Oysters Three Ways
On Saturday, we drove to Tomales Bay Oyster Co. in the morning and arrived by 11:00 am. Apparently that’s a good time to get there if you want to have a good selection of picnic tables. 
It was a beautiful day in the Bay Area and perfect for shuckin’ and suckin’.
The drive over wasn’t too bad. Koa came along and sat in the backseat with Kumquat. They both got a good nap in the car on the ride over.
James and Sylvia were already there and set-up the BBQ and a stove with a huge pot of water. They bought a bunch of clams and threw them in the pot with garlic, butter, and veggies for a tasty soup.
Jes bought a bag of Kumamotos and we ate them raw with the “Hog Wash” that I prepared that morning.
On the BBQ, were some grilled/baked oysters that were finished off with creme fraiche and cheese. I thought it would be gross but Oysters Rockefeller is tasty after all and it didn’t even have bacon on it this time around!
Once the soup was all done, they emptied out the huge pot and replaced it with a much smaller pot filled with oil for some fried oysters! Boy, that was tasty too!
Before now, I had only eaten mainly raw oysters and was a little hesitant about any other preparation. Now I think I’m more willing to try baked and fried ones now too!
Kumquat hung out with Koa for most of the day and they each had a chance to play on the beach.
She seemed to enjoy being outdoors and was pretty excited to see the water.
Koa had a pretty good time too.
What a fun day! Can’t wait to go back again!!
We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house again and Jes’ parents came up this year! We had the usual feast with the addition of one little person who enjoyed sitting with the grown-ups and having her very own turkey and sweet potato.
On Black Friday, I did no shopping but instead we hung out with family. For lunch, we went to Ming’s in Palo Alto to have dim sum with Jes’ cousin and his family. We all just realized that Jes’ family has some strong genes for making identical twins! He has two cousins on his dad’s side that both have identical twins. Jason and Jia had better watch out when it’s their turn to have a kid (or two!).
Later that evening, we hung out at Jason’s apartment in Foster City and then had Korean BBQ for dinner. Yum.
Poor Kumquat had to just sit and watch us eat with no access to anything on the table.
On Friday night we went to the Embarcadero Center once again to celebrate the start of the holiday season. We started at Sens for Happy Hour and met up with Ranee, Sophie, and Jamie.
Some of us got stuck outside of the restaurant while the fireworks were going off but we all made it inside eventually. We all had a good time hanging out and decompressing from a very hard work week.
Kumquat woke up for a little bit to see the lights too. It’s still pretty as ever and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
For the past month, we’ve been at work without our manager who has been on extended sick leave due to her battle with breast cancer. We all knew that she wasn’t feeling well but not exactly how badly. She had treatments last year too and came back just as strong and we were expecting the same this time around. Then on Monday morning, we were called in for an emergency meeting at lunch and were told that she had passed away on Sunday night. It was such a shock to all of us since she was the type of person who didn’t want to worry us with details and kept a lot from us on purpose. So the rest of the afternoon was spent grieving and coming to terms that our fearless leader wasn’t going to be returning to us after all. We were all in tears and most of us took the rest of the day “off” with a minimal workload and time to process. This is a photo of Sue having some “Janie Time” back in June when she was only 10 weeks old. Sue was a great person, awesome therapist, and I learned so much from her. *sigh* I’m going to miss her.
This evening, a bunch of us met up at our other manager’s house after work for a little “family time”. She’s been out due to hip surgery too so it’s as if all the birdies at work haven’t had their mamas around for almost a month. I took off work a little early in order to hurry home to pick up Kumquat and then headed back over the bridge to Alameda. I had thought about not bringing Kumquat but I’m so glad that I did. I think we all needed some “baby time” to lift our spirits. It was like she was a “therapy baby” for all the girls and made everyone smile. Steph brought her buffalo chicken dip and we ordered Indian food for dinner. We all sat around the table talking and laughing as we usually while reflecting on all the funny times we had with Sue. I think we’ll all heal in our own ways but this was a nice start. We just need to remember that we really are a family at work and that we’ll get each other through it in the end. I feel so lucky to be able to spend most of my waking days with such great people. Kumquat had a pretty good time tonight too. 🙂
It’s awesome having the ballpark so close to us sometimes. The 
Initially, we got some seats in right field but then it got cold so we went down to the field for some sun. I love it when I can just hang out on the awesome carpet grass.
Kumquat got to hang out with Jason and Jia and got to feel the grass on her hands and feet.
Some of the “planes” were pretty funny and some of them actually got some air. Can’t imagine how freezing cold that bay water must have been.
It’s so cool that Jason and Jia are here in California so we can actually celebrate birthdays together now. Happy Birthday, DiDi! Thanks for planning a fun night out, Jia! And thanks for babysitting, Masayas!
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