Liverwurst and Ice-cream

Did you know that liverwurst sandwiches and banana splits go together very nicely?

Today Mom and I had lunch with a dear friend and a few of her grandchildren. She took us to Superior Dairy in Hanford, an old-fashion lunch place I had never been to before. High high white embossed ceiling, pink and white striped counter stools and "soda fountain" styling. Big picture windows on all sides gave the place an open, bright, airy feeling. The menu was printed on the paper place mats.

As you would expect from a dairy lunch place in a dairy sort of town, ice cream was the predominant item. Sandwiches were an also-ran. A sandwich sounded good to start with. Hmm, something a little more unusual, something I don't make at home very often, something...

Liverwurst! I don't think I've ever seen liverwurst sandwiches on a restaurant lunch menu before. Not that I'm wild about liverwurst, but I do like it, and don't buy it often because I'm the only one who will touch it.

The waitress came.

"Liverwurst." And then, because I felt sort of dangerous just by ordering liverwurst, I topped it off. "On white bread, please."

And then our friend Mona topped us all.

"I'll have a banana split for lunch."

Eek! Skewered! I might have done that if I'd thought about it, instead of saving ice cream for dessert. But as it turned out, it was for the best. As we saw when the banana split arrived.

It was vertical. It had to be because the banana boat was too small to fit it all in horizontally. It stood up about 12 inches into the air, when you take into account the pile of whipped cream on top. A strawberry flavored Mt. Whitney rose up in the middle of the dish, flanked by a vanilla Mt. Shasta and a chocolate Mt. Lassen. Juicy strawberry sauce studded with chunks of pineapple cascaded down the steep sides. Luckily the banana boat sailed on a safety saucer to capture the runoff.

The waitress only brought one spoon! What was she thinking? I don't know if it was my complimentary comments or my wistful looks that caused Mona to tell me to "dig in, I can't eat it all!"

A bite of liverwurst, a spoon of strawberry ice cream, a nibble of potato chips and then start over. Yum yum! I recommend it. My friend ran out of gas before I did. I made the last bite of liverwurst, chips and ice cream come out even.

On the way out the door, I saw other folks with an "S.O.S." parked in front of them. That stands for Super Oversize Sunday, or something like that. The name is descriptive. Think of a punch bowl on a stem, ice cream and sauce rising up to about eye level, topped by the ubiquitous cloud of whipped cream and a cherry.

That will be just right when I go back with another half-dozen friends to help me with it!