Sunday - Sandbox: Sarah's Notebook Plot

Today, I'm taking the time to write about my girlfriend Sarah, because it's about time. I suppose this isn't going to be just about her in general, but about an idea she and I have come up with that I think is fairly fantastic.

There are a number of activities that we enjoy together, as does any couple. I feel our range of interests is a fairly varied one, but I'm sure there are plenty of people that have us trumped. I'd most certainly have to say, however, that our favorite thing to do together is find and sample Pittsburgh cuisine options that are new to either one or both of us. That being, we're always looking for new places, finding them, getting really excited about them and, almost every time, forgetting about them.

Genii that we are, we've devised a hitherto unknown way to remember things that we might otherwise forget. Folks, we're going to be writing this crap down. After some lengthy email discussion, we decided that a notebook was the best course of action to take. Sarah and her brilliant mind started devising ways to properly organize a book, and we think we're going to go with it as follows: Organize first by type of faire, then alphabetically within the category. There's also going to be a rating system, up to five stars. We'll probably each rate, then combine to get an average rating.

This is why I am fat, but I love it. What better to do than spend an evening on the town with a girl you love, right?

Right.

bth

Saturday - Viewer's Choice: GoodTaste! Pittsburgh Food Expo

For today's viewer's choice blog, the lovely Sarah has asked me to write a bit about the GoodTaste! Food Expo we attended today. Far be it from me to ever critique any event that pretty much offers to shovel food (and drink) down my throat for a small fee, but this ain't gonna be a pretty one.

First and foremost, let's get the small stuff out of the way. I can be kind of fickle, and I'll often have some rather petty complaints about any mass event I'm attending, but this was sort of a bomb from the start. The first wall we ran up against was parking. It wasn't so much that there wasn't enough parking. In fact, quite the opposite. We had our choice of four or five lots to park in. What there wasn't was any sort of helpful sign telling us or anybody else where to go. We had to watch and follow crowds to even figure out what side of the building we were supposed to enter on.

Upon finding the front of the building, we were faced with problem number 2. We, like so many other people attending, had taken the time to purchase tickets online to skip the hassle of waiting in line. No such luck. It actually turned out that there were two separate lines, one to get tickets you had purchased online and another for cash tickets. The largest issue with this was that almost everybody there has purchased them ahead of time, so the line was easily 40-50 people strong, while any straggler who wanted to pay cash could grab a ticket and waltz on in.

Before launching into my biggest tirade, let me just take a second to dump all over the event itself. It was like lining up to take a walking tour of the insides of a living elephant. It was hot, there was no room to turn around or even move forward, there was hardly anything to drink and, while there was definitely an abundance of things to eat, I probably wouldn't recommend sampling much of it in retrospect.

Now, the biggest thing; the cupcake contest. My friend Joanna entered a cupcake contest upwards of a month ago and, out of the many entries in the Pittsburgh area, hers received enough votes to land her in the top five. That meant that today she was given the chance to compete in round two, in which the top 5 bakers got to all Iron Chef all over one anothers asses. I am not sure of the exact restraints of time and contents, but here's what I can tell you: Joanna broke no rules, made the most wonderfully decorated cupcakes imaginable and yet...

It's my understanding that the 5 ladies were told not to have anything outside of the cupcakes themselves pre-made. The lady next to Joanna arrived with pre-made figures. Joanna was told that no one was allowed to lend her aid. The lady next to her had (needed?) help finishing her cake. Joanna was told to make cupcakes that celebrated the holidays. The lady next to Joanna decided to make a cupcake worthy of celebrating the rear end of a pig.

Perhaps to anyone stumbling upon this, it seems a little contrived and biased, but let me assure you, this was the Kerry/Bush election all over again. Had Joanna had the popular vote going for her, she'd have won in a landslide. Let me put it like this... If Joanna had won, people would have walked by saying "Oh! This is the one that won!". Instead, most people ended up walking by the winning entry saying "Oh. This is the one that won?".

Bologna. Rubbish. Bull Honky. Horseshit. Call it what you will. I'm not a culinary expert by any stretch of the imagination, but anyone selling me a belt will tell you that I'm a man who knows him some cake.

Bad form, Pittsburgh.

bth