Chowda

On Saturday Joe and I went to check out the New Old Lompoc (5th Quadrant) and the Chowda Challenge benefit. The season completely forgetting itself, gave sunshine and warmth enough take advantage of the ample outdoor seating and leave coats behind. For $5 each we received a tray of 12 tasters of different New England style, Portland produced Chowders...with the proceeds going to the leukemia & lymphoma society (pretty cool). They had live music, seasonal beers for $3 a pint (with the hoppiest lager I've ever tasted) and this crazy balloon hat guy running around dressing everyone in some pretty creative balloon hats.

Of the 12 chowders at least 4 were in the "if I ordered this at a restaraunt I'd go hungry" category, some were very creative...almost to the point where we looked up to verify..."did you taste nutmeg in #4?" But the one that caught my heart was chock full of salty goodness and had huge clams in it. Which is weird. Because I usually do not like clams. At all. I spent many a weekend in my youth on beaches in the Puget Sound digging for clams, which, when were cooked at home repulsed me and restaraunt clams did little to convince me otherwise. So I generally eat around clams when I get chowder, because I like the creamy chowder, but eating the clams usually reveals the gritty, sandy, rubbery, chewy underbelly of the soup. I know. I know. But yesterday I ate many a clam, and although they have not completely won me over, I now know that at least sometimes they taste good. In fact, they were rather filling and between a pint of beer and half of each taster I was set. The results are to be posted sometime soon...so we'll see what we ate, who made it and whether we have "good taste."

...and some side notes...
(1) for those of you not raised by New Englanders it's chowda.
There are some audio studies at the end that should help anyone wanting to improve on dropping their r's (cough, Freed, cough cough...and Matt who is probably inadvertently developing one as we speak :) )
(2) When performing a spell check, "Puget" is checked as "puked" which brings a little smile to my face.
(3) I know it seems odd to use the words "beach" and "Puget Sound" in the same sentence, but, should these words be used within the same sentence, beach should be read as "rocks" and "gravel"
(4) While my brother and I used garden shovels to capture unwitting clams my Dad sat on the beach shucking oysters. He generally used a knife etc etc. But I've seen him and my Uncle walking along the beach sampling the oysters as they go. Using whatever means necessary. I can show you an excellent technique using a 1987 Plymouth Voyager valet key. Mmmmm Oysters on the half shell.