511558 Mon Apr 21 14:01:55 -0700 2008 9 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 3616000 At the request of our host I will start on the thread. Five hounds arrived at about 10:45 AM to get a good shaded table for out later arriving heads. With the arrival of one more hound (our group of four) we had the following: 2 orders of six oysters on the half shell. 2 orders of the sausages with a piece of wonderful acme bread, salad and mustard 2 order of strawberry "pizza" I do not know the actual name but it was served with fresh whipped cream from Dveena (I hope I spelled your name correctly, I am a really a bad person at spelling) One bottle of sprinkling wine from Cece Cheese from Joan Dried sausage from Meliane Two type of cookies that were great but too sweet. Marinated olives from Julie Roasted Beets from Cece Coffee from Julie I hope C, J and D will supply the name of the wine, cookies, and my strawberry "pizza". After stuffing ourselves we give up our seats to hounds who arrived later. Also we had lots of bread. The food was great and company even better. Not a cheap event but something one has to see and eat for themselves. Food and wine was flying around the table and I did not take notes, who has time. Mon Apr 21 14:01:55 -0700 2008 10686 yimster 1 3616160 It seemed too cold and windy for a picnic. Was everyone bundled up? Mon Apr 21 14:38:11 -0700 2008 3616000 11277 Paul H 2 3617306 Actually the wind wasn't up in the morning and the parking lot was tented. So it was quite pleasant actually, although you needed at least a sweater. Mon Apr 21 20:53:16 -0700 2008 3616160 15879 Joan Kureczka 1 3616366 Since this was a Kermit Lynch thing, what wines were availabe? And how were the sausages and oysters? Mon Apr 21 15:33:21 -0700 2008 3616000 10133 wally 2 3616836 Ms. Wong got a case for us hounds to share. But I only had one before I left and I did not get any information. I am the last person you should ask about wine. The oyster were small, sweet and fresh. Sausage were perfectly cooked and what else is there to say. Mon Apr 21 18:16:20 -0700 2008 3616366 10686 yimster 1 3616879 The "strawberry pizza" was slices of strawberry rhubarb galette from Cafe Fanny - this had a great, buttery, rustic crust that sent me chasing after shards of pastry all over the table. Great, flavorful fruit, and a dollop of whipped creme fraiche on the side. The macarons were almond, and coconut/caramel. While most people seemed to prefer the almond ones, the caramel buttercream in the coconut macarons won me over. The oysters were fantastic - sweet and briny, great texture. I actually started eating them without any lemon or mignonette - they didn't need any accompaniment. And the sausages were wonderful too - surprisingly light and springy in texture, perfectly seasoned. I definitely did not have the discipline to record the names of the wines - I scribbled the name of one white burgundy I particularly enjoyed on a napkin, and promptly lost it - kind of hoping Melanie will post the names of the wines. It was actually not that cold and windy - maybe because we were under a tent, buffered by many, many people around us. Mon Apr 21 18:28:48 -0700 2008 3616000 44059 daveena 1 3617162 What a lovely morning and very early afternoon. Melanie and Joan arrived early and saved spots. Thank you. The cheese Joan brought was simply off the hook good. Can you post the name, please? Melanie brought us some smoky Spanish chorizo, very tasty with just the perfect measure of spices. And what about the poached egg on toast? Blessings. Julie's olives were home-cured and, as always, very flavorful. The sausage was perfectly cooked, I thought the oysters were fine, but a tad too soft? Acme bread -- we had the pan epi and the sour dough baguette and let's not forget the apple turnovers. Julie and I dipped the ends of the apple turnovers in bowls of cafe lattes -- how does Fanny get the froth so frothy? Macaroons. I didn't like the cocunut caramel, but I'm not a coconut fan. I thougt the almond, though, was just like eating lightly scented almond air. One bite and instant sweet melt down. Wines. . . we started off with a champagne at 60 bucks a bottle. A good drink but I'm not the greatest of wine palates, so Melanie... The table and seating were protected from the blusters by the tent, so not too chilly. I just wish the tables were round so conversation was a little easier. Thank you JHinky and Melanie for organzing! Cece Mon Apr 21 20:00:03 -0700 2008 3616000 10418 Cecelia 2 3617317 The cheese was the Allegro, from Andante Dairy, and it was perfectly ripe. Among the wines I recall were a nice Petit Chablis from Roland Lavantureux (I liked this one and so bought a couple of bottles, hence the name is in front of me), and the Domaine de Fonsainte Gris a Gris (consistently one of our favorite roses). Oh -- and thanks to Alexandra for her delicious preserves. Loved the savory lemon and herb one and the strawberry-lemon particularly. These were just the thing with the Acme epis, which was still warm from the oven. Mon Apr 21 20:56:44 -0700 2008 3617162 15879 Joan Kureczka 1 3621331 I can list the wines, but unfortunately, I lost the slip of paper that had the individual bottle prices on it and I can only remember a few. My favorites are marked with an asterisk* *NV Fourney & Fils Premier Cru "Brut Vertus" Blanc de Blanc Champagne, $60 *2006 Roland Lavantureaux Petit Chablis 2005 Robert Chevillon Bourgogne Chardonnay *2006 Henri Perruset Macon-Farges Seleccion Vielles Vignes *2006 Pascal Janvier Jasnieres "Cuvee de Silex" (chenin blanc) 2006 Champalou Vouvray 2004 Epire Savennieres (mark-down) 2004 La Viarte Sauvignon Colli-Orientali del Friuli, $8 (mark-down) *2005 Kuentz-Bas Alsace Blanc, $12, BEST BUY 2006 Ch. La Roque Pic St. Loup rose' *2007 Domaine de Fontsainte Corbieres Gris de Gris 2004 Robert Chevillon Nuits St George *2004 Marenco "Bric" Dolcetto di Dogliani, $10 BEST BUY *2006 Joseph Swan "Naked Lady" (aka Amaryllis Belladonna) Russian River rose' (85% Syrah) 2007 Edmunds St. John "Heart of Gold" El Dorado County, 54% Grenache Blanc/16% Vermentino Wed Apr 23 00:25:43 -0700 2008 3616000 10039 Melanie Wong 2 4599829 Nearly a year later, here are the photos from Oyster Bliss XVII. We had our own dessert girl who shuttled our money to the pastry table and brought back the dessert of our choice and the correct change . . . we should have given her a bigger tip. Last year I sent an email to Cafe Fanny asking for macarons, and was delighted that the powers-that-be decided to bake some for the day. http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/tags/oysterblissxvii/ See you Saturday! Wed Apr 15 19:02:18 -0700 2009 3621331 10039 Melanie Wong