As much as I hate to admit it…

Debi and Sydney – Porch Visit

… 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.”

Oysterville Sea Farms, 2015 — A Bob Duke Photo

“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!

2 Responses to “As much as I hate to admit it…”

  1. Barbara Parsons says:

    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!

  2. sydney says:

    Yes! I hope we can work out a meeting soon! Stay in touch!
    Sydney

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