welcome to the world, baby girl!

I got a new niece last night! Kaitlyn Rose Keenan, 9lbs, 1oz. I hear that she has lots of hair, and looks like she's already three months old. And beautiful.

I'm going to WV next week for a couple days, and can't wait to meet her, and to see her big sis, Savanah. I haven't seen any pictures yet, but I'm chomping at the bit.

I'm really, really grateful to my brother and his wife for giving me these gals. While I'm not interested in having any for my only self, I love being an aunt.

This isn't an actual photograph, but rather my guesstimate of what she probably looks like all swaddled up:

it was a long week

Hi folks.

Sorry for the lack of blog fodder last week. It was a hectic and tough week, and all the extras (like, bloggin') had to fall to the wayside. I got a very sad fatal diagnosis for my car--which just totally blows 'cause I'm not sure how it's all going to shake out, but it could be that I'll be car-less for a while. On the upside, it's winter, and my mental bumper sticker reads: "I'd rather be hibernating!". So, I may not have much choice. Eh.

This also means that I won't be traveling for Thanksgiving. I'm sad to miss cooking with my mom and seeing my nieces and nephew. But, I'll have it all figured out by xmas (right?!?), so I'll see them then. Savanah (my favorite!) is really bummed. She said that she made me a "special Christmas centerpiece for your table, and you need to have it before then so you can enjoy this whole time!". It was so weird when she told me that. She's five. And, obviously has been possessed by my mother.

the good news, however, is that I'm going to have Thanksgiving with some friends, and Leslie is going to be cooking up a storm. And, she's an incredible cook. I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to make those roasted brussels sprouts with cranberry brown butter I posted about a few weeks ago. Yum!

In other news, it was an action-packed week. On Wednesday I took in a show at the Warhol. My Brightest Diamond features one of my favorite peeps, bdub, on the skins. I hadn't listened to much of them before then, but they're really great. Shara, the gal behind My Brightest Diamond, has a truly gorgeous voice. Operatic, even. I went with my pal Tracey, and we'd tentatively plan to scoot out early since we were both feeling kind of exhausted, but it was too good to skip out. Good stuff. And, she's in Sufjan Stevens' band, and I LOVE SUFJAN!

On Thursday I went to the (not safe for workplace clickin'!) Girls Night In going-outta-business sale at Amani. I got some good stuff for not much scratch, and even won a special treat from the raffle! I hear that Karen still has stock to liquidate, so give her a holler!

The weekend was pretty quiet. I met up with the E-dawg parade for lunch at People's on Saturday. I'd also planned to hit up the E. Liberty farmers market, but didn't realize they closed at noon. That's okay, next week. The rest of the city farmers markets ended last week, but this one is indoor and stays open all year! I haven't been there yet. I can't wait to check it out. I was lamenting the long winter with no CSA and no farmers market, but it's gonna be okay. Also, the folks that run the CSA I subscribe to are having winter boxes. You can get on their email list here. The way it works is that they send out an email each week, and you choose whether to opt in that week (and get your delivery location). And, of course, the co-op will be there to supplement everything else.

Okay. It's Monday, and I actually don't even mind. I had a restful weekend, and it's a short week. (Work usually lets us out by 3:00 p.m. the day before a holiday, too!) Good times.

long weekend, why you gotta be so short?

First, just wanted to pass this along:

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh presents a talk by SFP’s Marlene Parrish

What: Hear about Slow Food Pittsburgh and the challenges of Eating Local!
When: Wednesday, September 12
Time: 6-8 pm
Where: 4400 Forbes Avenue, Oakland, Main, First Floor Quiet Reading Room
Charge: Open to the public

Speaker: Marlene Parrish, co-leader of SFP and food writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

More info: 412-622-3151, or visit www.carnegielibrary.org

Come and learn about why buying fresh, local and seasonal food matters. If you love to eat and love to shop at farmers’ markets and if you care about the environment and supporting the local economy, you’ll want to hear about Slow Food Pittsburgh in this informal talk.

Plenty of time for questions, and we’ll be giving away some cookbooks, too.
The First Floor Quiet Reading Room won’t be quiet for long.....

I hope everyone had a super long weekend! I definitely did. It was action-packed! In fact, I'm kind of surprised that it all happened in one weekend. That's weird. And, I forgot my dang camera to upload the pics I wanted to include today. Hopefully I'll have it back tomorrow (I think I left it at Maggie's), and can update this post then.

On Friday, E-dawg and I met up at the Greek Festival in our 'hood (North Side represent!) for some delicious treats, some interesting music and some great people-watching. We each got a slice of spanikopita and tiropita (which I'd never had before, and was like the spanikopita without spinach and a fluffier cheese filling). And, I got a box of pastries to take to my mom and stepdad (my mom's favorite dessert is baklava)--a bunch of baklava, some little kourambiethes, a ghalatobouriko and an apricot and a cherry roll. It was a gorgeous assortment, and they were thrilled.

On Saturday morning I drove down to southern WV.

I got there around 2pm, and the cowgirl party was at 3:00. So, we headed up there, and as soon as we pulled up I could hear Savanah yelling "Ehrrin! Ehrrin! EhrrinEhrrinEhrrinEhrrin Ehrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!"



That is the most excited anyone has ever been to see me. I liked it. The party was cute, and the kids had fun. Then I went over to my brother's house for more playing and a ride on his new motorcycle.


Then, went out for Mexican food with my parents (there are three awesome Mexican restaurants in their tiny town, and we went to one I hadn't been to before; this was the best--Acapulco). So good. And, then I made them Huevos Rancheros for breakfast the next morning, to continue on with the theme.

Sunday morning my parents split for Ohio (for my nephew's birthday), and I met up with my brother and Savanah again, and we visited my MamMaw Gini and then my Aunt Boots (where, when we pulled up and got out of the car, Savanah said, "Now, where's them chickens?" 'cause they have some chickens that roost in one of the trees behind their house).

with MamMaw Gini:

with Aunt Boots:


After that I hit it back to the 'Burgh, and made it back just in time to get my stuff from the car to the house so that E-dawg could pick me up for the Ditty Bops show at Mr. Small's. They're so cute! And, this tour is the Farm Tour (they say: In addition to playing traditional shows, we will perform benefit concerts on farms to raise money for local farm organizations, "The Growing Connection" and "FARM AID" - Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Dave Matthews and John Mellencamp's nonprofit.)

On Sunday night I sent Kramer a message to say that I was going to oversleep the next day, so we didn't walk yesterday morning. what? it was labor day! the day of rest!--and, she actually called me a chump.

So, I didn't really sleep in yesterday, but I did a lot of chillaxin', nonetheless. I watched five (five!) episodes of QAF, then napped, then read, then went over to Maggie's to do more chillaxin' with she and Kramer. And, we ate some delicious and nutritious quinoa/black bean/veggie bowls. And, I left my camera. Boo. Hoo.

It was back on track this morning with the walk with Kramer. We did about two miles this morning, and, and, and! there were tons of deer. Lots of mamas and babies-still-with-spots. And, they were completely unafraid of us. A couple of them came so close we could almost pet them. It was amazing. (Kramer said "creepy"). Tomorrow we're going to take some deer snacks and hope we run into them again. So cool.

And, tomorrow is our first official weigh-in for the Weight Off-Off! I already can feel that I'm going to kick her ass!

Also, in other news, I signed up for a "Knife Skills" class at Chop, Wok & Talk (through CCAC). yay!

long weekend

I love a long weekend! I also love that they usually let us go from work by 3:00 p.m. on the day before a long weekend. And, I loved that we got to leave at 3:00 p.m. yesterday because of the water main break. I mean, I'm sorry that a bunch of peeps had to deal with the fall-out from the water main break, but this guy? This guy was loving the early leave.

Last night I stopped by Aunt Marge's 'cause I was in the 'hood (l-ville). I was planning for it to just be a quick hello, but then Kramer came over, too, and we all ate Chinese food (broccoli and bean curd with garlic sauce which Mags assured me was 'a little greasy, but not really', but which ended up completely soaking a paper bag with grease. but tasted good. of course.), and watched three consecutive episodes of QAF (which Mags kept pronouncing as "quaff" and cracking me up). I'd watched a few snippets of "Queer As Folk" a few times over the years, but had never really gotten involved personally, as in making it a show I was obsessed with. But, after those three episodes, I am hungry for more! (I learned this morning that those two stayed up until all hours of the night watching another three episodes after I left!) I love watching the TV shows on the DVD player and indulging in a huge chunk of it at once. I updated my netflix queue this morning, and now the first two discs of the first season are speeding through the mailways in my general direction right now. I can't wait. That's perfect for a spare day off on Monday, right? Seriously. My big plans for my big day off are to watch "Ellen" in the morning, and many episodes of QAF at some point in the day. Good times. In fact, I hope it's rainy so I don't feel compelled to Get Out and Do Something and such.

But, I am going to do something this weekend! My niece Savanah is turning five years old on Sunday, and they're having a cowgirl-themed birthday party on Saturday. I can't wait! I hear that there will be prizes for the best-dressed cowgirls. Watch out, young'uns, I am busting out some fancy duds! Now, where's my spurs at, n'at?

The party, and most of my family, is located in southern West-bygod-Virginia. It's about a four-hour drive. I'm not necessarily looking forward to the drive up and back (although I do have some good tunes lined up), I cannot wait to see my favorite gal. The last time I saw her was July 4th, and prior to that she called me and said that she was glad we were meeting up because "I haven't seen you in so long I done forgot what your face looks like." Love it.

I don't need any food right now, but I still strongly want to go to both the farmer's market (N.Side today) and the Greek Food Festival after work. But, I have stuff that I need to do, but dang. I have a hard time passing up a good festival.

You know what is sad about this weekend, though? Pools are closing. Farewell, summer...

Anyhow, you peeps have a real nice Labor Day weekend, and I hope the weather holds, and you don't hit traffic, and you remembered to buy charcoal, and filled up the tank, and went potty before you got in the car.

hey! i'm ridin' around, ridin' around on it, hey!

The title of today's blog is from a song that a Hurd put on a mix for me last year about a girl that inherits a bike and, well, rides around it, rides around on it. I keep hearing it in my head because...

Yay! Guess what! I have a bike! My pal Marsha hooked me up with a free bike! And panniers! And, Maggie is lending me her bike rack! And, I'm picking it up today! Hooray! I'm so excited! You better believe that pictures will follow! Woo hoo!

I'm meeting my parents, brother and niece in WV tomorrow, and Drew (my brother) suggested we meet at Cooper's Rock. I love it. It's a great park right outside of Morgantown. I'm going to take my bike, and my little niece Savanah (4, almost 5) is going to bring her's, too. I talked to her on the phone last night, and she said, "I done got me some Barbie band-aids for my only self, but you can use them if you get hurt, too." Can you tell she's from WV? I hope I don't need the Barbie band-aids, but I appreciate the offer. In related news, I just heard that I will be getting a new niece or nephew in March/April!

In other unrelated news, I'm still sick. I'm not really sure what's going on. I've been getting nauseous and throwing up randomly for a couple months now, and then have had this cold and flu thing for a couple weeks. The doctors don't seem to have any clue either. They gave me medicine for acid reflux (which is weird since I've only had heartburn twice in my life), allergies (for the continued sore throat and ears) and an anti-nausea pill. And, I'm supposed to go in for blood work and an abdominal ultrasound this week. And, they kept asking if there was any chance I could be pregnant. So, my theory is that I have a petrified baby, or the next coming of the messiah, stuck somewhere all up in there. We'll see. But, really, I'd be satisfied to just stop having to throw up all the time.

While I was at the doctor's I asked for them to check my weight history and when the last time I was under 200 pounds. It was March 2002. Come on, girl! I want to break that line! I've still been hovering between 208 and 213. I'm so ready to move down. Of course, that means that I need to re-give up ice cream. Ouch. But, the bike will help, I hope!

I made some pesto last night for dinner. I thought about trying Heidi's instructions for How To Make Pesto Like An Italian Grandmother, but I was hungry and didn't have time for all the chopping. Instead, I did a quick food processor version. All amounts are approximate. Vary based on your tastes:

2 c. basil (like, smashed down into the cup)
1/4 c. mint leaves
1-2 cloves garlic (I used one because it was pretty big)
1 T. lemon juice
1/2 c. olive oil
1/3 c. freshly grated parmesan or pecorino romano (I went with the romano because it's less expensive)
1/3 c. toasted pine nuts
sea salt and pepper

I made some fresh pasta that I got at Penn Mac on Saturday, but I can't remember what flavor I got. I'm thinking it might have been a basil-lemon? (do you remember, e-dawg? i remember that you got rosemary, but what did i get??). Anyway, yeah, I had it with pasta, and sprinkled on some more toasted pine nuts and some of the baked shittakes. Yum. That is some fantastic freshness.


And, I still have about 1/2 c. left. I'm having visions of pizzas and sandwiches and eating it with a spoon. I love pesto!