Wednesday, April 14, 2004

7:57 AM Got a call yesterday from Ronbo Feley. He and Jackie and their children and several of the Gaskill kids were at Lambert’s Restaurant in Foley, Alabama. Recently the Food Network named Lambert’s number one on its “Top Ten Places to Pig Out.” Lambert’s is famous as the home of “throwed rolls.” Having been to the Lambert’s in Sikeston, Missouri a few times myself, I can testify to the literal truth of that phrase. They make huge, homemade yeast rolls, wheel them out in big trays, and the waiter literally throws the piping hot rolls twenty or thirty feet from one side of the restaurant to where you are sitting. You have to be sure-handed or you end up with a hot roll in your lap—or in your food. They couldn’t go to the beach yesterday because the weather in south Alabama was cold so they decided to go to Lambert’s instead. During their feast, Madeline Gaskill told Ronbo that “Pastor Ray loves fried okra,” which I do. It’s what we’re going to eat in heaven every day. So while they were having throwed rolls, fried okra (Lambert’s brings the okra in a big bowl and dumps it out on a sheet of coarse brown paper), and a few other delicacies, Ronbo called to say hello. It made me hungry for some good Southern cooking. 7:56 AM I’ve done my taxes but I haven’t filed them yet. Maybe today. Definitely by tomorrow.