Mushrooms

My family and I just returned from a wonderful trip to a remote location in Southeast Alaska. We enjoyed a great time in nature with my family. It was great to spend time with my parents and siblings, and for the boys to spend time with their cousins. The boys enjoyed four-wheeler rides, so I had to encourage them on walks by seeing what we could find.

We came across this beautiful specimen of Amanita muscaria var. formosa. They are highly toxic, and this was an unusual variety -- I had spotted several of the red colored mushrooms on the trail, but this was the only yellow one I saw.
We also found some Green Elf Cups. I had never seen them before, apparently, the fruit bodies are infrequently seen. The turquoise color of the fruit and the stained wood was fantastic.
I found a wonderful resource for identifying fungus at Rogers Mushrooms.

Sweet Pickin

B and I took the boys to Emmet for some cherry picking. We missed the festival last weekend, but heard the cherries were still on for another couple of weeks. J wasn't feeling well, as he had been running a bit of a fever last night, but E thought it was great fun. He was very proud to pull the bucket around the orchard, even though it was almost as big as he is.

I hope to find a cherry pitter, and freeze some of our little bounty. A co-worker mentioned that her family enjoys frozen cherries -- popped like candy, or in a smoothie. I hope to give that a try.

I think they would go great on a spinach salad, or something. I always love fruit on a green salad, but have a hard time knowing what kind of dressing to use when I make my own. Please share your suggestions or recipes for adding fruit to green salad.