Year in Review

• First year without jb's mom
• First B&B experience (celebrating 6th anniversary in Baltimore)
• Bought our first home/moved back to Pittsburgh
• Selected as a Rockwood Fellow
• Fell through ceiling of new home
• Trip to SF w/ jb for EOC's wedding
• Larissa's Quincanera
• Began working from home
• Burgans move to Pittsburgh
• My family moves to Mexico
• National LGBT movement split over non-inclusive ENDA (work sucks)
• Bargained contract at work
• jb quit smoking
  
• Opened Hoi Polloi
  

Intrigue and Putty

Today we had two very special guests at Hoi Polloi. I'm afraid I can't disclose who they were in order to protect their privacy, but I assure you that I was very excited to see these mystery blonds in our cafe. Why the shroud of secrecy? Are they in witness proctection? Running from the law? Avoiding the flashbulbs of the paparazzi? Afraid of retribution from an enemy? The public will never know.

What I can share is that they came bearing kind wishes for the new year (and a bottle of sparkling wine!) and said that our oatmeal-cranberry cookies were delicious. Our mystery guests, whom I'll refer to as Paris and Nicole from here on out, hadn't seen the space since before any renovations and seemed impressed by how we've transformed the space. Paris and Nicole had recently been out to Cincinnati and told us about their adventures there as they enjoyed tea and a peppermint mocha.

In other news, I'm anxiously awaiting delivery of my order of Mighty Putty. As I've mentioned in other posts, many (MANY!) of our walls are simply exterior brick with a layer of 100 year old plaster. This makes it nearly impossible to to hang anything from curtain rods to shelves to these adorable bronze hooks shaped like tree branches I got for our bedroom. I'm a sucker for infomercials and since I've been watching about 8 hours of HGTV a day over my vacation I finally buckled. If it's nearly as effective as Billy Mays purports, I'll be one happy homeowner. (Interesting Pittsburgh Fact: Billy Mays, in all his full volume glory was born in McKees Rocks; who knew he'd go on to sell common epoxy to chumps like me.)

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and jb and I will be heading over to Ehrrin's for a toast. We are really looking forward to it since we haven't done anything social in some time - but there is some concern that jb may not make it to midnight. Hopefully we can work in a nap before we head over.

PPG

We were mentioned under the vegetarian section of Marlene Parrish's article on Food Trends in today's Pittsburgh Post Gazette!

Bah Humbug!

It is so interesting that of all the commercials centered around gift giving, so many featuring women giving men gifts involve gifts like razors or hats or pajamas, and so many commercials featuring men giving women gifts involve gifts along the lines of SUVs or 4 carat diamond earrings.

Nevermind that I think giving someone you share finances with a car is the most ridiculous thing ever, I'm really struck by the financial implications. "Ladies, take your allowance or the pocket money you make as a typist and buy your man a trinket you can afford." "Men, you are the breadwinner, why not make a major financial decision and surprise your little lady with it."

Ok, so maybe this post is overly cynical, but as the "breadwinner" of a household, I would certainly consult jb before purchasing a car. Even if I knew exactly the model and color she wanted, it would be an empty gesture to surprise her with it because it's still our money. Maybe other couples separate their finances more than we do, but you've got to be pretty freaking wealthy to buy a car with your personal funds.

Maybe I'm just being a grinch because I'm facing one more holiday without my family. Even Steph is going to Mexico for Christmas. She's leaving tomorrow. Luckily I got to spend some quality time with her today when she took me to get jb's christmas present. I love having sisters. It's the best.

Man, this post is so unlike me (at least the blogger me). I feel like I need to balance it out with some good news. Well, for the first time in my professional career I will be receiving a Holiday bonus! It couldn't come at a better time, too. Some will go towards debt, some will go towards gifts, and we already spent a bit of it on hiring help to clean our home. Best damn money I ever spent. Things had gotten so messy during the cafe crunch time that I was starting to feel like we'd never get caught up, but within four hours the house was in a respectable state and I feel like I can realistically take it from here. Hooray!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

The heat doesn't circulate very well in our apartment. We have one room that is virtually an oven (I originally typed "sauna" but it is devoid of any humidity) and every other room is rather cold. The coldest of these rooms is sadly the bathroom making that first bathroom visit of the morning a rude awakening. We put a space heater in there, but we can't keep it running all the time, so jb turns it on in the mornings when she gets up to open and it warms up a bit by the time I roll out of bed for work. High romance, in my opinion.

Why must American Express rub in the fact that there is no Pinkberry in Pittsburgh?

TGIF

I heart PGH

Pittsburgh Dish

Fridays are so bittersweet. They kick off the weekend (happy sleeping-in eve!), but on the other hand, they are the day that my weekly report for work is due and I always panic that I haven't done enough over the week and am scrambling to go over all my e-mails searching for proof of productivity. This could easily be prevented by keeping a list of tasks throughout the week and simply adding finishing touches on Friday, but this goes against everything my procrastinating a** stands for.

This weekend I'm hoping to give some much needed attention to our living quarters. Prior to opening all we had time to do was make mess after mess up here, and now after a week of catching up on sleep, it's time to bring the apartment back to a livable standard. Not the most exiting weekend plans, but I'm looking forward to some home time.

I've gotten some requests for "before pictures" of the cafe, so I'm posting a couple. Now that the cafe is all cozy it's easy to feel like it's always been like this.

Breaking News

Pop City Media's article on Hoi Polloi!

Daniel was nice enough to hold down the fort for a couple hours last night so Jessica and I could enjoy a celebratory dinner at Sassy Marie's. It was so nice to get away from the shop and spend time alone! And we've only been open for five days!

Daily Grind

Remember when I used to blog about stuff besides the cafe? Yeah, me neither. Well, today is my first day back at work in what seems like years. It's so weird that life just goes on as usual except that now there is a cafe downstairs.

Getting back to work has been hard - in addition to the avalanche of e-mail I'm digging out of, my head just isn't back into it yet. This morning when I was trying to assemble a to do list I was having trouble remembering the names of some of our chapter leaders. I'm sure that I'll get back into the swing of things soon enough, activism is like riding a bike, right?

I'm really looking forward to when our website is up. Our friend Luke (who also did our menu boards) is working on it as a project for one of his classes. Right now, this has been acting as the makeshift website (hence the menu post), but I'm sure people will be relieved when they can look up our hours and address without having to scroll through my personal entries.

My mom is going back to Mexico tomorrow. It was so great to have her here for the opening (and not just because she scraped the crud off our oven). I really wish my dad and Larissa and Nick could be here. It sounds like they may be able to visit in the next month or two - which will make the opening complete!

Menu

Hoi Polloi

…fueling the masses

where to find us:

1100 Galveston Ave.
(Corner of W. North Ave.)

when to find us:

monday-thursday: 6 am - 9 pm
friday: 6 am - 10 pm
saturday: 7 am -10 pm
sunday: 1 pm - 9 pm

Now Open!!! A down-to-earth offering of coffees, teas, juices, and wholesome food. Nothing too fancy or complicated.

Coffee & Espresso

Coffee

Au Lait

Shot in the Dark

Espresso

Americano

Macchiato

Latte/Cappuccino

Iced Coffee

Flavored Latte

Mocha

Other Drinks

Tea

Chai Latte

Hot Cocoa

Fresh Juice

Lemonade

Smoothie

Milk/Steamer

Italian Soda

Teas: white orange spice, moroccan mint, jasmine green, chamomile lemon, berry black

Flavored Syrups: vanilla, sugar free vanilla, caramel, orange, raspberry, strawberry, lemon, cherry, lemon, almond, maple, cinnamon

Breakfast & Baked Goods

Muffin, Scone, Bread or Cookie

Yogurt Parfait: yogurt, granola and fruit

Oatmeal: with your choice of two toppings (brown sugar, raisins, walnuts, dried cranberries, almonds, fresh fruit, honey)

Fruit Salad: mix of fresh fruits with a touch of honey and cinnamon

Granola: served with milk or yogurt

Cereal: served with milk, add fresh fruit

Bagel: toasted, add topping (cream cheese, peanut butter, jam, nutella, or butter)

Soups

Soup of the Day: fresh and varied

Chili: vegetarian chili with sour cream or cheese

Sandwiches

Grilled Cheese: two cheeses and tomato grilled on sourdough

PB&J: peanut butter paired with apricot or strawberry jam with sliced banana on toasted farm bread

Tomato & Mozzarella Quesadilla: grilled with a touch of basil pesto between two whole wheat tortillas

Grilled Nutella: chocolate hazelnut spread with banana slices on toasted farm bread

Veggie Burger: veggie patty with lettuce, tomato, red onion, sprouts and wasabi mayonnaise

Mango Wrap: black beans, brown rice and mango salsa in a whole wheat tortilla

Roasted Veggie Sandwich: roasted vegetables, sprouts and garlic hummus on toasted sourdough

Salads

Garden: mixed greens, grape tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber, carrot, choice of dressing

Spinach: spinach, walnuts, apple, feta and choice of dressing

Vitals

Hoi Polloi
...fueling the masses

where to find us:
110 galveston ave.

when to find us:
monday-thursday: 6 am - 9 pm
friday: 6 am - 10 pm
saturday: 8 am -10 pm
sunday: 1 pm - 9 pm

now open! a down-to-earth offering of coffees, teas, juices, and wholesome food

Openin Day

We opened today. I haven't slept in a long, long time. A lot has happened over the last week. I'm really not up for typing much but I'll post some pictures.

4,3,2,1

We open on Thursday. Hard to believe, but true. I've been gone for a week for work (awful timing for a trip) and I can barely believe how much was done while I was gone. Jb's family, my family, our friends have all been coming by and painting, scrubbing floors, disinfecting bathrooms, de-greasing ovens, and supporting jb as she pulls off the impossible. I'm so grateful, not only for the help, but for knowing that jb was surrounded by help and love while I was away. I felt so guilty not being here, but it was a lot easier hearing about the constant stream of people helping out back home. Luckily, there is plenty left to do so I can start appeasing my guilt with a little elbow grease.

Today was the one year anniversary of the day jb's mom passed away. We had family and friends over to remember her. My mom and Rik came over while jb's family was at church and cooked and we hosted downstairs in the cafe. While in a lot of ways her death is still so raw, so much has happened over the last year it's hard to believe it hasn't been a lifetime.

My work trip was for a leadership retreat in Sonoma, CA. The retreat is part of a fellowship I was accepted into earlier this year and focused on women working towards racial justice. It was a great training, even if it was a bit Berkley-tastic for my taste. Once I was able to let go of my east-coast cynicism and get past the the cheesier pieces (we actually held hands and sang) there were some really valuable exercises in identifying our strengths and areas for improvement as well as strategies for achieving goals. The best part though was connecting with other women from around the country (well maybe that and the food). While I wish it would have been at a time when my head wasn't stuck at home, it was really good for me because my work was beginning to feel stale to me and now I'm feeling much more motivated and full of potential. It was also nice to be in such beautiful surroundings, cut off from internet access and television, and in the midst of California's finest wineries. Whole new respect for California wine.