Half Moon Bay Fish Market

One of the secrets to making a fabulous meal with seafood includes a trip to a favorite fish market for fresh choices.  Cannot count the number of times that we've left the beach, headed for home and have made shopping at the Half Moon Bay Fish Market a regular stop.

Great shop owned for many years by the same family - family photos and memories tacked up all over the tiny market.  They have thought of everything -

Great people to help - always friendly.  They treat us like long lost friends whenever we come in, even tossing in a few extra oysters on occasion!

Blue Point Oysters are always on the menu... (not mine, but Tom's!)

Fresh local dungeness crabs live, also cooked and cleaned ready to take home and dip in melted butter. (YUM!)

Salmon fillets, or whole salmon for the more adventuresome.  Not this girl - I don't like the bones! (or the heads)

Live crabs and lobsters available, as well as fresh squid, prawns, and jumbo shrimp!  We frequently pick up fresh clams here too for clam linguine and yummy clam chowder.

On several occasions we've also picked up the most incredible Ahi - melt in your mouth with just a light searing on the outside.

They have it all do you don't have to make another stop. Lemons, seasonings, fresh baked bread from Half Moon Bay Bakery...

Specialty private label sauces to complete your meal...

Forget the wine?  Half Moon Bay Fish Market has a nice selection to choose from, most of which are local California wines.   They even sell fresh flowers for the romantics!

Stop by and see our friends next time you take a drive down California's Hwy 1 past Half Moon Bay.
Phone: 650-726-2561
Website:
http://www.bizglimpz.com/HMBFishMarket

And to show off your seafood creations, 

how about these fun serving pieces?

Polished Fish Servers

Scallop Appetizer Dish

Large Oyster Shaped Serving Platter

Fun cocktail napkin boxes!

Coastal Themed Wine and Cocktail Glasses

Crazy about Octopus!

We're seeing octopus images in just about every beach house decor element!  Check out some of our favorites-

Thomas Paul, a young and upcoming designer has some fabulous octopus beach house decor items with incredible images - natural botanical designs but also very modern.  Love these pillows sized overly large, made of  natural linen fabrics and luxury down-filled. (yes, I am craving these!) Oh, the best part, the image is reversed on the opposite side - easy to change the look of your room with seasons.

From Cyan Designs. We love this Octopus bookshelf element - couldn't you just see him (or her!) nestled among your favorite beach reads on a grand bookshelf?  Made of pewter with waving tentacles, I don't think I would ever get tired of looking at this sea creature!  (PS  We will be adding to the Caron's Beach House site over the next month)

Of course, there's always my favorite things from Vietri... How about this pretty hand painted round octopus platter?  Hurry though, it looks like it might soon become a collector's item!

From Caron's - detailed botanical drawings of blue octopus surrounded by other sea creatures on antiqued ginger jars.  Kicking myself for not keeping one of these 14" tall beach house decor jars for myself.



Found on Amazon - Pretty amber Octopus lamp!  I think I saw a blue glass version too.












Look at this blue octopus deep salad dish from Anthropologie!  Too cute, and very affordable at $14.00.  Am just imagining the party now -beautiful seafood salad, with this pretty creature peaking out underneath...

Just had to show you all this creative, wildly detailed pewter wine glass from Vagabond House that I found featured on Interior Digs.com  Isn't this octopus stemmed wine glass awesome??  (yes, I am also craving these!)

And then there's these bright fun pillows from our Caron's Beach House store too! 

Excited as they will be featured in "The Nest" coming out in May for their summer issue.

Thanks for stopping by - let me know about your Octopus finds!

Hot Chocolate Warm-Up at the Ritz!

Having been a little cooped up this past week, we relished our quick jaunt to the coast to check out the shore at Half Moon Bay. I wanted to see if the tsunami waves had washed up anything interesting... I think the most interesting part was that there were NO shells, and NO sea glass.  Usually we scoop up all kinds of flotsam and jetsam, this past Saturday the beach was wiped clean.

The tide was still pretty dangerous and more than a little ferocious. We still thought we might be able to get around one of our favorite points at Half Moon Bay. (where I usually find all kinds of purple sea urchins and periwinkle shells) Yeah....probably shouldn't have tried that, as we got a little bit soaked trying to out-run the sets of waves back to safer ground!

Still so much beauty. Sometimes it's just a matter of actually seeing it.  Look how these prehistoric-looking barnacles and dark blue mussels have clung to a crevice in a basalt beach rock just waiting for the tide to surge in.

Coastal flowers are beginning their annual show of color; dark fuchsia pinks, butter yellows....

Thank goodness the Ritz Carlton at Half Moon Bay welcomes wet sandy beach combers to their outdoor patio! It's one of our favorite places to relax on a weekend (or weekday escape!) afternoon.   The patio at the Ritz faces the Pacific Ocean looking Northwest - perfect for watching crashing waves, swooping sea birds, and pink sunsets.

Awaiting guests on the patio, big round brick gas fire pits are lit with cozy fires, and surrounded by generous comfortable, Adirondack chairs.  We always meet interesting people gathered around from all parts of the world, simply enjoying the afternoon in the sea air. (The picture is from a previous trip)

The best part?  At 4:30 the Chocolate Bar is open on the patio!  Three choices of hot chocolate can be had - milk, dark or white.  Too many choices!  They even sell entire kits for roasting your very own S'mores over the fire, roasting sticks included. Yummy, ooey-gooey chocolate chunk cookies are always on the menu too.

Their  gourmet hot chocolate can be ordered with, or without your choice of liqueur, and then topped off with whipped cream, crushed coffee beans, white chocolate stir sticks, crushed cookies. Of course my particular favorite is always available- mini marshmallows!  I had a little Baileys and a little Frangelico, Tom opted for Gran Marnier.

Yes, life is good.


Shared on Savvy Southern Style - "Wow Us Wednesdays"


http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/2011/03/wow-us-wednesdays-8-and-sisters-home.html

New Jersey Beach Girl - Susan Fairgrieve

The Coastal Collection... 

I'd like to think that Susan and I have become kindred beach girls, even though we live on two separate coasts.  She  has such a gift, using her camera lens to capture seashore details that the rest of us might miss.  

Susan is a life-long resident of the Jersey Shore,  practicing her graphic design and photographing talent while residing in the quaint harbor village of Atlantic Highlands, New Jerseywith her husband Scott.  Atlantic Highlands Marina is the largest municipal harbor on the eastern seaboard. The town of Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey also has the distinction of having the highest coastal elevation on the eastern seaboard.  Susan sent me a map of her town and pictures, beautifully picturesque..I cannot  wait until we can go visit one day!

Student of The Art Institute of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for Visual Communications, Susan Fairgrieve majored in visual communications. 

Today,with over nineteen years experience in graphic design, advertising and marketing, learned skills as well as a trained eye come through in her work as a photographer.

We love Susan's detailed sepia toned coastal photography; nautical images, and beach-washed sea shells are just a few of the many sea treasures she has captured with her art.  We know you will love this collection too, perfect for just about any beach home!

I love the look of these gorgeous large prints of Susan's that were done for a new condo project on the New Jersey shore.  Simple, but so striking! 

Advertising layout and photography are both composed of design elements blended to achieve one goal—a visual creation for the eye to behold.

Possessing a broad spectrum of design sense from a graphic design background, this photographer designs through the lens. With gifts from the sea and nautical elements in her surroundings, her love for texture
and shapes comes through in this “Coastal Collection” series.  (Beauty and Braun)

From the shores of Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard to the Bahamian beaches, the collected elements for this series are very unique and beautiful—a guaranteed delight to the visitor of the Jersey Shore or any beach home owner with a love for coastal living. (White Mansions)

Fairgrieve is a collector of moon snails and colorful beach cruisers. At Caron's Beach House, we  love her moon snail portraits, here's a few samples of those images that we are very excited to present, these can be ordered in sizes up to 36" x 48". Think of a collection grouped together.... 

Broken Home (don't you just love the title!)

Round House

Moon Snail II

With coastal Monmouth County being her home, Susan spends her leisure time on or near the water. She embraces her love for the ocean and the beauty of nature in her surrounding environment.  Come see how's she's captured that  love of the sea! Caron's Beach House