Sshh...Serious Foragers at Work!

Leda is writing a foraging field guide for Timber Press and she needed a few more images.  So she hopped the bus and we spent Friday tracking down

silverberries,

 black walnuts,

 and watercress, to name a few.

Then the fun really began.  Back to the kitchen where we created the Sassy Royale, an aperitif made from sparkling wine and sassafras twig syrup.

Thus fortified, we roasted potatoes, simmered a loin of goat in beet wine, then popped it into the oven under a blanket of yogurt and knotweed, and tossed the watercress with goat cheese and home-preserved lemons.

We were almost too full to enjoy the pear crisp with wild ginger, grated magnolia bud, and California bay nuts.  Almost.

Alas, Leda's presence was required in the city, so she missed the gigantic haul of honey mushrooms Mark and I found on Saturday.  But I have a feeling some of those may be headed her way...

 

(but a fraction of yesterday's fungal find)