For one reason or another, we have eaten a lot of oysters this season. We often went to Akashi and bought oysters from the fish market there, as a reward for walking all the way to Akashi. The oysters this year were especially delicious, and recently over dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant we told Mamiko and Yoshi all about our oyster addiction. They turned out to be pretty big oyster lovers themselves (who isn’t?), and they wanted to get in on the oyster mania – we figured we could squeeze one more oyster party in before the end of the season. We arranged a date to drive out to the coast west of Himeji and buy a bunch of oysters to bring home and cook up at their house.
Yoshi and Mamiko came by car on Saturday morning and picked us up. The weather was beautiful and unseasonably warm, and we packed a few bottles of cold prosecco along with some craft cheese we had shipped in from Okinawa into the back of their car to enjoy later at their house. Then it was a matter of making the hour or so drive to get the oysters. We were delayed by a bit of traffic we finally got to the Tatsuno area, and then drove south over the hill to a beautiful coastline. Previously we had been out to Ako which is a little farther west, and it had a similar feel. We drove past several small isolated fishing villages that seemed to be based on the oyster industry – it made me wonder what everyone does during the off season. I think it might be fun to spend an evening in one of these villages, grilling oysters with the ocean in the background and maybe visiting a few local pubs. I don’t know about the hotel situation, but one of these days I’d like to come back and spend some more time in a place like this.
Yoshi drove us a bit farther along the coast to a shop that they had visited before. We parked the car and went inside to look around. There was a funny moment when Kuniko noticed that Mamiko and I were wearing the exact same colors – an unintentional wardrobe match.
The oyster place was a combination of store, restaurant, and a to-go food stand that had an old lady busy frying oysters for people to eat right away. Around back was a wharf area that looked like it is much busier in the morning. We walked a little around the wharf area and then went back to do our shopping. Inside we ended up buying five kilograms of oysters, ten big scallops, and a small bag of medium-sized clams. The oysters were surprisingly cheap at 900 yen per kilogram, and the size of the oysters was pretty big – bigger than ones that we had earlier in the year.
Once we had loaded our shellfish into the car we drove on down the coast, to another tourist shop selling local vegetables, seafood and snacks. Because it was around lunchtime there were a lot of customers and it was some sort of miracle that we could find a parking spot across the street. Inside we lined up to buy some tofu, some manju, and a few other snacks that we could have as side dishes for our lunch.
From there it was back home on the highway, and luckily there wasn’t any traffic for the return trip. We talked together on the ride home, and Kuniko and I were in a pretty good mood with oysters and prosecco on the menu. We giggled and laughed at each other’s jokes on the ride home, and it made the time fly by.
Back in Tarumi we unloaded our goods and fired up the hot plate, and then got the party started. As usual Mamiko had prepared lots of delicious side dishes – chopped onions, lemon juice, ponzu sauce, soy milk, and a smoked salmon salad that was refreshing. We also broke out some of the Okinawan cheese and introduced it to them for the first time. Once the food and wine was flowing, we really started to relax and enjoy the afternoon.
It was interesting to see the way they cooked the oysters – we often put our oysters directly on the grill and let them pop open, but they put their oysters on the hot plate, and steam them with a cover to get them to open up. Some of the oysters were a little shy, but once we got them open they were really big! As usual the oysters were best without any special toppings – straight off the grill on the half-shell. They were probably the best oysters we’ve had this season, and I was glad we could enjoy them with good friends.
After a while Akira came home from his school club activities, and joined us in this sort of hedonistic ritual of oyster eating. He was just as interested in the cheese, and I think it was a hit with him. We hadn’t seen Akira for a long time, and he was looking more and more like a young adult. He was a little more talkative this time, and so it was fun talking with him a bit.
In the early evening we started to slow down – having eaten enough shellfish to feed an army – and so in the end we had Mamiko call us a taxi and we went back to the station to get a train home to Okubo. It was a really nice lunch/dinner and during the evening we decided to get together at our house in the near future. Yoshi, Mamiko and Akira are a lot of fun to hang out with and we’re looking forward to eating and drinking together again soon.
