Chanterelles (cantharellus cibarius), start popping up in the Pacific Northwest in autumn and continue to bloom, especially after heavy precipitation, until the first heavy frost. Every season is different, but this year will be talked about by local mycophiles for some time. "Remember the windfall of 2010," they will wistfully say, recounting the haul.

The sizable mushrooms yield this season is possibly due to the unusually wet summer, but then again, there are a plethora of other factors at play- fungi are a mysterious eukaryote and can be hard to predict when, where, and in what quantity they will pop up, if at all. Whatever the contributing factors may be, there are a lot of mushrooms out there ready for the picking this season. But before one goes tromping out into the woods with high hopes and a bucket, you should know how to identify the mushroom you are hunting and hopefully gathering. It is important to know the physical appearance of the fungus in question and the specific habitat type in which it can be found. Better yet, go with someone who knows what the heck they are talking about.

For wild mushroom hunters, Chanterelles, along with Morels, Oyster Mushrooms, and Puff Balls are some of the most popular types of mushrooms to gather and are pretty difficult to misidentify. However, only the most knowledgeable and experienced gatherer should collect from the hard to identify and toxic groups, such as Amanita.

So here's the skinny on cantharellus cibarius...

The Chanterelle are a strictly wild mushroom- mycologists have yet to successfully cultivate them. Chanterelles are a vibrant yellow-orange mushroom with a slightly convex cap that can be up to 7 inches across. The gills stretch from the stem all the way to the frilled edges of the cap. A mature specimen is funnel-shaped with no separation between stem and cap. I read somewhere that this particular fungi supposedly smells like apricots, but I found that they smell vaguely of, well, mushrooms- that is, sort of damp and musty.

Chanterelles live in a symbiotic relationship with live trees, gathering pre-photosynthesized carbohydrates while the tree in turn, is provided with additional moisture and minerals. In Western Washington, Chanterelles are most commonly found in forests dominated by grand fir in highly precipitous areas.

The correct method of harvesting Chanterelles is as follows...

1. Find them!

2. Cut the cap and part of the stem out of the ground, leaving a portion still connected to the mycelium network. This helps ensure that the patch will keep producing.

3. Leave teeny-tiny and old, soggy-looking specimens in the ground. You don't want them, I promise.

4. Plop the freshly harvested mushroom in your bucket and get them home before they get slimy.

5. Once safely home, removed humus and other debris.

6. Cook or dehydrate immediately to prevent spoilage.

Historically speaking, mushroom hunters were often aided by the use of a truffle pig- a domestic swine trained to smell out and extract particularly fragrant fungi, even as low as three feet underground. We were fresh out of truffle pigs, so Josie the Rott-mix hopped in the back of the rig and got to be our truffle hound. In this photo, we were playing fetch during out mid-day oyster harvesting break along the Hood Canal.

After the mid-day break for sunshine, oysters, and fetch, we trudged back to the less sunny, more drippy mushroom spot. There were tons of other frilly, lumpy, fuzzy, slimy, colorful, but all interesting mushrooms along the way. Here are some good examples of what Chanterelles do NOT look like.

Mushroom hunting and gathering has become increasingly more competitive with the rise of commercial pickers, due to the push for more organic, local, wild, etc., etc., foods in grocery stores. With this stiff competition, longtime mushroom mongers guard their secret spots jealously. I offered to dawn a blindfold for the drive, as to ensure I wouldn't return to plunder the spot, but my guide just giggled and said she "doubted I would be able to find my way back." So that is the story and I'm sticking to it, so don't ask. I couldn't find my way back if I tried.

All in all, we picked 45 lbs. of Chanterelles and had a full day of fun with fungus. This haul will keep me mycophagous for some time to come.

Welcome to your weekend! -KB

Fall is my favorite of all four seasons and not just because the warm weather fades to be replaced by cold, crisp sweater weather, that holds the promise of another ski season close at hand. Yes, the snow tease is tantalizing and all the "men folk" give us a much needed hiatus by disappearing to that seemingly mythical place- elk camp- but Fall is my favorite for one reason, plain and simple- the colors. The northwest does autumn colors as well as anywhere I have visited and my new Nikon and I have been out on a fall photo safari since the anthocyanin (red), carotene(orange), xanthophyl (yellow), started to overtake the greenness of thechlorophyll in the local vegetation.

Stay tuned for some autumnally awesome, fall-time favorite recipes. Welcome to your weekend! -KB

On the last Saturday of September, the Daanen’s Delicatessen parking lot in Hayden, Idaho fills with lederhosen-clad, stein-toting, nosh enthusiasts for Oktoberfest!

Traditionally Oktoberfest is a 16-day festival held in Munich, Germany during late September through early October. Six-million attendees make Munich’s Oktoberfest the world’s largest fair! The festivities are centered around eating large amounts of food such as Hendl, Schweinsbraten, Steckerlfisch, Würstel, Brezel, Reiberdatschi, Spätzle and Sauerkraut—in English that would be chicken, roast pork, grilled fish on a stick, sausages, pretzels, potato pancakes, small dumplings and red cabbage. And don’t forget the bier- beer! At Daanen’s celebration you will sample all of this traditional fare served with mugs upon pitchers upon kegs of Spaten Bier.

Once you've had your fill of kraut and polka, one can mosey inside for traditional deli fare like turkey, pastrami, and roast beef. You'll also find Italian dry-cured salami, authentic German bologna and Black Forest Ham. The unique cheese selection includes Roquefort, Bleu, d’Auvergne, Leyden, and double and triple cream Bries. And more imported beers on draft and by the bottle.

Happy Oktoberfest! Prost! Welcome to your weekend! -KB

I just learned a new Fall factoid- the first full moon after the autumnal equinox is called the Harvest Moon. The full moon was the day after the equinox this year, so to celebrate the harvest, we went on a pre-pumpkin picking expedition to Green Bluff. A scouting trip, if you will, to see which growers are sporting the best looking squash this season. As you can tell, I take my pumpkin carving very seriously.

For those of you who've never visited, Green Bluff is a small farming community just north of Spokane made up of 42 separate, unincorporated farms that grow just about everything USDA Hardiness Zone 5B will allow. At this time of year, tomatoes, lavender, apples, peaches, plums, nectarines, corn, carrots, pears, cabbage, potatoes, grapes, squash and late harvest raspberries are all in season. The Apple Festival and the corn mazes , complete with castle in the center, are also in full swing.

We made it back home with a bag of Mcintosh apples, my favorite apples of all time, and a sack of good looking gourds, purpose yet to be determined. I will be back to Green Bluff in a couple weeks to hunt for the perfect carving pumpkin and, of course, for pumpkin chucker, which is basically a giant potato gun that hurls plus-sized squash towards the horizon line. Then maybe some hot apple cider to keep me warm while I wait for The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

Happy Fall Everyone! Welcome to your weekend! -KB

Cedar Planked Salmon with Blueberry Reduction Sauce

I've got more blueberries and peaches than I know what to do with- I've canned, cobblered, and just plain gorged myself into oblivion on these hot-weather delicacies and there is still fruit to spare. But hey, if that's all I have to gripe about, things must be going pretty well.

I've only consumed 5 servings of cedar planked salmon this week, down from my usual 8-9 weekly servings. Fortunately, just about everything goes with planked salmon and where there's a grill, there's a way!

This week's recipe is Super-Summery Salad with Planked Sockeye topped with a Blueberry Balsamic Reduction, but first, a quick a brush-up on planking technique.

Here's how it works:

First- soak your cedar grilling plank in water. An hour or two prior to grilling will work just fine, but a longer soak time permits the plank to absorb more moisture. This allows for more cedar-infused water vapor to be released during the grilling process.

Then- get your grill up to medium heat, 350-400 degrees. Place the wet plank on the pre-heated grill and heat plank for another 5 minutes before adding the food. This allows the plank to begin to smolder and smoke.

Next- place your seasoned salmon on plank and close grill lid and let cook for recommended time. The average fillet takes between 14-18 minutes, depending on thickness. No flipping, turning, or tweaking is needed. Once cooked, remove from the grill and enjoy!

So, for my salad, I used mixed baby greens, but just use whatever you have fresh in the fridge or from the garden, toss with a little olive oil, salt and fresh cracked pepper and top with hot salmon, blueberry balsamic reduction and freshly slice peaches!

Blueberry Balsamic Reduction

1 cup Balsamic Vinegar

1 cup Fresh Blueberries, plus extra for fresh garnish

- Macerate berries until juicy and then add vinegar. Let the berry juice and pulp meld with vinegar for up to an hour.

- Pour blueberry and vinegar mixture through cheesecloth or very fine strainer to remove pulp and seeds. Bring strained blueberry vinegar to a simmer, whisking constantly.

- Reduce vinegar down until desired viscosity- I like it pretty syrupy. Mix in fresh blueberries and top salmon with your hot Blueberry Balsamic Reduction!

Welcome to your weekend! -KB

Twice a year, the earth is neither tilted toward or away from the sun and for just a moment, (this year, around 17:32 Coordinated Universal Time) the earth's equator aligns with the center point of the sun before it begins to list again. Darkness and daylight are in perfect balance for a day and for us in the Northern Hemisphere, this marks the beginning of spring.

The vernal equinox has been celebrated for thousands of years and there is no lack of traditions and rituals surrounding the coming of spring.

For most ancient civilizations, the vernal equinox was the start of the New Year. The Roman year began on the ides of March and the astrological year begins on the first new moon after the equinox, which brings in the first astrological sign Aries, the ram. The Greek God Ares, the god of the ram, is the equivalent of the Roman Mars for whom the month of March is named. The Persian New Year, Nawruz also falls on the spring equinox.

The Saxons had a spring festival celebrating the goddess, Eostre (from whose name we get the direction East and the holiday Easter). Eggs were one of the symbols of this festival and represented new life and potential. During the equinox, there’s supposedly a certain gravitational pull that makes balancing an egg on its point possible. Thus, we have the tradition of the Easter egg.

All these different cultures had their own food traditions based essentially around the same idea: They survived the gray and bleak winter! Time to forage for something that hasn’t been in the root cellar for three months.

Although it is often anything but springy here in the northwest in March, rivers are teaming with the Steel Head run and a couple edibles things are beginning to poke through the soil. Asparagus, rhubarb, young herbs, leafy greens, wild onions/garlic and fiddleheads are coming soon.

Winter is over. We made it. Happy Spring!