A Celebration at Mookie’s.

Friday, the 13th. This morning, Dad woke up for good. He spent 3 days in the Emergency room and 5 days in the ICU. Now we had our answer on whether or not he would wake up.

To celebrate, Mom, Monica and myself left the hospital and debated about where to go eat. Stix, some other sushi place, and pizza were thrown into the ring of ideas. Mom said she wanted to introduce us to Sal and Mookies. Because we were elated, exhausted, excited, a teeny bit morning-of-Christmas, (and did I mention exhausted..and LOOKED exhausted?) we dressed up a little and wore real smiles…all 3 of us. Who knew the air outside the hospital could smell so wonderful?  While mom drove,  Monica and myself started burning up the crackberry and iphone with the updates we had been waiting to share.

I have been away from Jackson Ms since 1994 and I know many new places have taken root here, but I believe this place takes the award for most fabulously awesome. Maybe it was the atmosphere. Maybe it was our general mood. Maybe it was just the fact we were starving and after 10 days ready for more than hospital food. Whatever the reason, I will never forget this night at Sal and Mookies.

When we arrived, we had to park in the back lot of whatever is built parallel to the building. Mom actually paralleled parked and I should have recognized that as a sign that the rest of the night would have to be magical.  I asked Mom if we would have to wait long and she reassured me we wouldn’t. Knowing not to argue with a 5’1″ powerhouse of a woman, I followed along like the good little duckling I was.

Is this where I say WOW?!

Monica is witness to this. I really did ask if we could spend the night there. She gave me a weird look and chalked it up to us sleeping on air mattresses for so long that I forgot where I was.

A wonderful waiter handed us menus and got our drink orders. He was another in a long line of perfect strangers who made our lives a little better that week just by being NICE to us. The hospital staff at Baptist have special stars for their crowns and this guy earned one tonight.

Now…onto the good stuff.

Best Salad I’ve ever had

. My goal in life is to re-create this Green Goddess/Ranch dressing that they serve on mixed greens. I consider myself a pretty accomplished cook but I can’t get this dressing out of my mind. The undercurrents of chive, tarragon, and . . is that a hint of avocado? Delicious. The pizza could have been a cheese covered encyclopedia, and I wouldn’t have cared. However, I would have asked for a size of the dressing to pour on top.

Then, the Onasis pizza-gyro meat, black olives, feta, mozz,  tomatoes, and spinach on a wheat crust. This may have ruined me for regular pizza. It was so good. The crust was perfect and I wish I could say I ate the outer edge of the crust, but I never NEVER do but it was worthy of a it’s own standing ovation. In the middle of a gooey cheesy bite, I contemplated REALLY slapping my momma, it was THAT good. ****Since I’m writing this hours later, obviously I’m alive and no mothers were slapped in the eating of this pizza.*****

Our only complaint—we aren’t sheep so we don’t have multiple stomach compartments.  We had to leave 2 pieces behind. Living in the ICU waiting room makes it tough to reheat an aromatic slice of pizza perfection. We would have been stabbed in the heart by people just wanting our pizza.

And who could forget dessert? Oreo Brownie something or other. We needed 3 spoons and gurney.

Needless to say, we waddled back to the hospital to quickly change into our buffet britches.

Thanks, Sal and Mookie, whoever you are for a special night for 3 ordinary women.

(these were taken with P&S, which in low light can be a POS. My DSLR cried when I shared the details of pictures he didn’t get to capture)