Oysters: The Topic

[Katie Meadow]

Cooked oysters, no thanks, no matter how they are cooked. Love my oysters raw. Briny. Small (easier for me to open and appreciate in one bite). A little squirt of lemon, since I don't really know how to make a mignonette. @weinoo's wet martini w/ gin is my idea of a martini. In warm weather I would be happy with a G&T. And I've been known to have a bloody mary with my oysters.

 

Since I live on the west coast I'm more familiar with those. I very much like the oysters from Hog Island, an oyster farm in Tomales Bay. They are just right all the way round. Olympia oysters native to WA are a real treat. They are tiny and delicious and not easy to come by, at least outside of WA state. My least favorite is the Kumamoto; too sweet, milky and well, spermy. I like the brininess of east coast oysters, and really like Malpeques, although I haven't had them in years. Belons. yum, if not too big.

 

I introduced my nephew to raw oysters when I threw myself a 70th birthday party at Dillon Beach, a stone's throw from the Hog Island Co. He was so enamored he shucked and ate the few leftover stragglers for breakfast the next morning. And that was after we polished off the best lime tart on the planet. 

 

 

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, Katie Meadow said:

Since I live on the west coast I'm more familiar with those. I very much like the oysters from Hog Island, an oyster farm in Tomales Bay.

 

I love this place, and have enjoyed oysters from Hog Island/Tomales Bay a number of times. Pristine.

 

Also at the Marshall Store!

 

 

 

 

 

I love it also because it was mid-August, and it was freakin' freezin'!

 

[Katie Meadow]

@weinoo, thanks for the pix. My late FIL used to go to Marshall to buy oysters in a jar. In those days, the early eighties, Hog Island was just starting their farm. The Marshall Store was a funky general-store/ shack. When I came on the scene, the oysters-in-a-jar thing pretty much ended; the allure of shucked oysters stuffed into a cloudy jar escaped me entirely.If you wanted fresh oysters you went to the Tomales Bay Oyster Co. Farm, their family business, close by the Store. When Hog Island was up and running it was closer to our beach place (not by much) and I really loved their oysters. In the early days you could sit at a wobbly wooden table, buy oysters, and shuck them yourself. It's not like that any more! 

 

I discovered at some point that my young nephews actually loved fresh oysters on the half shell. They would pour hot sauce all over them. I realized that it was pointless to buy oysters when they were around, because they scarfed them up before anyone else got a chance. Plus it didn't occur to them to learn how to shuck them. Why bother, if Aunt Katie was willing to do it?

 

For what seemed like years the Marshall Store was in a prolonged legal battle over parking. I haven't been there in ages. 

[weinoo]

2 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

For what seemed like years the Marshall Store was in a prolonged legal battle over parking. I haven't been there in ages. 

 

The parking situation is sketchy at best! I love that drive, however.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I LOVE Marshall store!