The pearl

As we left the coast we drove by one of our favorite spots that we usually hit during such trips – the Yaquina Bay Oyster Company. There one can buy fresh oysters – chucked or in the shell. We usually take the latter one and eat them raw or barbecue them. When you barbecue the oysters, you don’t have to worry about the tricky chore of chucking the oysters, because they open on their own. We wanted to eat them raw and so I carefully opened the shells. I prepared a dressing with lemon juice, garlic and ginger and added that into the lower shells of the now opened oysters. And with much excitement we proceeded to eat them. It was perhaps my fourth oyster when suddenly if felt something hard, smooth and round in my mouth. It struck me then – you have found a pearl! We have eaten oysters on many occasions. I had heard or read (perhaps rumors) that one can get lucky and find a pearl this way. The excitement though was short lived, and the disappointment followed quickly. As I spit my pearl into my hand I could thee that what I was holding was just one lemon seed I had squeezed out earlier.