Pittsburgh Pride 2012

One of my favorite happenings in Pittsburgh (and other cities) is PRIDE!

If you haven’t caught on, I’m a big lesbian:

Pride is the one time of year where I’m okay with PDA.  I’m generally anti-PDA (gay or straight), but Pride is one of those times I generally let my guard down.

Pittsburgh Pride is an awesome week long event, and generally speaking, you’ll only catch me at the parade.  I’m not into the binge-drinking parties or Melissa Ethridge (who performed on Saturday night).

This year – we had a plan.  We met up with some friends, scouted a parking garage and had a bird’s eye view of the parade!

Gorgeous view of the courtyard fountain that I never would have known existed:

It seemed like the perfect view to set up shop!

We got set up early, so when we were looking down on all the peasants, we were wondering what would happen:

The turnout was amazing!  So many people showed up to show their support!!

The parade itself was so…prideful!

Cheers to all my homos, especially the newlyweds!

It was EXTRA exciting to spend the afternoon with two of our friends who just got hitched in New York State.

In NY – they are married.  As in wife and wife.  No domestic partnership, civil union, blah blah shenanigans.  To quote my friend: “Oh yeah, I’m wifed up!”

I highly encourage everyone to attend a gay pride parade, even if you aren’t gay.  Its not just gay guys in speedos running around doing shots (I don’t know why people think that).  You get to see real citizens of your community, their families, children and friends all coming out to support marriage equality and gay pride.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Our CSA: How It Works

Remember when Amanda and I went to the Farm To Table Convention?  Well between that and a networking event that she♥ and I attended at Chatham, we had a lot of options regarding what CSA to chose from.

After meeting with so many different growers and comparing all the variables between packages, we♥ finally committed to Clarion River Organics!

A lot of people asked us, what factors affected our decision?

1.  The price:  The full share is $25/week.  The half share is $15/week.  The CSA runs for 22 weeks, which means we♥ will be spending $550 for all of our locally grown, organic produce.  We pick-up our share in the South Side, which is only 5 miles away from the house.  That saves us the gas we would have to spend driving to the farm (yeah, right)!

2.  The options:  Clarion River Organics allows you to add on bread and eggs to your order!  Not all CSAs have this option.  We added eggs:

3.  The portions:  Each week, we were told to expect 6-10 different items.  Here is the photo which we are provided with in our “what to expect email”:

We received:

Pretty happy with what we received, its just exactly what I thought we were going to get and it has been the perfect portion for us throughout the week. Since its early in the season, we received corn flour instead of a fruit or veg.  This was a pleasant surprise!

I would have never purchased corn flour in the store, but now I get to experiment with it AND feel satisfied in knowing that its locally.

4.  The people:  The way these guys handle CSA members is great!  Each time I was confused about something, it was addressed and cleared up right away!  They send a weekly newletter letting you know what’s happening in the 10 CSA farm participants, specs on the vegetables, recipes, etc.  The volunteers at the pick-up location are really nice and helpful as well (we pick up in South Side).  The whole experience has really opened my eyes to new kinds of dishes.

BONUS: Since we are not huge veggie eaters, this is a way that we have been integrating more SOLE food into our day to day meals.  AND we are creating urban partnerships with regional farmers who strengthen our food system.  I am 100% happy with our choice!

Things I’ve Learned:  Collard Greens are huge!  There are these things called garlic scapes.  I have to return my CSA bags next week – I took mine home by accident!  Its cool to try something out of your comfort zone.  There are things that grow in my community that I never knew existed.

 

Have you ever thought of joining a CSA?  Did you?

What affected your decisions to join/not join?

Burgh Eye View: Kennywood

Yes, I know.  I have no excuses, only pictures.

Have you been to Kennywood yet?

 

Murray Avenue Grill

We had lunch the other day at the Murray Avenue Grill, which is (shockingly) on Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill.

This is a long-time favorite of mine, but I try something new every time we patronize this joint.

We sat right in the front window (which is usually my favorite seat in ANY house because we♥ both love to people watch.

There are additional booths in the back there and also patio seating when the weather is nice:

We♥ had always loved the buffalo chicken dip here, but they took it off the menu for some ONGODLY reason.

Whatev.  You can be replaced.

The dips at Murray Avenue Grill aren’t portioned like TGIFridays. They are great for 2 people who don’t want an entire meal, but an actual appetizer.

I had never noticed the extensive list of beers before this visit:

She♥ ordered the Leffe Blonde and:

While I just picked something completely random off the drink menu:

And here’s my piggy piggy plate:

It was okay.  The horseradish sauce was good, but there was a little too much of it.  The brisket itself was excellent.

In my defense, I only ate half the sandwich and a handful of fries.  I ended up finishing the rest for dinner.  Yummyyyyyyyyy.