How Kristian convinced his wife and mother-in-law that they really do like fried oysters AKA Thursday Night

This past Christmas Eve (my birthday), my father ordered two big buckets of fresh oysters to make the above-pictured scalloped oyster dish...

...and it was delicious!

Here's the recipe base that was used (it's for 4 servings so things were multiplied accordingly)...

1 pint oysters
6 TBS. heavy cream
2+ C. crushed Ritz cracker crumbs (++)
1/2 C. melted butter
2+ TBS. dry sherry
salt and pepper to taste
~ ~ ~
Toss cracker crumbs in melted butter. In a buttered 8"x8" baking dish, cover bottom with 1/2 C. crumbs.
Cover with oysters, cream, sherry, and oyster liquid. Finish top layer with remaining crumbs. (Dust with paprika? ~ I don't.)
Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. 

But even after multiplying the ingredients for more servings, there were still 1.5 buckets of oysters left to be cooked and consumed, so I stopped over my mom's last night to pick some up for frying.  I wasn't sure if I had vegetable oil nor did I remember where the skillet was, so she gave me both of those things as well.

Thanks, Mom!

Once I got home, I told Julia and her (visiting) mother of my plans to fry the oysters, but they seemed a little hesitant about eating them and let me know that there may be other foods in the fridge that they may be more interested in eating instead.

Translation = more for me!

.

I went into the kitchen to get things ready: draining the oysters, dipping them in beaten egg and passing them through some breadcrumbs with a bit of flour, salt and pepper.

And there really was a lot of them!

After letting them rest for 30 minutes...

...I began to fry them...

...and they were looking/smelling good.

So much, in fact, that Julia came in to check things out and ask if she could try one.

She squeezed a little lemon juice on one followed by a few drops of sriracha.

Her eyes lit up seconds later.

"Mmmm!  That's good!" she smiled.  "I didn't think I would like them but I do.  I may be having these for dinner after all, if that's OK with you."

Her excitement only continued to build as I continued to fry...

 ...and it was only a matter of time before there were pics posted on Facebook of me in my Sicilian apron.

Then somewhere in the frying frenzy, Julia's mother also tried one of the oysters and eventually declared that she would be eating them for dinner as well.

Translation: Not as many for me.

But, honestly, that was OK...

 ...because there really was a lot!

So, that evening, we all ate fried oysters...

 

 ...along with brussel sprouts pan fried with shallots and garlic and some sriracha for heat and color.

Beautiful, no?

.