Forest Breakfast

Bill Yake

Andrews Forest Writing Resident (2013)

Poetry

Forest Breakfast
-HJ Andrew’s Experimental Forest, Nov. 2013

It will be fall in a Douglas Fir forest –
gather chanterelles.

Dry these on the counter overnight
& brush clean of fir needles & forest soil.

Chop one clove of garlic, a bit of onion,
three large chanterelles. They cover the pan,
a 1/4 inch deep. They will shrink.

Sautee these. Almost dry – just a dab of butter
to get onion & garlic sizzling.

In a second pan, scramble 2 eggs, half
a tomato – diced, a splash of olive oil
and just enough almond milk.

When the mushroom mixture has cooked down
golden, to the odor of a Sicilian kitchen with Mount
Etna at the window, add it to the scramble.

Sprinkle in a very little salt. Pepper to taste.
Cook in a well-cured cast iron skillet – stirring,
time to time, with a wooden spatula.

Toast lightly two pieces (hand-sliced)
of an intriguing bread. I have chosen an apricot,
walnut, and date sourdough from Mud Bay’s
Blue Heron Bakery.

Completed, heap the scramble on the toast.
Eat warm, slowly, attentively
– thankful for the forest.