Splurge

A friend took me to Monterey Market in Berkeley yesterday, and from my gleeful shopping spree you’d think I’d never been to a grocery store! I had two bulging bags of groceries when we left, and she had only one. The most precious treasure in mine were these fresh morels:

I haven’t seen fresh morels in years, and can’t bring myself to buy the dried ones because they always cost such a bloody fortune. However, I have very fond memories of my childhood when we would visit our weekend place in southern Vermont and find wild morels in the woods around our house. My mother used to saute them and add them to brown-butter omelettes for me and my sisters, and I never forgot that earthy, buttery flavor. Seeing these fresh morels in the market, I was inspired to buy just a handful (which nonetheless set me back $3.00!). This morning I made an updated version of the omelette – differentiated from my mother’s by the addition of goat cheese – and shared it with my daughter.

She enjoyed the trip down Memory Lane (God but that kid can make me feel old, as if my own childhood took place in the Dark Ages) and the omelette as much as I did. I have to say, though, that in my mind, the ones my mother made were better!