Valves that is.. this
kind
To paraphrase Mr. Dickens, “it was the best of times, it was
the ………BEST of times”! Recently, two events, one in Ireland and another here in St. Mary's County, are linked by the little buggers, best and best...
As you recall, we were talking about the
International (Oyster) Opening Contest in Ireland, and you might notice that continuing that story
has been interrupted for a bit. Last weekend was our St. Mary’s County Oyster
Festival, where the winner of the U.S. National Shucking Contest is the National Champion who then represents the United States in the World Opening
Championships in Galway Ireland. Got
it? In the span of less than a month, I
attended both! It was for the third time
at the Irish event, and the whateverth on ours.
Both are kind of unique, but both center around the humble Oyster.
Galway Festival Edition
After dinner on "the Weir", we enjoyed fun of watching the Irish Opening Championships
with Michael Moran competing on Friday evening, we got up the next morning after a good rest in the
luxurious Meyrick Hotel, situated in the Heart of town on Eyre Square. Another of the grand old hotels.
Just look at those hallways.. not your Courtyard style
We took a little stroll on “Shop Street” a pedestrianized
street (no cars) where there are little shops, including one of MFO's favorite book stores, and lots of interesting people to entertain you and relieve you of a couple of coins...
The events leading up to the opening contest included a “parade
of flags” where the Champions from the competing countries carried their flag,
including Duke Landry, our Champion
(along with a dour faced unidentified opener from an unknown country).
The main festival doings were held in a marquee (we would call it a tent)
with plenty of Guinness and other beverages, samples of seafood, and lots of
music, sort of modernized traditional
Finally they got ready for the contest itself, and this year
the evil technology appeared again with a flat screen to show the contestants
Duke poised, ready to shu…. er, open his bivalves
While the contestants toiled away, it was all projected..
A quick cultural note here, I am not sure you can see in the
reduced Blog image, but look at the “audience” to the right of the action. See all those arms raised in the air? Think they’re cheering for their favorite
contestant? Nope, they’re all holding
some device recording the action.
Anymore, seems that the only reason you attend an event is to take pictures of
it. Never enjoy the moment, just get
that picture. (I note that the feeder is
almost as guilty, but I have an obligation to help others enjoy it
vicariously).
Anyway, all the trays got filled with opened oysters and
taken back stage for the Judges. They
use pretty much the same model we do over here (or vice versa) in that the opening time is
adjusted by “penalty seconds”, assessed for cut oysters, off the shell, oysters
not cut cleanly from the shell and so on.
Kind of some inside stuff here that might be of interest. This was my third time attending this festival,
and my last trip as King Oyster was in 2012.
Because of my august status, I was called the “North American Observer”
and was allowed to be in the judging tent to make sure things were on the up and up, and also to help consume some Guinness. I think I probably blogged
about that in some obscure 2012 feeder.
Anyway, they do go over each tray as it comes in, but unlike us, they
have a “specialist” for each evaluation category (cut oysters, etc.,) and that person
assigns a penalty for his area of expertise.
These then are collated to generate a total bunch of “seconds” to be added
to the time of opening on the stands.
Another difference is that there is a category for “presentation” which
takes away time. Well, as with all
subjective things if you say contestant number three gets a (minus) say of ten
(max) and then contestant number 12 comes in with a “better” tray, they have
the latitude to “adjust” the scores so that in the end the best tray gets the
best presentation numbers. So, it takes
a while for the results to be finally announced. Duke ultimately finished out of the top ten, and actually the winner was a repeat from last year.
All that stuff is done kind of mid-afternoon, since the
evening is given over to more music, dancing, and a big deal kind of
progressive parade through the city with stops at various locations for food
and drink. Kind of a Mardi Gras
thing. It is NOT FREE and is pretty
pricey, a couple of hundred Euros or more. We did that when there in 2012 so
did not feel compelled to repeat it. We
would rather spend our Euros on…..
Food. In 2012, it was
announced that a restaurant in Galway would receive the City’s first Michelin
star. A place called Aniar, with Chef J.
P. McMahon at the helm. He deserves a
column himself, but not at this time. We
tried in vain then to get a booking but of course they were overrun with
people. So this time, we secured a
booking WELL in advance of our trip, deciding to that instead of the hoopla. Aniar is situated in what you would have to call a storefront.
We were offered the “showcase” table in the window, and nothing would do but that the server HAD
to take our picture, which I normally am against, but I finally acquiesced (and
now am probably glad we did)
Another story for another time, but we are trying to get JP
over here for our 50th Oyster Festival next year, so I had been in
some communication with him. He sent out
a glass of bubbly for us to enjoy before tucking into our wine of the
evening.
Oh well… The Feeder began toasting passerby’s in the
street.. good fun.
Aniar is very informal, and the menu is a daily Prix Fixe
arrangement with several categories of starters, mains, salads, etc. The diner can pick the number of courses that
suits their palate and wallet, plus you can add flights of wine. It gets a bit confusing, but the servers are
willing to help you wend your way through it.
One feature I thought was nice is that instead of cluttering the menu
with sources (greens from the third row of the north forty of So and So
Farms; Happily raised roaming chickens
from …..a trend that I personally hope
is waning) there is a sign on the wall with their sources for those interested
We made our choices and I pretty much left my point and
shoot in my pocket during the dining.
Well, I did sneak a couple, here is what is described on the menu as “Scallop,
apple, and Roe”
As we experienced at Dax in Dublin, the servers carefully
described everything on the plate (which I appreciated) for instance the wafer-like vertical item is “Scallop Bacon” a smoked slice of scallop. That dish was typical of the care of the
kitchen to feature each item plus all the lovely accompaniments. The only other picture I sneaked was the
intermezzo of Jasmine Tea Sorbet
All in all, it was a lovely experience with all the pieces
of food, service, and presentation in harmony.
Apparently those Michelin folks get it right.. Next time you’re in Galway get a
booking. Well in advance!
That concluded our stay in Galway, the next morning we left
for points south.
Well, I’ve done it again, despite my well thought out plan
of “A Tale of two Festivals” I fear that I’ve rambled on long enough to give us
both a rest before yakking about our local version of the Oyster Festival.
I hope you noticed in the photo of the Feeder and MFO, we
WERE
DFD
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