I love the fresh-from-the-Bay-a-few-hundred-feet-away oysters at Tomales Bay Oyster farm in Marshall, about 6 miles North of Point Reyes (both the sweet Golden Nugget and the more briny regular Tomales Bay oysters).

However, I realized I’ve never been a huge fan of Tabasco or soy sauce on oysters (too tart, too thin – I think I want something more buttery and spicy to balance out the brine). So as an experiment I made my own inspired-by-harissa sauce: dried ancho chiles from Tierra Farms (reconstituted in hot water for 10 minutes), pureed with olive oil, a few cloves of garlic, and a little toasted coriander seed. This turned out a thick, slightly spicy, mouth-coating paste that you could dab on the oysters. I declare it a success!

The grilled portabellos turned out well (of course), the baby beets were decent, and the grilled cabbage was… uninspiring.