The reader who sent this is breaking my heart. Here I am boiling in the Louisiana summer heat, and there he is in Ireland feasting on the gustatory and visual delights of raw oysters and stout. Very heaven! This has to be one of my all-time favorite VFYTs. He writes:

This VFYT submission could not have occurred if not for your influence.  Two weeks ago I was on the Gulf coast (Destin, FL) with my family and decided that it was high time I tried raw oysters – primarily because you continually wax poetic about the oysters you encountered in France. I felt I owed it to my foodie bona fides to at least try them.  But I always wanted to be somewhere where I was completely confident that they would be fresh.  My first taste included a saltine, horseradish, and cocktail sauce.  Not only did I like it, but I quickly determined that all those extras were detracting from the pure flavor of the raw oyster!  A tiny bit of lemon juice was plenty for me.

Fast forward two weeks.  This week I traveled to Dublin for a conference.  While there I found my way to Ireland’s first brew-pub, Porterhouse.  One of their many house brews is an Oyster Stout.  A stout made with actual oyster juice which imparts a sweetness (not fishyness) to the beer.  As an appetizer they offered some raw oysters to accompany their stout.  How could I pass it up?!  Admittedly the oysters were not nearly as good as the gulf coasters I had, but it was still fun!

Thank you for indirectly encouraging me to taste raw oysters!

PS.  I included a bonus picture from my trip: a statue of Edmund Burke at the entrance to Trinity College.

Let joy be unconfined, says I: