Before telling tales about Independence, we have to head over to the Ozarks; I spent my last night in Missouri having a lovely dinner at Lambert's - home of the throwed rolls! - with my old friend from high school Carrie. The last time we saw each other was maybe early 1991.
We have become very different people, so I was nervous about meeting with an old friend. Would we run out of things to say?
I got there around 3:45 and was startled at the number of people waiting for a table. Lamberts is loud, large, and of course, there is food being thrown around, literally. I looked for Carrie, put our names in, and browsed the menu hanging outside.
Carrie showed up a few minutes before four and it was as if 30 years melted away. While good people evolve and change, at their core, they are still good people.
As if by magic, our table was ready and we were seated at a very comfortable booth inside their large dining hall, next to a party of about 20! Staff was hustling to cater to everyone's needs, including our own where we were given swim cups of iced tea and Pepsi. A waiter caught my eye and the next thing I knew, I was tossed a roll, then two, which I plopped in front of Carrie.
From their menu: this is conservative compared to the serving of chicken I actually received.
I don't know where we started in our conversation but we revisited old loves, new stories, and future plans while ordering dinner. I had fried chicken and she ordered the pork tenderloin.
In between reminiscing about biology class, we were tossed a napkin full of fried okra.
We were served cucumbers and onions while talking about prom.
We laughed over long-ago crushes and the kid who kept coming to our table with a very large pot of black-eyed peas.
And between stories and laughing, we kept getting pelted with rolls and served what they call the pass around - macaroni, black eyed peas, potatoes. A gal came by and plopped some molasses on a plate. I think I ate two rolls and kept one for my to-go box.
We talked about our kids, husbands, jobs, hobbies, adventures, reminisced about our school days, and the aches and pains of growing older. Slipping readers out of my purse to read the menu, she laughed and pulled hers out as well.
Conscious of taking up a table long after we were done eating, we paid our bills - I bought dinner while she surprised me with a cinnamon roll for morning breakfast - we went out onto the porch and people-watching while talking well into the night, finally saying goodbye around 9pm.
It was a lovely night.
A rundown of our Lambert's dinner:
- Throwed rolls and molasses
- fried okra
- macaroni and tomatoes
- pickled beets
- cucumbers and onions
- potato salad
- macaroni salad
- fried potatoes
- fried chicken
- pork tenderloin
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