Last Meal Game – Junior Edition
Apr 14th, 2008 by Marilyn
We carpool with my daughter ‘s friend Lilly. It’s just two twelve-year olds, but the morning chatter runs from amusing to why didn’t I take that codeine. When you drive to school, you are invisible. You are a pair of hands on the wheel. But you do sprout extra ears, and everything I know, I learned in carpool. This year, as sixth-grade girls, the yakking took a decidedly shallow turn. I tune out cute boys, mean girls, and lip gloss – but once in a while, they turn in something good.
Today the topic was Last Meal.
Our family has played “Last Meal” many times – what would you eat, and how would you choose? How many courses do you get? Lilly was intrigued, so Josie quickly showed her hand.
“I would start with dim sum,” she said.
“What?” said Lilly.
“You know, the Chinese appetizers. Dumplings and stuff.”
“Oh right! I would have dumplings too. Chicken.”
Josie continued. “Then, a big sausage and mushroom pizza from Lou Malnati’s. And their salad.”
That’s my girl. The tomato-gorgonzola salad is to die for.
Lilly swung in. “Sushi,” she said, “that Crunchy Munchy roll from Yokohama.”
“I LOVE that! Crunchy Munchy is so awesome.”
“I like the Crunchy Munchy roll, ” I said, turning left, “the spicy crab is good, huh?”
Silence. Okay, shut up and drive.
“What should we drink?” Lilly said. “I love ginger ale. Not too much ice, though.”
“Yeah,” Josie said, “we should have ginger ale. Do we get an after-dinner thing? Hot chocolate?”
Lilly thought they could have an after-dinner thing. Why not? It was their last meal.
“Okay then,” said Josie. “I want a big chai latte.”
I turn up the radio, boring NPR. Wow. Precocious darlings, or spoiled brats?
“BUFFALO WINGS!” Josie screamed. “We forgot WINGS!!”
“Wings!!!” Lilly shrieked, “but with mild sauce.”
“I want mine super Buffalo hot,” Josie said, “we’re getting different meals.”
“So for dessert I want tiramisu,” said Lilly. “Isn’t that like, made from cheese?”
Yes, it’s cheese. Red light. Christ, can this meal end?
Josie picked key lime pie, “a whole one.” As we turned toward the parking lot, she wrapped it up.
“Okay. We’ve got sushi, pizza, dim sum, dessert, drinks – did we miss anything?”
“But it’s all from different places,” Lilly said, “will we be able to get all that stuff together?”
They looked at me. Oh sure, now they need me, now they need the driver because she knows the rules.
“You can get anything for your Last Meal,” I said, putting the car in park, “from anywhere. Do you guys want to hear mine? I’d have deep dish pizza too, and…”
They grabbed their bags and jumped out.
I turn off NPR. Hmm. Where can I get dumplings at 8 am?
It sounds as though the sheer quantity of food involved might be what actually kills those poor girls…
The blog that was good enough to eat. It is difficult to read when I am choking from all the drool streaming out of my glands.
Today I finally got a Madeleine pan (after looking all over for a week) – it was EIGHTEEN dollars, $19.26 with tax, so I only bought one. I’m going to try cutting the recipe in half. If they’re as good as your look I’ll buy a second pan. The pan was made in France and is not aluminum, probably tin. I hope it works.
I have to stop reading food blogs, in the last week I bought the stuff to make Pioneer Woman’s onion rings (a fryer, tongs like hers & buttermilk), Notes from the Trenches cream cheese & jelly turnovers, my sister’s banana bread (new aluminum loaf pan + 2 pyrex loaf pans from ebay) and your Madeleines. So far I’ve only made banana bread – the middle really fell.
OK – I just went to make sure I have all the stuff for the Madeleines – I want to make them tomorrow morning. Sometime prior to 8/21/2005 I must have seen a recipe that called for cake flour. I bought the cake flour and put it in the pantry where I’ve looked at it every day for 3 plus years. So do I have to buy new cake flour or can I use the stuff that expired in August 2005?
Kathy, since you went to eighteen dollars’ worth of trouble on the pan, I hate to tell you to get new flour – but you might want to invest in a small bag. After enough time, it does tend to stale. Best of luck with the madeleines! The pans are so beautiful, I always hate to put mine away.
You bought a fryer because of Pioneer Woman? I’m a cheap date compared to Ree.
You got dissed by tweens! Ouch.
We had a similar game when I was little called “The Coldest Night” wherein my Mom would pretend that it was going to be the COLDEST night ever. She’d pile me high with blankets and we had to get EVERY stuffed animal I owned properly under the blankets so that they didn’t freeze. It was a fun game. Course, now I know it was just a ploy to get me to go to bed…Mom is a tricky lady.
Our game was What Three Books Would You Want if You Were Trapped on a Deserted Isle? I think it started after watching The Time Machine, the 1960 version with Rod Taylor. He took three books off the shelf to return to the future with, but we never knew which ones.
The books we chose varied all the time, although we were expected to name the Bible as one of them. (We had a Sunday school phase that lasted a few years.)
Key Lime Pie.. yummmmm. An excellent choice.
love your new blog. please excuse the lower case, my keyboard is wonky. i just wanted to let you know that it may seem like those carpooling days will never end but they do. my daughter is a senior in high school and i miss the good old days with my van packed with her friends. i would just sit there quietly and listen to all the chatter and laughter. now they all are excited about going to college. on the weekends i have a driveway packed with their cars. our home is the place to hangout. i will miss them.
I returned the fryer, smelled the buttermilk & threw it out along with the 3+ year old cake flour. I bought new cake flour (Swans Down) and plan to make the Madeleines tomorrow morning and take them to my mother’s house to celebrate her 86th birthday.
Marilyn — keep those ears going! Just wait until you get to junior high carpooling and you will learn all kinds of things! Trust me! Hmmmmmm. Last meal………never gave it much thought………must start with a diet coke (with lime of course) and some pizza rolls for an appetizer……..
Pam, you and those pizza rolls. I seem to recall a college roommate with a pizza roll fixation…Totino’s, I think…Cathy, you out there? Uh?
Kathy from NJ – Happy Birthday to your mother! Hope she enjoyed some madeleines.