Oy! What a long, yet fun day. This morning was the WMZQ 98.7FM Country's Cicadia Cook Off. I dropped off my entry and milled around at the festival. Ate two beer-batter fried cicadas, and watched the weirdness of it all. Then after a while, they began to start announcing the winners. I couldn't believe it - I came in SECOND. Too funny. On top of that, I won two tickets (I'm not a country music fan) to see Diamond Rio with Patty Loveless at Wolftrap. and a $100 gift certificate to some kind of gardening store. One of my co-workers showed up to witness this. Very sweet of her and her husband to come - then again, they were the ones who collected the cicadas for me. On monday, I will bring her the left over mushroom. I told her zero pressure for her to try it. One funny thing at the contest today - where I dropped off my entry, the judges were all drinking Budweiser. Later I heard from a contest organizer shout "We need more beer!" Amusing. I spoke with one of the judges after the contest - he said that mine was like a perfect meal - couldn't really taste the cicadas - but beautiful presentation.

In the afternoon, I took a new trail - semi-new. I decided to take a new trail today - off the W & OD trail - the Custus trail which then joins up with the Mount Vernon Trail right before Theodore Roosevelt Island. This ride was quite hilly - and it was quite warm. Another 36 miles. I'll be feeling those hils tomorrow.

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Exhausted. Just exhausted. Long bike ride tonight to Purceville, 35 miles - very warm. But a nice ride. I see so much wildlife on these rides. Today alone, I saw 2 deer (walking across the trail about 10 feet from me), 4 bunny rabbits, 4 chickmunks, 3 ground hogs, 5 snakes, and of course - tons of cicadas.

Which leads me to what I did after dinner tonight - I cooked the cicadas for my Cicada Stuffed Mushroom entry for the Cicada Cookoff tomorrow morning. I will have to say, damn - what a nasty experience ripping of those wings, legs, and heads. They were soft and scaley - and were staring at me the entire time with those red beady eyes. They weren't much to saute in butter and Chardonnay. Perfectly nasty. Anyhoo, the damage is done - I will enter the contest tomorrow, with a smile (hoping to not have to eat them - contest never implied anything that the chefs would have to actually eat them, the "lucky" judges will).

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Every 17 years cicadas appear. This is the year for them. They are these really ugly dumb bugs - about 2" long with red eyes, a black stubby body, oversized clear wings with a green shade and yellow tips. They emerge once every 17 years out of the ground for a few weeks - mate, lay eggs and then die. They are really loud, they sound like a motorcross event up in the trees. And there are millions of them - I had heard that in a 1 acre lot - the ground can emerge as many as 500lbs of them. The birds go nuts - huge feast. We as humans do to. I have entered into this bizarre country radio station contest - caught up in the hype of the cicadia season. It's the WMZQ 98.7FM Country's Cicadia Cook Off. So, without adeu I present the recipe for my (hopefully winning) entry:

Atkins Friendly, Free-range, soft-shelled Cicadas in roasted garlic, spinach, chorizo stuffed shitake mushrooms with a Chardonnay pecorino sauce

12 Fresh Cicadas, de-winged, de-legged*
6 medium stuffing mushrooms, cleaned and cored out for stuffing
1 spicy Chorizo sausage, minced
4 cloves garlic, roasted and minced
1lb fresh (or frozen) spinach
1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1 large scallion, sliced thin
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup shredded Pecorino cheese
1/2 cup dry Chardonnay
1/2 stick butter (or margarine)
1 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
cracked pepper and kosher salt to taste

Directions:
First, not using a medium skillet, lose your dignity to cook this because it's a rediculous event but hey, dispite the hype - this only happens every 17 years. Second, in a large skillet, saute the chorizo and cicadas. After browned, add olive oil and saute garlic and scallions then add spinach and cilantro stir quickly and add 1/4 cup of the Chardonnay, salt and pepper and allow to reduce. After reduction, let cool by transferring contents into a bowl. Add to this bowl, 1/2 of the Pecorino cheese and all of the bread crumbs. Stir thoroughly. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a greased glass baking dish, place stuffing mushrooms open side up, stuff each judiciously with contents from bowl. Place in oven, uncovered for 15-20 minutes, until top of stuffing is baked. While mushrooms are baking, prepare Chardonnay pecorino sauce: In small saucepan on medium heat, add butter, Chardonnay and rest of pecorinoi cheese. Add cracked pepper. Stir while turning up heat until almost a boil. Once sauce thickens, put on lowest heat setting and cover. To plate, arrange cicada wings on plate like daisy pedals on edge. Remove mushrooms and place on center of plate, and drizzle the Chardonnay pecorino cheese sauce over top. Enjoy!

*Recently caught, place in ziplock bag, and store in freezer overnight. Before use, thaw for 1 hour. Run luke warm water over cicadas while de-winging and de-legging. Save wings for garnish. Remove head.

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Free-range soft-shelled cicadias in roasted garlic, spinach, chorizo stuffed shitake mushrooms with a Chardonnay pecorino sauce recipe to come shortly..... (for Saturday's contest)

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I've decided that I'm going to enter into this radio contest WMZQ 98.7FM Country's Cicadia Cook Off I find it really amusing. I have not decided what I'm cookin yet - prolly some Cicadia Stuffed mushrooms with garlic, spinach and chorizo. I will try to get one of my co-workers to collect some live cycadias tomorrow. Snickers. Hee Hee.

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Woke up to the sound of Cicadias this morn. Freaky sound. Heard them again this evening on my bike ride - but not once in the 30 miles I biked did I see one. Not even a wing. Strange.

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As promised, my Grilled Portabello Mushroom in Pita Bread with Hummus and Tomato:

4 large portabello mushrooms - full caps, stem removed
4 large cloves roasted garlic, roughly chopped
2 scallions, sliced thin
1/2 roasted small anaheim pepper - minced
1tbsp minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup soy sauce (or tamari)
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup Dry Chardonnay
3 tbsp honey
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Allow at least 8-12 hours to merinade before grilling. In a large bowl, thoroughly wisk in these items, soy sauce, rice & balsamic vinegars, Chardonnay, honey, garlic, ginger, scallions, anaheim pepper and black pepper. Add portabello mushrooms (underside down) in merinade to soak up the mixture. In a wide dish, lay each portabello mushroom with underside up. Quarter portion the garlic, scallion, ginger, pepper floaters with a straining spoon and place over the top and drizzle the merinade mixture to fill the mushrooms. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to merinade for 8-12 hours.

While waiting for grill to get hot, prepare a few items - slice a few fresh cold tomatos, wash some bean sprouts, break out some hummus, toast some Pita bread. Grill portabello mushrooms top side down, for 3 minutes before re-drenching with left over merinade. Do this 3 times. To serve - spread hummus in inside of pita bread, lay in portabello mushroom, bean sprouts and tomatos. Enjoy!

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