Small bites

GUNNISON-CRESTED BUTTE — They are putting the fun back in fungi, festival organizers say, at the Crested Butte Wild Mushroom Festival. They report that the festival has grown — "some would even say mushroomed” — in recent years, focusing not on the science of ‘shrooms but on the delectable things humans can do with them.

This year’s festival, Aug. 17-20, includes hands-on activities, seasoned with lectures, slide shows, workshops and jazz. Last year, participants found 100 varieties of mushrooms out on hunts.

Among activities scheduled are six cooking workshop/luncheons, at which leading local chefs will show participants how to prepare imaginative wild mushroom dishes — which are then served for dinner at the workshops’ end.

Both novice and expert fungiphiles will go on three wild-mushroom forays into the local area woods, learning how to find and identify mushrooms. Slide shows and workshops cover preparing, preserving and cultivating mushrooms and using mushrooms for medicinal purposes.

The registration fee for the three-day festival is $115. The fee includes all forays, all workshops (except for the cooking workshops/luncheons), and a jazz concert. People may also register for individual events.

Further information about Crested Butte Wild Mushroom Festival is available at 800-545-4505 or on the Web at:

http://www.cbmushfest.com

Lazy shish kebabs

OLEAN, N.Y. — To give new meaning to the phrase "lazy days of summer,” make shish kebabs the lazy way: without the skewer.

If you enjoy this summertime grilling favorite but don’t like the time it takes to put them together, try leaving the skewers in the kitchen drawer. Just toss the fixings loose on the grill. This way still allows for the traditional variety of ingredients, but lets everyone at the cookout choose what’s to their taste. If a guest doesn’t like squash, it’s easy to pick it out of the mix.

Consider oil-brushed mushrooms and zucchini with pineapple for appetizers; plenty of vegetables for vegetarians, and firm fruits brushed with butter for desserts.

Use a sharp French chef knife to cut meat and vegetables into a uniform size of 1- to 2-inch cubes. Marinate them in your favorite marinade for 30 minutes or more. Place them on a lightly oiled grilling grid or aluminum foil (so you don’t lose any pieces in the fire) and grill until done.<