Oyster Roast

Halloween is around the corner! but more importantly, this weekend was my sister Becky and her husband Cory's annual Oyster Roast. It's oyster season (as I mentioned in my last posting) and every year, Becky and Cory have an oyster roast, where they order hundred's of blue point and Rappahannok oysters served raw or steamed. But before I jump into Oyster Roast, I started my Saturday morning with a quick Monumental Ave run and pumpkin carving while my roommates decorated our house for Halloween (and to get ready for #413's annual Halloween party next weekend!). Below is a photo of Stine, one of my roommates decorating our front porch with spider webs and a glow-in-the-dark hanging skeleton. She's the best when it comes to standing on ladders and hanging lights or anything up way high. I am not one for heights so thank god for Stine. Hopefully my next post will include photos from our Halloween party next weekend, and hopefully our decorations won't be vandalized like last year (yes, we actually had a "vandal" tear down our decorations and eat all our food after everyone pass out).

Once I finished my pumpkin, it was time to ready... But first, take a look at the end result:

Now off the oyster roast! Cornhole, wiffle ball, and plenty of food! I was in charge of

ordering the Chic-fil-A platter this year, which is devoured within an hour of its deliver every year. My roommates made country ham biscuits (a Virginia tradition), and others made homemade chili, buffalo dip, pulled BBQ and mashed potatoes, and of course, plenty of oysters! We even made oyster shooters: Cocktail sauce, raw oyster, vodka, hot sauce and mignonette sauce combined in a shot glass. I was actually quite tasty! I had 2.

We also made homemade mignonette sauce: red wine vinegar, cracked black pepper, dash of salt and chopped shallots. It was damn good I think! What was good was the baby crabs inside the oysters, specifically the Rappahannok oysters that we steamed. Look at that sucker, gross! My sister's friend Mike would eat them right out of the shell, which was horrifying but then I guess eating raw oysters is gross too when you think about it. They are both animals from the sea! I'll take my crabs cooked and in the forms of legs or a cake, please. My parents came too. They made the best Italian sausages with peppers and onions and also a batch of "beer brats," sausage links cooked in butter and beer. They were a little taste of heaven, I couldn't stop eating them.

All in all, it was a great day. John came home from school up in Charlottesville and got to enjoy most of the food that wasn't already devoured. And we wrapped up the weekend with another brunch at a new restaurant: The Back Sheep. We both ordered the "No Mas Huevos Nuevos," which consisted of their mixed chili (I swear it had barley mixed with black beans... what a delight), over top 2 eggs any style, avocado salsa, tortilla strips and underneath all of this was a jalapeño griddle cake. Yes, it was to-die for. Yes, I ate the whole thing. Yes, I'd do it again in a heartbeat!