Pizza! Pizza! Read All About It!
Pete Watson
After surviving weeks of “monsoon madness,” the residents of Unit 16B were tired! Tired of the heat and the humidity, tired of the mosquitos, and tired of playing Russian roulette with our trash collection. So, what did we do? We got all gussied up and headed up to Oracle for a great time at a “Build Your Own Pizza Party” at Nonna Maria’s. Chef Franco and his wife, Angelina, welcomed us to their restaurant and entertained us with fascinating stories about the true origin of pizza, his family’s travels in the ‘20s from Sicily to Indiana, and then finally to Oracle in the 1990s.
Franco then demonstrated the fine art of pizza tossing and in a decision that he immediately regretted, turned it over to the nitwits from Unit 16B. After several pizzas got weed-whacked in the ceiling fan and several more ended up as puff pastry shower caps, we got down to business.
Pepperoni and mushroom? Fuhgeddaboudit! We’ve got some serious talent in our Unit and it showed! Troy and Anna Miller and Mary and Vince Fung channeled their Love of the Links into a pie of mozzarella golf balls on a bed of green peppers. The brain trust of Marge and Jim Rodgers along with Bob Thompson and Chuck and Sue Eggleston decided to go the gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, taste-free, vegan route. They came up with a cardboard crust covered in tofu, kale, and endive … but why?
The real cardiac kids were Don and Linda Mamula, Sue and Jim Hynes, and Pam and Tom Engelhardt who somehow constructed a life-size replica of the Taj Mahal out of sausage and Oleo margarine. After 30 seconds in their 800 degree oven, it fully combusted and ended up looking like something left in the grease trap at Burger King. As a consolation prize however, they each received a coupon for a free angioplasty from Dr. Steve’s Cardiac Care and Radiator Exchange.
Nonna Maria’s is a fantastic place to hold a group event and they treated us like Wise Guys from the old country. We loved it, and you will too! Stop by sometime and tell ‘em Guido sent you.