SEPTEMBER SHUCKING

Calgary buried – twice – by snow! Summer ends in Toronto, not by calendar but by weather.  Looking to be a cold one this fall, eh?

But the knives have been hot! Sunday September 7th saw the Mtl Oyster Festival host its own shucking contest, followed by the World Cup of Oysters Shucking Championships – 10 national champions from North America and Europe invited to play, along with the top two finishers at the Montreal competition.  First and second in the Montreal competition – Eamon Clark (#1) and Julius Chapple (#2) moving on to compete in the World Cup. (Eamon, as the reigning Canadian Champ, probably should have got a ‘bye,’ but no matter). And after the national champions competed (plating 30 oysters each) for the World Cup, #2 was Julius Chapple and #1 was Eamon Clark.  Here’s Eamon, shucking agains Ireland’s Mike Moran.

A pretty good showing by the House.

We’re sending Rodney to Italy to serve some nice Maritime hospitality to some friends north of Venice, along with about 150 lobsters, and after that, Eamon is back to Galway Ireland to compete in his 6th (!) World Championships there. Wow!

Rodney, very pleased, with organizer Daniel Notkin:

Into the Fall, we start to see some of our real premium oyster growers start opening up their beds. The Shan Daph oyster from Big Island NS will be appearing in the next few weeks.  We’re really getting into the best time of year to eat oysters. So come down and join us.

Calgary … November first? And good luck Eamon in Ireland.