Last week we traveled to Monterey, California to serve oysters at the Monterey Food and Wine Festival. It was a smashing success. So successful, in fact, that we didn't really have time to take photos because we were too busy shucking oysters... it was an "all hands on deck" situation. 
The event was held in the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We recommend that everyone make a pilgrimage to the Aquarium sometime soon. We particularly liked the Outer Bay exhibit-- and feel like our lives are richer now that we've discovered sunfish. As for the wines at the festival, we fell in love with the Alexander Valley cabernet from Silver Oak Cellars. Absolutely delicious, and way beyond our price range. We'd gotten up at 4 am Thursday to pack up the oysters and catch the plane, and it was a frigid morning, so we arrived in California wearing wool sweaters and stocking caps, and without sunglasses. Needless to say, the warmth and sunshine were welcome changes from the 40 degree rainstorm we'd left behind. We took advantage by turning the trip into a "workation," and went surfing in Santa Cruz and sightseeing along the coast before flying back to the top left.
Thanks Bruce! Congratulations on all the huckleberries. That takes work. Have you been picking any chanterelles? I’m crossing my fingers that the hard frosts will hold off for a couple more weeks so the mushrooms keep coming. The other day I poached some oysters and served them with chanterelles I’d sauteed in garlic… it was really delicious.
Oysterfan:
Road Trip with Oysters! Sounds like a great time. I was in Sacramento last week and it was way warm up there too. I am in San Francisco later this week and will get my Oysters with Ginger and Scallions fix. Not Hama Hama, but good enough.
Sue and i spent a long weekend at Frenchman’s Cove coming back to Seattle this afternoon. Fall colors are really starting to show and we took a nice boatride Sunday afternoon down to Tieku Point. Parts of the Frenchman’s Cove reminded Sue of a Winslow Homer Maine fall watercolor . The tide was way out in the early morning and the coyotes were howling over in the Reserve. We have two does and a buck up in the orchard in the morning and evening. Almost no snow on The Brothers, Eleanor or Constance. Far fewer lights on your side at night that in the summer.
There were commercial fishing boats all up and down the canal the past 2 days. We spent this morning bundled up on the porch; drinking coffee and watching the Purse Seiners work the cove. Fascinating to watch them work; paying out the nets with the help of a smaller boat. Cold, damp and wet this morning for the folks on the boats. We have never seen such commercial fishing activity on Hood Canal.
It is sure nice to have spent almost every weekend since February at the canal watching the activity, the wildlife, the sunrise, the waterfowl, the sunsets and the change of the seasons. Sue picked another big bag of huckleberries and we got the last of the apples in the orchard. Huckleberry_Apple Crisp for dessert Sunday evening and a gallon of huckleberries in the freezer for winter treats.Keep up the wonderful posts and the video!
Bruce