January 25 Run/Walk: Meet at 61C Cafe if you can make your way through Snowzilla

Last week, our plan was to meet at The Speckled Egg in Southside Works.  The lights were on at 7 AM and the kind fledglings even opened up the restaurant so RGers could use the bathroom.  But am I right to say when we returned post run/walk it was to Commonplace Coffee next door and not the Speckled Egg?

I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong.  Whichever establishment it was, we again had a long table with plenty of seats and lots of eats.

From the Department of “I Don’t Know How She Does It?”  we learned how Lainy managed to make lentil soup and matzoh ball soup and bread for her annual neighborhood soup party.  

First:  The New York Times “No Knead Bread” recipe.  Also its Chicken and Chickpea Tray Bake.

Endorsed with great enthusiasm:  

• A dough whisk (manual).  Or a dough hook, a stand mixer attachment shaped like a hook that does everything a person otherwise does (kneads, stretches, folds, massages).  Williams-Sonoma has both.
• New Hazlett Theater performance of BRIGID – A celebration of the Celtic Goddess & Patron Saint of Ireland - was terrific, especially Eileen Ivers and The Brigideens.  
• John Oliver explains Medicare 
• Best practice when your children become parents: learn to shut up (alcohol may be required). Then just enjoy those cuties.
• Not endorsed:  Eat, Pray, Love.  Should be:  Work, Stay, Feed the Kids.

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January 18 Run/Walk: Meet at the Speckled Egg at the Southside Works, 428 S 27th Street.

We met at Biddle’s Escape in what looked like the dark of night.

Post run/walk we waited for coffee and took in the diverse array of stuff, some for sale:  You could pick up some balled twine with your coffee, or a couple of tiny plastic animals.  Whatever: the long table was free and we got down to serious and unserious business.

Joanne celebrated her retirement by getting a manicure at Lotus, on Ellsworth Ave, which is not the RG nail salon -- that honor goes to Pearl Nails on Murray Avenue -- but worth a mention. 

Then she went home and designed her first ever protest sign:  NO ICE BURGH.

By Spring, no newspapers either.  What will we do?

We could try aromatherapy.

Or buy Dubai chocolate – the best price is at Marshalls.  Maybe someone can say why it’s so special.  

Resistance action of the week:  Pull funding from ICE/CBP.  Please call soon - the vote on DHS funding is happening shortly:

• McCormick - Pgh office 412-803-7370
• Fetterman - Pgh office 412-803-3501
• Your House member (Lee, DeLuzio, Reschenthaler) look yours up here.

Tell them to vote NO on any upcoming funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security that doesn't have strong restrictions on ICE's brutal immigration enforcement. More info here.

 

January 11 Run/Walk: Meet at Biddle's Escape, 401 Biddle Ave. in Wilkinsburg

We'll be meeting again at Biddle's, the old favorite, except for the pastries, hope you can get some first at Madeleine's. 

Last week we found new sights in in off-the-beaten-track Swissvale, and its further-off sister, Swisshelm Park (long ago home of Wendy and Beth). We saw spectacular views of the Mon Valley and also discovered a brand new trail leading to our friends at Slagforce.  At the charmant cafe Parisi (actually Italian), many, many things to consider:

• The Mamdani inauguration, something with hope in it, and Bernie too (though he has new mittens.)
• Viola Davis - anything she's in plus her new autobiography, especially on audio.
• Mexico City!
• Paris Baguette in Shadyside - maybe we'll go there soon?
• The Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse - has astonishing things, sometimes for 25 cents.
• Like, fabric-covered vintage buttons.
• Put matching socks in the wash with safety pins
• Listen to:  Rachel Maddow's Burn Order
• Get a custom-sized, or any, mattress from the Original Mattress Factory
• Read: Theo of Golden, but since there are 173 holds on it at the library, maybe go to the endorsed White Whale bookstore

Resistance action of the week:  Call/email Fetterman, McCormick, and Lee relentlessly to tell them to stop the Venezuelan invasion and planned others.  Ask the Senators to vote yes on a Senate resolution coming very soon to block the president from taking further actions in Venezuela. 

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