Sometimes it’s the little things that make us happy.  On route to Florida, in Alabama and in Mississippi, Hector was in search of some good fresh, raw oysters.  We only found one place that served them.  But we knew that some of the tastiest oysters around are harvested from Apalachicola Bay in the towns of Apalachicola and Eastpoint and that we were going to arrive at St. George Island, two bridges across from Apalachicola very soon.

In fact, Apalachicola Bay produces 90% of Florida’s oysters and 10% of the nationwide supply of oysters.  So when we arrived at St. George Island, we immediately asked our friends Jim and Terry for their recommendation of where to get some good oysters.

They recommended a place called Eddie Teach’s and the next day, we were there.  And we were not disappointed.   The oysters were as delicious as we remembered and they were cheap.  This resulted in Hector’s “happy oyster face”.  We returned the next day to another popular spot on St. George Island, Harry A’s, where we had some fun times many years ago, for more oysters. A few days later, when Hector and I visited Apalachicola, we again had a lunch of oysters, this time on the waterfront.  Angel joined us on the patio, which allowed dogs.  Extra bonus points there. Apalachicola has a cute little town center with lots of shops that offer great, kitschy Florida stuff.  The three of us enjoyed a walk around the town and down the working waterfront.  On the way out, we bought some – you guessed it – oysters to bring back with us and enjoy at home.

Later that week, Jim and Terry joined us for more oysters at Eddie Teach’s.  We found out that they, too allowed dogs on their patio, and brought all of our pups along.  The Hector happy oyster face returned.  And yet on another day, we bought more oysters to take over to Jim and Terry’s house, and more happiness ensued.

Hector got some shucking lessons from our friends at Eddie Teach’s and shucked (and ate) his very first oyster there.  The general description of shucking oysters seems to be “there’s nothing to it”, followed by “but you have to be careful, let me show you the scar on my hand”.

We picked up a bushel of fresh oysters on our way out of town to take to our friends in Dunedin, Florida, our next stop and where we plan to celebrate Thanksgiving.   Hector took this opportunity to share his happy oyster cheer by becoming an expert shucker, serving fresh, wonderful raw oysters and cooking up some fabulous grilled oysters for our friends in Dunedin.

~ Brenda