49 by 29: July 11 - Pittsburgh with a French Twist

Coffee:
House blend at Crazy Mocha Coffee Company on Murray Avenue in Pittsburgh. Decent coffee. Nice barista. But the place smelled kind of funny, so Jeremy and I sat outside until I began melting in the heat and had to move on.

From the journal:
Jared had to work today and so did Jeremy's friends, so he and I are hanging out for a bit. We're at the Crazy Mocha Coffee Company in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. For some odd reason, I just told the barista that I'd been robbed of all my cash when I used my credit card to pay for a 91-cent refill. Poor girl. I wonder why it is easier for me to tell strangers I've been robbed than it is to tell friends? I suppose I don't want my loved ones to worry about me.

After coffee, we sat in Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh and did some reading and people watching. At one point, Jer rushed to the aid of a woman who collapsed nearby due to heat stroke. We don't believe in having a normal day :).

We then went to Jeremy's best friend's house. It was so good to finally put faces to these names--Josh and Kallie--I'd been hearing so much about!

For dinner, Jared and Julia and I went to Paris 66, an "everyday French" restaurant in Shadyside. Wow, the food was rich! We shared a meat and cheese tray that had about seven million different flavors...in one cheese slice. Ha...not really, but those French know how to make food make an impression. I also enjoyed a lovely broccoli cheese soup. A big THANK YOU to Jared for treating us on this foray into feisty French food!

 As the legend goes, coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian goatherder named Kaldi. As he herded his flock, he noticed his goats danced with a surge of energy after nibbling on the red berries of bushes along the way. When he himself tried the berries, he also danced. Ecstatic about his discovery of such a magic berry, he took a handful to a holy man in a nearby village. The holy man, however, disapproved of such an evil berry and tossed them into the fire. When an enticing aroma billowed from the flames, the roasted beans were scooped from the fire, ground up, and dissolved in hot water. The world has been addicted ever since.

 Meat and cheese plate at Paris 66 in Pittsburgh.

Broccoli soup...with French flair, of course.

Jared and Julia about to tuck into the French feast before us.