Christmas Eve

What a wonderful day!  After a satisfying day at work (I know, a day off would have been great but I can't be greedy since I'm off Friday and I'm leaving for vacation on Sunday!), I headed out for a few last-minute Christmas errands.  I got home a little after 6:30 and got ready for a special dinner out.  I feel Christmas Eve warrants a celebratory dinner and since I didn't feel like cooking one up, I suggested going to a local Oyster House.

Oyster Houses pop up during the Winter months at various spots along the coast.  I saw a poster out in town for an Oyster House at Spasso, a nearby onsen.  SMS and I decided to try it and we had a great time!  It's outside but there are several small heaters they'll stick under the table at one's request.  On a side note, how can SMS miss San Diego when they are equally ridiculous here in heating the outside during Winter?!?

We ordered a basket of oysters, 2 scallops, sardines, pickled vegetables, bread, soup and calamari.  We brought our selections over to the table and one of the women fired up the grill.  There was a lid to cover the food as it cooked, although I think it was mostly for the oysters.  Oysters cooked for 3 minutes a side while scallops were cooked for 2 minutes, flipped and then cooked for 5 more minutes.

Multi-tasking at its finest.  BTW, see the beer vending machine in the background?

Once the oysters were grilled, we put on a glove and shucked them.  We put a few drops of the suggested sashimi shoyu choice and ate up.  It was awesome and filling.  The price was pretty reasonable and we were very happy.  The BBQ surface is pretty small so it's slow-cooking at it's finest but it makes for a well-paced dinner.  I think we will definitely go back or at the very least, go to a few other Oyster Houses in the area.

Now, I'm typing and listening to Handel's Messiah.  I'm getting a little sleepy so it might be time for me to go to bed and dream of Santa!