Grilled Onions
Well, folks, I been spending my days this week at the Skunk Works. No, I've not completely lost my mind and gone back to work. I'm just finishing a chapter in a book for the Society for Experimental Mechanics on the fundamentals of strain gages.
It's been really great spending a little time with those I formerly worked with professionally -- some for a quarter century -- on a social basis. Anyhow, all that has cut into my retirement time with an especially deleterious effect on my blogging.
A group of us have gone out for lunch each day to eateries in the Knightdale-Wendell-Zebulon environs. And, yesterday we went to Aubrey's and Peedie's, a breakfast and lunch counter of long standing in downtown Wendell. Nice little joint, tidy and clean as a whistle, with a faithful local clientele. It closes each day (except Sunday when it doesn't open) at 2:00 in the afternoon.
So I got in line and worked my way up to the cash register to place my order. From the menu hanging over the grill, I asked for a cheeseburger.
"What you want on it?"
"Lettuce, tomato and onions. Grill the onions."
"We only got hard onions."
"But, you've got hard onions and a grill that will make 'em into grilled onions."
"We don't grill onions."
Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. The last joint that said that to me went out of business shortly thereafter. Is Aubrey's and Peedie's next? As far as I'm concerned, I hope so. A joint that will not grill your onions doesn't deserve to draw breath.
Oh, I suspect that Aubrey's and Peedie's will be there for quite a while even though I had to eat their cheeseburger with hard onions. The place, you see, is really a McDonald's in the guise of a lunch counter. You can have anything you want at this restaurant so long as it's prepared the way they want to prepare it, and over the years they have trained their clientele to accept that. Yes, you even have to police your own table when you have finished eating, placing your refuse in the bin and the orange tray on top.
Just like a McDonald's without a drive-through.
Anyone up for a Big Mac at lunch today?
It's been really great spending a little time with those I formerly worked with professionally -- some for a quarter century -- on a social basis. Anyhow, all that has cut into my retirement time with an especially deleterious effect on my blogging.
A group of us have gone out for lunch each day to eateries in the Knightdale-Wendell-Zebulon environs. And, yesterday we went to Aubrey's and Peedie's, a breakfast and lunch counter of long standing in downtown Wendell. Nice little joint, tidy and clean as a whistle, with a faithful local clientele. It closes each day (except Sunday when it doesn't open) at 2:00 in the afternoon.
So I got in line and worked my way up to the cash register to place my order. From the menu hanging over the grill, I asked for a cheeseburger.
"What you want on it?"
"Lettuce, tomato and onions. Grill the onions."
"We only got hard onions."
"But, you've got hard onions and a grill that will make 'em into grilled onions."
"We don't grill onions."
Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. The last joint that said that to me went out of business shortly thereafter. Is Aubrey's and Peedie's next? As far as I'm concerned, I hope so. A joint that will not grill your onions doesn't deserve to draw breath.
Oh, I suspect that Aubrey's and Peedie's will be there for quite a while even though I had to eat their cheeseburger with hard onions. The place, you see, is really a McDonald's in the guise of a lunch counter. You can have anything you want at this restaurant so long as it's prepared the way they want to prepare it, and over the years they have trained their clientele to accept that. Yes, you even have to police your own table when you have finished eating, placing your refuse in the bin and the orange tray on top.
Just like a McDonald's without a drive-through.
Anyone up for a Big Mac at lunch today?
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