My brother sent my daughter a gift for her birthday...

[BEG]

I had to laugh when he called me up to tell me he was sending her a present as normally he just sends her a card.  He said he did some work for a woman who gave him a crystal four leaf clover and since it didn't look very masculine he was going to "regift" it to my daughter.  LOL  That is SO like my brother.

Anyway, what I am writing this post for is there was other stuff in the box.  There were two jars of spaghetti sauce, a package of Martha Gooch pasta and a loaf of bread.  At first I was like WTF?!??  Then I noticed the bread was my FAVORITE bread of all time from Omaha called Rotella's Italian Vienna bread. 

Also when we were little my Mom tried to sneak Martha Gooch's macaroni and cheese past us and we never fell for it.  We wanted KRAFT damn it!!!!  She claimed it was cheaper than Kraft and we were fairly poor during my younger years but I never knew it.  I thought we were just like everyone else. 

Then I had my youngest unwrap the jars of spaghetti sauce that were wrapped in bubble wrap.  It was two jars of VALENTINO'S spaghetti sauce.  Valentino's is my favorite pizza from Omaha.  When I was little and we use to eat there, my Mom would always order me a side order of spaghetti and I LOVED it.  I didn't even know they had their own sauce. 

See.....even a selfish liberal can be really sweet every once in awhile. 

[Eupher]

I had to laugh when he called me up to tell me he was sending her a present as normally he just sends her a card.  He said he did some work for a woman who gave him a crystal four leaf clover and since it didn't look very masculine he was going to "regift" it to my daughter.  LOL  That is SO like my brother.

Anyway, what I am writing this post for is there was other stuff in the box.  There were two jars of spaghetti sauce, a package of Martha Gooch pasta and a loaf of bread.  At first I was like WTF?!??  Then I noticed the bread was my FAVORITE bread of all time from Omaha called Rotella's Italian Vienna bread. 

Also when we were little my Mom tried to sneak Martha Gooch's macaroni and cheese past us and we never fell for it.  We wanted KRAFT damn it!!!!  She claimed it was cheaper than Kraft and we were fairly poor during my younger years but I never knew it.  I thought we were just like everyone else. 

Then I had my youngest unwrap the jars of spaghetti sauce that were wrapped in bubble wrap.  It was two jars of VALENTINO'S spaghetti sauce.  Valentino's is my favorite pizza from Omaha.  When I was little and we use to eat there, my Mom would always order me a side order of spaghetti and I LOVED it.  I didn't even know they had their own sauce. 

See.....even a selfish liberal can be really sweet every once in awhile. 

Y'know, BEG, garlic and onions become very sweet after they've been cooked in a big pot of spaghetti sauce for awhile. Y'think that might be where the sweetness is coming from?   

[Odin's Hand]

I used to watch "The Tom Osbourne Show" pretty regularly and they always had Valentino's as a sponsor. The food always looked good on the smorgasbord spanning shots on the commercials.

[debk]

OMG....Rotella's Vienna bread and Valentino's sauce.....are ya just in heaven?!?! 

[BEG]

OMG....Rotella's Vienna bread and Valentino's sauce.....are ya just in heaven?!?! 

I haven't had the sauce yet but already ate two slices of the bread (with real butter....have to have REAL butter). 

[Splashdown]

Sometimes family love trumps politics. Especially when it comes to food! 

[IassaFTots]

See.....even a selfish liberal can be really sweet every once in awhile.  

Aw.  That is sweet.  

[Ralph Wiggum]

OMG....Rotella's Vienna bread and Valentino's sauce.....are ya just in heaven?!?! 

We used to get Rotella's in Des Moines too, it was yummy.  And we had a Valentino's there that's gone now.  My uncle who went U. of Nebraska-Lincoln used to order it all the time.

EDIT - Wanted to add that that was a very nice gift, BEG, even from the evil liberal brother.

[RobJohnson]

I had to laugh when he called me up to tell me he was sending her a present as normally he just sends her a card.  He said he did some work for a woman who gave him a crystal four leaf clover and since it didn't look very masculine he was going to "regift" it to my daughter.  LOL  That is SO like my brother.

Anyway, what I am writing this post for is there was other stuff in the box.  There were two jars of spaghetti sauce, a package of Martha Gooch pasta and a loaf of bread.  At first I was like WTF?!??  Then I noticed the bread was my FAVORITE bread of all time from Omaha called Rotella's Italian Vienna bread. 

Also when we were little my Mom tried to sneak Martha Gooch's macaroni and cheese past us and we never fell for it.  We wanted KRAFT damn it!!!!  She claimed it was cheaper than Kraft and we were fairly poor during my younger years but I never knew it.  I thought we were just like everyone else. 

Then I had my youngest unwrap the jars of spaghetti sauce that were wrapped in bubble wrap.  It was two jars of VALENTINO'S spaghetti sauce.  Valentino's is my favorite pizza from Omaha.  When I was little and we use to eat there, my Mom would always order me a side order of spaghetti and I LOVED it.  I didn't even know they had their own sauce. 

See.....even a selfish liberal can be really sweet every once in awhile. 

Cool gifts!

[debk]

We used to get Rotella's in Des Moines too, it was yummy.  And we had a Valentino's there that's gone now.  My uncle who went U. of Nebraska-Lincoln used to order it all the time.

I think we got may have been able to get Rotella's when I was in kid in WDM....but no Valentino's.  We used to go to a pizza/bar place when I was a kid that had wonderful pizza. I went to Stilwell Jr High and it was on that main road between Stilwell and the Catholic Elementary school. Can't remember the name.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I think we got may have been able to get Rotella's when I was in kid in WDM....but no Valentino's.  We used to go to a pizza/bar place when I was a kid that had wonderful pizza. I went to Stilwell Jr High and it was on that main road between Stilwell and the Catholic Elementary school. Can't remember the name.

Valentino's was inside Valley West Mall, at one of those areas that could be open when the mall was closed.  Don't remember which pizza place you're referring to....The Tavern, maybe?

[Chris]

[BEG]

Sometimes family love trumps politics. Especially when it comes to food! 

Yeah I love him but to be truthful, if he wasn't my brother I wouldn't want to be friends with him.  He means well and all but he complains ALL the time.  Especially about hit lot in life.  He is almost 50 and lives with my dad and his wife.  Has worked at Kinko's for the past 18 years (at least he works I guess) yet never wanted to move ahead because that required more work than he was willing to do.   Yet he bitches about his income non stop.  He once said that he thought the government should force everyone to drive cars that attain a certain MPG yet he recently bought a Tahoe that is a few years old that gets fairly crappy MPG.  I pointed out the hypocrisy yet he said he needed it to hold his photography equipment (that he never takes out of the house).  He is the typical do as I say not as I do liberal.  He is also on the strange side that I wont go into here.

Having said all that I do love him and I would never turn my back on him.  I can bitch about him but if someone outside my family does they better watch out because I punch hard.  

[debk]

Valentino's was inside Valley West Mall, at one of those areas that could be open when the mall was closed.  Don't remember which pizza place you're referring to....The Tavern, maybe?

Just remembered....it was called Corso's....the adults would sit on the bar side, and the kids would sit on the pizza side. Nobody thought anything of it....can you imagine that type of situation these days?

[Chris_]

I haven't had the sauce yet but already ate two slices of the bread (with real butter....have to have REAL butter). 

They let you have REAL butter out there?  I thought CA had outlawed that eeeeevil stuff.   

[BEG]

They let you have REAL butter out there?  I thought CA had outlawed that eeeeevil stuff.   

I'm sure that will be next on the chopping block.  It takes cows to make butter and the cows have atrocious levels of methane and CO2 emissions don't you know. 

[thundley4]

I'm sure that will be next on the chopping block.  It takes cows to make butter and the cows have atrocious levels of methane and CO2 emissions don't you know. 

Wait a minute.  I see all those commercials on TV saying that the cows in California are happy. If they're happy, shouldn't they be less gassy and cranky?

[Chris_]

I'm sure that will be next on the chopping block.  It takes cows to make butter and the cows have atrocious levels of methane and CO2 emissions don't you know. 

cows...chopping block.....    

You now have the pun flu.   

[IassaFTots]

cows...chopping block.....    

You now have the pun flu.   

Man, you really know how to milk it, dontcha?

[Eupher]

Man, you really know how to milk it, dontcha?

Oh God. Here we go. Yep, Lug really creamed BEG with the advent of pun season.

[Wineslob]

Valentino's is my favorite pizza from Omaha

This makes no sense .

[debk]

This makes no sense .

BEG lived in Omaha as a kid. Valentino's is a great pizza chain there. It used to be only local to Lincoln and Omaha. I think it started in Lincoln.

(I lived in Omaha after college, and my ex is from NE and his family lived in Omaha then. I had been going there for years because my stepmother was from Council Bluffs Ia....which is how I know about Valentino's)

[Wineslob]

BEG lived in Omaha as a kid. Valentino's is a great pizza chain there. It used to be only local to Lincoln and Omaha. I think it started in Lincoln.

(I lived in Omaha after college, and my ex is from NE and his family lived in Omaha then. I had been going there for years because my stepmother was from Council Bluffs Ia....which is how I know about Valentino's)

To me it kinda sounded like getting Mexican food in Hawaii....................................the best was Taco Bell.


 

[franksolich]

To me it kinda sounded like getting Mexican food in Hawaii....................................the best was Taco Bell.

Valentino's is actually probably the best pizza in all of America.

Caveat, however; I am referring specifically to Valentino's made at the three original locations in Lincoln, Nebraska; the pizza their franchises offer in other places, even including Omaha, is inferior.

I have no idea why that is, but there one has it.

But even the pizza sold by franchises is vastly superior to pizza found anywhere else.

I've been to ostensibly world-famous pizza joints in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Milwaukee, none of which have ever matched the quality of Valentino's.  Not even close.

In Lincoln, when Valentino's was still a family operation and not franchised out, if one wished to have it for Sunday night dinner, say circa 7:00 p.m., one had to start standing in line circa 1:00 p.m. (they would open at 4:00 p.m.).....and hundreds of people were willing to do that.  It was worth it.

[BEG]

Valentino's is actually probably the best pizza in all of America.

Caveat, however; I am referring specifically to Valentino's made at the three original locations in Lincoln, Nebraska; the pizza their franchises offer in other places, even including Omaha, is inferior.

I have no idea why that is, but there one has it.

But even the pizza sold by franchises is vastly superior to pizza found anywhere else.

I've been to ostensibly world-famous pizza joints in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Milwaukee, none of which have ever matched the quality of Valentino's.  Not even close.

In Lincoln, when Valentino's was still a family operation and not franchised out, if one wished to have it for Sunday night dinner, say circa 7:00 p.m., one had to start standing in line circa 1:00 p.m. (they would open at 4:00 p.m.).....and hundreds of people were willing to do that.  It was worth it.

Yep, Frank knows his pizza.