Back in Queen Ida's Court

The visit to Pittsburgh went well. It was great to see everyone in Pittsburgh and Philly. Aside from seeing friends and family, there were a few extra fun highlights:

• Learning how to make limoncello - very tasty, and you can't go wrong with vodka. Much thanks to Rich for passing on this invaluable knowledge, which I will heartily exploit en Louisienne.
• Playing with liquid nitrogen in Pitt's Chemistry Department - every guy has an inner ten-year-old that must pop up from time to time. This is a rule - my dissertation director at Duquesne was a *huge* roller coaster fanatic, when he wasn't lecturing medical students and guiding hospital policy.
• Finally seeing the Critical Care Nephrology textbook published - I had an ear-to-ear grin finally seeing my name in print in a hefty textbook.
• New Year's Eve at Kaya - Great food, great fun, great company.

But all good things must come to an end, and with that end comes the return to Louisiana.

As a parting gift before my departure for the New World, my mother and I went shopping in Pittsburgh's Strip District, which is as close to shopping in Europe as you are likely to get outside of, well, Europe. It's very much akin to the Naschmarkt in Vienna or the weekend markets my mother and I went to twenty years ago in Ferney-Voltaire (France). It is an extraordinary collection of specialty shops, ethnic foods (Far East, Near East, Eurasian, etc.), and outdoor vendors plying art, clothing, and Steelers merchandise (albeit a little bit more Steelers merchandise than you would find in Vienna).

Our first stop netted Asian vegetables and mushrooms. Please note that mushrooms are not food - I will explain why not in future entries. More important than the fungus and the threat it poses to humanity, however, were the noodles. I am grateful to contemporary electronics that enable me to take pictures on my cell phone - it gets a bit conspicuous to carry around a full-size camera (or even a point-and-shoot) at times. It is important to be able to document random and funny things on the fly:

My Dragon Style Kung Fu is mighty, and high in protein.

After the Chinese grocery and Labab's for some hummus and baba ganoush, we went to an excellent specialty coffee shop, where I picked up some French Vanilla beans, along with "Burgh Blend". With grinders on the premises, the shop has a marvelous melange of smells. My car has smelled of many things over the years, and I'm happy that for the 20 hours it took to get back, it smelled of incredible coffee and Italian cookies.

After coffee we went to the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, which is, by far, Mecca for good food in Pittsburgh. Fresh pastas, hundreds of cheeses and meats, sauces, breads, homemade olive oil, and other saliva-inducing products. They carry giant, dried fish, which, unlike Jesus, they clearly would prefer you not to divide:

F*** the multitudes...

In addition to the violence-inducing fish, they carry a variety of hot sauces. There were too many to photograph, but four caught my eye:

As a cook of decent skill, I can tell you that one of the first things I was taught was that the quality of one's cuisine is directly proportional to the explosiveness of the bowel movements it produces. Have I mentioned I make a great chili?

Bidding PennMac a fond farewell with the knowledge that they will ship anywhere in the country, it was time to hit the interstate.

After an all-too-brief but meaningful stop in Ohio, it was on to Kentucky and regions Southern.

+++++

There are rules governing men's bathrooms that are almost instinctual in the male of the species. Ethologists will tell you about hard-wired animals behaviors regarding mating, rearing of off-spring, and personal displays. Male bathrooms have specific rules regarding where to stand, when to speak (almost never), and what activities are okay. Cameras and men's rooms are almost mutually exclusive, especially once one moves South of the Mason-Dixon line, which is why I had to be stealthy with my cell phone, for there were some things I encountered on my trip down that simply had to be recorded for posterity.

Kentucky was the worst offender, for three reasons:

Reason #1: The Tingler Ring, evidently designed by the Marquis de Sade.

Reason #2: Horny Goat Weed - a substance *to be ingested* sold in the men's room

Reason #3: Cologne to be applied to the face, in the men's room

As much of a men's room violation as it is to bring in a picture-taking device, I am convinced that these offenses are worse. I am used to seeing condom machines in bathrooms, just not one's with goth-style spikes on them. I am not, however, used to seeing something either meant to be eaten or applied to one's face. I did not take a picture of the rest of the bathroom for a reason, and I was, in all honesty, wondering if there were some quantum mechanical way in which I could simply pass through all of the matter contained therein rather than touching anything. And they want you to eat these/rub them on your face. I say unto thee that this is an abomination in the eyes of Infection Control...

The remainder of the trip was fairly uneventful - just lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of driving, a brief nap near Jackson Tennessee, and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of driving back to Lake Charles. It was beautiful and sunny upon my arrival (19 degrees in Pittsburgh, 75 degrees in Lake Charles), but it was far more important to me to be able to nap instead of enjoying the Vitamin D.

Dawn in Mississippi

The semester begins anew tomorrow. The syllabi have been printed, the notes are being updated and uploaded, and the campus activity is picking up.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...

Alles Gute.