Oh, Shucks: A Day at Tomales Bay

I've been hearing murmurings about "oysters" and "tamales" around the bay area for awhile now.  Turns out all the fuss isn't about seafood wrapped in masa, but rather Tomales Bay Oyster Company, up in Marin County.  We finally made it up this weekend, and we brought some parents along for good company and superior oyster shucking/picnic-ing skill.  

We were surprised at what a big deal this place is.  It's in the middle of nowhere (Marshall, CA?  Never heard of it.), there's no cell service, and no one really seems to live around it.  And yet, you come around the bend to find cars parked all over the place, dozens of picnic tables scattered around the shore, and a couple hundred local, friendly people huddled around BBQs, knocking back beers and oysters.

This wasn't Faith's first rodeo, so she posted up at our shucking station, offering up kumamoto oysters to us on a lovely bed of iced rock salt.

Faith even taught me how to shuck 'em.  It's strangely satisfying to pry that sucker open!

My mom brought shish kabobs, and we also had lots of cheese, fruit, wine, salad, cookies-I could go on.  It was quite the feast.

One of the highlights of the day was that my parents brought little Emma along.  She was so freaking excited the whole time, which just goes to show that we've got to get her out more!  

After the majority of the shucking and BBQing was done, we hunkered down and played some cards while we munched.  I will definitely go back to Tomales Bay-it gave us such a peaceful, relaxing day filled with good food and lots of people I love.

A Giant Birthday

For my dad's birthday this year, we were fortunate enough to be gifted Giants-Dodgers tickets from a friend of his.  And these weren't just any tickets-no, they were third base line, between home plate and the Giants Dugout, two rows behind Larry Baer, CEO of the Giants organization.  

It was one of those epic birthday celebrations, when all the stars and stripes align, and not only do you have your whole family there and great seats but they're playing the Dodgers, and you're eating delicious nachos with your favorite beer, and Larry Baer wishes you happy birthday, and the Giants have a blow-out win 9-0.  It was one of those kinds of birthdays.

I was walking up the aisle when Larry Baer was arriving at the game, so I put my hand up, exclaimed, "Hi, Larry!" (as my mom likes to say, "You're on a first-name basis, huh?"-I guess I was supposed to say Mr. Baer) and he gave me a high-five with his 5-lb. World Series ring.  That thing is seriously gigantic and ostentatious, taking up all the space between his knuckles-I don't know how he even lifts his hand up.  

Larry, ehm, Mr. Baer, was extremely friendly, happy to chat with anyone that walked up to him, and we even got a happy birthday photo with the boys.  The other boys, the ones actually playing a game on the field while we hob-nobbed and stuffed our faces, were on fire.  We snagged four runs in the first inning alone, Crawford and Ishikawa both got home runs, and MadBum kept the Dodgers from doing much of anything.

It was such a beautiful evening together.  Thanks again to Mr. Guggenhime for the opportunity!