Shuckin' and Jivin'

Earlier this month we had another birthday edition of Team Brunch, and this time we hit the road and left the city to go oyster shucking at Tomales Bay.




Awww shucks....

It was a beautiful, warm day and I was super excited to eat oysters and be fancy. When I found out on the drive up, that we were not going to be served oysters, but would rather be shucking them, my mind conjured up images of our group, calf-deep in slushy water, scooping up oysters in fishing nets - drat: I shouldn't have worn white.

When I found out that we would remain on dry land, and that 'shucking' was in fact the action of cracking open the oyster shell, I settled back into my 'aren't we fancy, off to eat oysters by the water' mindset.


A gorgeous shucking day

Tomales Bay is beautiful, and when we arrived to our oyster-eating destination, it was packed! You sit right by the water, on one of the many wooden table benches, each one complete with its own bbq grill. Most people had laid out some pretty impressive picnic spreads, and whilst my first thought was 'damn, we should have brought cheeses, and dips, and salads, and and and...' by the time we finished our seafood spread, I was glad that we stuck to bringing just bread, crisps, wine and lemons as accompaniments. After all, what's the point of going somewhere for seafood if you end up bringing a whole bunch of other stuff to eat?






The menu at Tomales Bay Oyster Company is cheap (hooray!) and basic - you can buy different sizes of oyster, as well as clams, muscles and hot sauce. You can then eat them raw or bbq them. We did both! When bbq-ing the oysters, (it's best not to use the smallest ones, as they shrink a little) you simply place the oyster shell on the grill and it pops open when it is done! This is a tasty way to eat them, and also means that you don't have to fiddle with trying to crack the shell open yourself. Personally though, I think the raw oysters had the slight edge for me, as they were so fresh and delicious tasting, straight from the shell with just a dash of lemon and hot sauce.






Oh for shucks sake!

The shucking involved wearing a thick glove, with a marigold glove worn underneath (so as not to get your hand soggy with oyster juice) which you hold the oyster in, you then use a special little oyster knife to pry open the hinge where the two shell halves meet. It is at first a little trickier than anticipated, but once you have cracked open one or two, it gets easier, and there is something really satisfying about the ritual of it.




After this we drove a few minutes down the road to a cute little place and each got a small cup of clam chowder and watched the sun setting.






The perfect day, and an experience I would recommend to all oyster lovers and wannabe shuckers...

Bouquet for the blonde.

Over the months, I have posted numerous photos of flowers - both those which I have received, and those in shops and gardens.

I love getting flowers. They are such a luxurious, feminine, grown-up gift, and something that I would never buy for myself, which makes them even more special.

So, I cannot resist posting some pictures of the absolutely gorgeous bouquet that was delivered to me last week, just ahead of my birthday...


When I opened the front door and saw them, I was taken aback with how big, spectacular and fragrant the arrangement was.






Despite being on the other side of the world, my wonderful boyfriend did not fail to disappoint with these beauties! It was such a lovely surprise, and he wins extra brownie points for knowing me well enough to get the colour combination spot on...♥

A swingin' 27th birthday!

Well, here goes - this is my first blog post that I am writing as a 27 year old...

I celebrated my birthday on Sunday, taking to Regents Park for a big swing dance picnic. The weather was beauuuuutiful, and lots of people turned up to dance al fresco. Most of my friends who came along were not dancers, but I think it was still enjoyable for them, being outside in the sunshine, chatting and watching the other dancers...with lots of champers and cake on hand!






I had an absolute blast spending the day with my lovely friends and my wonderful mum. There was a great atmosphere, and there were lots more people in attendance than at the July swing dance picnic.


I even got serenaded by the crowd, led by John, a most charming 83 year old dancer who played along on the ukelele. Then we had a bit of a birthday jam, and I tried not to look too clumsy shuffling about wearing shoes that were slightly inappropriate for dancing on grass...I would say that it was a little embarrassing, but frankly, it wasn't - I love being the centre of attention like that!








Having seen photos of my birthday jam since the picnic though, the one noticeable thing is....my bum looked massive!!!! Yikes, I need to get one of those three-way mirrors!


Although I didn't partake in the dance lesson held earlier on in the afternoon, it looked like everyone was really enjoying themselves! Paul Crook and Natasha Hall (my balboa teachers) taught a collegiate shag class, and it was super fun seeing everyone hopping around all over the place.






As with the last picnic, there was another ukelele sing-a-long, which I loved, and also a quiz (which I was not very good at).




I got another rendition of 'Happy Birthday' before blowing out the candles on my lemon and poppyseed cake. I guess when you get to 27 you start losing a little puff (is this how it starts?), because I managed to blow all except for one of them out in one go. I'm sure I was able to blow them all out last year....








All in all, this was a wonderful way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon, and indeed a fabby way to spend a birthday! We ended up leaving the park at around 8.30pm, and I went home, happy but exhausted.

Roll on the September swing dance picnic!

The blonde's in stitches!

I had a momentous evening last week, as I finally took my sewing machine out of it's box...nearly two years after receiving it as a birthday present from my mum.

Now, to be clear, I wanted this sewing machine. We went shopping for it together, and I chose it, looking forward to customising my clothes and adding to my sewing skills.


However, when I got it, I kept putting off my sewing projects, and after a while, even looking at the box became a little daunting. I am the type of person who hates having to read instruction manuals. Luckily, with items such as cameras and laptops and so on, you can often get them up and running with minimal instruction from the booklet. But with a sewing machine, I knew that I would actually have to do a little reading to make sure I got it all set up correctly, as the last time I used one was when I was 17, doing my art A-Level, and I got into making crazy fabric collages. Since then, I had forgotten how to thread the needle and bobbin etc.


So, my lovely neat little Janome Décor Computer 3050 model ended up at the bottom of my wardrobe, hidden under a host of other clothes, bags, shoes, toiletries, paperwork (read: crap).....until last week, that is.


With my birthday fast approaching, I thought it was about time to put this neglected present to use, and utilise my time effectively by tackling some of my escalating little sewing tasks (mostly shortening and hemming a few items of clothing as well as taking some of them in). Well, whad'ya know? It wasn't so complicated after all! Granted, I only read the beginning of the manual, just enough to find out how to get it up and running, but I can safely say, not only did I get it running, but we won the race!


Ok, so my hems may not be quite as straight as those of a nimble-fingered, professional seamstress, but, considering this is the first time I have actually used a sewing machine to alter clothing, as opposing to just using it to create haphazard artwork, I am feeling pretty pleased with myself (and my newly revived dresses)!


I love my sewing machine and my mind is now filled with ideas of grandeur, although my slight impatience (to accurately take measurements, pin material, read instructions...as opposed to my usual freestyling) leads me to wonder how many of these ideas will actually come to fruition...