The Pie Guys for a quick dinner sounded good to my dear wife Karen and I as my Thursday Night Bowling League picked up again after our two-week break for the holidays.
They call this small. Ha!
Karen, wise woman that she is, ordered the small antipasto, with Italian dressing. We know from experience that these folks make a mean salad, packed large with ham, salami and provolone cheese on top of the lettuce, peppers, carrots and tomatoes. Karen wished that she’d told them to hold the onions. Dagnabbit. Soon her white tray became two piles. Eat. Discard.
While eating, my teammates Randy and Steve both came by to order their pre-bowling dinners, too.
When we got inside the lanes I had to pull out my iPhone 6 to catch their antipasto salads.
Hover over either gallery photo for a description. Click on either for an enlarged slide show.
Me? As much as I adore their salads, I wanted something a bit more solid to fuel me for my bowling this week, after our 2-5 start to the second half of the season and my bad pre-Christmas three-game set.
I only ate half.
I went with the sausage Stromboli the size of my head.
Half of it Karen packed away in her car to take home after she left following game one.
Tasty lunch reheated, you know?
The melted-mozzarella-cheese-and-crust dipped in sauce worked.
I rolled 200-212-130, and our squad won the first two games and total pins to even our second-half record at 7-7.
That last game, I suffered six splits, converting just two babies. That will show me to get my hopes up for a 600 after two very good games. Tiny told me it was obvious I was tired, with less oomph and rotation on my ball. I knew it. Also, the lack of speed allowed it cross directly into the head pin, and I couldn’t seem to correct it.
But my average will be 164 when we report this week, I’m sure, still a pin higher than last season’s finish.
Onions or no onions on your salad? Sausage, pepperoni or plain cheese Stromboli? Pizza or wings before bowling instead, and if so, what sauce and toppings?
Mark Bialczak 
Oh, man–I know what’s for dinner tomorrow night. (tonight’s already planned, damnit). And now a road trip to Syracuse seems inevitable.
LikeLike
You’re always welcome for a nice meal, Chuck. 🙂
LikeLike
I would also go for something solid!
( but I guess I’ve had too many solid meals lately….. )
LikeLike
Oh, Anna, by your photos I know you like to eat healthy. 😉
LikeLike
*lol*
( the understatement of the year!!!!! 😉 )
LikeLike
So glad your bowling league has started up again Mark. I know you love it! Onions? Love ’em. Used to eat them like apples when I was a kid! ❤
Diana xo
LikeLike
Now eating onions like apples is a phenomena new to me, Diana. Did you kiss your mother with that mouth, as the old line goes? Hahahaha. 😉 ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
yup, I sure did! 😉
LikeLike
I’m not hungry at all, and it all sounds good. We just chopped up raw onion for our chili, so we’re good with onions. Sorry you were missing your Oomph. I hope you found it!
LikeLike
It’s back in the closet somewhere, Kerbey, with the rest of my stuff from 20 years ago? Ha.
I like onions in chili just fine. Just raw on salads or burgers. Too much taste for me, I guess. Cooked on burgers, though, I like ’em.
LikeLiked by 1 person
i am starving right now, so yes to everything on the stromboli, yes to both pizza and wings, and no onions on anything. pizza – mushroom and sausage, extra cheese, please ) wings – very hot with blue cheese –
LikeLike
Now I want to eat that whole list of yours, Beth, for lunch. Biut hold the mushrooms, please. No fungus among us. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I haven’t ever bowled, so there’s no pre-bowling food tradition for me, but I’d join some of the other commenters putting pepperoni on my stromboli and I don’t much care for onion on salad though I cook with it and eat it on other things… I have no idea what the bowling score means, but I’m gonna say you’re doing great!
LikeLike
Pepperoni for you. Good choice, Leigh. And thanks for your kind words on the bowling. There are folks on my league way better, but I try hard, at least. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great salad and great stomboli. Yum. And since I rarely break 100 when I bowl, I’m bowing to your bowling prowess. 🙂
LikeLike
Yum, and I’m glad that you still go out there and bowl, Tracy. Fun no matter the scores. 🙂
LikeLike
There’s a rumor around town we might be getting a bowling alley here. If that happens, my better half and I are thinking about getting our own bowling balls. Much better than having to drive to the big city to bowl.
LikeLike
And having your own bowling ball will make you like the game even more. Make sure you get a pro to fit your hand properly and drill it right, Tracy! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Will do!
LikeLike
glad I’ve already eaten!
LikeLike
Saved by the time difference, Rachel. 🙂
LikeLike
The food looks good and so does your bowling scores!
LikeLike
Thanks, PJ. I’m trying to improve. On my eating and bowling. 😉
LikeLike
LOL! I’m trying to improve on my eating and writing.
LikeLike
I don’t know about your eating, but your writing is spiffy, PJ. 😉
LikeLike
Thanks Mark. I have lots of improvement to do.
LikeLike
Wow, those are some crazy portion sizes. I’m not sure if that even qualifies as a salad anymore!
LikeLike
More like the harvest of a whole growing season, right, Marissa? 😉
LikeLike
Sounds about right!
LikeLike
Oh my word, their salads are HUGE! Those would have too much meat for me, and I’ll take all the onions 🙂
Actually, I’d go for the stromboli the size of your head — CARBS! — I’d order sausage for the flavor and then pick out half of it, lol!
LikeLike
The funny thing about the Stromboli is, they don’t overload that with too much sausage, Joey. Just the right balance with the mozzarella. OK, I’ll pass the onions over the table to you. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
OMP – that looks amazing my friend. No onions on my salad – I burp them. And no pork products for obvious reasons – snorts – but I love a cheese pizza! Oinks out. XOXO – Bacon
LikeLike
These pizza for Piggie it is! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m a pepperoni purist for stromboli and pizza 🙂
LikeLike
Pure pepperoni is rather yummy, yes, J. 🙂
LikeLike
Wow that’s some meal? That would feed my gang easily! LOL Hold the onions. Pepperoni Stromboli would be nice and yummy. Gatorette
LikeLike
That would feed a lot of families, Gatorette. Thus, our failure to eat it all. 🙂 And pepperoni is always pleasing, yes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
At least you had some leftovers to re-heat for a lunch! All is good Mark!
LikeLike
No onions… even though I like onions. As for the stromboli… I would love just a little please.
You started bowling back up and I am headed to Zumba after a two week hiatus! Happy New Year!
LikeLike
Happy New Year and may the Zumba be with you, my great friend Nancy. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, dagdabbit <~ love this expression, that's a large salad! Geez! That would feed me for a week… And my children! Hehe.
Oh, and pizza always wins (before a pre-bowl) no onions but lots of balsamic vinegar dressing – so much it becomes unhealthy! 😜
LikeLike
Yes, dripping in dressing is my preference, too, so my dear wife Karen has taken over the pouring in my house to keep my healthier, Amanda. And the whole portion control of the salad-making, for that matter. 🙂
LikeLike
No onions. They give me heartburn and reduce the taste and flavors of all the other ingredients of the salad or anything else including meatloaf and the like. Go with a hint of garlic instead of onions anytime.
LikeLike
Good suggestion on the garlic replacement, Carl. I go for cooked onions, but never enjoy raw.
LikeLike
Yum…If there will be beer…the Stromboli works better than the salad. But that is quite an amazing salad right there. ☺ Onions and tomatoes…always make my salad better.
Note to self: Eat breakfast before getting lost in the WP Reader.
LikeLike
Guess I made you hungry today, Van. A cold leftover Stromboli … Yum, huh?
LikeLiked by 1 person