Trip to Annapolis

Monday,

well I left home Monday afternoon later then I had planned on because I had to take care of a plumbing problem before I could get away. I then spent an extra hour on the I-495 beltway around DC. It took me 3.5 hrs to get to Annapolis. So by the time I got there it was definetely beer 30. I hate big city stop and go traffic.

I met a bunch of my co-workers at the dockside bar of the Annapolis Marriott about 7pm where we proceeded to put a dent in the local beverage supply. My new friend Jackie, from the Cincy trip, met me/us there. She lives about 5 miles from Annapolis. She had her share of the local supply as well.

After we were throughly refreshed, relaxed and enjoying ourselves 18 of decided to go to a close-by restraunt/bar called Middleton's. (M'tons) Downtown Annapolis is a touristy place with a LOT of bars and restaurants in close proximity. When we left the dockside bar and headed for dinner it had just started to rain/spinkle. We got to M'tons and in the door when it really let loose. It took them a few minutes to get all of us seated, which was expected since we just dropped in. Good thing it was a Monday and a light crowd.

Our project leader had acquired funding from somewhere to buy appetizers for the crowd. Now Annapolis is a seafood town and as most of you know seafood isn't cheap. The appetizers ran about 7 bucks each and he ordered like 12 different ones. I personally had some of the crab dip on crackers, it was some crabmeat blended into a spicy cheese sauce. Pretty good stuff.

Next there was fried calamari and fried baby octopus with a marinara
sauce. Very tasty, especially the octopus. Then there were small crab balls, like crab cakes. Again, very tasty. And lastly I had steamed mussels in a white wine & garlic sauce with drawn butter and a seasoned powder similar to Old Bay, but saltier.

They also offered oyster shooters, now I had never heard of or had these before but since I like oysters, even raw, I decided to try one. They brought the raw oyster in a small plastic cup, about a 2oz size, with another cup the same size of beer. The oyster was swimming in a bit of cocktail sauce. Someone at the table told me that there was vodka too, which turned out to be incorrect.

Boy did I like these. I must of had 5 or 6, lost count. Jackie matched me 1 for 1, good girl that Jackie. :)

For my dinner entree I ordered 2 different appetizers. The first one was a combo platter of Oysters Rockefeller, fried oysters, shrimp scampi, scallops scampi style and another oyster dish, don't know what it was called. These were good but unfortunately over-cooked. I brushed this aside, this time, under the circumstances. 18 people at once is a hard trick to do. The other plate was 6 nice sized deep sea scallops wrapped in bacon, sauted and spiced with a Thai style sauce. These were execellent!

For dessert I had my first shot at creme' brule. It was OK, but by then I was stuffed to the gills. :) Pun intended :) :)

Everyone of us had a great time and if I get back to Annapolis I would go here again.

After dinner we walked through the downpour :( back to the hotel and back to the bar for a nightcap. Amaretto for me.

To come, probably Friday night, Tuesday in Annapolis.

MikeS.