Monday, October 05, 2009

Cloudy With No Chance of Thai Food

This weekend we decided to go on a little adventure and try the local drive-in theatre.

For us, "local" could mean down the street or in the next time zone.

Our daughter has never been to the drive-in. Hubs and I haven't been to one in years. I think the last time we saw one we had to clamp one of those speaker things on our car like the Flintstones.

Now you just tune into a radio station and listen from your car. Technology is so fancy!

Before the movie, we decided to have an early dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant. I say it's our favorite because it's the only decent one we know of within a 200 mile radius. Really, we've only eaten there once because a) it's out of town, and b) it's never open.

We drove into the parking lot only to be disappointed yet again. The restaurant has changed its hours and now they are only open for a short window of time when the moon is aligned with Saturn and the wind blows from the north.

Next time I'm going to call ahead and say, "We are headed over to eat at your fine establishment. I'd just like to know if are open and/or plan to change your hours within the next 10 minutes. If you indeed plan to be open, will you please go ahead and make me a plate of Thai Basil Fried Rice? Thankyouverymuch or, as they say over at the sushi bar, Doma arigato."

I broke out the GPS and started searching for a new place to eat for dinner. We settled on Olive Garden. Carraba's is my favorite chain Italian restaurant but the closest one is over 6 hours away which would have made us incredibly late for the movie.

As it turned out, Olive Garden was a sweet choice. Have y'all tasted the fried doughnuts with chocolate dipping sauce? I am sure an Italian somewhere is shuddering at my choice of words because they must have a special name but it escapes me right now. Besides, DOUGHNUTS WITH CHOCOLATE SAUCE really do not need a special name.

They come in a bowl, all warm and gooey. I know they are warm because they rested on my lap all the way from the restaurant to the drive-in. So, if eating them didn't make them go straight to my thighs, they made their way via conduction.

We found a good parking place at the drive-in and climbed into the hatchback area.

Let me give you a word of advice. If you are inside your car and lock the doors without putting the key in the ignition, and then you decide to start your car later, the car alarm will go off.

And your car may seem intelligent when it talks to to you and tells you where to go when you're lost, but it does not know that you are in a drive-in theatre with people staring at you when the car alarm goes off.

Not that I would know anything about that personally. I read it in the manual or something.

After arranging our blankets and pillows, we played Farkle until the movie started. When the movie began, Hubs opened the hatchback. The interior lights would not go off, so Hubs fiddled and jiggled gadgets and buttons until we were all settled in.

The fancy technology is just too much for the Flintstones.

And the Italian Doughnuts. MY WORD. They were good. And I always thought the French had dibs on pastries. Daughter and I nearly ate them all. I think Hubs may have had one or two.

Did I mention that they came in a bowl? A bowl of doughnuts, people. With chocolate dipping sauce.

I'll bet Betty and Wilma never had that at the movies.

(Oh, and the movie was pretty good, too.)

6 comments:

Roxanne said...

Sounds DEvine. . .and if That Particular Movie is still at OUR drive-in this weekend, we will be seeing it. Though we don't have donuts in a bowl anywhere near us. And I will always love the book best.

Melanie said...

Your stories are so funny. We southern girls just get 'it.' Donuts and chocolate in a bowl? YUMMY! And no, they do not need a fancy smacy name.

Samantha Shaw said...

Your posts always make me laugh. I did the same thing last weekend except my car battery died! haha.

Carpool Queen said...

I love the drive-in. When I was in college, we'd load fourteen people in a Civic and head over there on $5 night. Those were the days.

Susanne said...

LOL. Oh how you made me miss the drive in. I have some very happy childhood memories of my parents taking us. It's where I tasted my first pizza pop. They destroyed ours years ago and in it's place sits Burger King, Safeway, McDonalds and a bunch of other small stores. Sigh. But my favorite restaurant also sits there so I guess I won't pout too long.

Kim said...

I'm not sure if my kids have ever been to a drive-in theatre. They were a staple when I was growing up. Families would go and park in the front, couples in the back, teens would sneak in over the fence with blankets... Good memories :-)

You can sure tell a story. And make someone hungry. I want a bowl of those donuts with chocolate dipping sauce! lol