to take us out to the woods before the weather became too cold for mushrooms. We drove into the Black Forest, parked the car, and started climbing. It had rained a bit last night so the ground was damp and the air was cold...today has been the lowest temp we have had so far. Martin had an eye for the good mushroom spots. Here is how you hunt a mushroom:

Once you are in the correct area, you have to be very quiet not spook the mushrooms. If you make to much noise, they would retreat back into their mossy holes. Once you have spotted one, which was difficult because they blend with the leaves, you would have to have one partner sing the Mario Bro's anthem to distract the shroom while the other snuck up behind it and chopped off its leg. You could then collect the mushroom and add it to your basket at which point you would either grow slightly taller, or the sign "1 Up" would flash before your eyes.

So, all in all we had a great mushroom hunting experience and collected about 4 different varieties and 3 baskets full. Dani scored the winning mushroom with a large Stone Mushroom. This is not something that I would want to do without Martin because he knows which ones are good to pick, and which ones are bad. For example, on our way back to the car, we found a patch of shrooms which are one of the most poisonous and will kill you if you eat them. On the way back home it started to rain which is the first time we have seen water falling from the sky in over 3 weeks...we have been way too lucky with the weather!

UPDATE!

Last night we shared another meal with the neighbours and this time our freshly caught mushrooms were on the menu. We spent the afternoon cleaning the catch of the day which I will admit, gave me the eeby-geebies. When you cut into the mushrooms, a lot of them were what we would call "bug hotels". There were tiny clear maggots in some with little black heads that you would have to scan for prior to adding the mushroom to the 'good to be cooked bowl'. We brought our cooked mushrooms over to the neighbours house who were cooking dinner tonight. It reminded me of being back home with Patrick when you just run to each others house to eat, get an ingredient you are missing, or just to say hi.