Baby Shower, Eating and Horses
My niece is having a baby in September. I figure if I say it often enough I'll start to believe it, so far it's not working, I know she's grown, but even seeing her it's hard to believe!
I left Friday morning to drive to Pittsburgh for the shower. I really like driving and the car was loaded. My husband went also and we had a nice picnic lunch in Virginia on the way up. I like to stop, relax and enjoy a meal.
We got to my sister's about 9:30 Friday night because we had to have dinner before I went to my sister's. In fairness I did call her and ask if she wanted to join us at Carl's Tavern but they had already eaten. I have to go to Carl's when I go to Monroeville to eat the fried fish, fried zucchini and onion rings. Yes, everything is fried. Lots and lots of fried.
It has been ridiculously hot and even with the air conditioning in the car on the way up, I headed straight to my sister's pool when we arrived. After eating. So refreshing to be in the water. We chatted and floated and all was well. We made our Saturday plans which for me was cooking dinner Saturday night at my sister's. Of course that meant a trip to the Strip!
Saturday morning we picked up my nephew and headed downtown. It's all about food in the Strip so we waited in the hot, hot sun at DeLuca's for breakfast. Not as long a line as it was when we left. I had to have the seafood omelet with Italian toast. My husband had a breakfast burrito, my nephew French toast. Once fortified with food, we shopped.
Yes, I made Scampi with Linguine again. We needed Italian bread from Mancini's, produce, cheese from Pennsylvania Macaroni, a steak for my sister Cathy, shrimp from Wholey's. We also needed to stop in at Penzey's Spices because we could. We didn't do too much extra shopping, it was hot and after about 2 hours we were done. And ready for the pool again.
Saturday afternoon my nephew made salsa for an afternoon snack. He is growing peppers and wanted to use them. I made a Caprese Salad, Romaine Salad, heated bread, made scampi for 12 even though we had 10 for dinner we like leftovers and my sister cooked her steak. On the way home from the Strip we stopped for dessert at Moio's Italian Bakery and picked up a carrot cake, German Chocolate Cake and fruit tart, again planned leftovers.
Back to the pool after dinner.
Sunday we had the baby shower. I didn't have to do anything Sunday but attend. I rode with my sister Cathy and we headed back to the Strip to Lidia's restaurant for a brunch shower. The grandmothers and my niece's best friends did a great job with the shower. Lidia's did a great job with the food.



We headed home bright and early Monday morning. Just a quick visit since my gift to my niece is a personal chef service. I'll go up in my car with all my cooking stuff early in September to stock the freezer before the baby gets here. He's due September 17th. My niece loves to eat and this will give her and her husband some easy to get to food when things are busy. I have to take care of the people who are taking care of the new baby!
We left Monroeville about 6:30 am so we stopped for breakfast about 10:00 and had a real treat. Breakfast was good but the parking lot was the best part of breakfast. The Budweiser drivers also stopped for breakfast and gave the horses some air and let customers ask questions and take pictures. They were headed to the Greenbrier for a golf tournament I think.




Back to work now. I have all my paperwork ready for my personal chef client tomorrow. I have a first meeting with my contact at a school in the area as part of Chefs Move to Schools and I have two library programs this week also. Lots of fun, no boredom.
I left Friday morning to drive to Pittsburgh for the shower. I really like driving and the car was loaded. My husband went also and we had a nice picnic lunch in Virginia on the way up. I like to stop, relax and enjoy a meal.
We got to my sister's about 9:30 Friday night because we had to have dinner before I went to my sister's. In fairness I did call her and ask if she wanted to join us at Carl's Tavern but they had already eaten. I have to go to Carl's when I go to Monroeville to eat the fried fish, fried zucchini and onion rings. Yes, everything is fried. Lots and lots of fried.
It has been ridiculously hot and even with the air conditioning in the car on the way up, I headed straight to my sister's pool when we arrived. After eating. So refreshing to be in the water. We chatted and floated and all was well. We made our Saturday plans which for me was cooking dinner Saturday night at my sister's. Of course that meant a trip to the Strip!
Saturday morning we picked up my nephew and headed downtown. It's all about food in the Strip so we waited in the hot, hot sun at DeLuca's for breakfast. Not as long a line as it was when we left. I had to have the seafood omelet with Italian toast. My husband had a breakfast burrito, my nephew French toast. Once fortified with food, we shopped.
Yes, I made Scampi with Linguine again. We needed Italian bread from Mancini's, produce, cheese from Pennsylvania Macaroni, a steak for my sister Cathy, shrimp from Wholey's. We also needed to stop in at Penzey's Spices because we could. We didn't do too much extra shopping, it was hot and after about 2 hours we were done. And ready for the pool again.
Saturday afternoon my nephew made salsa for an afternoon snack. He is growing peppers and wanted to use them. I made a Caprese Salad, Romaine Salad, heated bread, made scampi for 12 even though we had 10 for dinner we like leftovers and my sister cooked her steak. On the way home from the Strip we stopped for dessert at Moio's Italian Bakery and picked up a carrot cake, German Chocolate Cake and fruit tart, again planned leftovers.
Back to the pool after dinner.
Sunday we had the baby shower. I didn't have to do anything Sunday but attend. I rode with my sister Cathy and we headed back to the Strip to Lidia's restaurant for a brunch shower. The grandmothers and my niece's best friends did a great job with the shower. Lidia's did a great job with the food.
We headed home bright and early Monday morning. Just a quick visit since my gift to my niece is a personal chef service. I'll go up in my car with all my cooking stuff early in September to stock the freezer before the baby gets here. He's due September 17th. My niece loves to eat and this will give her and her husband some easy to get to food when things are busy. I have to take care of the people who are taking care of the new baby!
We left Monroeville about 6:30 am so we stopped for breakfast about 10:00 and had a real treat. Breakfast was good but the parking lot was the best part of breakfast. The Budweiser drivers also stopped for breakfast and gave the horses some air and let customers ask questions and take pictures. They were headed to the Greenbrier for a golf tournament I think.
Back to work now. I have all my paperwork ready for my personal chef client tomorrow. I have a first meeting with my contact at a school in the area as part of Chefs Move to Schools and I have two library programs this week also. Lots of fun, no boredom.
