Some things never go out of style – the little black dress, the beauty of a sunset – or a good friend boldly telling you, "At forty, you've BLEEPITY-BLEEP earned the right to eat clam chowder after cake." God love ya. Aw, what a friend.
So it went last Saturday at the Rainmaker Buffet at Foxwoods Casino. The "fun foursome" (my Mom and I, and our good friends Pam and Colby) reunited for a night of food-coma fun and old-fashioned laughs. We four have been tight for thirty-five years – unbelievable!
If you haven't been, the Rainmaker Buffet is a mammoth smorgasbord of food stations – barbecue, Chinese, Italian, American, seafood, dessert, and so on. You could easily get lost in its labyrinthine walls, if it weren't for the luscious food scents subliminally urging you to stay on track – "Grab another plate, take another bite!”
All you need is $25. The experience is a lot like visiting an amusement park. You stand in a crowded, twisting, snake-style line for a good hour before reaching the kiosk to pay admission. But it's worth it. Trust me. The Rainmaker Buffet is as good as any Cyclone rollercoaster – minus the wind-in-your-face and nausea (unless you've overeaten).
For me, I indulged in prime rib, fried chicken, collard-greens, pasta alfredo with broccoli, and amazingly scrumptious sausage-and-peppers. I might’ve had a few other items, but I entered a dinner-haze at some point. I got all swept away in that delicious food. My recollections are foggy. I might've had some "wind-in-my-face" after all (but luckily not the nausea).
As for my "tres amigas," they were in a dinner-haze, too. Some started with light salad and seafood appetizers. Ceviche and mussels, I must return one day and eat you! Some dove into dessert quite quickly. That vanilla soft-serve ice cream was positively alluring.
But aside from celebrating the birthdays of Pam and Colby, my favorite part of the evening was the end. With our stomachs full, and our laughter undoubtedly lighting up the Rainmaker Buffet like a 4th of July firecracker (one that Thelma & Louise accidentally detonated, barely missing a prized alpaca initialed "J" – personal joke!), I looked up, my dinner-haze eyes as narrow as slits, and said to my amigas, "They have soup? How'd I miss that? I wonder if they have clam chowder."
After I quickly considered the ridiculousness of my wanting to eat clam chowder after dessert, Colby, however, said that she was curious, too. Could the Rainmaker Buffet really have this lovely New England past-time on this very special night? Could we be so lucky? Was this our gastronomic destiny, a kind of gift from the Native American deity Rainmaker himself? Colby then finally said those prophetic words – "At forty, you've BLEEPITY-BLEEP earned the right to eat clam chowder after cake."
And you know what? They had clam chowder. Divine little seafood, you. Thank you, Colby, for your "soup's up!" seal of approval.
This post is dedicated to the one and only "fun foursome" and all the memories we've shared. It's been an AMAZING thirty-five years.