Tomales Bay Saturday

[Melanie Wong]

Three of us from the party house in Bodega Bay made a quick trip down to Marshall to pick up oysters for Saturday evening's repast. In less than 2.5 hours, we managed to

• Drive down to the hamlet of Tomales, where the bakery was open and had something to sell, a first for me. The savories were already gone but we bought a few pastries to try. My favorite was the chocolate and nut-covered shortbread with the delectably buttery base. Wish we'd thought to order one of the luscious fruit pies the baking ladies were prepping. Definitely worth another stop.

• Slow down for a long look from the road at the hubbub at Nick's Cove.

• Dash into Hog Island Oyster Company to buy Atlantics, Kumamotos, and Washington oysters. The Atlantics were great, very minerally and briny, and crisp of flesh. The Kumies were sweet as can be, but not as firm as colder times of the year. The Washington oysters were too soft to be enjoyable raw and would have been better on the grill.

• Stop by the Marshall store because we couldn't wait until dinner time for oysters and squeezed in a six-er here. The sea breeze, blue skies, and view from the back deck can't be beat. I liked the clam chowder, NE style, with minimum thickening and the most tender chunks of clam.

• Browse and buy some garden additions at the native plant nursery on the way back.

• Jump out of the car in Valley Ford to buy a couple lemons at the market, while my companions studied the menu at Rocker Oysterfellers for future dinner.

• Catch a 10-minute snooze in the car on the ride back before launching into dinner preparation.

Scenes from Tomales Bay -
http://flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/tags/tomalesbay/show/

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[Melanie Wong]

Here's the photo of the plate of freshly shucked Atlantics to accompany a couple bottles of Muscadet.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1238/1...

[SteveG]

Thanks for the update on which oysters are best at the moment; even if I we don't make it up north very often, those of us who live in San Francisco and love oysters have no excuse to ignore Hog Island's Ferry Plaza stand!

[Melanie Wong]

It was hard to be at HI's farm and pass up buying some manila clams, but we already had so much planned for dinner already. Worth mentioning that the picnic ground and parking along the highway were far less crowded than my memories of the place, guess the advance reservation system and higher fees have cut down the demand to manageable levels.

I managed once again to not have to shuck any oysters for myself. The more experienced shucker in our crew taught two others and they cranked through five dozen with ease.

[SteveG]

The clams are definitely tasty, but while we usually get them they end up being sort of a side dish that doesn't get the attention it deserves.

Does anyone know if the Ferry Plaza Hog Island stand has the manila clams for sale yet? My understanding was they started culturing the clams a year or so ago, and eventually they should have enough volume to sell beyond their restaurant customers and direct from the farm.

[Fig Newton]

I crave the clam chowder from the Marshall store. I remember it being rather peppery.

[Melanie Wong]

Hmmm, I didn't note extra peppery flavors. But then again, I usually add a LOT of black pepper to my chowder, and I didn't add any to this. So, it probably had the right seasoning for my taste.

Bodega Bay was gray and cool but clear all weekend. It was a treat to head south and find blue skies in West Marin. The Petaluma native in the car with me said that its really part of the Petaluma dairy culture and we really hadn't left Sonoma County. (g)

[WCchopper]

How does the oyster thing work? Do you shuck them yourself? Buy by the sack or by the oyster? My experience with oysters is mainly Indian Pass Raw Bar, Boathouse Lounge, and Acme, all on the gulf. would love to get into the swing of Pacific coast oysters, but am unsure how to approach it!

[Melanie Wong]

At Hog Island you buy the oysters and shuck them yourself. There's a photo of the day's availability and prices in the slide show (dozens, 50s or 100s). If you reserve a picnic spot, they'll provide a glove and knife for you to have at it. There are also other oyster farms in the area.

Here's a link to the chowdown report from our picnic at HI in 2003 to give you a sense of the experience. Again, it was much more subdued last weekend.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/25735

We headed a little south to the Marshall Store because we didn't want to wait until dinner time. The oysters there are shucked and served to you, either raw or grilled.

From where were were sitting on the corner of the deck over the water, we could see the net bags filled with a few hundred oysters parked in the shallow ocean waters just under where those wine barrels are lined up. My friend leaned over to me and whispered, "I'll drive the getaway car if you grab and run real fast!"