Project 365: Day 45

I finally made it to Tomales Bay for a weekend oyster social with some co-workers. My Babygirl sidekick and I arrived shortly after 10 am to find that Huff and his bf had snagged a perfectly located picnic table near the oyster stand. It was a nice relaxing day hanging out with friends and eating delicious oysters and clams. Although the weather was a bit chilly at times, the sun eventually came out and warmed us all up. Ah, this is why we live in the Bay Area, folks!

Tomales Bay Oyster Company, Marshall CA

Papa Chang brought fixins’ to make these delicious oyster shooters using the TBOC “small” oysters. The oysters are topped with a quail egg, tobiko, and ponzu with green onions.

TBOC oysters are Pacific oysters farmed at Preston Point in Tomales Bay. The “small” oysters cost $15 per dozen or $50 for a bag of 50.

Quail eggs are so cute! But you need a steady hand to peel away the inner layer, which is tricky when you have wet, oyster fingers. 🙂

Kelly and Brent brought these delicious sushi snacks! And I’m told that they’re super easy to make. It’s a sheet of crispy nori (seaweed), topped with broiled imitation crab mixed with sour cream and mayonnaise, rice, avocado, tobiko, and sriracha sauce. The perfect bite between oysters. NOMS!

There seemed to be about 4 different picnic areas, but I liked our location (on the bottom left of the pic). It was close to the oyster stand and we weren’t completely surrounded by other picnic tables.

This is a bag of the owner’s special reserve “Golden Nuggets” oysters which are $20 per dozen. These oysters were even smaller than the “small” TBOC oysters, and SO delicious!

This was the first time I’ve ever shucked an oyster, lol! I bought a random (but decent) oyster knife that I found in the seafood department at Whole Foods the night before. The guys had to coach me to start, but I got the hang of it. Look how clean I got my Golden Nugget!

I brought a mignonette made with champagne vinegar, shallots, lemon peel, parsley, salt, pepper, and sugar. It tasted great on the oysters!

Our table became quickly covered with oysters, clams, condiments and drinks.

We went through a LOT of bivalves! And this was only halfway through our day.

We were situated next to the pier. It’s great that they provide each picnic table with a small grill. We used ours to grill oysters, steam clams, and toast bread.