my heaven is on the bay

Finally went to the Ferry Building "Farmer's Market." Tres bougie, and sooooooooo my kind of thing. Had lunch at Hog Island Oyster Bar. I've only been waiting to go since I heard about it this summer. I must say that I have not learned to love raw oysters, but cooked...oh, they are divine. Started with oyster stew, essentially 6 sweet, creamy oysters in a pool of cream, chives, and black pepper. With the complimentary Acme bread dipped in the cream, you really couldn't eat a finer, more satisfying lunch while watching barges and sailboats pass beneath the bay bridge. Our main dish was a huge platter of two kinds of roasted oysters: Oysters with anchovy-caper butter and Oysters with tarragon, shallots, and chili flakes. They were both delicious, but Eric and I were both partial to the anchovy-caper oyster. The richly briny flavors of the anchovy and capers really complimented the sweet, metallic flavor of the oysters. That, and I felt that the shallots kind of ruined the delicate, custardy texture of the oysters. Again, slurped up and eaten with chunks of Acme bread--unbelievable. Plus, Eric nearly ate a piece of plastic that one of the oysters must have filtered in so we got 8 more oysters. Seeing as how each oyster came out to nearly 3 dollars, it's defnitely a pricey meal. However, the fresh bread, perhaps my new favorite, and the cellars of homemade butter seem to make the bill lighter when it comes.

Saw that they had french macarons at Miette, a bakery in the plaza. I've been dying to try them, but apparently they're a specialty of France and France only. At least I thought. Now, these macarons were tiny--silver dollar sized, unlike their cookie-sized counterparts in the homeland, but the small wonders made me whimper as I bit into them. See, a french macaron is like 2 meringues that are made with crushed almonds, hazelnuts, or, my fave, pistachios. In between the meringues is some type of cream filling. The meringues are only baked until the outside is slightly crisp, and the inside is chewy like a caramel. The second you bite into the pistachio macaron, there is an intense flavor of toasted pistachios embedded in the luxurious, marshmallowy flavor of meringue. The cream between the two meringues seemed to be nothing more than slightly sweetened unsalted butter, which I found an elegant touch. The cool, smooth cream melting on the tongue tastes heavenly with the nutty, sweet, chewy meringue. I went back to the bakery immediately after I scarfed down my first two.

I'm hoping to get a camera by Christmas. Then, I will try to photograph everything I've missed these past months.