One soft grey Sunday in early October, Ted and I set out for a very particular adventure — The Oyster Beds at Tamales Bay.
Doing a little research ahead of time, we'd heard about Hog Island Oyster Farm, perhaps the most famous oyster farm in the Bay area. I emailed the Farm to find out when their oysters were best, and got this reply:"Each species of oysters has it's normal cycle and is best at certain times of the year. We grow several different species so that we always have great tasting oysters. Right now, the Hog Island Sweetwater oysters are reacting to the water turning colder and are absolutely delicious. I had some yesterday and can say from personal experience that they are really excellent. Also, the kumamotos are at their buttery best.
In general, Pacific oysters are best when the water is cold (from now through next June) and our Atlantic oysters are best in the summer (our water is colder in the summer than the Atlantic ocean is so they think it's their winter.)"
Linda, Hog Island Oyster Farm Shuckmeister, http://hogislandoysters.com/
Somehow, tricking those Atlantic oysters into believing it's winter in the summertime, is right out of Lewis Carroll's poem — humorous yet deceptive — Walrus and Carpenter are smiling (and probably drooling too).
We set out early and when we arrived at the Farm, it wasn't open yet. But not to be disappointed (we'll go there another time) our growling tummys took us to the next best spot — grilled oysters at The Marshall Store. http://www.themarshallstore.com/index.html
The Marshall Store is a small local store selling everything from lip balm and shucking tools to grilled oysters on the half shell. You place your oyster order at the counter, a mess of fresh oysters are scooped up, halved, trimmed, then scattered out onto a grill. Hot steam rises filling the room all cozy-like.
After grilling, the oysters are gathered on a plate, filled with garlicy cocktail sauce and served with soft rolls to mop up the juices.
We took our Oyster Fest outside to the picnic tables overlooking the bay.
So the obvious question is:What's warm on the inside and cold on the outside?
Answer:
Ted and Peg slurping up hot grilled oysters on a crisp Fall morning at Tomales Bay.
"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one."
