Preface: As I was making my favorite pizza places' list, it occurred to me that most of these are favorites, not because of the pizza itself, but because of the people I was with and the memories that were made.
1) Ida Grove, Iowa We often stopped at the Pizza Hut there on our way home from a trip to Anthon. The kids had a lot of fun feeding the ducks. Lucille, do you remember going to the Pizza Hut with us?
2)Sioux City, Iowa The Pizza Peddler in the Sioux City Stockyards' KD Station was also a big hit with A, J, and D. Wilbur, the coyote, rode a tricycle around a track, delivering pizzas and talking with the customers.
3) Waterloo, Iowa Shakeys...another Weller favorite. We ate there a lot...I remember going for the Super Supper and the Bunch-a-Lunch. Neal especially liked the all you can eat buffet with pizza, broasted chicken, pasta, breadsticks, etc. My favorites? The Mojos (broasted potatoes) and the cinnamon rolls!!!
4) Chicago, Illinois If you like deep dish, then you'd love Chicago's Deep dish... nobody can beat it! They have a deep dish walking tour that I've never taken, but it sounds like fun. (If anyone ever wants to meet in Chicago, I'm there!)
5) Heidelberg, Germany The Pizza Hut on the Hauptstraffse (Main Street) was one of my first "alone in a sit-down restaurant" eating experiences. Maybe it was the fact that I was in Germany, but it was one of the best pizzas I've ever eaten!
6)Orlando, Florida...Omaha, Nebraska...Cedar Falls, Iowa Showbiz/Chuck E. Cheese...Pizza's not that great, but kids love it!!
7) Italy...Cinque Terre and Venice We were eating pizza in ITALY...need I say more?!? Actually, I will say more. In Monterosso, I ordered a pizza topped with french fries. Different, but good! In Riomaggiore, I became a big fan of the margherita (the pizza, not the drink!).
8) NEW YORK, NEW YORK...WORLD'S BEST PIZZA!!!!!! What makes it the best pizza? New York City's water, of course! In 2009, when Derek and I were in NYC, we went on the Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour. We heard a lot of "stories", learned about the history of Brooklyn, and ate pizza at two amazing places! Definitely a tour I would take again.
Yes, Sheryl, I vividly recall that evening trip to Ida Grove. If I could go back in time, that'd be one stretch of hours that I'd want to repeat. Not just Pizza Hut, but the park afterwards, the fruitless search for socks, and that great oldies radio station Neal found on the way back to Anthon. Rich memories.
ReplyDeleteBev, thanks for the pictures. I had to look at the back to ID Wayne Henry. Evidently neither Jane nor Karen was there? I hope they're ok. … So sorry to hear Lucas's bad news. We all earnestly hope they can work things out, especially for Madison's sake.
No singing at the table was another of Mom's rules. Bev or Diane, do you remember it? Maybe she'd repealed that policy by the time Sheryl (the “younger generation” compared to me) came along.
At Anthon it was breakfast, dinner, supper. In Fres it's b, lunch, s. … Hey, gang, don't forget that in Iowa you can have taverns for lunch and bars for dessert. = )
¡ Sheryl, I bet you can do this with your iMac. Try Option !. Same principle for ¿.
Jennifer M Wolff (M for Muggle), are you going to the new H Potter movie? Peter's still crazy about those books and remembers details vividly. Leslie & Maryann are both avid readers but neither one has ever gotten into HP.
Sheryl & Jenn, maybe you're ready for a Kindle. Two of my Peace Corps friends have them and love em. The techie called MacGeek brought an iPad to our house & demonstrated it. V impressive! But I'd prefer a Kindle because of the lighter weight, lower cost, & other advantages. To turn the page (with either the i or the K), you just sort of wave, don't even touch the gizmo itself. And you can choose a large font size, a welcome break for tired ol eyes like mine.
We got our first Christmas card the other day.
Sheryl, thanks again and forever for your blog. It's a ray of sunshine, just like you.
Love to all from Lu M Van O.
Wow, you have been ALL OVER the world. Every one of them sounds yummy, but with so many people, I think the host/hostesses will have to decide where we will eat, whether take out, dine out or eat in, I'm sure no one will complain and if they do, I would say, "OK, tomorrow, it's YOUR turn to cook!!" As far as I know, my family is planning on making the trip, with the exception of Lucas, who is unsure at this time. More later on that topic. We got to babysit Maddie yesterday from 1P to 10P. We took her to the nursing home to see Grandma, but she wasn't in a very good mood. Tired, I think. No kisses or hugs for the ladies there, but they still enjoyed seeing the little lady. When she sees pix of Mom, she says "Great Grandma", which really surprised me, but I think Lucas has told her that many times. She fell asleep at 5:30 and slept for 2 hours. Such a busy little person, but sooooo cute to watch her sleep. Didn't even like Clay and wanted "up" Grandma, so I held her most of the time. She gave me kisses and said, Love you, Gramma" many times. I hadn't seen her for 3 weeks, so enjoyed every minute that she was here. She loves bananas and knows where we keep them, so goes there and says, "Ba-na-na, pease". She ate 1 1/2. Made her favorite mac and cheese, but she wouldn't eat it, so I had it for supper. It's snowing here and forecast for 4-10 inches and another storm on Weds. so hope it clears up for the weekend and T'giving dinner at Penny's. TTYL
ReplyDeleteWhat a treat to hear from all 3 of my sisters! Farm Girl, do you keep a diary of your trips? I ate a flatbread pizza last night in North Liberty and can't remember the name of the restaurant or the name of the pizza, it was chicken, celery, a little spicy, but very good. I was so tired, thank goodness Darold drove us. Jenn and I left Friday after work and drove to Minneapolis where she had a 10-7 Graston tool workshop on Saturday. I dropped her off and went to Starbucks for coffee and then to the Southridge Mall. Jenn stole a map page from the phone book at the motel and showed me how to get to it and back. I had Caribou coffe at the mall, looked through some Christmas shops and then drove back to the workshop site (well, I did get a little lost on the way back) and took a 2 hour nap in the back seat. Jenn called me in the car about 7:10 and couldn't get the elevator to work to get downstairs and I was locked out of the building. Finally, they discovered the last person using the elevator had forgotten to shut the gate inside the door of the elevator, so they went down and brought the elevator up. We got home about 11:30 PM, clipped the back legs of a huge deer just down the road, no damage. Sunday morn, Minneapolis had icy conditions with a plethora of accidents, so glad we drove back Sat night. Sunday, we left here about 3 PM and went to Iowa City to see Steph and Finnan, Jenn's godson and his Mom who now live in Calif. They will come here and stay over Wed nite as her grandma lives in Waterloo and they will have T'giving there. Sheryl and Adam are coming here for Thanksgiving dinner and we are so excited, family for dinner, YEAH! Now the weather report. When I left to take Jenn to work (raining) the TV showed NW corner of Iowa had freezing rain and SE corner of Iowa had a tornado watch. We are forecast to have some snow by the end of the week but not much. How about the great news of a new little female Grant? Won't Amy and Nancy have fun getting ready for her! So glad all of Dave's tests after his fall have been OK, except for having a front tooth replaced and all the appts. to get the blood thinner med at the correct level. Time to pick up Jenn from work. Thanks to all for blogging! Love you!!!!!!!!!! Dave let's hear from you!
ReplyDeleteMarco, Amy, Nancy, Dave, my apologies for saying the babies last name would be Grant and not Alarcon! I am getting OLD.
ReplyDeleteHello sisters! So much to say...so little time! Check this spot tomorrow night for my comment(s).
ReplyDeleteI'm back! Lucille, I don't remember any of mom's sayings/rules that you mentioned. Here in Waterloo, we have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I've seen the "Kindle" but don't have one. I think that, now that Diane knows that I lick her pages, I'll have to get one! The letter from you and Maryann arrived today;' I'll answer it via e-mail starting on Thursday! : ) I still need to respond to your former comment, too!
ReplyDeleteBev, I also received your letter...will write back to you tomorrow night. Your time with Maddie always sounds like fun. I wish that we lived closer...I know that Maddie and Tyler would have a great time playing together! Hope you didn't get the snow that was forecast.
Diane, You and Jenn had quite the adventure last weekend! Adam and I are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving Day with you.
TTYL Sheryl : )