Memorable Pizzas

When Vicki posted of specific memories with food, I thought of pizzas: three specific pizzas.

We had a good youth group at our church in the mid-sixties. We often went out together, and one Sunday night after church, we went to a pizza place that, I think, may have been called Vesuvius.

Perhaps I hadn't been exposed to pizza very often because I didn't have my first one until I was 15, but this particular pizza seemed spectacular. If I had it now, I am not sure how it would stack up, but it was great on that Sunday night, out with the church youth. I am not even sure who was in the group that night, but I remember the pizza.

I had my second memorable pizza on our first anniversary. We had ordered pizza to our motel room in Stratford on our wedding night. I don't remember that pizza being special although the night was pretty memorable.

We've had pizza almost every anniversary since then, but that first anniversary dish was really good. We had been drawn to the place, Sir Pizza, because one of Sue's bosses had invested in it. That pizza was so good that we ordered again sometime later. We were disappointed, so that was that.

In 1998, just after New Year, perhaps even on New Years Day, but I forget exactly, we took both daughters across province to Ottawa. The youngest was going for a semester work coop, and the oldest, Shauna, was going with her in search of work.

I drove a U-Haul truck, also pulling a car on a dolly all the way. Including a two-hour stop in Waterloo to gather Allyson's belongings, it was a 14 hour trip. The last half of the journey was in terrible snowy conditions as we passed various cars who had run off into the ditch. I was not a truck driver, but somehow I managed to drive that miserable truck-plus-car to the girls' new apartment in Ottawa.

Shauna asked a neighbour across the hall for a recommendation for a good pizza place and returned with a recommendation for House of Pizza. It was close to their new apartment, so we ordered. It was sooo good, and it wasn't just because the day had been horrendous, for it was really a most excellent pizza. We had it several times afterward when we visited the girls in Ottawa, and it was always scrumptious.

One of the times was in 2001. We had stopped in Ottawa after driving home from the Maritimes. We picked up from House of Pizza and drove to a park by the Ottawa River. As we sat there enjoying the food and the pleasant day, flock after flock of Canada Geese took off flying into the wild blue yonder. It was a most glorious sight. 

Not everyone will think of pizza when they think of memorable food, but we are pretty plain folk, and that is what came to my mind.