Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Prelude to (our) Thanksiving

hope yours was enjoyable!

After a hectic early week we spent (pre Thanksgiving) Wednesday morning throwing stuff in garment bags, suitcases, carry all’s, getting ready for our sojourn over to the Eastern Shore.  One of the side effects of having the MOMSTER is that it is so cavernous that if you might want or need “it” you can just throw it in the back.  No decisions, a condition which I enjoy.  Anyway, we got started around noon to make our check in time of three o’clock.

Of course there has to be something to worry about, so all the way up toward Annapolis I was concerned about traffic over the Bay Bridge, thinking of hours of delays at the toll booths, traffic over the bridge itself, etc.  And sure enough as we merged onto US50 from 2 North we came to a rolling stop.  It did pick up after the Annapolis exits, and finally we approached the toll booths to find


Nothing!
 
And past the booths the “traffic”

 

With a sigh of relief and a sideways glance from MFO (I told you so!) we proceeded over the river and through Kent Island  and finally the way to Easton was upon us

 

Traffic was steady but not bad, and we passed the crowded outlet mall, and finally got to our destination..

There are places that just kind of speak to you, and Easton for some reason has a pull on us.  There is just something pleasant about it (I am speaking of the “historic” part here, not the surrounding malls and chain stores).  The stately Tidewater Inn

 

And charming streets with galleries, “real” shops where you can buy gentleman’s clothing, an Orvis registered store which had more guns than I have ever seen, and stuff like that.  Of course there is a good dining scene (which we will explore later) and our favorite lodging place (and restaurant) at the Bartlett Pear Inn

 

Discerning readers might notice a slight resemblance to the Inn at Little Washington!

 

And indeed (in my mind) there are quite a few parallels between the two Inns… Both have impeccable service and gracious staff, the rooms are tidy and well appointed, and each one serves wonderful food.   Where everything is “just right”.

The food plan for the weekend was to dine in the Bartlett Pear on Friday night, and since they were not serving on Thanksgiving (to be with their family, how nice) we had Thanksiving Dinner reservations at the venerable Robert Morris Inn in nearby Oxford.  Being unsure of our arrival time in Easton Wednesday, we decided to try to eat in another of our favorite places there, Out of the Fire.  It being Thanksgiving eve, I was a little concerned (always a concern someplace) whether they might not be serving.  So before leaving the digs, I went to their website, and got to the “contact us” page and sent an email asking about service.  I don’t know about your experiences with this form of communication, but usually it results in…. nothing.  Well, to my surprise I got an email returned within an hour saying yes, they were open, and to call when we got to town.  How neat is that?  So, after we got settled in the Pear, I rang them up, and they said 6:30 would be fine.  Great.

So after a glass of wine in our room and a little rest we walked the couple of blocks between the Inn and Out of the Fire, window shopping along the way.  I think I have blogged about the place before, but they still remain high on the list of places to dine in Easton.  Kind of a bistro atmosphere, an open kitchen with counter spaces, a smallish bar in the back and pleasant art work on the walls.  We were greeted by the lady with whom I had corresponded who was the proprietor and led to a nice table on the wall where I could view both the kitchen and the bar, a kind of situation the Feeder enjoys.  Again it was obvious that it was a popular spot with "the locals", as many of the parties knew each other.  A nice atmosphere...

It turned out our server was also the bartender. I ordered my DMOTRWAT and MFO her gin gimlet.  They were soon delivered to the table, and mine came with the dreaded maraschino cherry, but appeared to be made (correctly) with only dry vermouth.  I noted to her the lack of twist and she immediately apologized, scooped up the drink and went back to the bar..  MFO observed she pitched the whole drink and remade it from scratch.with the twist. Other places have just brought a twist, leaving me to deal with the cherry. Another apology upon delivery, so it was handled nicely.

The menu has several choices plus a few specials, among which (for this evening) was a butternut squash soup, and an Oyster Pot pie.   MFO opted for the soup and a hangar steak, and I went for an organic ceasar salad with the white anchovy option, and the Oyster pot pie.

The wine list is well thought out and offers plenty of good bottles at reasonable prices.  Leaning toward MFO’s steak, I chose an ‘05 Mettler Petite Syrah from Lodi, California.

Food arrived at just about the right timing, and I really enjoyed my salad (with the "school" of anchovies!)

 

MFO enjoyed her soup.  Entrees followed with a gigantic pot pie for me and MFO’s steak which was cooked just right.  almost charred on the outside yet her preferred medium rare inside.  I guess it was made in and out of the fire!!

 

At one point the proprietor lady stopped by and said that the Mettler was one of her favorite wines and was glad we chose it.   Incidentally, come to find out that she was one of the pioneers of local sourcing in Easton for her restaurant and continues to push for the “buy local” policy.  They even have a little garden from which a lot of the vegetables are produced, some of which found their way into my pot pie as they were very tasty.  Definitely a must do when in Easton..

After dinner we wandered back to the Inn and prepared for Thanksgiving day.  I think we’ll leave it there for today and continue tomorrow.. where eventually we got ready for Thanksgiving Dinner by being
 
DFD

 

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