Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

A tale of Italian food, and nudity; of pirates and pizza!

Now, you all know how much I love being a Pizza Girl, a role I claimed in 1984, when I worked at the pizza shop at a wonderful PA amusement park called Knoebels. And you know I have said that was the best job I ever had. I actually worked the counter, but in slower times, they let us gals also help make the pizzas, which is a very Zen and satisfying way to make a living.

I joke with my husband that someday I'm going to open an Italian restaurant and call it Nino Zachetti's, just because. (From the movie Double Indemnity. The guy with the mostest that everybody apparently wanted. God knows why, but everybody wanted Nino.) I'll make pizza. My husband can make and serve his famous "skillet sketties."

My husband calls me Neenie sometimes, so maybe we'll change the name to Neenie Zachetti's Spaghetti Emporium. Anyway, all film talk aside (yes, Double Indemnity arrives in my next Amazon order), here is the pizza we had today for lunch on this day, accompanied by a side salad with ranch.

Now, I have learned that a pizza tastes best - anything does, really - when you shred the mozzarella yourself. And so that's what I did. I had an 8-oz chunk of it, and I was going to town on the shredding. And that's when the clothes came off because, well, I don't know how YOU shred, but I generate some real heat when I do.

So off come the clothes! (Yes, that "special ingredient" is nudity!) I have mentioned my plans to write a recipe book called Oven Mitts of Fury, Tales from a Methodist Kitchen. I just did not mention before that . . . oven mitts just might be ALL I was wearing!

My husband walked in and had a good laugh over me. After all, he's the one threatening to write the tell-all book, My Naked Methodist Wife. Yes, I can often be found sans apparel in the house. It's practically my birth-right, as my dad, Lee, is well known for traipsing naked from the front porch, where he's doffed his hunting clothes (and all the ticks, we hope), and from there, through the house.

It is a trait that we kids come by honestly, and I can tell you I'm not the only one. Which one of Lee's kids is naked now? Which is the one who, with spouse, drove home naked after a grand soaking at an outdoor concert performance? Which is the one who buys a whole set of brand new undies before any trip? Which is the one who gave UP wearing undies when the guy next door stole her days-of-the-week underwear off the line? WHO could it be? (And yes, these were ALL separate kids.)

In the world of legendary pizzas, I still recall with great happiness and longing the wood-fired pizza we had at the pizza shop at Canaan Valley that one time. We had gotten turned around in the woods and spent an extra few hours walking around. We made it back to the hotel, exhausted, and watched one of the Pirates of the Caribbean flicks, in bed, while eating that wonderful pizza. A very happy memory: Pirates and Pizza!!!!

Well, it was not quite as good as THAT legendary pizza, but it WAS quite good indeed, with green peppers and onions and olives and several kinds of cheese and pepperoni. We saved half for later, when we get home starving from a long day of hiking we have planned for Friday.

Now, when I first heard the Billy Joel song about the Italian restaurant, I thought he was saying "Brenda Rinetti" instead of "Brenda and Eddie," much to the amusement of my good friend Ellen, aka, "The Boot." So Brenda Rinetti it will ALWAYS be to me. As in "Brenda Rinetti was still goin' steady . . . "

And so, a final word: Brenda Rinetti, that ol' Italian gal, gives a full and wholehearted endorsement to Neenie Zachetti's Spaghetti Emporium! So let's Mangia! Buon Appetito!!

The song has to be this one: Billy Joel, with Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.