I grew up in Texas in a beach house on a canal. The house was built atop a bulkhead with a boathouse and all that junk. In the water, along the bulkhead we'd get oysters growing.

During the cooler months, my gramps and dad would put a tall ladder down into the canal, get in the water with a screwdriver, a hammer, and a bucket, and would knock the oysters off of the bulkhead into the bucket. Then we'd sit on our dock, and crack open the oysters with a knife and eat them with ritz crackers.

Now I live in Washington, and the crazy variety of oysters you can get is amazing. I'm a big fan of kumamotos now, and they're almost all I buy.