Oysters!

· San Francisco

Oysters in the morning, oysters in the evening. Life is good when you have shellfish to eat. Today was our trip to have lunch at Hog Island at the Boat Oyster Bar. We got mussels and oysters to take home and share. Several years ago, two dear friends descended on our house with several dozen oysters and taught us to shuck them ourselves. One of the best gifts anyone has ever given me. They also had farmed abalone, but we weren't sure what to do with it. I need a friend to teach me about that next. I've never eaten abalone, so I'm not sure if I would like it (other than the fact that I haven't met a shellfish I haven't loved).

Good Morning Sunshine (at long last a sunny day)
Oysters, ceviche, and fried dulse seaweed. I'm a new treat, it was salty, crunchy, a little chewy here and there, and the aftertaste was deliciously seaweed flavored.
One of the oyster people is coming in from a fishing boat - this is just the last leg of the journey.
Fabulous dilapidated old building that desperately needs to be a community space - right on Tomales Bay. Dance hall, quilting bee space, whatever, but it's too sad to see it dissolve.
Table
Promise of dinner
The first course was champagne and oysters outdoors (photo courtesy of Fred Wright)
Garlic toast managed to set off the fire alarm.
Ta-da Mussels!
Parsley makes them look green. So good. Then had a perfect green salad with lemon dressing.
We finished the dinner with Charentais melon from Star Route Farms with a little mint from Gospel Flats Farmstand
Night Heron hunkered down out of the evening wind.
Nice looking mountain with the deep shadows at the end of a long day of summer

Eating shellfish always makes me joyous. Maybe it's the extra dose of vitamins - zinc? What a fabulous day, despite the state of the world.

Sending oodles of love,

Tawnia

Bird List - 41 species

Canada Goose
California Quail
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Whimbrel
Long-billed Curlew
Heermann's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Western Gull
Caspian Tern
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Red-tailed Hawk
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Steller's Jay
California Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Wrentit
Pacific Wren
Bewick's Wren
European Starling
Western Bluebird
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
House Sparrow
House Finch
Song Sparrow
California Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Wilson's Warbler