Cookies

Hi there. I'm back.

So there's been a lot of linking to this story in the New York Times about Pittsburgh's tradition of cookie tables at weddings.

We didn't have a cookie table at our wedding. I guess we were young and didn't know any better. But the tradition lives strong. In the (modified) words of a Seinfeld episode, "It's real, and it's spectacular!"

Heck, here's a picture of me being an excellent bridesmaid at Nik and Mike's wedding, arranging cookie platters the night before. I may or may not have eaten some in the process.

The rest of these photos are from my friend Steph and Phil's wedding. There was lots of baklava at that one. Oh, how I love baklava.

Big Pour

This past weekend we were lucky enough to attend the Steel City Big Pour at Construction Junction. It was one of those moments that leaves you with a warm, fuzzy feeling. And that’s before you start drinking beer. We walked around for three hours, eating, drinking beer, and exclaiming how much we love Pittsburgh. Hopefully this warm, fuzzy feeling will last into the depths of winter.

We didn’t know what to expect at the Big Pour. Tickets were $45, and sold out in less than a day. Sometimes at big events like this, you spend most of the time standing in lines for little bits of food. The Big Pour was well worth the money. There was tremendous food and beer, and plenty of it. Point Brugge was there with their fries, as was the not-yet-opened Salt of the Earth. We had their wonderful bean tacos. And of course D’s was there, handing out hot dogs.

When we entered the Big Pour, we got a small glass- larger than a shot glass, but smaller than a half pint. Whenever you passed a brewery you wanted to try, you handed over your glass and got some beer. We had beer from our friends at East End, enjoyed Dogfish, Victory, and Weyerbacher. And we found some new favorites like Voodoo from Meadville.

The crowd was a wonderful mix of people. I heard there were about 1500 people there. And nothing got out of hand- it was a great crowd. We ran into friends and neighbors, and met new people.

And one of the coolest things about the event was the zero garbage initiative. There were no cups to throw away, since you used your commemorative glass. Food was served on compostable plates. There were no garbage cans. You went to a garbage “stand”, and handed your trash over to people who either threw it in the compost pile or recycling. That was genius on two parts- that kept the compost and the recycling uncontaminated, and it made you think twice about taking more than you could eat.

As one friend so aptly put it, “Big Pour is my favorite holiday.” It’s up there.

Funny side story: I have a friend who went to the Big Pour last year with her baby strapped to her back. I guess she was the first to attempt this, so they let her in. So this year, they have made it clear that they have an official NO BABY policy. This is from the website, and was also on a sign at the entrance, “Children of any age, even newborns, are not permitted to attend the Big Pour as mandated by state law.” I just love that I know the reason behind this policy.

Vintage

One great thing about Pittsburgh is quantity and quality of vinatge shops. I don’t go to them often because I end up coming home with $50 worth of crazy dresses that I love but will never wear in public.

Here is exhibit A.

I bought this dress at one of my favorite shops, Hey Betty, about 3 years ago. This dress is kind of ridiculous, but it was calling to me. And this golden silk fabric with pink ribbon-like strips running down it is gorgeous.

It has some issue though. Until about 5 minutes ago, it was long-sleeved. It was just too much of that fabric. Inspired by my sister-in-law, I decided to break out the sewing machine and take care of business. I cut the sleeves off, and am in the process of hemming them. Hopefully that makes a difference.

Second issue- it came with with this sad little belt that does not control this dress. These pleats need some serious controlling. The belt ends up shifting around and riding up. And it gets lost in the busy pattern and pleats. Not good.

I have one possible solution. I may wrap the belt in this pink ribbon or create a new, wider belt in a similar pink satin fabric. Then I will attached the belt to the dress to prevent it from moving. And the belt would close with hidden snaps.

I'm open to suggestions. This dress was $15, so I’m happy just to play around with it. I can always wear it to stay in and watch Mad Men.

Deck!

Hooray! We have a deck!

This is what we had before. It was basically a ledge with steps. It was a means to get from the house to the yard, and nothing more.

We wanted something more useful AND we wanted to cover up these crumbling concrete steps that led to the kitchen door.
So after many plan revisions, we now have a bona fide deck. One that you can sit on! Hooray!
Now we just need to get a table for the deck. We ordered one from Target- it was damaged when it arrived. So back it went and a replacement came today. And it's damaged. So hopefully the third time will be a charm.

But for now I'm happy to sit out on the deck and enjoy!

Nuke it

So we don't have a microwave.

It's not because we're crunchy hippies and think that a microwave will kill us. We just don't have room for one.

When we moved into this house, there wasn't microwave built in and there wasn't an obvious spot to put one on the counter. We decided to see how long we could live without one. That was two years ago.

To fill the microwave void, we use a combination of the stove, oven, and an awful toaster oven. Generally this works, but actually a microwave is more energy-efficient than our current methods. And as I said, I hate the toaster oven. It's ugly and confusing and big.

We're getting nice, new counter tops very soon, and I feel this is the perfect time to reconsider our small appliance set-up. I would like to retain the ability to toast, at the very least. And I would love to be able to heat up left-overs without using the stove.

Do we ditch the toaster oven and get a small, simple toaster? What about these convection toaster ovens? They seem to heat up left-overs quickly, but I see some complaints that they don't toast well.

Or do we get a small microwave and keep a little toaster in the cabinet? Or maybe a really small microwave that would fit in a cabinet? I'm open to other ideas too.

Slow

I probably would have splurged and got the full STOP sign here.

Keys

It's always in the frantic moments when you're looking desperately for a certain key that you find out you have a billion keys to nothing.

I was in this situation the other day, looking for this one pathetic key. It is the only key we now have left for the station wagon. But that's another story.
While tearing apart boxes and drawers looking for this key, I decided it was time to take a hard look at this key collection, and maybe try to organize them.

For instance, do we need 8 or 9 keys that apparently open some roof top in the DC area? How about a key to 3427? Where is 3427? I'm guessing on the 3rd floor somewhere.
Yet despite all of these keys, I don't have a key that opens the back door.