Life in Vermont: Pursuit of Cheese Curds

Yesterday I had a real treat - a trip back in time to the almost antedeluvian age when restaurants provided curb service. I can't remember the last time I went to a restaurant with curb service (that is, where they actually bring the food to your car). When I was growing up in Indiana the local Frisch's Big Boy restaurant had curb service, but that went the way of all flesh years ago (probably about the same time that the burgers on the Big Boy became so thin that you could see through them). My friend Mike and Andy had been pestering me for some time to make a trip down to Middlebury to eat supper at the local A&W Restaurant. Their main interest in the trip was to get orders of the mythic fried cheese curds (they both went to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, so they know their cheese). So, we jumped in Mike's car and drove south on route 7 - fighting the traffic (or at least what passes for traffic in Vermont) - and made our way to Middlebury. There is a very good college in Middlebury, but, obviously, its significance pales in comparison to a restaurant that serves cheese curds. We arrived around 6:00 and a very nice Middlebury student took our order. Because of some obscure Vermont statute we had to order the cheese curds (at least that how Mike and Andy explained the legal implications to me) - they went for the chili dog meal, while I ordered the double cheeseburger and the vanilla milk shake. The meal was quite good - and, certainly, very heart friendly. On the way back we had to stop so that Andy, who doesn't have a car, could take a look at a truck for sale on the side of the road. He seriously considered it, mainly because of the aesthetics of driving a 1978 Ford truck with a gun rack - at this point he's still considering an offer. Overall, a very cool day. The last year has been monumentally dreadful on every conceivable front, but Mike and Andy have been extraordinary friends and, even though it's an old chestnut, it's true that times like these really let you know who your true friends are - and I can't imagine better ones. After arriving back in Burlington we met our friends Sandy and Peter for darts at Ake's Place, and then the requisite Rise & Shiner at the Kountry Kart Deli (now, if I can only figure out what these strange shooting pains are in my left arm?).