...Dozen Bake Shop (Lawrenceville) [Off-topic]

I'm obsessed with cupcakes.

In fact, for my birthday this year, I did not want cake - I wanted cupcakes from Oakmont Bakery.  I love the individuality of the cupcake, the portion control (not that cupcakes are all that good for you in the first place, but it's a good compromise), the variety - and I didn't want to hear any whining about the cake or frosting flavor that I chose. 

Before James and I visited Tamari, we passed Dozen Bake Shop, which is a few doors down from Tamari.  I have followed Dozen on Twitter since I began blogging, mostly because of all of the attention that they were getting at the time due to the fact that they were closing on July 9th.  As a result, I discovered on Boring Pittsburgh that they had posted two recipes from the store - one for Elvis cupcakes (cupcakes with peanut butter, banana, and bacon), and another for vegan cupcakes.

A few days later, I was bored.  And I happened to have all of the ingredients for vegan cupcakes (minus coconut, which I don't even like, so I replaced it with almonds).  And I baked.  And you know what?  They were delicious, according to me and everyone with whom I shared them in the main office at Kennywood (including one from the corporate office).  *Sigh* What a shame.

Vegan cupcakes I made over the summer from Dozen's recipe

 Despite the disappointment, this is what got me to be ✔ *Burgh Verified*.  

But wait!  About a month later, it was announced that Dozen would be REOPENING under new ownership on September 12th!  HOORAY!  Exciting news!  Maybe I WOULD be able to try more of their cupcakes!

James did not want to stop in Dozen before going to Tamari, as we would be tempted to buy cupcakes, which we really didn't NEED...

...ugh, he was right.  I guess.

Luckily, I convinced my mom to stop in Lawrenceville 3 days later after we visited Handmade Arcade at the convention center.  Not only that, I was hungry and convinced her to eat lunch there.

I love the décor & pastry displays inside...

Chalkboard menu

The chandeliers are AWESOME!

Doggie cupcakes!  My mom bought some for my aunt, uncle, and cousin's dog

*drool*

*double drool*

My mom and I decided to try the Pick Two - we wanted the Fresco & Mozzarella on Ciabatta, but they were out, so I chose the Smoked Turkey & Cheddar with Bacon, while my mom chose the Ham & Cheese on Baguette.  We both chose the Pumpkin Soup.

Smoked Turkey & Cheddar on Sundried Tomato Bread, Pumpkin Soup, chips (didn't eat those at the time)

Wow.  I make pumpkin chili, and I love anything with pumpkin (as you may know from previous posts), but nothing - NOTHING - beats this pumpkin soup.  Creamy, savory, perfectly spiced.  Love love love!

My sandwich was better than anything I could make at home, and the bread was especially fresh and delicious - it was a sundried tomato bread, which was not overpowering of the smoked turkey flavor at all (yay for smoked meats!)  I wasn't too impressed with the cheddar, but it was definitely a better option than my go-to cheese at home - Fat-free Kraft Singles (not even real cheese - it looks like plastic when it melts!)  My mom was also quite impressed with the soup, and she enjoyed her sandwich immensely.

So when James found out where I was - can you guess what he asked?  

[In my best Dora the Explorer voice] Can you?  

 He's lucky I like him...and that I really wanted a good excuse to get cupcakes.

My mom figured we'd just get a 1/2 dozen - 1 for me, 1 for James, and 4 for her to take home to my dad, brother, and grandparents...

Clockwise from top left: Pumpkin Chai, Chocolate Maple & Bacon (mine), Milk Chocolate, Vanilla Vanilla (for James), Vanilla Vanilla (again), Vegan Mostess

 As soon as we got back to my house, James and I tried our cupcakes.  I have heard through various websites, tweets, and word-of-mouth comments that the cupcakes at Dozen are dry, but I beg to differ.  My cupcake wasn't the most moist cupcake that I've ever had, but it definitely wasn't dry.  James didn't seem to think so, either, nor have I heard that complaint from my family members.  

Now I have two excuses to visit Lawrenceville more often - Tamari and Dozen Bake Shop (for cupcakes AND lunch!)

Dozen Bake Shop

3511 Butler St.

Pittsburgh, PA 15201 (Lawrenceville)

417 S. Craig St.

Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (Oakland - Cupcakes only, no cafe)

Website: http://www.dozenbakeshop.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dozen-Bake-Shop-Dozen-Cupcakes/25721167653

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/dozenbakeshop

 

…My Strip District Visit, 10/15/11, Parte Cuatro: Chewy Pumpkin Cookies

Pumpkin + cookie = heaven

It’s amazing how much people have started using pumpkin – canned, or otherwise – in their fall recipes.  I mean, pumpkins are widely available in the fall, but usually people carve them, throw out the guts, MAYBE roast the seeds (we always did in my house, and I still do in my own house), and...that’s it.  Canned pumpkin SHOULD be found all year long – unless there is a shortage, like last year, and it doesn’t reappear on store shelves until September (grrrrr!)

When I started Weight Watchers and went to meetings, someone brought up a simple recipe – 1 box of spice cake mix + 15 oz. can of pumpkin + muffin pan = pumpkin muffins.

Moist.  Delicious.  Freezer-friendly.  I made batches – BATCHES – and found some in my freezer the other day from LAST fall.  A little freezer-burnt, but with a quick 30-second thaw in the microwave and a Nutella schmear, they were still fabulous.

When @howsweetblog recently posted two cookie recipes using pumpkin, I was immediately drawn to them.  What drew me to them more was that one used canned pumpkin, and another used pumpkin butter.

Pumpkin butter.  Blueberry butter.  Sweet potato butter.  Tried them all.  Love them all.  Tweet immediately favorite-d.

‘Tis the season, so during my visit to the Strip District, I had to pick up some pumpkin butter to try out this recipe, and I knew exactly where to go to get some – The Berry Patch at the Pittsburgh Public Market.

I had just used up the last of my Very Berry Jelly from my last visit to the PPM – so of course, I needed more.  I also purchased my oh-so-sweet pumpkin butter, plus one of their “hot” jellies – mango habanero.  I have no idea how I’m going to use that yet, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something (with chicken, perhaps?)

Back to the cookies – I was drawn to the recipe because they are described as “chewy”, and the only good cookies are chewy ones, in my humble opinion.  According to @howsweetblog 's pictures, the pumpkin butter cookies are flat compared to the ones using canned pumpkin.

Oh.  Wait.  I blog about Hispanic/Latino restaurants and foods.  Uhhh…how does this relate to that?  Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies aren’t exactly “Hispanic” or “Latino”. 

I found Mexican vanilla at Penzey’s and used it in this recipe.  POW.  I might as well have put a sombrero on each cookie and called them “Mexican”.

The complete recipe can be found at the end of the blog post (after the recipe using canned pumpkin): http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/10/chewier-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies-2-ways

Pumpkin Butter from The Berry Patch & his little Hispanic friend from Penzey's

I used Egg Beaters to feel better about using real butter in the cookies.

Mmmm, dough.

Mmm, dough is always better with chocolate chips.

First batch bakes in my ancient oven

Ahhh...delicious - but not flat?

It tastes sooooo good...and chewy on the inside...but...why isn't it flat?!

Fancy picture of my cookies cooling while the second batch bakes.  Thank you, Instagram.

I was disappointed that they did not turn out flat, but they were still chewy and delicious. - maybe a little dry (I blame the Egg Beaters  - that’s what I get for trying to go healthy), but not so dry that I wanted to throw them out.  In fact, a friend of mine stopped over to drop off an awesome, colorful skull Mylar balloon to make my classroom more festive for the upcoming Day of the Dead (more on that in a future post), so I was sure to send her home with some for her and her husband (if she shares…).  The next day, my dad stopped by to put my porch furniture in the shed for the winter (always a sad day), so I rewarded him with the remaining cookies (as I could not stop eating them…really, every time I walked by, I had to have one - bad, bad señorita!)

And the Mexican vanilla?  Umm, yeah – didn’t notice any difference between that and regular vanilla extract.  Honestly, I am always partial to my Pampered Chef Double-strength Bourbon Vanilla.  Everything that I have ever made using that vanilla has been absolutely amazing vs. the same recipe using regular vanilla extract.  When you buy from Pampered Chef, BUY THE VANILLA.  I promise you, your cookies will go from good to RIDONCULOUSLY TASTY (yes, I did say - and I do mean - RIDONCULOUS).

I will definitely use that next time…which won’t be long from now, I’m sure.  I’m also sure that I’ll be making many, many, MANY (MUCHÍSIMOS!) more recipes from @howsweetblog

How Sweet It Is

Website: http://www.howsweeteats.com

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howsweeteats

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/HowSweetBlog

The Berry Patch at Pittsburgh Public Market

Produce Terminal Building
Smallman Street Entrance opposite 17th Street

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Websites: http://pittsburghpublicmarket.org/

                   http://ligoniercountrymarket.com/the-berry-patch.html

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=699253613466&id=47505581&ref=notif&notif_t=feed_comment_reply#!/PittsburghPublicMarket

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/PghPubMarket

The Strip District Website: http://www.neighborsinthestrip.com/

Neighbors in the Strip on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=699253613466&id=47505581&ref=notif&notif_t=feed_comment_reply#!/StripDistrict

Strip District Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/StripDistrict

…Smoke Taqueria (yet again!)

I love fall – and fall foods!

September, October, and November are prime months for my eating – having been on Weight Watchers for almost 2 years, and coming to learn which foods are good for you AND filling, I know that this time of year is best for two of my favorite staple foods – winter squashes and apples.

My favorite winter squashes include acorn, spaghetti, and butternut – and of course, I love anything made from pumpkin: pumpkin butter, pumpkin spice coffee, pumpkin cookies…

Apples, though, have definitely become a huge part of my regular diet.  Two years ago, I went to Trax Farms in Finleyville for their annual Fall Festival, where they have apple sampling – about 12 different varieties of apples, all to be sampled (with or without caramel dip, of course) – and I never realized how different the different varieties of apples tasted until then. 

I eat at least one apple every single day – my favorite is Pink Lady, but sometimes I change it up with Fujis or Galas.

I have even tried making slaw out of apples.  I love the Hungry Girl cookbooks, and one of her most famous recipes is “I Heart Apple Slaw”, made from Granny Smith and Fuji apples, broccoli slaw mix, fat-free yogurt, honey, and Splenda.

Super sweet and savory slaw!

When I visited Smoke Taqueria in Homestead (yes, again), I knew what I was going to get – the chicken taco, plus their jalapeno apple slaw, which I have been saying for weeks that I really, really needed to try, since I was such a fan of “I Heart Apple Slaw”. 

I met another food blogger at Smoke that day – Burgh Gourmand.  His tweets from restaurants around Pittsburgh – and his other commentary – always have me intrigued, so I was anxious to have a meal and conversation with him.

Burgh Gourmand had visited the taqueria within the last week, so he had been recognized by the owner by the time I arrived (which was not long after).  We were immediately presented with menus and told that there was a special taco available that night.  I was thrilled – THRILLED – to hear that the taco was a chicken and…APPLE taco!  Woo hoo!  Perfect for fall!  I ordered one in addition to my pre-selected chicken taco and jalapeno apple slaw.  Burgh Gourmand opted for the chicken and apple taco, brisket taco, and macaroni and cheese.  To drink, I ordered a horchata (YAY!  They had it this time!), and Burgh Gourmand ordered the agua fresca flavor of the day – pineapple.

Our drinks arrived, and I immediately put my straw in to taste the horchata I had been wanting to try since my last visit.  Horchata is a corn drink, but doesn’t taste like corn, just like the Chicha Morada I had at Chicken Latino – and at Smoke, they add lime zest to the mix, which gives it a margarita-ish flavor (no alcohol, though, of course!)

The slaw and mac and cheese arrived next, and we each offered to have the other try our choices.  

Oh, wow.  That mac and cheese was amazing!  I had a student who visited Smoke recently, who said in her extra credit report that the mac and cheese was great, but now I KNOW that it is, without a doubt.  

The jalapeno apple slaw was also delicious – I wasn’t sure how spicy peppers and apples would go together, but they work well together – it was spicy, but nicely balanced with the sweetness of the apples to give it a tasty flavor.

Then the tacos arrived.  I started with the chicken and apple taco, since it sounded so interesting.  

I’m in love.

Smoked chicken, smoked bacon, apples, cheese, cilantro, jalapeno mayo…a fresh, warm, soft, made-from-scratch tortilla…how could I not want to marry this taco?

My chicken taco was also delicious – yes, I preferred the chicken and apple, but I have to say that smoked chicken is much, MUCH tastier than regularly cooked chicken, which can be extremely boring and bland. 

The food was amazing, the conversation was great, and I was CRAVING that chicken and apple taco the next day.  I wrestled in my head for hours that next day, debating on whether I should call and place a take-out order…but I did not :-(

Thank goodness Smoke Taqueria isn’t far at all – but this could throw a wrench into my diet!  Looks like I’ll be eating a lot of winter squash to compensate…

Smoke Taqueria

205 E. Eighth Ave.

Homestead, PA 15120

Burgh Gourmand

Website: http://www.burghgourmand.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BurghGourmand

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/BurghGourmand

Trax Farms

528 Trax Rd.

Finleyville, PA 15332

Website: http://www.traxfarms.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trax-Farms/107081760932

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/TRAXFARMS

Hungry Girl

Website: http://www.hungry-girl.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HungryGirl?sk=wall

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/#!/HungryGirl

…Triple B Farms Jalapeno Peppers and Salsa

I.  Love.  October.

It is my absolute, no lie, no joke, FAVORITE month of the year.  You would think that I would love July, the one month of the year where there is absolutely NO school, or maybe even May, since the school year is ending.  No.  October.

Remember – I also work at Kennywood.  I don’t get summers “off”. 

October is awesome for so many reasons – Halloween, leaves turning pretty colors, cooler weather, and of course, eating anything pumpkin-flavored is completely acceptable. 

This also means that it’s time to pick a pumpkin at Triple B Farms!

Every year, my mom, brother, and cousin go to Triple B to pick our pumpkins and do the usual Pumpkin Festival activities – corn maze (my least favorite), Boo Barn (my most favorite), Pumpkinland, and shopping for yumminess in their Country Farm Market.

Unfortunately, the weather on October 2^nd was absolute crap – rainy and cold – but we were determined to make this our day to get our pumpkins.  We went early – and there were 2 other cars in the parking lot.  Perfect.  No crowd!  

My brother and cousin, carefully choosing apples to pick.

After picking apples for the first time (which was more fun than you ‘d think!) and picking out our pumpkins from the pre-picked area (we always end up getting them there, anyway), it was time to shop in the Country Farm Market. 

Triple B makes their own brands of several items – pasta sauces, marinades, and what I always go for – salsa.

I decided upon the Mad Mango and Blackberry Salsas this year – you know, because I love mangoes – a lot – and I have been on a crazy blackberry kick this year as well.  I had never tried them, but they seemed interesting.

The produce section is always great because local farms tend to have more reasonable prices for produce than Giant Eagle (as was evident in my trip to Stan’s Market in The Strip - $0.89/lb. for jicama as opposed to $3.99/lb. at Giant Eagle?! Unreal!).  I started filling up my basket with my fall recipe staples – butternut squash and spaghetti squash – then threw in a head of cabbage, and then….

Jalapeno peppers.  5 for $1.00.  Awww, yeah!

Now – what to do with them?

Today, I decided to get creative with my jalapenos.  I had seen many recipes lately for stuffed hot peppers, and I love jalapeno poppers, so I wanted to try something along those lines.

I cut my peppers in half – using Ziploc bags as gloves to do so.  I have learned the hard way – especially since I wear contact lenses that must be removed every night - that you must, must, MUST protect your hands and surfaces from the burn of the jalapeno seeds and membranes, as that is where most of the heat in the pepper is concentrated.  

Since I wanted to keep this semi-healthy, I decided upon two different cheeses to add to my peppers – two Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss wedges, and a serving (1/8^th of a wheel) of Red Apple Smoked Gouda, my favorite type of cheese.  I divided them up amongst the 10 pepper halves, along with a little Pampered Chef Southwest Seasoning for flavor.

Something was missing  - these looked boring.  I remembered reading a recipe for stuffed jalapenos that were wrapped in bacon…mmmm, bacon….but all I keep in my house is turkey bacon.

That’ll do, pig.  That’ll do.

I wrapped each pepper in half of a piece of turkey bacon (so 5 pieces total), and placed them in my ancient 1950’s oven, which I had preheated at 400 degrees, and set the timer for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, I thought there still might be something missing from this recipe…maybe something vegetable-like to add to the pepper taste.

Oh yeah!  I bought those salsas at Triple B, too!

I decided to try each type of salsa on my peppers, leaving two without so that I knew what they tasted like sans-salsa.

The peppers were pretty good without the salsa – I definitely liked the bacon-jalapeno combo, with the smokiness of the gouda and the mildness of the Laughing Cow cheese.  They were pretty delicious with the Mad Mango Salsa as well, since it added some sweetness to those flavors.  However, my favorite was by far the combination with the Blackberry Salsa, which had a much more subtle flavor than the mango, so I could still taste the smokiness of the cheese with the bacon.

My trip to Triple B this year may have been wet, cold, and muddy, but I definitely got more out of this trip than any other.  Usually, I come away with a pumpkin and memories of frustration from the corn maze, but this year was a whole new experience.  I came away with my pumpkin, as usual, but also apples, jalapenos, awesome salsas, a delicious cabbage (which I made into soup), and a new way to combine flavors from a local farm.  I may have to try these types of experiments more often….

Their labels are cute.  I had to include them.

Triple B Farms

823 Berry Lane

Monongahela, PA 15063

Website: http://www.triplebfarms.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Triple-B-Farms-Harvesting-Homegrown-Produce-Family-Fun/159023361809

…Giant Eagle’s Latin Food Fiesta with BONUS The Pampered Chef Mango Wedger

This title sounds like a really bad infomercial, I know – but it needs to be said this way.

I was so excited when I read the tweet from @Giant_Eagle on Thursday that they were having a Latin Food Fiesta to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15)!  I tweeted the link to the website with the info, which @Giant_Eagle then re-tweeted…ooh, I’m famous! 

Not really. 

I became skeptical, though, when I saw that there was a link to see WHERE this was being celebrated.  Uh oh.  I knew that the Kennywood Giant Eagle wouldn’t be on the list, but I held out hope for The Waterfront location.

They ARE!  AND they are the only Pennsylvania location holding it all 4 days – September 16, 17, 23, and 24!  AMAZING!  AND I do my grocery shopping on Fridays there anyway, so I could check it out!

It’s sad what gets me excited these days, I guess.

Later, I opened my Giant Eagle ad at home, which had arrived the day before – I probably should have looked at it sooner, but I was busy going to Mallorca for dinner the day before (more about that later).  They were advertising many Latin American brands that were on sale for the fiesta – Goya, La Preferida, etc. – brands that are widely sold at Giant Eagle, but can also be found at Reyna Foods in the Strip District.  I was excited to see what was going to be offered.

When I arrived at Giant Eagle on Friday afternoon, I went about my normal produce-buying routine – apples, bananas, kale…- and then came across these babies:

Ahhhh, mangoes.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I love mangoes.  4 for $5?  SOLD.

Not far from the mangoes was a display for produce related to the Latin Food Fiesta celebration:

Ok, yeah, hot peppers, tomatillos, avocados, cilantro, limes, sweet onions, bell peppers…I get all of that.  Nothing too out of the ordinary or exciting, though.

I remembered seeing in the ad about rambutans, which I had never seen at Giant Eagle before – I had no idea what they were, but I did remember that they were $6.99/lb. in the ad.  That’s insane!  $6.99/lb.?  No way was I buying them.

I was tempted to buy them just because they looked interesting, but I didn’t, and not just because of the price.  I didn’t know what they were.  I don’t know what they taste like.  I still don’t.  Wait, let me Google it…

Well, you can read about it at http://www.rambutan.com.  It’s totally not related to anything Latin or Hispanic – but here’s a pic:

Here’s a tip, Giant Eagle – if you want me to buy something, educate me on it…and offer a sample.

Anyway, I continued through the produce section to buy ingredients for Pumpkin Chili (I’m super excited that it’s almost fall and appropriate to eat anything with pumpkin once again), and I came upon another section of exotic produce.

GUAVA!  I have been looking for guava for months!

Yucca root!  I LOVE the yucca fries from Chicken Latino!  Maybe I can try to make my own!

Ugh, really?  Hispanic Heritage Month, and jicama is STILL $3.99/lb.?!  At least now I know that I can buy it at Stan’s Market in the Strip District for $.89/lb.

I continued about my normal shopping routine, and the usual ladies were across from the meat section, offering samples, as usual – but today I noticed that everything that they were offering samples of was a Latin brand-product – some sort of Spanish rice, some Goya product…

Oh boy.  There was prepared mole.  I had to try it. 

The woman offering the sample said that it was a chicken enchilada with mole.  I told her that I love mole, and ate my sample.

Ick.  It was cold.  And it pretty much tasted like a commercial-brand flour tortilla, covered in mole, rolled up, and cut into small pieces.  Chicken enchilada?  Barely.

No sale.

I finished my grocery shopping, and went to the checkout.  The girl ringing up my purchases rudely asked me what my Yucca root was, as I guess that’s not a common purchase, so I left, packed up my car, and went home, disappointed that Giant Eagle’s Latin Food Fiesta did not set off the explosion in my heart quite the way that the word “fiesta” does on its own.

I’m glad that Giant Eagle is taking a step to make people aware of their Latin American products, but the execution could be better.  I know that the Shaler location is having a book signing by Aarón Sánchez from Food Network’s “Chefs vs. City” on the 17^th, but that is not enough to make people aware of what Latin cooking is all about.  People need to be educated on the common flavors and ingredients, and how they come together to make Latin food taste as sabrosa y rica as it does.

After dinner at Chili’s (don’t judge me – I’ll explain more later), I came home to taste some of the unusual things that I had purchased earlier.

Well, first I had to get my pumpkin chili prepared and in the crockpot.  That was a priority.

I then took out my yucca root to take a pic for you all to see – and noticed something strange – one of the roots had split into two pieces, and a small piece had come off.  That’s weird.

Oh, that would be why – it was molding.  Fabulous.  $1.99/lb., and it’s moldy.  I had put two roots back while picking them out because they were moldy – I should have taken that as a sign that I shouldn’t buy it.

I then decided to taste the guava – I had bought those guava-flavored wafer cookies by Goya as part of the number challenge reward – they were amazing, by the way - and I had one student who came back for seconds…and thirds…and fourths…so I was curious to see what guava tasted like on its own (and not in wafer cookie form).

I took a spoon to the middle, figuring that was where the most flavor was – and I was right.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t much flavor at all.  I’m thinking that it wasn’t quite ripe enough, so I’ll let the other one sit for a day or two before I try it.

After those two depressing experiences, I needed a sure thing – ahhh, mango.  

I have to say, without a doubt, that The Pampered Chef Mango Wedger has made my mango-eating experiences much more enjoyable.  You may know (or maybe you don’t) that the skin of a mango is not edible (or tasty, for that matter), so only the yellow-orange fruity part should be consumed; however, the pit of a mango is oblong and hard, so getting the fruit by itself is not easy to do – unless you have this magical mango wedger.

With the help of my mango wedger, I have mastered the art of mango consumption.  I wedge the mango, and then cut each of the four sections in half.  This gives me eight sections of mango, plus any fruit left on the pit.  

I put it all in a bowl, and to eat the mango, I treat the skin as I would a cantaloupe or watermelon rind – I eat the fruit all the way down to it.  Mangoes are even better for this, too, because you can use your teeth to peel the fruit away from the skin, and then discard the skin.  I use a fork to scrape any fruity parts off of the pit, and eat that, being sure not to waste any good mango-y goodness.

So that was my Friday night – pumpkin chili in the slow cooker, moldy yucca root, tasteless guava…but ending with sweet, delicious mango.  Oh, and black tea.  Not important, but it was part of my night, and it was comforting.

I guess I should write about my dinner at Mallorca…and explain why I was at Chili’s, of all places, on Mexico’s Independence Day….

Giant Eagle – Waterfront Location

420 East Waterfront Drive

Homestead, PA 15120

Website: http://www.gianteagle.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gianteagleinc?ref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Giant_Eagle

If you are interested in The Pampered Chef Mango Wedger, please contact:

The Pampered Chef

Marie McDonald – Consultant

Website: http://www.pamperedchef.biz/mariemcdonald