Day 150: OYSTERFEST 2011

I looooove oysters. Since the maturation of my taste buds, I've had the best time exploring oysters in all of their many beautiful forms--namely raw. I know, I know, many of you probably think I'm off my rocker for liking raw oysters, but I think they are a thing of unsurpassble beauty. They're ever-so-slightly more than "bite sized" and taste their best just as God made them.

How many other things come that way?

Would you eat a potato straight out of the ground? No. God didn't make potatoes that good--He made them so you have to chop them and fry them to make them their best.

Would you eat wheat straight from the earth? No. You've gotta process that down into bread, cereal, etc. to make wheat any good.

Chicken? Don't even start.

But oysters...after a quick shuck, are just about as perfect as they could possibly be.

I say that all to say, when you say "Oysterfest" I will find the means to imbibe.

So on Day 150, Mark and I had tickets to go to Oysterfest at Park Tavern, and although I want my first recollection about Oysterfest to be "AMAZING," I really just have to say it's a major rip off. You have to buy tickets for the privilege of buying oysters for $20 a dozen. And beer for $5 a glass. And you can only buy them with cash, which, of course I didn't have, meaning I had to burn $3.50 for an ATM fee, for the privilege of using my own money in my own checking account.

Budget buster to the extreme.

Nevertheless, it was a 60 degree and sunny day in Piedmont Park, the oysters were fresh, the beer was cold, and the company was good, so I got over it pretty quickly.

Something about soaking up the sun,, shucking oysters so primitively that it has to engage part of that pleasure-seeking lizard brain, and downing deliciously rich whole shellfish made it a day not to be beat.

When Oysterfest got to be a little too crowded we left, strolled the Park, and continued our day of decadence with milkshakes from Flip Burger.

And now you won't be seeing us at a restaurant for a few months :)