Hungry Times Two

I love feta. In fact, today I ate it on a turkey sandwich for lunch & also on a flatbread pizza for dinner. I also love Kalamata olives. I add them to salads, tuna from the can with a little olive oil and oregano, and sometimes I fish the olives out of the jar and eat them over the sink, trying not to get the brine everywhere. But I usually do get the brine everywhere. So when a friend invited me to the Greek Mezes class at Whole Foods Salud! Cooking School , of course I had to go. There would be feta to consume. And hopefully olives. And maybe I could not make a total mess.

Here I sit, typing on this wee blog, with my back to my grandmother's china cabinet (which was originally a pantry for my great-grandmother's pump house , where all the men would go to have a drink 'cause my great-grand didn't allow liquor in her home, thank you very much). Peering into the glass door of the cabinet, I see nine jars of Christmas Morning Marmalade, which I rechristened "Pucker Up Marmalade" after Scott and I spent nearly two hours peeling, slicing, and seeding an ungodly amount of citrus fruit right before Christmas.

As promised: our weekend in Pittsburgh, a lovely city situated on some amazing bluffs and ridges at the confluence of three rivers! So charming, and the people were very, VERY polite. DC/MD/VA residents, are you hearing this? POLITE! Anyway, accentuating the positives: We arrived Friday just in time for dinner - we decided to take our friend Jim's advice and try out a former church-turned-brewery: Church Brew Works in the Lawrenceville 'hood. We tried our first ever pierogies, dumplings filled with cheese, chased with a Pipe Organ Pale Ale for Scott and a Pious Monk Dunkel for myself. We didn't linger too long, as we had to rise early to get in line for the..... All-Clad Factory Sale! This was the line when we arrived - it doubled back twice in front of us and took us about 45 minutes to make it into the warehouse. The organizers work very hard to ensure this event doesn't turn into madness - only 30-40 people are allowed in every 10 minutes or so for crowd control. W...

Scott and I are hitting the road today in search of all the fine things Pittsburgh has to offer. Can I just say I am more than a little excited? I already went out of my way this morning to hit Union Station to pick up my train ticket to meet Scott in Baltimore, and I have my backpack filled with reading material for the road, a Christmas CD which will annoy the hell out of Scott, and some snacks. I am psyched - and guess what? They're calling for SNOW this weekend in PA. Yes, me, the one who slept on Interstate 81 last year due to snow mucking everything up, is excited about the white stuff. Crazy, party of one! Good friends have recommended some excellent spots to eat and visit while we're there, and I hope the All-Clad sale isn't too insane. I'm already preparing my fetal position and head cover in case there's a stampede or I have to fight someone over the last saucepan. My dad taught me some pretty sweet basketball elbowing maneuvers back in the day, so I can...