Today was just a great day on so many levels. After one too many martinis last night and a strange encounter with a clown making balloon animals, a trip outside the city was the perfect lazy day activity for these sleepy girls. The boys picked us up outside the Bay Bread Company where we were getting some much needed coffee and we made our way across the Golden Gate Bridge to the Cowgirl Creamery which is located at Tomales Bay Foods, a restored barn in Point Reyes Station.

The barn

Window into the surprisingly small creamery–tours are available, but we were just here for provisions.

Stainless steel milk jugs outside of the creamery

One of the “cowgirls” packaging the cheeses

Boxes of cheese ready for shipment around the world

Sign above retail station

Cheeses available for tastings and purchase


Tomales Bay Foods also sells items from other artisinal producers like Stonewall Kitchens, June Taylor, Fra’ Mani, fresh vegetables, wine and the delicious prepared foods of the Cowgirl Cantina–pretty much anything you need to create the perfect picnic or find something to take home as a souvenir. I grabbed some spicy Fra’ Mani chorizo, crackers, a roast chicken and some baby gem salad with some of the season’s first peas to go for later. My friends got loads of cheese, wine, salami and bread for later.

Salumi selection

The best salad I have had in ages

Roasted chicken

Creme fraiche and sweet onion flat breads from Rustic Bakery

After leaving Cowgirl, we made our way towards oyster country–our final destination and the venue for our picnic. There are many oyster farms to choose from, but we headed towards one of the best–Hog Island Oyster Company.

Almost there…


The mother load–plenty of fresh oysters to go around

The menu–what a steal!

No doubt…

Getting our Kumamotos loaded on our tray (complete with oyster knife)

The scene: picnic tables (reservations are most definitely required) and grills (charcoal available for sale) if you like to cook your oysters.

We weren’t this prepared, but got a kick out of seeing the ways people decorated their tables. Each group’s style was totally unique and there was even a table with a whole roasted turkey and wine pairings–no joke.

Ready to go and guess who got nominated to shuck the oysters?

I knew my time in culinary school would come in handy somehow…

Just a small sample (the rest of our bounty not pictured) of our feast

One of my friends digging in–we chose limes because we bought a chipotle hot sauce at Tomales Bay Foods

Dessert provided by our lovely (and way cool) neighbors who were celebrating their first wedding anniversary with a romantic picnic and the top of their wedding cake.

Like I really need to summarize what a phenomenal day this was. I laughed so much it hurt, ate great food, saw the scenic parts of Northern California I have missed so dearly and simply (and most importantly) got to spend some time with my amazing friends. It was the kind of day that left me quietly asking myself how in the heck I could ever leave San Francisco. There really is no place like it on earth…