Hama Hama Oyster Rama!

A couple of Saturdays ago we headed out to the Hood Canal with our friends Taylor, Carly, and their baby, Wes, to the Hama Hama Oyster Rama! It's an oyster extravaganza of sorts where you can pick your own oysters and dig your own clams. Luke and I are shellfish lovers (well, Luke more than me), so we were really excited to feast on some fresh-out-of-the-water catches. It was a rainy Saturday afternoon, but that's pretty typical here.We felt like true Pacific Northwesterners digging for our clams and searching for oysters in the rain.

Oysters galore!

Found a good one!

Luke the oyster hunter

There were literally just thousands of oysters scattered along the shore. So, we tried to find the best ones which we were told were the ones with lots of ridges and purple edges. These oysters go for about $3 each at restaurants, and we got a dozen for $5!

And if you were willing to put the work in, you could also dig for clams.

Caitlin clam digger!

After our hard work, we feasted on a picnic lunch and lots of shellfish! Luke probably ate two dozen oysters -- not even kidding. And I tried my first oyster shooter (Note: an oyster shooter is a raw oyster, plain and simple). We took photos to document this inaugural experience:

I look thrilled, don't I? The taste was pretty good, but it's the texture that's just a little too "out there" for me.

We rounded out our trip sitting by a bonfire on the beach. It just doesn't get better than that. So, as you can imagine, between our four dozen oysters and two dozen clams, we had quite a bit of shellfish to consume. Luke conquered the oysters, and with the clams, we made our own clam chowder! Here's how it turned out:

All in all, it was the perfect Pacific Northwest weekend!