Rosinola's - Pete - MaryAnn - Parm - and Anna - catch their breath at the Tamaqua Table with Father Pete watching over.
On Friday - Lulu and I drove south because she had business near Miami. We can't go anywhere near Disneyworld without stopping in to have dinner with the Rosinolas at The Palm Maria. Our Tamaqua friends - Marylou and Carl Zimmerman - live near Tampa - so they came over to have supper with us.
We are staying at the Disney Buena Vista Palace for the night - so we met the Zimmermans there. Then we drove the Prius the 30 miles north through Orlando to the restaurant. It took an hour in the Friday rush hour traffic. At least catching up on gossip filled the car with several conversations at once.
We arrived at the restaurant on time - and The Tamaqua Table was prepared. Let the happiness begin. All 4 siblings - Anna - Parma - Mary Ann - and Pete - gave us way too much attention for 3 hours. They have an extensive menu - everything is made from scratch - and everything is so good. We had wine - bread - entries - 3 deserts - everything was so good - and we each did not break an Alexander Hamilton.
We had chocolate pie - peanut butter pie - banana cream pie - all made from scratch that morning by Pete. We had loaf after loaf of Italian bread. Everyone loved their entres. We even took some home.
But the best part is being served by the four Tamaquans. They now have been in business there 33 years which is about the same amount of time they worked in Tamaqua.
We just talked about good times - like none of us ever left home. Pete talked about taking over the Tamaqua Train Station - and moving back home. He loves reliving his past. How many people know that Pete was an excellent baseball pitcher? A major league team hid him on a college team in Arizona for a year. He pitched the Tamaqua Blue Raiders to a championship around 1980. I'll bet he could still throw that monster curve ball.
At 10 o'clock - we were so tired - but it was hard to leave. We had a long 5 days coming - Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood - Tampa - Clearwater - Tallahassee.
I finally got to an internet connection at out hotel in Bradenton for Sunday night. I will be posting more pictures and stories tonight.
Carl and Marylou - Lulu and Me.
Anna - Parm - MaryAnn - exchange Tamaqua stories with Marylou
On the wall is a story about the Palma Maria in Tamaqua
A cartoon of Pete in 1976 graces the wall of the restaurant
1 comment:
I am a cousin to Mary Ann, Pete, Palma and Anna. I only learned today of Pete's passing and the restaurant closing. It's sad to say that I have not seen my cousins since my dad's passing in 1977 when I was living in New Jersey and my cousins still lived in Tamaqua. Their food was fabulous, and my dad too had been an excellent chef and in the restaurant business at various times in his life. My husband and I have been living in New Hampshire now since 1979 and I've often wished we could have gotten together with my cousins somehow but the years pass quickly and suddenly it's too late. I have been trying to reach my cousins by phone to learn of what happened to Pete, will keep trying.
Chris Wittmann
New Hampshire
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