Mt. Tam mushrooms

So I was a lazy rock climber today and drove out to the coast to look for mushrooms instead.  I didn't feel like suffering at Jailhouse again for 2 pitches in sub 40 degree weather.  So shoot me.  Instead I drove out to the coast and looked for mushrooms.  It gave me plenty of time to ponder what a nerd I am - right before my 31st birthday. Ugh. Here are some photos and descriptions of the things that I found. Mushrooms Demystified (MD) offered some information.

Dyer's polypore (Phaeolus schweinitzii), otherwise known as Red-brown Butt Rot (I'm not kidding). MD: "it is prized by dye-makers for the rich and varied hues it imparts to yarn." When I start growing goats and making yarn, I'll use this to dye it.

These funky little puffballs were pretty cool. I'm not sure which species they are.

I don't know what these are and it annoys me. Maybe they are Corinarias? They don't have that cobwebby stuff on the stipe though. I really don't know.

Black witches' butter (Exidia glandulosa). According to Mushrooms Demystified, "This sinister-looking black jelly fungus can be confused with little else."

Hericium ramosum or H. abietis. It is edible, and supposedly delicious, but I let it be. I'd seen photos of this before; it was much tinier and more delicate than I was expecting.

Emetic russula. Possibly R. sivicola. This is the name given to a group of mushrooms. MD: "pleasing to the eyes of all, to the tongues of some, but to the stomachs of none." Ostensibly it is also collected in the Himalayas to add spice to curries (MD p. 98)

Yellow-veiled amanita (Amanita franchetii), I think.

Several of the slippery jack/bolete ilk.

Not sure, but they are pretty.

I don't know what these are, but I think they are different kinds of russulas.

Sulfur tufts

 Yellow coral mushrooms (Ramaria sp.) Maybe this?

salmon coral (Ramaria sp.) Ramaria stricta? or Ramaria violaceibrunnea?

Western Amethyst Laccaria (Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis) - at least that's what I think.

California agaric - (Agaricus californicus). This was my first successful key from MD.

Matustake? (Tricholoma magnivelare) This is my first matsutake (if it is)...worth big bucks when young. Unfortunately this is definitely not a youngster.

 Fluted black elfin saddle (Helvella lacunosa). I brought a bunch of these back home with the intention of eating them. We'll see if I get around to it.

 I found some sun!  This made it all worth it. I got sunburned from being in the sun for a few hours.  That shows you how grim it's been in California lately.

Banana slugs like mushrooms too. 

Eastern Coast Range/Berryessa mushrooms

I found a bunch of mushrooms Saturday. I drove west on 128 towards and a little past Lake Berryessa. Many of them I didn't know, which was kind of cool and kind of annoying/overwhelming. Mushroom IDs are hard. Here are some photos:

 I don't know what these are,

 or these tiny orange blobs,

 or this thing...

update: just keyed this out, and I'm pretty sure it's a Vulgar milkcap (Lactarius argillaceifolius var. megacarpus)

 But I do know this is a blewit!

 And these are yellow-stainers (Agaricus xanthodermus). They are very handsome, and poisonous. I found a big patch on the Jailhouse approach on Friday. This is in reverse order, how I investigated these guys.

 Some kind of milk caps, either yellow-staining or a red-hot, or something else.

 Ramaria ssp.

 Witches butter. I never get tired of this stuff. Tremella aurantia

Fairy fingers (Clavarai vermicularis)

25 predictions over the next 20 years.

For some reason this stuff kind of freaks me out.

The final rundown

Here is the final rundown of the things that I made and sent off in the month of December.

baklava: a combo of this and this recipe, made with pecans
pistachio butterballs (like mexican wedding cookies with pistachios; from Dede Wilson's Unforgettable desserts)
salted caramel pistachio and pepita brittle
chocolate chocolate mint cookies (adapted from this)
cacao nib and caramelized almond biscotti (Also from Dede Wilson)
seven layer cookies
ma'amouls
cherry and pistachio nougat (from Craft of Baking)
chinese 5 spice cookies
penuche fudge (to which I added a layer of chocolate)
bacon fat doggie treats
pomegranate molasses cookies (adapted from molasses cookies)
rosemary walnut brown butter shortbread
matcha shortbread (Dede Wilson)
rugelach (dorie greenspan)
white chocolate walnut eggnog fudge

All in all I sent out about 10 packages filled with various of the treats above.  Many of these recipes I'd make again.

When I look at all of these recipes, I have to wonder what the hell else I do with my life?  For a while I'm on a baking moratorium.  I'm a bit tired of it, and I'm doing so much lab work (so much rain - no climbing outside!) that it's less appealing.  Plus Sunshine gave me her CSA box so now I'm focusing on cooking the veggies.  I made cream of mushroom soup with the chanterelle I found, and red endive, bacon and fontina pasta with some red endive from the CSA box and parsley from the garden.

A billion people are going to Bishop for New Year's, but I'm a bit turned off given that all of the granite boulders will be covered in snow. I'm cranking through a ton of labwork, so maybe I'll just stay that course. Then I won't feel bad about going to Europe.

I visited both Ethan and James last Sunday.  I got to climb with Ethan at MC, which is always a treat, given that he is bar-none the best climber I've ever climbed with.  Plus he has an easy confidence about his ability rather than a grandiose it's-no-big-deal attitude I've witnessed in good climbers before. Then we went to this kick-ass Mexican restaurant called El Metate and I got some amazing fish tacos. Damn I'm so jealous of people who live in SF. The restaurants in Davis suck.

On the way home from SF I stopped in Berkeley to see James.  We had a date, where we went to Walgreen's and then ate dessert in the Berkeley Bowl parking lot. I think it would be fair to call it a dessert sesh, except I just watched him eat the things I made and got his comments on them. I'm always trying to improve.

Finally, I've been reading a bunch lately. I just finished The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  Definitely recommended. I also recently read Alex and Me, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Cleft, and How to Talk to a Widower.  Most of what I read anymore was given to me - often nice easy-read books.

Oh right - I saw Tron last night with Bjorn and Mark. I'd give it a big fat "meh". Though the Daft Punk music and cameo was pretty sweet. CGI Jeff Bridges is totally creepy.

Mendo mushrooms

Above is the view of the ranch from Grandma's house.  The lens my camera won't completely retract at this point. I like to think of it as an asymmetrical vignette.  Anyway, here are the details from the mushroom hike at the ranch:

Delicious milk caps (Lactarius deliciosus) - These are fairly common. Supposedly they are edible but I've never tried them. They bruise green which is a bit of a turnoff:

Cowboy handkerchief (Hygrophorus eburneus) - these guys were all over the place. The are SO slimy (hence the name). Mykoweb says: "Edible, but too slimy to be of culinary value."

Yellow staining milk caps - I found a ton of these all under oaks and madrones. Boring.

Blewits (Lepista nuda) - These are common in Davis too. I found these growing out of a cow turd:

California giant chanterelle (Cantharellus californicus) - Uncle Alec found this impressive specimen.  I might try to eat it. It's pretty big! YUM!

Western Jack-o-lantern (Omphalotus olivascens) - poisonous, glows in the dark, and very impressive! Bay Area Mycological Society has a funny description of the poisons: " The toxins, similar to muscarine, present in a mistaken meal of Omphalotus may produce hallucinations (a plus for some), but will also open you, prodigiously, at both ends, for a not so fun time with fungus."

Bitter Brown leucopaxillus (Leucopaxillus gentianeus). This is an inedible, classic-looking mushroom:

Amanita ssp. - not sure what this is either, but it's very likely that it is poisonous:

Witches butter (Tremella aurantia) - This stuff is pretty cool. It looks a lot like snot stuck to dead tree branches. It parasitizes another fungus, the wood rotter, False turkey tail (Stereum hirsutum).

Pine spike (Chroogomphus rutilus, or C. vinicolor - I think). I've found a bunch of these in the Berkeley hills and in an area south of Santa Cruz.  They are edible and I've eaten them.

Turkey tail (Trametes versicolor), or false turkey tail (Stereum hirsutum). These are edible, but they don't taste like much. I think some people chew on them like gum:

Fried chicken mushroom? These are supposed to be found in disturbed areas, but I found them on a rotting stump, which I guess could be considered disturbed.  Anyway, I took a picture:

Here are two more I'm uncertain about:

Finally, the Madrone trees are AMAZING this year. I have never ever seen them so covered in red berries.  Glorious.