"4 Awful Awfuls"

October 7, 2009

Mom: "We went to Newport Creamery and had "Awful Awfuls." Dad had two and Pam and I each has one. Dad had chocolate and Pam and I had coffee, no Dad had 2 coffee and I had coffee and Pam had chocolate."

Dad from background: "They were buy one get one free."

Rhode Island has seriously tastey ice cream. I know this because Austin's selection does not compare. The Newport Creamery in Rhode is a sort of diner/restaurant/ice cream shop chain, where you can get ice cream all year round. They serve a seriously good shake, called an "Awful Awful" (awful thick, awful good). Rhode Islanders love that kind of humor, as a kid I thought it was genius. We mostly frequented the Newport Creamery in the mall, and it was like Santa came early, as they always gave you any extra shake that wouldn't fit in your glass.

The illustration has all 4 of my favorite flavors, coffee, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. It sounds like they have expanded their selection. I object.

Happy Birthday Mom, Surf n Turf Style

This post is from the night of my mom's birthday, she and my dad went out for a nice dinner at "Remington House" in Warwick, RI. It's totally cute, on the bay, in a historic inn.

There are very few restaurants they can go to alone, as many have separate bathrooms for men and women. I've thought that it would make sense for true handicapped accessibility that there be always be a bathroom option for folks with a handicap who require the assistance of their opposite sex partner.

Mom: "Tonight your father and I went out to dinner for my birthday, I didn't want to go, but then he talked me into it. We had a nice time. I got surf n turf and my steak was bigger than his! and he just got a steak."

Totally unrelated:

Mom: "I would put baby powder in my hair, after working till 7 o'clock Friday night at Aunt Lou's restaurant, to hide the smell of the restaurant, so I could get to the Hendricken mixers by 8."

Me: "Did someone teach you to do that?"

Mom: "No, I think I just made it up?"

Interesting, I remember trying this myself, as a kid for some reason.

"Italian Rice Pie"

I was searching for an Italian Rice Pie recipe online, because it would be epic to get a hold of my mom's/pop's, and found this amazing blog entry. I hadn't thought to write in my mom's accent, it's genius.

"I would go over to your grandparent's house to make the crusts, and pop would do the fillings, he took care of his mother when she was sick and did all the cooking as a kid, his brothers and sisters did nothing, he always knew how to cook everything. When he married your grandmother, he had to teach her how to cook, she was 16 and didn't know how to boil water."

"I think I have a vague memory of that, I remember sitting in the den watching TV and non's kitchen table full of all the things which needed to be moved from the counter to roll out the pies, and it all seemed very serious."

"The crust is very diffrent for the italian rice pie, you use butter instead of Crisco and add vanilla or almond extract. It's a sweeter crust. Some people put maraschino cherries and pineapple. I like it without."

"Pop seriously loves his rice pie."

"It's really important when you make the dough not to use your hands, that's how it gets too tough." They have a tool you can buy, but I always used a fork and a knife for mine."

This illustration is of my non and pop's basement, I spent every holiday until I was at least 22 in their basement. It's fully furnished, which means nothing to a Texan. My pop has a full kitchen down there, with wood panelling, he did all the work himself. I remember lots of brown and orange, brown walls, orange carpet. The italian rice pie is on the little table my non would set up and serve dessert from.