April 29, 2019 Lunch – McCleary’s at Marietta, PA. Dinner – Grilled T-bone steaks and Asparagus with Baked Potatoes and Sautéed Mushrooms and Vidallia Onions

April 29, 2019 Lunch – McCleary’s at  Marietta, PA.  Dinner – Grilled T-bone steaks and Asparagus with Baked Potatoes and Sautéed Mushrooms and Vidallia Onions

We picked up Sara Jane at the Masonic Lodge around 11:15 and drove to Marietta, which is a riverfront town on the Susquhenna River.  On the way we stopped at an unmanned vegetable stand and fought three bunches of beautiful fresh asparagus for $8.00.

We found McCleary’s Pub easily and went in o lunch.  We were led through the cramped bar to a spacious room with a large expanse of windows open to the north light.  Our next surprise was the menu with lots of interesting choices.  Sara Jane ordered a crab cake sandwich.  Jean ordered a Cobb Salad and Suzette and I both ordered a Caesar Salad topped with a crab cake.

We ate some of Sara’s French fries, which were delicious.  The crab cakes were almost all crab and very fluffy, like they were bound together with egg white.

We enjoyed  lunch.  I had to try the desserts, so I ordered a tiramisu and a slice of o chocolate flourless torte.  Both were wonderful.  It seemed like the Park, tiramisu filling was a mixture of whipped cream, marsacapone dulce, and espresso coffee.  The flourless chocolate torte was more dense than fudge.  Wow.

After lunch we drove along the length of 250 cherry trees.  Unfortunately the cold weather and wind of the last few days had blown most of their blossoms down.  The street was littered with pink blossoms.  Still they were impressive.

We then drove to Bainbridge, another river front town a few miles up river.  We drove to Koser, named for one of Sara’s older brother’s, who raised the money to build a boat ramp into the river and park.  Sara is one of 11 Koser siblings, of which there are 4 left.
 We then drove back to Elizabethtown, dropped off Sara Jane and drove  e of fit the same bo the Giant grocery store to buy food for dinner.

We bought two bottles of Zaccagninio Montepulciano del Abbruzo for $15.00 each.

We then bought russet potatoes, white wine vinegar, three T-bone steaks on sale for $6.99/lb., ½ lb. of sliced baby portobello mushrooms, two Visalia onions, two shallots, a package of fresh tarragon, and two bagels.butter

We arrived at Don and Bev’s house at 3:30 and I napped until 5:00.

Suzette put the potatoes into the oven to ate at 4:00.

When Suzette awakened me I went to the kitchen and began cooking the Béarnaise Sauce with Don’s assistance.  I diced about 1 ½ T. of shallot and plucked about the same amount of tarragon leaves and put them into a small sauce pan with 1/3 cup each of white wine and white wine vinegar plus a dash or two of salt and pepper.  We then boiled the mixture down to ¼ of its volume and let it cool, while I separated 3 egg yolks from their whites.  I whipped the egg yolks and then put them into a medium sauce pan and added the liquid from the tarragon and shallot mixture.  I then added about 2/3 lb. of cold butter and the sauce thickened.  I then put the sauce in the fridge for about fifteen minutes while I thinly sliced 1 ½ Vidalia onions and sautéed them in a large skillet in 3 T. of heated butter and 2 T. of olive oil.  When the onions I added the sliced portobello mushrooms and another 2 T. of butter. After few minutes I added about ¼ cup of Finger Lakes Riesling white wine and reduced the heat to  simmering my part of the meal was finished.

While I was making the sauce and sautéed mushrooms and onions, Suzette shaped the tough ends of the asparagus and put them in freezer bags with olive oil and salt and pepper to  coat them.  She then salted and peppered the three steaks.  Suzette Grilled the asparagus first and then the steaks to medium rare.  When the asparagus were almost done she removed them from the grill and wrapped them in aluminum foil to stay warm and continue to cook a bit.

The potatoes were ready a bit after 5:00, but we left them in the oven to stay warm.  By 6:00 everything was ready.  When Suzette brought in the steaks I sliced them into strips and Suzette plated the six plates with steak, asparagus, mushrooms and onions, and a potato.  We put butter and sour cream on the table and I poured wine .

Everyone seemed to like dinner.

After dinner I ate a bowl of butter pecan ice cream as we were leaving.

We took Sara back to the Lodge and returned to Ephrata.

On the way home we stopped at the state wine and spirits store and bought a bottle of Covoussier V.S. Cognac.

We had a glass of cognac and I made a cup of tea and we watched a Rachel Maddow and went to sleep.

Tomorrow is an early rising travel day.

Bon Appetit