Drippy Drippy Ocean Water

Despite what I've heard on the bus to First Hill lately, Leap Year comes around every four years (not 20) and wouldn't you know, family dinner fell on the special day! To be honest, until arriving at Ted & Johnnie's house, I could have counted 2/29/12 as a wash and pretended it never happened. I might have almost really screwed up the database at work, oops! But the database got fixed and I made my way to Green Lake, knowing a hooch cocktail would turn the day around.

What I did not expect were dozens of OYSTERS!!!!!!! Forget the work stress, there were OYSTERS in the house! I swear, someone really likes me (Grandpa) because oysters two weeks in a row is more than I could ask for. We had oysters on the half shell AND baked oysters with bacon aka Oysters Bratrude.

While Ted was stationed over the kitchen sink shucking each little superstar mollusk, I was stationed in the kitchen nook with Grandpa. Turns out this is a great spot to plant yourself for a few reasons. First, you get a front row seat for the appetizers. Slurp, slurp slurp go the fresh Penn Cove gems. Second, people gravitate there to both say hello to Famous and grab a bite of whatever is on display so you get to chat with everyone. And third, when more people squeeze onto the little bench and you are stuck on the inside, people take care of you!

I'm talking cocktails, people. From my stuck position, I was not only able to indulge in a bunch of OYSTERS and catch up with my cousins, but I was also able to try all the beverage available.

• homemade hard cider - Loved it. Good carbonation, right amount of sweet. Nose of kombucha, taste of apples. 
• Ginger liqueur - A little sipper of this one was enough to give you spicy root flavor and smooth heat. 
• Apple Hooch Sour - My favorite. Whatever magic happened with the mixing of citrus and apple hooch made for a delicious drink. That one didn't last in my glass long. It was a long day, people, you understand!

Before we sat down for the main meal, we made a detour to the TV because Evening Magazine was doing a segment on the World Extreme Pencil Fighting League. Thaddeus P. Skrilla (Matt) was the World Champion for about a year, so we gathered around to watch the story.

 

It was fun to see a bunch of my friends on TV and how they edited the event to be TV-appropriate. It's a bar show, it is not that tame. Pencil fighting is every third Thursday at Re-bar.

After getting everything on the table, we all sat down to enjoy Ted's hard work. It was another small group - Grandpa, Ted, Johnnie, Jessie, Morgan, Chelsey, Charlie dog and I. Since I forgot my camera AGAIN Johnnie saved the day with a quick iphone shot. Sorry it's grainy. I promise to do better next time.

The menu included homemade split pea soup, green and purple salad, OYSTERS two ways, baguette, quesadillas, salsa and wine. Everything was delicious. And this is where the story came out about how we got so lucky with oysters round two.

Ted took a bike ride to Cash&Carry a couple days ago with the intention of picking up a couple slabs of ribs for family dinner. As he rode up to the store, he noticed a Penn Cove Shellfish truck parked in front. I don't know if you've every been to Cash&Carry before, but it's not really a Penn Cove-type place. It's more about quantity and savings than exceptional seafood.

So Ted spots the driver and says hi. He asks if he's selling off the back of the truck, and lucky for us, he is! First Ted asked about mussels, but it's mussel season and the guy is fresh out. Then they talk oysters and Ted winds up with 10 dozen, packed in ice. Now remember when I started this story I told you that Ted was on his bicycle? Ya. So getting the surprise oysters home required a bit of finesses.

To avoid Drippy Drippy Ocean Water getting everywhere, Ted had to empty his saddlebag content into his day-pack, fill the saddlebag with oysters, stuff that in his day-pack and shlep the whole bounty home. This is why I love my family. Serious dedication to a great meal.

We had a good laugh about Ted's oyster adventure and everything tasted better to me knowing it was a fluke that I was enjoying oysters for the second week in a row. As we finished up, Jessie was preparing our tasty dessert. There was a quick discussion about whether what we had last week was actually a Kringle. Regardless, we all decided we like the desserts made by our family baker best.

She made us GF vanilla cupcakes with baked bananas and ice cream. So good. The smell of the caramelized bananas was mouth watering and went perfectly with a little more hooch. Jessie admitted it was a bit of a wing-it production and that caused a big laugh since a lot of the Bratrude's follow a recipe about as well as they shy away from food. NOT WELL.

Are you jealous yet?