Replies to post #113230 on Coffee Sipping Big Board Stocks

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The day I became a fungophile

MARKETWATCH 10:32 AM ET 6/6/2016

The simple pleasures of a mushroom hunt and foraged cuisine

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This is what 1500 sweet violets look like. Sorbet from the woods, folks @eagleridgemorelhunt @TheGalenaTerr pic.twitter.com/QEHWNKhYKi

— Rachel Koning Beals (@RachelKBeals) May 4, 2016

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This spring I returned to the hilly, timbered "driftless region" of northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, so named because the glaciers didn't crush the land like they did elsewhere in the Midwest. As a child, I'd lived nearby; General and President Ulysses Grant lived in Galena, Ill., around the time of the U.S. Civil War.

I was a media guestof Eagle Ridge Inn and Resort at The Galena Territory. Guides led our group on a mushroom hunt, exploring the region's topographical and gastronomical offerings. We sought the coveted and covert springtime morel, and success wasn't guaranteed because even generous mushroom-hunting hosts tend to keep prime picking spots to themselves.

Perhaps with that in mind, the resort plied us the night before the hunt with appetizers -- morels simply dredged in flour, quick fried in sizzling butter and paired with Pinot Noir -- and four courses made mostly of foraged or locally sourced dishes that felt anything but scavenged. (MarketWatch paid for the author's lodging and meal at the media event described.)

-Rachel Koning Beals; 415-439-6400; [e-mail]

Morel nicknames made for a deliciously puzzling menu: our soup course featured asparagus and hickory chicken potage crecy. ("Hickory chicken" is a mushroom, in case you were wondering.) We dived into a seared diver scallop graced with a trio of "dry land" morel sauces accompanied by lavender essence, chive oil and pea tendrils. Sweet and savory lines were blurred; morels offered earthy power to a pots de creme custard dessert.

-Rachel Koning Beals; 415-439-6400; [e-mail]

As a kid, I'd seen kitchen sinks full of cone-shaped morels, which taught me that mushrooms didn't have to come from a can or supermarket. I've bee lucky enough to live in the farmers-market-friendly areas of Chicago and Washington, D.C., where stamp-sized yards don't matter as much when you can walk to stalls that sell picked-that-morning vegetables, berries and mushrooms.

But as our guides told us, there's nothing like picking your own. I had some success -- maybe not by pro-picking standards, but certainly by my newbie expectations.

-Rachel Koning Beals; 415-439-6400; [e-mail]

This tree-hugger may have been my biggest discovery of the day. After I snatched a photo, I consulted with Emily Lubcke, The Galena Territory Association's natural resources manager. Common name: pheasant back. Turns out, it is edible. And it is huge: Each mushroom was about the size of a softball. My confidence surged.

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The biggest lesson, though: safety matters. This can be serious business. Yet out of 10,000 mushroom species in North America, less than a dozen are deadly. New mushroom hunters might stick to the largely foolproof types: morels, chanterelles, chicken-of-the-woods, hen-of-the-woods, lobster mushroom, giant puffballs, and oyster mushrooms. (There are other edible varieties, but if ever in doubt, consult an expert or skip it.)

By the end of the day, I'd collected enough knowledge -- and mushrooms -- to feed a new-sprung hobby: forest foraging.

-Rachel Koning Beals; 415-439-6400; [e-mail]


(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-06-161032ET
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

[EZ2]

RIG

[timhyma]

I wonder why the trust isn't moving with the prime?

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (AHT) -NYSE
5.40 Up 0.14(2.66%) 11:30AM EDT

Ashford Hospitality Prime, Inc. (AHP) -NYSE
14.97 Up 3.65(32.24%) 11:31AM EDT


Ashford Hospitality Prime, a U.S hotel owner that has been under pressure by activist investors, received an unsolicited offer from the Weisman Group to buy the company for about $1.48 billion, including debt.
Weisman made the offer in a letter Tuesday to Monty Bennett, chief executive officer of Ashford Hospitality, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday. Weisman would pay $20.25 a share in cash for the common shares and about $25 per share for preferred stock, for a total equity value of about $735 million.
The price for the common shares is 79 percent more than Tuesday’s closing price of $11.32. Ashford said in a statement Wednesday that it will carefully review the proposal.
Weisman had a 4.9 percent stake in Ashford Hospitality as of April 21, according to Bloomberg data. At least two other top ten holders support the bid, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named because it is private.