Architect's "Mecca" and the Steel City

We had a great weekend.  There are lots of pics, but with this app it is hard to organize them, so I numbered the captions.

#1 View of Frank Lloyd Wright's falling water

#2 As we approach, Jer says he feels this need to quiet the kids as if they should revere this place.  Then he remembers, it's just a house.

#3  It is an amazing house.  But as Jer points out, almost every Wright house he's been to was covered by a tarp somewhere.  They leak.  Maybe his ideas were just ahead of the engineering available at the time.

#4. Miss Libby

#5 Riding the Duquesne incline in Pittsburgh.  It is over 100 years old and still uses the original machinery.

#6 Us and the view from the top.  We could see Heinz field and PNC park, where the Steelers and Pirates play.  Luca and James got to go to two Pirates games and even run around the bases afterward.

#7 silly boys

#8 Mom-mom and Pap-pap

#9 Waiting outside the original Primanti Brother's.  There was a terrific thunderstorm and the street musicians had to run for cover with their drums.

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I tried to capture how nice they looked this weekend.  They just weren't having it.

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zoo

We were fortunate to be invited to spend the day at the zoo with some friends.  We were a group of three adults with seven kids age four and under.  They were all so well behaved and it was a great day.  My favorite part was seeing the chimps.  Their muscle structure is so similar to ours.  It's so funny to watch them.  This one stared right at me with his ancient looking face chomping away at some greens.

Reminded me of this book we are enjoying right now by Chris Van Allsburg called The Wretched Stone, where the crew of a sailboat are all transformed into chimps.  It's a fun read.

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Rose Rice

So I love that pic of James and Libby in their "window seat".  Cute huh? But not really what I wanted to blog about.

I love our street.  We have some of the best neighbors ever.  Every afternoon all the kids play together outside.  (To the mean neighbor's dismay.). They catch caterpillars, play soccer or baseball, ride bikes, or make up their own games.  Our street is great for kids.  But it's nice for grown-ups too.

Last night we had kabob patties and Rose rice.  "Rose Rice" is a dish named after my next door neighbor Rozita.  When we first moved here she started bringing us Iranian food, and we fell in love.  I get so tired of the same old boring flavors, and she taught me how to make something new.   More importantly she became a dear friend.   She is the one I go to when I need to talk, or I need an egg, or I need someone to look at a suspicious bump on my back to make sure its not a tick.

Anyway... if you want to make something different, try this.  I probably don't do it exactly right, and most of what Rose makes is super complicated, but this isn't.  You just need saffron (pictured above).  Saffron is super expensive, but you only need a little bit.  You need to grind it to powder.  Morter and pestle would be nice, but I just used the back of a spoon.  In true Rozita style (always super generous), she gave me this packet of it that probably cost $75.

The "kabobs" are just ground beef with onion.

Blend half an onion in blender to liquid.  Mix with one pound beef add salt pepper and shape.  Then grill.

For Rose rice, use basmati rice.  Prepare as directed.  Add a dab of butter.  Take half tsp of ground saffron.  Mix with a couple tablespoons (2-3) of hot water, pour over cooked rice.  Grill some tomatoes to go with it.

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