What: Lisbon Falls Dairy Maid

Where: 586 Lisbon St., Lisbon Falls

When: 11 a.m.-8 p.m., 7 days a week

Why: Good, inexpensive food and ice cream

Atmosphere: Very low-key. Stand on Lisbon Street with several picnic tables and some grass for sitting.

Prices: Inexpensive. Lunch specials for under $5.

Call: 353-8741

It was one of those days that just begs you to dawdle, procrastinate and eke out every last second of sunshine you can.

Corey and I were driving home from a work thing, down Lisbon Street. We had chosen our route because it would bring us past Lisbon Falls' Dairy Maid ice cream stand, and we'd set our hearts on having lunch there.

On that day, the ice cream wasn't even the main attraction. We were interested in the food - freshly cooked burgers, hot dogs and pizzas, among other things - and the ambiance: it would be our first meal outside, on a picnic table, in the sunshine, in at least eight months.

We pulled in at the same time as a carful of prospective diners, and stood in front of the big menu board for a minute or two, deciding. I settled on the cheeseburger, and ordered a diet soda to go with it. Corey ordered a mini pizza with ham, peppers and onions, and a frozen Island Oasis fruit drink that tasted a lot like a virgin pina colada.

Now, I have to make a confession: Corey worked at Dairy Maid when she was younger, and knows most of the people who work there. She was the one who convinced me to go there for lunch, saying that not only was the ice cream tasty, but the food was grilled or cooked right there while you waited - a nice perk for an ice cream stand.

A nice perk, but not altogether unexpected, given Dairy Maid's history. "My mother and father opened it in 1952," said current owner Janet McGraves last week. "It's good, old-fashioned food, and it's been this way for 56 years, I guess." It's been around so long, McGraves said, that some of the kids who used to come with their parents now bring their own kids for ice creams in the summertime.

After ordering, assuming rightly that it would take a few minutes for our food to be cooked, we sat down and waited. It was ready faster than we'd expected - seven or eight minutes, maybe? We found a picnic table in a shady spot.

Now, Lisbon Street, even in Lisbon Falls, is a busy road, and so it surprised me to find we could sit quietly at the picnic table and eat, right near the road, feeling for all the world like we were not sitting near Lisbon Street at all, but in a park somewhere. Lovely, especially for a brief stop in the middle of a workday.

I loved my cheeseburger. I ordered it without sides to save room for dessert, but had more than enough food. It was thin - in a good way - tasted fresh-cooked, and came on a good bun. Corey's pizza was also surprisingly good: the dough was crispy, the sauce was good, but not overbearing, the veggies and meat added to the overall taste without taking over. She deemed it the best mini pizza she'd had in ages, and I had to agree.

We spent rather longer dawdling over lunch than we needed to, and made up for it by ordering our ice creams to go. It was a Cyclone with chocolate chip cookie dough and rainbow jimmies for me; a strawberry shortcake sundae for Corey. I didn't taste hers, but my ice cream was great - normal, typical soft-serve vanilla, nicely flavored cookie dough bits, good consistency.

It's sunny and pretty out again today as I write, and just about lunchtime. Anyone want to make a trip out to Lisbon with me?