Kirios and I drove up to Pittsburgh for a visit with my parents over Martin Luther King Weekend. I hadn’t been to Pittsburgh since the end of September, for Rosh HaShana, and I was long overdue for a visit. I hadn’t seen my parents and several of my friends since September. Also, Coco, my little white Ford Focus who is domiciled with me in Maryland but has not yet given up her Pennsylvania residency, needed her annual check-up. (Not to mention the unsettling whistling sound she made during our drive up)…

I always love visiting home. I love Pittsburgh and visiting my parents’ house, visiting my favorite restaurants and shops from growing up, seeing what’s changed, and.being treated like a local celebrity when I run into people I haven’t seen in ages. Going home with Kirios is even better because I get to share this special part of my life with him. And because I feel absolutely surrounded by people who love me. Since I don’t get to see my parents every day anymore, they’re excited when I have a chance to visit. From hanging around in the morning and having breakfast together to planning elaborate Shabbat dinner parties, they’re happy to spend time with me. Kirios always dotes on me, so when we’re all together, I feel pretty lucky. I feel like Princess Ilana.

Anyway, as I was saying, I was holding court in Pittsburgh over MLK weekend and had a really lovely time. My parents planned a lovely Shabbat dinner with my two favorite Pittsburgh gals and their significant others, along with some other friends. Mom made Moroccan lamb tagine, her traditional post-Thanksgiving Shabbat dinner, since we weren’t together over Thanksgiving this year. My dad made his famous blueberry tart, since the South American blueberries were peaking. A rare winter treat!

Saturday morning my father and I dropped off Coco before enjoying breakfast with Mom and Kirios. We all went to synagogue, but took our time and arrived on the late side. I was excited to show Kirios the building that I spent so much time in while growing up. And I was glad to see many old family friends as well. Following services, we all headed over to best friend Sara’s apartment to visit boyfriend Jason’s rambunctious English bulldog Waldo. (And Mom wanted to snoop around their apartment as well, of course.)  Afterwards, Dad and I picked up Coco (who apparently needed new break pads). By the time we returned to the house, Kirios and Mom had almost finished preparing a special lunch of sweet crepes, fruit, and Nutella, using my new blue steel crepe pan which we brought up from Maryland with us.

My parents braved the Pittsburgh cold for their traditional Shabbat afternoon walk with friends, while Kirios and I rested for a bit and watched the classic “An American President,”one of my Mom’s favorite DVDs which Kirios had never seen. Then we met up with three other couples, all good friends of mine, to go out for dinner. Following dinner, we grabbed a drink at Sing Sing!, a dueling piano bar I had never visited before. It was quite the entertaining evening, and it was great to spend time with old friends.

Sunday was equally exciting. Kirios and my parents and I all went out for pizza in East Liberty before heading to the Carnegie Science Center. We visited the Robot Hall of Fame, a submarine, the train village, and SportsWorks. It’s been entirely too long since I visited there! Bringing Kirios to Pittsburgh is a great excuse to indulge in tourist activities! 🙂

Sunday night Kirios and I went to dinner at the Silk Elephant in Squirrel Hill with his friend from high school that moved to Pittsburgh and her fiancé. Naturally, her fiancé went to the same high school as me, so between Pittsburgh and Bethesda, we had plenty of fuel to fire our conversation.

Monday morning we packed up the car and had lunch at the Bagel Factory with the parents. Mom actually had a business trip in Maryland Tuesday and Wednesday, so we took her down to Frederick and dropper her off at a Rental Car station. Although Mom stayed with me Tuesday evening before her meeting in Bethesda, the work week blues had already struck me. My princess time had come to an end. But it sure was a lovely weekend!