Mushroom Fry -Not Your Typical Easter

     Where oh where do I begin? My family is traditional and anything other than unoriginal. Who else fries mushrooms and fish for Easter? Well, it was time to reap the benefits of the mushroom hunt and the fish we caught between now and last year. We had more than enough food to go around for the 25 people that blessed us with their presence. 

     It all began with battering and frying the mushroom and fish. To my surprise we even had a few frog legs mixed in the batch! My personal take on these tasty little bites is, I don't normally eat fried food but these are worth it. A crunchy, salty, sometimes a maple aftertaste lingers with fried morels. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm.

Fried Shrooms!

Fried Fish!

Fried Frog Legs!

     There was so much food to go around, I'm ashamed to say that I didn't get enough pictures because I was helping fry the fish. While the food was getting prepared most of the boys shot clay pigeons. I will say that I'm not a bad shot myself. Growing up on a farm, a girl learns how to shoot. Below are some of my brothers, my nephews, my boyfriend, and his brother. In between eating the yumminess we fried up, this was a good couple hours of entertainment.

Who doesn't like shooting guns on Easter?

     

     After all was fed and bellies were full, we hid the eggs for the kiddos to find. Wow, was it fun to watch! It certainly brings me back to my childhood, although, I didn't do a lot of Easter egg hunts. Growing up on a farm was something similar to an Amish environment for my siblings and I. We were very old fashioned and my older brother and sisters were an outlet to a lot of things that we didn't experience very often. If I recall my oldest brother was there for the first time my siblings and I participated in an Easter egg hunt (so thank you brother!).

Anxiously Awaiting

     My dear grandmother watched as the kids went nuts on the lawn looking for the hidden, candy filled eggs. My grandma had a twin sister (Auntie Helen) that passed away about nine years ago. She and Auntie Helen were dubbed "Little Grandma" because they are only 4'9. You can see the Polish genetics, but only if you could hear her North Dakota accent.

Little Grandma

     After the kids were done with the hunt they sat down to divide the pastel, oval shaped, plastics. They counted candy and coins that tumbled out as they popped open the shells. While the kids were satisfying their sweet tooth, the older kids (my siblings) played some good'ol softball. They played hard until the sun went down. This time I actually sat out to help my mom clean up the massive mess left behind from the food earlier in the day. I managed to snap a few pics before it got too dark outside.

A Perfect Evening

    The mushroom fry wasn't always tradition, but I really love the fact that my family is original and we make an event out of it from beginning to end. Family truly is where love, life, and food can be found.

Before You Eat, You Must Hunt

The White Knight

    

    Our annual mushroom hunting party was about two or so weeks late on the scavenger expedition. Not technically late, but the weather was warmer than normal. This induced the fancy little mushrooms that we like to hunt and they were about done for the season. No worries though, we snatched hundreds of shrooms that morning.

On to our destination

A beautiful morning

      Finally arriving, with a party of mushroom hungry carnivores, we set out to ravage the wooded area. We probably had four hours of straight cardio that morning. Up and down steep, moist hills until our feet were screaming for us to sit down and take a break. 

     When someone finds the first mushroom it's much like catching that big bass that you're dying to hook. Everyone normally tends to swarm to the location of the catch. In this case we had great teamwork and we all stayed in the same general area to scan the forest floors for the translucent mushrooms.

Four little pretties

     Unfortunately there were some casualties, we found many mushrooms down due to the extreme weather (early warm spring). 

Poor little guy

    Some were very hard to spot. Many were found hiding under inches of leaves. This probably caused multiple unknown casualties. 

Can you see him?

    Over all, it was a huge success. We exited the woods with the anticipation of the upcoming mushroom fry.

  

    We left happy that morning and got to celebrate two days later. The mushrooms soaked in water in the meantime so they'd be nice and clean to fry. 

    This is something my family and I look forward to every year. Whether I actually get to participate in the hunt or not, there's always plenty to go around at the fry. So now you know part 1 of 2 on the family "Mushroom Hunting" tradition. What's something you look forward to every year?