Our
daughter, Jill, who lives in Minneapolis, was definitely the driving force in
this trip. She has talked about taking a
trip to Poland for some time now, to the land of our ancestry. If some of you don’t know this already, I am
100% Polish and proud of it! And since a
European trip of this magnitude would be a little challenging for me at this
point in my health, Jill selected Pittsburgh. This is pretty much how this journey
began. Just two Polish girls (me and
Jill) and one Fraulein named, Angi (who is Jill’s BFF from high school) going
to Pittsburgh (aka The Steel City of America) to see, do . . . and lest we not
forget the most important part . . . eat pierogies!
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| Jill, Angi and Kay |
Yes, pierogi’s, the Central/Eastern
European delicacies that we grew up with as part of our traditional food for
the holidays (Easter and Christmas).
Wikipedia tells us that the pierogi was brought to Poland by Saint
Hyacinth back in 1238, and from there it pretty much stayed put in all Polish
heritage. Steel, coal and related
industries drew immigrants to Pittsburgh in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. Many of those
immigrants brought along an appetite for the half-moon dumplings known,
depending on where you hailed from, as pierogi, phrohy or varenyky. Many other combination types of fillings are
available for those with the traditional filling of potato, sauerkraut or cheese,
which are my favorite. The food is just
the icing on the cake for us as Pittsburgh has quite a lot of neat things to
see.
Wikipedia ~
Pierogi (/pɪˈroʊɡi/ pih-ROH-ghee[1]) are filled dumplings of Central European origin.[2][3] Made by wrapping unleavened dough around a savory or sweet filling and cooking in boiling water. Pierogi which consist of noodle dough and have to be cooked in boiling water are associated with the Central and Eastern European kitchens where they are considered national dishes.[4][5][6][7] Their variant varenyky are popular in Ukranian and Russian cuisine. Pierogi are popular in West Slavic (Polish, Slovak, and Czech), Hungarian, East Slavic (Belarusian and western Ukrainian), some Baltic (Latvian and Lithuanian) and other Central and Eastern European cuisines, where they are known under their local names.
Pierogi ruskie topped with fried onion
| |
| Alternative names | Pirogi, pirohy, pyrohy, varenyky |
|---|---|
| Type | Dumpling |
| Course | Appetizer, main, dessert |
| Region or state | Central Europe, Eastern Europe |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
| Main ingredients | Dough: flour, eggs, water Filling: various |
All three of us especially
love a dish that we weren’t too familiar with – Polish style haluski. I do believe that we’ll have to incorporate
this dish at the next holiday gathering.
Jill, you’re going to have to make the haluski for the family in Minnesota. I will definitely be making some for Jeff and
me (clink on link below for recipe to try). Enjoy our trip in Pittsburgh with
this Blog post and the next time you see pierogi’s on the menu, give them a
try. I’m sure that you’ll like them and
you don’t need to be Polish!
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/
Pierogi Stop #1 ~ Church Brew Works
Church
Brew Works serves traditional pierogis (Potato & Cheese, served with
sautéed onions and melted butter), and un-traditional pierogis (their special
changes daily), but what they’re really known for is their Pierogi Pizza. And
while it’s isn’t exactly a pierogi, it’s worth a try – a pizza, topped with
mashed potatoes, sautéed onions, and cheese.
We did not try the pizza or the un-traditional one that was on the menu that
evening - Rattle Snake Pierogi I believe - but we did love the potato &
cheese. A Flight of their local brew was
a hoot as we compared which ones we liked and which ones we didn’t. The atmosphere in the old church was awesome
with the cathedral ceilings and stained glass that you almost felt that it was
a little sacrilegious drinking within those once hallowed halls. The brewing vats were up front where the
altar usually is and a lot of the pews still existed for seating areas. This was a fun place to start out our trip
once we arrived in Pittsburgh on a Friday night, rain and all.
Most
of our itinerary was selected by Jill and Angi which I didn’t have a problem
with at all. All I had to worry about
was keeping up with these young gals.
Saturday morning we drove out to what is called the Duquesne Incline
(pronounced “do-Kane”) where we would scale the slopes of Mt. Washington in a
beautifully restored cable car dating back to 1877. The Incline is considered to be Pittsburgh’s
Geologic “Time-Machine” with rocks that are 300 million years old. We enjoyed a spectacular panoramic view from
the observation deck of Downtown Pittsburgh and the North Shore where the three
rivers merge - the Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio. There were no bad views, only that we could
have used a lot more sun.
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| Going Up! |
Pierogi Stop #2 ~
Cop Out Pierogies
This
tiny shop in Etna churns out hundreds of hand-made pierogies a day, and offers
an extra-special little something in your order of a dozen… two extra
pierogies. They have a huge selection of fillings, from Sweet Potato and
Cheeseburger to Chicken Marsala and Spinach Feta. Plus, if you give them fair
warning, they say that they can create any flavor filling you want. The owner, Carl Funtal, spent most of his
adult life protecting the public as a police sergeant in Pittsburgh. Now retired he enjoys being the cook for this
wonderful comfort food of his youth. We highly
recommend their food if you are ever in this suburb of Pittsburgh.
With
tummies full, we piled into the car on Day 2 and headed to The Frick
Pittsburgh, a museum located on nearly six acres of beautifully landscaped
lawns and gardens. We toured the
restored home of Henry Clay Frick, named “Clayton”, where we walked through rooms
marveling at the unique – and original - collection from early Renaissance
painting to cars and carriages, clothing and furniture from the turn of the 20th
century (known as the Guilded Age for any Art History buffs). Unfortunately, no pictures allowed in the home.
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| 1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost |
With
Day 3 upon us, we started the morning on a more casual note. We walked a local craft market for a couple
of hours and then headed to a very popular 34-acre shopping/dining district
known as the SouthSide Works. Many
interesting shops such as The Enrico Biscotti Company (purchased a bag for
Jeff), Pennsylvania Libations (tasted some but did not purchase homemade Rye Whiskey which was
pretty smooth at $80/btl) and then on to another deli for more pierogis (imagine
that!).
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Who are those tourists? |
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| Creme Pies also known as "Whoopie Pies" |
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| Just had to take one of these home. |
Pierogi Stop #3 ~
S&D Polish Deli
This
classic Polish store and deli is advertised as the heart of Poland in the heart
of the Strip. They offer hot pierogies
for lunch and dinner, and frozen pierogies to take home with you (they ship
nationwide, too). S&D’s pierogies are made with Polish flour, which they
say causes the dough to be soft and stretchy, resulting in pierogies that have
“a thin and delicate shell of dough.” They have 15 different types of
pierogies, including Mushroom, Strawberry, Kraut, Spinach and classic Potato
& Farmers Cheese. Awesome place to
people watch and critique the food.
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| Classic Poppy Seed Roll |
Once
again, into the car and heading to see a place called “Randyland”, where the
owner has a passion of making something worthwhile out of what is seen as
worthless. Over the years, Randy created
many pieces of steel art, in addition to 800 gardens, 50 vegetable gardens and
8 parks. Using recycled paint, wood and
things found in the alley ways he began applying these ideas into his building
and turning it into a giant outdoors art gallery.
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| As in "Where's Waldo" . . ."Where's Jill"????? |
As
I said earlier, I wasn’t going to give up not being able to keep up with Jill
and Angi. Next stop was to board the Gateway
Clipper for a one-hour sightseeing cruise along the three rivers of Pittsburgh
– the Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio.
The fleet is named after the city of Pittsburgh, which in earlier times
was known as the “Gateway to the West”.
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| PNC Park & Pittsburgh Pirates Stadium |
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| Pittsburgh Skyline as backdrop |
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| Stadium where Pittsburgh Steelers play |
Here
we go – back in the car to keep a 3:30 pm reservation to tour Frank Lloyd Wright’s
Fallingwater, but first travel the 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh to get to the
town of Mill Run. Fallingwater is one of
Wright’s most widely acclaimed works, and was designed in 1935 for the family
of Pittsburgh department store owner, Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. What’s key to the setting of the house is the
waterfall over which it is built. It is
interesting to note that the Kaufman’s indicated to Wright their desire to locate
their weekend house near them. Much to
their surprise, Wright designed the house to rise above the waterfall, rather
than face it. Fallingwater was the
weekend home of the Kaufmann family from 1937 until 1963, when the house, its
contents and grounds were entrusted to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy by
the surviving son, Edgar Kaufmann, Jr
Fallingwater
is the only major Wright work to come into the public domain with its setting,
original furnishings and artwork intact.
Day 4 and our last day in Pittsburgh before we had to head out to airport we just had to visit the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens - and our last (no, not our last!) pierogi stop.
The Phipps' Mission Statement is to inspire. And, that it does. The exhibits awaken your senses as you experience the importance of plants from around the world. Does it tell you something when I say that we toured the Orchid Room two times? Absolutely out of this world BEAUTIFUL. I want a garden like that, but don't think that the motorhome could support it at this time!
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| Dale Chihuly glass creation |
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| Can you make out this fun sculpture? |
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| One of the many rare orchid varieties in the Orchid Room |
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| The Desert Room and a Chihuly Chandelier |
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| Another Chihuly masterpiece |
Pierogi Stop #4 ~ Pierogi’s
Plus
Pierogies
Plus serves up pierogies (as they say) “like your Grandma used to make.”
They’ve been in business since 1991, and offer traditional pierogies (Cottage
Cheese & Chives and Hot Sausage pierogies are local favorites), along with specialty
pierogies, like Apricot & Cream Cheese and Reuben pierogies. They also
offer platters loaded with dishes like dumpling haluski and kielbasa. One extra
bonus: You can order online, and they’ll ship
anywhere you’d like. Also, you can also
purchase a CD instructing you how to make some Polish food.
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| Our "thumbs up" for PIT |
As
this deli was pretty much our last foodie stop, since were going to be getting
back into the car for the trip to the airport, you might ask – so, which one
did we like best? As with anything, each of the four stops – and believe me
when I tell you that there were plenty of other Polish deli’s that we could
have visited, we did enjoy each one in a different sort of way. Be it the people, the ambiance and of course,
the food, Jill, Angi and I enjoyed Pittsburgh.
The two Polish girls and one Fraulein did get REAL and met PIT, and we're glad that we did. Hope you enjoyed the trip too.
Hugs ~
