{Over the Weekend} Solo Days and Cycling

This weekend has been one of much-needed R&R. Friday was spent alone, as Husband had to work. In my mind, it's pseudo-pointless to have a day off {even if it's a day off due to a compressed workweek} when you can't spend it with the ones you love.
But hey, I got my haircut, read more of The Lacuna, and did the laundry - I s'pose that's a win.

Haircutting appointment with Michelle and Barack.

Treats for solo-laundry-doing.

Continued reading.

Saturday {and Sunday, to this point} was spent with my love, taking a bike/jog, side-by-side on the Three Rivers Heritage trail through The Strip and down into Point State Park. Such a lovely view, with rivers to your sides and bridges overhead.
I'm so glad we made the jump and purchased my bike after so long of vacillating about the cost versus the benefits.  Already, I'm feeling the positive effects of cycling.

Trees in Point State Park.

The midway rest in the park.

Springtime bike flair.

For dinner, Husband recreated part of a lunch we ate at Cafe Sabarsky within the Neue Gallery in NYC last year.  Lightly dressed, thinly-sliced romaine {originally frisee}, lardons, and a poached egg topping the whole plate. He's too good to me.

Early next week will be a whirlwind. Lots of deadlines at work, and preparing for traveling to Chitown.   In the meantime, I'll finish off the weekend of R&R with making a stewed chicken curry and possibly exerting enough energy to do some rainy-day yoga. 

Adios, wonderful readers!

{Over The Weekend} Dancing at the Phipps

Well, I'd been feeling slightly icky this weekend, and Monday is here with a vengeance. I was beginning to get a sore throat over the last few days, and this morning it is here and trying to kill me.
But, at least I had a good weekend?
Right.

Friday evening, Husband and I made ourselves a Tex-Mex fiesta dinner: Taco shell-less taco salads with lot of crunchy items (celery, cucumber), homemade Spanish rice (wrong culture, I know), and a Dos Equis con lime.

We cleaned the whole house, top to bottom, for the house showings we're having. It's funny - Our property company will show our house right and left to potential new tenants, but won't give us the time of day on our move-out procedures  More on this later.
First, here's a cat in a box:

I swear, I took about 50 cat-in-box photos on Saturday. This is life, y'all.
Later that night, I attended the graduate school club's formal dance at the Phipps Conservatory. It had been more than 10 years since I'd been to a dance {other than weddings, which are different}. Look at my fantastic dates!

The location was lovely, food was sparse, and there was a little bit of dancing. We all had a lovely night, and I even managed a photo of the newly planted tulips in the center garden. 

Sunday was spent reading for school, having a lunch date with a friend, spending time with Husband, and cooking/baking for the week.

Lunch at Whole Foods

Today it's back to work, and hopefully kicking this icky feeling with cold meds and sugar-free cough drops. Cross your fingers I'm not getting sick!

{Recipe} Popovers

How are you starting your Super Bowl Sunday this weekend? Perhaps with a ritual or two?
Or, if you're like me, I'm thinking of the food I'm planning to make. With my extreme success of finally making popovers a few weeks ago, I know my menu will feature these beauties.

The foolproof recipe comes from our Air BNB host in upstate New York, Jayden. She was a fantastic host, and was generous enough to share her recipe with me.

Over the Weekend: Soup, Wok and Soergel's

Friday night we had dinner out at an old favorite, then proceeded to have a busy weekend.

{1.&2. Saturday: Spent at the Bulgarian Macedonian Center's flea market {wok for $2.50!}, and grabbing soup for the road at Soup Sega; 3.&4. Sunday Morning: Husband's coffee cakes via Thomas Keller; 5. Duck action at Soergel Orchard's fall sale; 6. Toe-to-toe; 7. Sunday Afternoon: Using our saved-up 20% off at Giant Eagle to buy pantry staples...and cheese;  8. Sunday Night:  Putting the newly cleaned/seasoned wok to use with Healthy General Tso's for dinner; 9. Cuddle buggin' while working on school work.}

How was your weekend? I hope you're enjoying this fantastic weather!

Over The Weekend: Starting November

My weekend went a little like this:

{1. Friday Evening: Imperfect Health exhibit at the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University; 2. Friday Night: Bun Cari Ga or curried chicken noodle soup for a cold and rainy dinner date; 3. Saturday: Texas Tech football game watching in the Northside; 4. Sunday: A Better Nutter, baked by Husband from the Bouchon Bakery cook book.}

Today is a busy one at work, full of meetings and deadlines. Then, tonight we're off to Youngstown, OH for that rally. See you soon, and don't forget to vote tomorrow!

Over the Weekend {Again.}

We're back! I surprised Husband with a weekend in the Finger Lakes region of New York state for his birthday.

The view from our B&B near Cayuga Lake.

Per usual, I'll write about our comings and goings when I get some downtime. I hope your week is going well!

Over the Weekend

 I realize it's very close to the next weekend, but the Three Neighbors had a wonderful weekend just a few days ago. The Three Neighbors is a nickname I've given us, and 'us' refers to me, Husband, and our friend {and neighbor for many years}, Ingrid. Over our time in Dallas, we had many "Neighbor Dinners," always on Sunday nights, at one of our apartments. She would cook the main dish, and we would bring sides to accompany, then switch for the next.  When we lived literally next door to each other, we usually had more than one bottles of pinot during and after dinner, and then walked home. It was a very family-style type get-together, and we became very nostalgic when the last dinner in Dallas came last November.

Luckily, Ingrid has family in Pittsburgh, so we knew we'd see her again...and possibly for a Neighbor Dinner in the future. She came in over the last weekend to visit family in Ohio, and then meet up with us over the last part of the trip. We had dinner at a family friend's restaurant here in Pittsburgh, then she stayed with us until dinnertime the next day.  Among having brunch and the many things we did that morning/afternoon, we walked a few bridges, and ended up at the Roberto Clemente statue at PNC Park.

This statue is somewhat personal to Ingrid for a reason that's too funny not to laugh at.  She and her father ended up walking around the field so many times to find this statue, finding out later that it hadn't been moved yet. I think they walked around the park 4 times to find it. She told us this story right after we revealed we were moving to Pittsburgh, and we silently promised ourselves to take her to see the statue one day!

Later that afternoon, we went to the Andy Warhol Museum to see the I Just Want to Watch exhibit on Warhol's media art {but don't worry, it's there until 2017!}.

It was interesting to say the least. It made for some great discussions that evening, when we headed out to the woods to have dinner with Ingrid's family.

Neighbor Dinner was revived!  We were hosted by a lovely couple {Ingrid's Aunt and Uncle}, in their little dumpling of a home just north of the city.  I'm fairly certain I saw a beaver on the way to their home. 

But, the food.  Her Aunt made a fall feast of pork loin, fruit compote, smooth squash and apple soup, fall-style coleslaw, a garlicky grain salad and other fabulous dishes.  I'll post a few photos when I grab them off Husband's phone.  I don't know what made us so lucky to be served that dinner!  Dinner conversation, wine and laughs were all we needed with that meal. It was perfect!

 

I can't believe I have to wait until next year to see Ingrid and her family again! Can't come soon enough.

"Friday" Means "Cookie"

Some days you just need a cookie.

 

Happy Friday, friends.