Pizza

Christmas Eve Pizza Run & Shakedown Drive

We planned on pizza for lunch and when I called our usual place around noon no human answered the phone after about 10 rings. This is not unusual as they can get busy at lunchtime and sometimes I hang up and call again and someone will answer almost right away. As I was about to try this strategy when a machine picked up, they were closed for the Christmas holiday and would reopen on Tuesday. Dang.

Plan B was implemented. I called Papa Murphy’s, a take-and-bake pizza place, and they were open. We have used them a couple of times before and while they are no comparison to Rodeos, this seemed our best option. I opted to take the Miata because the roads were finally almost entirely clear of snow and ice from our post Thanksgiving storm.

Plus I wanted to test my fix for the front tires scraping when making sharp turns. Yesterday I had finally decided to see what the tires might be hitting. Turns out it was just the driver side and it was hitting on a bent down area on the inner fender liner. It was missing one of the plastic twisty fasteners that held the front part of the liner to the middle section. I didn’t have an extra one, so I stole one from an area that had a couple close together.

This helped, but did not solve the problem totally because the plastic liner pieces were still bent down enough to hit the tire on full lock, so I let loose my red-neck engineering side. I drilled an eighth inch hole inside the engine compartment through the inner fender and through the liners. I found a small flat head screw and screwed it through the liners from insdie the fender to hold them tight against the fender. Then I sprayed both sides of my “repair” with some black Plasti Dip to kind of seal it from the elements.

Success, no more ugly sounds when making sharp turns.

Times Miata Driven since 10/28/22: 3

 

I Wonder

Last night Donna and I went out to get some pizza at Apizza di Napoli. The owner has made it his mission to make the most authentic Neapolitan pizza possible. The oven is built to the correct specifications and he choses his ingredients so that the restaurant can stay certified by the actual Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana.

We do love the wood fired pizza with the light crust and fresh taste. But we hate the service set up1, it is unlike we have ever run into before. You enter through the front door, you are greeted at the counter, escorted to a table and handed menus. So far so good, you then get instructed to read over the menu and once you have decided you return to the front to order and pay. When the food is ready they will bring it to your table. In the beginning after paying they pointed along the side wall and told you that is where you should pick up your plates, silverware and napkins.

At least now the plates are brought to you when they bring the food and the silverware and napkins are already on the table. Because a lot of people would not bring the menus back up to the counter when they ordered, they have attached a little sign to the napkin holders to remind them. Donna looked at the sign and said, “Shouldn’t that say please be kind and return the menus?” I looked at it for a second, a light bulb illuminated above my head and replied, “Nope, that is the owner being cute.” “This place used to be a movie rental place back in the last century.”

I wonder how many customers get the reference?

Parris Island Marine Band

The city of Aiken has held a summer concert series for over 40 years. But either because of our aging population or summers were cooler back in the day, this year instead of not startling until the beginning of June, they started in April to beat the heat. Donna and I used to go often when we first moved to town almost 30 years ago, but either because of our aging or summers were really cooler back then, our attendance had fallen off to zero six or eight years ago.

Today Donna suggested we go out to eat dinner at my favorite restaurant in town, Mellow Mushroom, and if we walked to dinner I could drink a couple of ice cold beers with it. It is 2-1/2 mile walk one-way, but almost all of it is on the dirt roads of the horse district and nice quiet neighborhood streets.The rest of the walk is in downtown Aiken, but by the time we get there, most everyone has gone home and there is restaurant traffic, so it is a very pleasant walk. And with that kind of reward, I am usually ready to take a stroll.

As we left the Mellow Mushroom Donna innocently said, “Ooh, I think the Marine Corp Band is playing in the Hopelands concert tonight. If we walk back a different way, maybe we’ll be able to hear them.” Me, still none the wiser at this point, said”We are walking right by the park, maybe we should just take a few extra steps and cut through to really hear some.”

I wasn’t planning on going to a summer open-air concert tonight, but I think my wife was and she hook-winked into at least listening to a song or two with pizza and beer as the bait. Well played girl.

Christmas Lights in Hopelands Gardens

Tired of merely walking the 1-1/2 miles up to see the lights in Hopelands Gardens and back, last night we decided to walk the 3miles to downtown for pizza at Mellow Mushroom before swinging by the lights on the way home.