Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Stumpo's and Cheesequakes

On our drive to Ben's wedding yesterday Oren and I stumbled across two fine parts of New Jersey: Cheesequake State Park and Stumpo's Italian Restaurant. There were, obviously, other landmarks we passed, but none took out attention quite like these.
What is a cheesequake? How does it occur? When was the last great cheesequake? Are they doing anything to prevent another of similar magnitude? It soon became clear that Stumpo had saved the entire village from the certain decimation of a vicious Cheesequake and in recognition of his brave rescue and sacrifice, they named a restaurant in south Jersey in his honor. At 11p last night, while driving home to Oren's melodic snores, I composed a ballad of Stumpo's intrepid battle against the Cheesequake to the tune of Paul Robeson's "John Henry." But I have forgotten it now. It started something like,
Oh it happened many years ago
That Philly cheese came a-rainin' from the sky
and it did cascade down the mountain
yes the Cheesequake of aught six had arrived
but I forget the rest...

2 comments:

jacob said...

I have stopped at Cheesequake countless times! It is one of the best rest stops I have ever visited. While I often speak bad about NJ, I must say that there rest stops are second to none. Other than 1 rest stop on the Mass Pike (I forget which one), I would put cheesequake or any NJ rest stop up against any other.

Anonymous said...

North Jersey is full of wonderful sights as well.. for personal reasons, my favorites are the towns of Allamuchy and Frelinghuysen along I-80.

-Alan Scott