Narcissistic Fucks, The Lay of Land & Fried Green Tomatoes

This was the weekend of going down (back home) to Pittsburgh. Our eldest cousin had called and told us that some of our other cousins were coming in from out of town and wanted us to perhaps come down as well - to visit the matriarch of our family.

Erin and I have been to Pittsburgh before - unfortunately once for a funeral - but once for a pleasure trip (it was REALLY pleasurable)....

So Friday after work, we headed out to PA. We went to wrong way at first, but ended up taking 'back roads' in order to hook up with the turnpike - that was a lot of fun.

We got into town and because of the dearth of places here in Cleveburg to go clubbing, decided (in advance) to go clubbing in 'The Burgh'. What a difference 150 miles makes. Clubbing was everything it should have been. Sure there was hip-hop music and narcissistic fucks to contend with (and WTF is up with wearing hot pants and come-fuck-me pumps? Is this seriously a fashion statement (even for women exceedingly overweight??? Yuck!)) - seriously though it was fun...especially once they shifted the music from pure hip-hop to a bit more dance hall-esque....

We stayed out late (Yay! Go Us!) and got up the next day to go to 'sight-see' a bit - the only problem was that everything was a bit poorly planned and instead of having a 'destination' all we really did was wander around downtown - which is fine I suppose but next time, I am going to go armed with an itinerary and a map.

Visiting with my cousins was a joy and my aunt was in rare form, and great spirits. We reminisced and had a ball with each other. The food at the Italian place was wonderful and we had a dining room to ourselves. I got to enjoy being a 'grown-up' with my older cousins and I got to enjoy it all with my husband by my side.

Sunday was another stop to visit cousins from the Irish side of the family - only our one female cousin and the matriarch (the only sibling of my dad's left now) of that side....

We went to mass and then all of us went to brunch at Eat-N-Park. Again it was a nice time and we had laughs and broke bread together.

On the way home from Pittsburgh, Erin and I stopped at a road-side place to buy fresh veggies/corn - which included yummy pure peanut butter and green tomatoes - so last night for dinner we had fresh corn, a fruit salad, and fried green tomatoes - I have not had those in years and I hope I did the recipe justice.

All in all it was a good weekend and my hope is to go to Pittsburgh again with Erin's kids and nieces and nephews in tow in order to 'explore' - but we will definitely plan and map things out so as not to get lost. Pittsburgh is one of the great cities to go to because there is plenty to do and see there. I love going and I hope I get to go again soon and see family because time marches on and our loved ones are precious.