Mani's been a Pittsburgh Steelers' fan since he was 8 (long story). Back in May, Val surprised Mani with the greatest birthday gift ever: 4th row seats to the 2009 NFL season opening game between the World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers and 2008's winningest team, the Tennesee Titans. Quite an experience for Mani's first ever Steelers' game, eh? We decided to make our Pennsylvania voyage a roadtrip ending in Philly cheesesteaks from Philadelphia with Amish Country fare somewhere in between. The trip was as much a culinary adventure as it was a pilgrimmage for Mani to Steelers' country.
Days 1 & 2: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is far from the industrial wasteland we had anticipated. Situtuated at the confluence of 2 rivers and surrounded by rolling hills, the city is actually quite beautiful. The remnance of the city's steel mills serve as a memorialization of America's industrial past, and the locals are quite possibly the friendliest we've ever encountered in the nation. That's saying a lot seeing as we're accustomed to Southern hospitality! We asked a handful of locals for directions, and this was the response we got: 1. One guy looked up Map Quest directions for us on his iPhone, 2. One kid offered to walk us to our destination nearly one mile away and 3. Acab driver got out of his cab in the middle of traffic to yell out a shortcut to our destination.
The Strip District
Mani's homecoming. Seriously, there was a Steelers' paraphenelia shop every other store.
We can only dream about how amazing it would be to have an Italian market in Houston with homemade mozarella, bread and olive oil you pour for yourself.
Val's friend Katy recommended that we stop by Peace, Love &Little Donuts during our visit to the Strip District. So we did. And we didn't regret that decision. The owner apparently had been selling his tiny donuts on the street and became such a hit, that he was able to open up own little shop. Delicious little donuts.
Cinnamon & sugar donuts from Peace, Love & Little Donuts.
Val's friend Katy, a Philosophy Ph.D candidate at Pitt, was nice enough to let us crash at her place for the weekend. As a 'thank you' gift, we made her and her boyfriend Tyke a basket with fresh bread, cheese, olive oil and salami from the Italian market, as well as dozen mini donuts.
Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh.
Val has loved dinosaurs since she was a kid. Lucky for her (and oddly enough), the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh has one of the best dinosaur bone collections in the country. During WWII, many skeletons were moved from New York and D.C. to Pittsburgh for fear of bombing strikes.
The Heinz Ketchup factory.
Pittsburgh hands-down has the most devotedly insane fans in all of sports. We crashed a couple of tailgating parties right before the game and experienced the insanity first-hand.
Crashing the Steelers tailgating parties with the Steelers Santa Claus.
The walk to Heinz Field. Pittsburgh is absolutely beautiful.
The walk to Heinz Field. Pittsburgh is absolutely beautiful.
The obligatory Troy Polamalu wig.
Snoop Dogg in the VIP box above us. Apparently he's a huge Steelers' fan.
Terrible Towels galore.
Tessaro's: The BEST polish sausage dog and bacon mushroom burger we've ever had. We have nightmares about these sandwiches.
Hey guys . . . I just found your blog while I was looking for info online about Peace, Love, and Little Donuts in the Strip District (of Pittsburgh). I'm a "yinzer" myself (that means I'm originally from Pittsburgh), I now live in one of its southern suburbs about 7 miles out of downtown.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you liked it here. It's definitely a unique place, and its so funny, because when you say, "I'm from Pittsburgh," people laugh and think of a dirty and miserable place. Shhhhh . . . don't tell them our little secret. The 'Burgh is beautiful, interesting, full of culture, and lots of fun.
Anyway, I hope you'll come back and look me up some day. . . . and next time, skip the trip to Philly and get one of our Primanti Brothers sandwiches. You can get whatever kind of meat you want in them, and they throw fries and coleslaw right on the sandwich! It's a Pittsburgh tradition (and one of the restaurants is right there in the Strip).
. . . and if you ever want to contact me, fire off an email to dmrampolla@aol.com.
Nice meetin' ya!
Debby
P.S. The term "yinzer," comes from the slang word "yinz" (or you ones). In Pittsburgh, this is the the colloquial for the plural "you." . . . as when you are speaking to a group, you would say:
Hey, are yinz goin' to the Steeler game?
P.S.S. My second favorite city is San Francisco. Reminds me of Pittsburgh! (smile)
Hi,just found this blog while doing some 'research' on visiting PITTSBURGH.
ReplyDeleteIts been a particular pleasure to read it as I/we will be visiting for MY first STEELERS game in a couple of weeks-- versus Jets.
For me too its a trip inspired by my wife---congratulations to you both by the way-- who decided it was time I made my pilgimage from here in Britain.
You certainly have given me a big smile anticipating this trip.
I hope the memories are keeping you both smiling.