black coffee and a sidecar

I attended a really great wedding today in Somerset, PA. It was actually only the third wedding I’ve ever been to in my life (the first and second being my sister’s and brother’s, respectively.) Don’t you find it a little odd that I’m 32 but have only been to three weddings? I do. I think maybe it’s because I only recently started talking to anyone at all from high school again, and I didn’t have the traditional college experience (I started back as a freshman at 26) so I don’t exactly have a huge circle of friends. Lots and lots of acquaintances, but only a handful of really close FRIENDS, you know? And the friends that I do have tend to shack up and live in sin for a while, so–

It was a co-worker, another teacher in my department, who was getting hitched tonight. And everything was lovely. The speeches were genuine and funny, the bridal party were all hysterical, everything was very light-hearted and fun (after the hour-long Catholic ceremony where the priest threw in a few politically-charged comments that made me cringe– yeowch!) Anyway, many congrats to the newly married couple– I really think they are quite perfect for one another. It seems they are best friends above all else and it was really refreshing to see that.

The drive home from Somerset was kind of brutal. I had the option of staying in a hotel and driving back tomorrow morning, but I opted to quit at 2 cocktails, instead. Another coworker drove the first leg (from Somerset to Greensburg) and then I got in my car and drove the rest of the way to Swissvale. I was very tired, and I am notorious for falling asleep on the road (I promise I have been a lot more careful about that lately, even if it means pulling over on the turnpike for a quick rest of the ol’ eyeballs…)

To keep myself awake, I played Hall & Oates’ “Sara Smile” over and over and over, trying to perfect my falsetto. Then I decided to make up an interpretive dance to go along with the lyrics. I’m pretty sure that if I practice, I can get up the nerve to perform my little song-and-dance at karaoke one night (I’m a karaoke virgin.)

I’ll just need someone to hold the mic for me. There’s no way I can do “When I feel cold, you warm me” with one hand. Impossible.

1. Learn that some tours are better than others. (thanks again, Joanne Bateman of the National Parks Service!)
2. Visit other historical sites like the Paul Revere house and the U.S.S. Constitution, because you are a history teacher and you just should. Discover that it’s really kind of fun.
3. Find out first-hand that a Cambodian-French restaurant is not as weird as it sounds.
4. Homewood and Allegheny Cemeteries are still tops in my book, but the original landscaped cemetery, 175-year-old Mount Auburn, blows them out of the water. Visit Dorothea Dix’s grave. Wonder how people had enough money to build marble monuments for their dogs. Wonder how you, too, can one day be that filthy stinking rich.
5. You can’t call yourself a Cantabrigian until you’ve people-watched at the ABP in Harvard Square.
6. ABP is short for Au Bon Pain, and they are everywhere. The number of Dunkin Donuts locations is also truly astounding. Skip the Dunkin Donuts and instead walk to the North End. Buy some of the most delicious proscuitto you have ever sunk your teeth into, sliced so thinly that you could read the newspaper through it.
7. Delcare out loud that Pittsburgh would be so much better if only it had a subway system. Wonder where the subway system would take you if it did, indeed, exist.
8. Drive to Rockport and walk around the village. Pretend you’re in Popeye. Sing “Sweet Haven” a lot, off-key. If you plan on taking a dip in the harbor, realize it’s not going to happen unless you are ok with hypothermia setting in very quickly. If it rains, get in the car and go for a drive through Essex and Ipswich. Stop at Russell Orchards. Hold a baby chick in your hands. Try to tear yourself away from the goat before he eats the dress right off of your body. Buy some raspberries to put in your ice cream later while watching Popeye in the comfort of your temporary digs at Terry Terrace.
9. Continue on to Crane Beach. Realize that the water is no warmer than it was in Rockport. Marvel at the fact that a single family once owned everything you’re looking at, as far you can see. Wonder aloud how you, too, can manage to become that filthy stinking rich one day.
10. Walk along Tory Row and drool over the gorgeous mansions. Try to convince yourself that you wouldn’t be a horrible person if you lived in one of them and had a housekeeper and a gardener and someone to pick up your French Bulldog for doggie-daycare every morning.
11. Introduce your friend to the brilliance that is It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Let him do the research and inform you of cool tidbits about the show (Charlie and the coffee girl are married in real life!)
12. Visit the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard. Pat yourself on the back for being able to recognize all of the liquor bottles in Moyra Davey’s photo exhibit.
13. If you get an ex-Stanford philosophy student/current Harvard Law student drunk enough, the conversation will naturally lead to Gottlieb Fichte. Try to be polite and nod and smile and say things like How fascinating! and Tell me more! Eventually give up and let your eyes glaze over, but not before ordering a Franziskaner. Learn that you’ve been pronouncing Franziskaner incorrectly all these years. Try to curb the panic attack that is setting in. Remind yourself that you’re not the same awkward, silly girl who was intimidated by brainiacs as early as 5th grade. Change the subject and wonder aloud if everyone can see that you are wearing black underpants under your black and white printed skirt.
14. Have the Harvard gentleman take a swig from his beer and remind you of the time Chantal forgot to wear her nude underpants for her Go-Sees in America’s Next Top Model Cycle 9. Clap with glee in reaction to this reference.
15. Breathe, smile, drink, relax. Realize that we’re all pretty much the same when it comes down to it.
16. Get bumped to a later flight and collect a $300 travel voucher for your troubles. Do not pass Go.
17. Be so very grateful to have had such a gracious host in a such a gorgeous city.
18. Be so very grateful to have awesome and amazing friends at home who will go out of their way to drive you to and from the airport, cat-sit, house-sit, plant gardens, and put together bistro tables while you are away.
19. Smoosh a giant centipede intruder before the cat eats it.
20. Climb into bed to finish reading “Jenny and the Jaws of Life”. Go to sleep, happy.

Today I met my old high school friend Jamaica Jones for lunch at the Café at Frick. I had the prix fixe and chose:

• ginger/carrot/leek soup with crème fraîche
• crabcake bruschetta
• frozen caramel souffle with a pecan sandie and warm caramel-pecan sauce.

The ladies who greeted us at the door clapped with glee to finally meet Miss Jamaica Jones. They were dying to find out what someone with such an awesome name looks like, I guess. She doesn’t look like you’d expect, I’m willing to bet, but she is incredibly beautiful and full of energy and also a little crazy-in-a-good-way, which I respect and admire. The name suits her.

We sat next to a table full of retired Gateway School District teachers and recognized all of them but couldn’t remember any of their names. I finally broke and approached them and apologized for interrupting their meal, and then apologized again for not remembering any of their names. I added that I can’t remember some of my students’ names from one semester to the next, so they shouldn’t take it personally. They were so cute, the four of them, lunching in the cafe. I guess my old 5th grade teacher is a volunteer at the Frick because she was wearing a lanyard that said so. Girl genius, I am. See how I put clues together?

Today so far has been one of those perfect days where life seems awesome and full of possibilities. I’m going to Boston, a city I’ve never set foot in, to visit with an old high school friend who is starting Harvard Law in the fall. We’re taking a day trip to Cape Cod which seems impossibly quaint to me. In July I’ll be going to Philly and Baltimore, and in August I’ll be in Brooklyn, D.C., and possibly San Francisco (the farthest west I’ve ever been is Las Vegas.) These are all fun little trips, but if you asked me where in the world I’d go if I could only pick one place I’d never been, my answer would be “to Mexico for Dia de los Muertos!” Not knowing this, Jamaica randomly asked me at lunch, “Hey! I’m going to Mexico for Dia de los Muertos– do you want to come along with me?”

Yes, ma’am. Yes I would like that, very much. I’m not getting my hopes up too much until I get clearance from my principal, and my fear is that first quarter grades are due that very week. Though I guess I could just give everyone a “C” and call it done. Anyway, we’ll see…

My legs are sore from lunges, my belly is full of good food and wine, and there is a thunderstorm rolling in. My day couldn’t possibly get any better, except for the following two bummers:

1. my superfancy bathing suit is not going to arrive in time for my trip and,
2. I have to drive to Monroeville in a few minutes for a hair cut. But even Monroeville, with its Route 22 traffic and its never-ending strip malls, will not spoil my optimism today, no sir.

My little house is coming along, little by little. Behind the cut are a few before-and-after photos of things I’ve changed thus far. Today marks one week since I moved in. (more…)

I am really bad about checking comments that people leave here, so sometimes weeks go by in-between posts and it takes that long for me to pick up comments like this one from a Mr. Josh M on Feb. 8th:

don’t want to get into your business…but I would buy the clock…it isn’t all the time you find exactly what you are looking for to which I reply:

You are so very right, my friend, and I lost sleep over my decision not to buy that clock when I knew no other clock could ever take its place. And then on my birthday I was surprised with not one but two Westclox Big Ben Moonbeam Alarm Clocks on the very same day!

So the moral of the story is: subtly beg for what you want on the internets, and ye shall receive. (Honestly, I was not expecting that clock at all from anyone, so I was doubly joyed!)

For my 32nd birthday, I went to Lidia’s Italy: Pittsburgh edition. For $22, this is what you get at Lidia’s for brunch:

• a bloody mary or mimosa (we all ordered mimosas. I ordered two.)
• an amazing array of bread like cranberry scones and rosemary foccacia with three different kinds of butter (apricot jam butter, strawberry jam butter, crunchy sugar butter)
• an antipasti table to write home to your Auntie about. cured meats, cheeses, olives, some sort of stewed cabbage dish, canellini bean/tuna salad, mushroom and lentil soup, i can’t even remember what else. insanity.
• an entree big enough to feed 3 or 4, no lie. we ordered crepes stuffed with butternut squash and goat cheese, manicotti, and frico. i’ve never had frico before. it’s a melty Monasio cheese envelope filled with potatoes, leeks, and different fillings (we ordered both “bacon and eggs” and “rosemary and mushroom”.) were you ever twisted enough to find out what it tastes like if you just melt and fry some cheese in a hot, buttered skillet? i am that twisted, friends, and thank god for it– now i know what to tell you “frico” resembles. and that’s not a bad thing at all.
• a dessert table: tiramisu, raspberry torte, flourless chocolate cake, lemon drop cookies, paper-thin chocolate and apricot cookies, etc…
• some damned fine coffee. i forgot to ask where they get their coffee from, but i fully plan on returning to find out.

It was the first time I’ve been to Lidia’s. I’ve heard mediocre things about the dinners there lately (as well as the service) and I almost bailed and went to Point Brugge last minute, but Lidia’s brunch was top-notch as far as I’m concerned. I will certainly return, and inevitably (involuntarily, even) I will gorge.

(Note: If I were someone awful and annoying, someone like Dane Cook, perhaps, this is where I would make a really un-funny observation about wide-girthed folks and their proclivity towards all-you-can-eat brunches such as these. Lucky for you, I am not someone like Dane Cook, so it doesn’t need to be said.)

So, yes: stop by Lidia’s for brunch, if nothing else, and then head on over to Zerrer’s Antiques in the Strip. The prices are reasonable, the owners are awesome, and you just might find a treasure!

FYI: If you are a fan of Lidia Bastianich (I don’t pay attention if it don’t rhyme with “Schmourdain”), she will be signing copies of her cookbook Lidia’s Italy at the Shadyside Williams-Sonoma on Sunday.

Lidia will personalize her new cookbook Lidia’s Italy and also sign her other titles. (Proof of Williams-Sonoma purchase is required.)

Translation: be sure to bring your wallets, kids!

An episode of “No Reservations” featuring Anthony Bourdain in New Orleans. Also, calling to purchase tickets only to find out that I have two comped to me already.

I wanted to write a post about how much work I got done on the house this weekend, but then I was totally distracted by all of the above. Mercy.

I find something I like, see, and then I obsess over it. I’ve really have my heart set on one of these reproduction Westclox Moonbeam Alarm Clocks but I just can’t bring myself to spend that much on an alarm clock, no matter how amazing the design. On the other hand, if I wait much longer my quest might remain forever unfulfilled, as these little bastards seem to pretty difficult to come by these days. The original models I find on eBay all seem like the bell alarm portion of the wake-up call is broken, and I am not a delicate flower who would be woken up by the “considerate alarm” of a gently blinking light.

What to do, what to do.

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It figures that as soon as I find myself single, my preferred method of birth control drops in price by about $30 a month.

I mean, it only makes sense that I should pay less if said birth control isn’t going to have to actually prevent any pregnancies. My NuvaRing will probably be working “freelance” instead of “full-time with benefits” for a while.

I had a sinus headache so bad today it felt like someone was standing on my face in a pair of stiletto pumps. My eyeballs came pretty close to bursting and spraying the first two rows of Period 2 students with gooey horror.

I’ve been watching the Lumber Liquidators site like a hawk, waiting to swoop in on a very good sale on engineered wood (or bamboo) for the floors in my new place. I got an email today informing me that there is some red oak on sale for $1.99 which could be a potentially unbeatable deal. I just can’t get past the fact that they won’t list the brand name on the site. I think a drive out to Campbells Run Road is in order this weekend.

Or maybe I should wait until my closing date so I don’t screw myself. I probably already did that, though, by ordering checks with an address printed on them that is not-quite-yet-technically-mine.

I’m going to go knock on wood. At Lumber Liquidators, even.

This weekend will consist of: a birthday celebration, some country music, dress shopping with Kelly, chaperoning the 9/10 dance, and “There Will Be Blood”. Somewhere in between those activities I need to find time to go for a run. This post-holidays belly, oy.

What are yinz up to?