We came up with this Achievement because I thought it only fair to have Michael experience the joy that is the local Pittsburgh festival. Having not grown up in the city, he missed out on this childhood rite of passage, and never did he get the opportunity to play over/under at the fireman’s carnival, or try to play Bingo with the cutthroat old chainsmoking ladies at the local church fair.
Then, of course, came the question of which festival to attend. All summer, signs are posted for the upcoming festivals and fairs, and they are literally all around the city. But when it came time for the final decision, we thought of our lives in Oakland, and the answer was clear: we would check out the famous Greek Food Festival!
This festival is held each year at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Oakland, just across the way from the Carnegie Museum. Every year, we would get flyers in our mailbox for the event, but somehow, despite all that time in Oakland, neither of us had ever been. Apparently, they have all sorts of exciting things like dancing and music, but really, we just wanted to try the Greek food (even though I may have been the tiniest bit intimidated by Greek food because of those terrifying slabs of spinning gyro meat they have at the Regatta every year).
Here is our plate of deliciousness. We got a bunch of different ala carte things to sample. The bottom left corner is the spanikopita (fillo pastry filled with feta cheese and spinach), above that is souzoukakia (meatballs in tomato wine sauce), and next to that is a dolmathe (herbs and rice in a marinated grape leaf). The other things in the picture are my Turner’s raspberry iced tea carton (not my favorite, Marburger farms, but close enough) and ‘Greek fries.’ By Greek fries, they mean fries covered in feta cheese. Whatever, I am not picky!
Here I am, sampling the spanikopita. I found it to be very yummy!
And here we are inside the tent, enjoying our yummy lunch.
The sign outside the festival as we were walking back to Squirrel Hill.