As much as I hate to admit it…
… I really don’t like oysters all that much. Fried oysters, yes. My great-grandmother’s baked oysters, yes. Smoked oysters — especially those! But on the half-shell or in stew or in a sandwich, I’d just as soon pass.
So, when Debi Snyder, my 4th cousin twice removed, told me that she wasn’t crazy about oysters either, I was pretty sure it’s a genetic thing. I use as proof of this an “infamous” (in the Espy family) comment made by my redoubtable uncle Willard Espy. When, in 1980, he was interviewed for a Seattle TV Station and was asked about his feelings concerning oysters he said in his most dramatic tones, “Actually, I was very nearly conceived, I am sure, in an oyster bed and I certainly was reared in oyster beds. When I was a boy when we had guests for dinner we would have oyster cocktails, oyster soup; we would have fried oysters and surely we must have had some form of oysters for dessert. And I can’t stand an oyster!”
It was during a “porch visit” with Debi a few days ago that our Espy oyster disconnect came up. She and her husband and daughter were here on one of their periodic Peninsula visits and had just been having a bite to eat at Oysterville Sea Farms. “Oh! How was it?” I asked. “The business recently sold and we haven’t been up there as yet.”
“My husband and daughter loved it!” she said. “And I loved the view, as always.” And that’s when she confided that seafood — even oysters — were simply not her thing. “I feel a little guilty saying so, right here in Oysterville!”
“I think it’s genetic,” I told her. And we laughed. That’s another part of being Espy that might be genetic. We all like to laugh and we all have a great sense of humor. Well… almost all of us!
Oh, this is such a deep, almost religious, confession!! Love it. Either one adores oysters, or one despises them. I feel fortunate to be amongst the ‘love them’ crowd, but would NEVER force my preference on anyone else. I always love reading your blogs and posts- makes me feel close to you and life on the Peninsula, I loved almost everything about living there- you can fill in the blanks for what/who I didn’t end up loving. It’s simply the best, closest, and most fun community I’ve ever experienced!! Perhaps you, Cherry, Lucille, and I can meet up soon? I’m very available, having finished up many of my long time commitments. Time to have fun and laugh!
Yes! I hope we can work out a meeting soon! Stay in touch!
Sydney