With family festivities and my official birthday behind me, I came home to Pittsburgh a changed woman... well, at least, an older woman. At the ripe age of 28, I was ready for a week of post-birthday partying. To start things off early in the week, Mystery picked me up (you knew that was coming, didn't you?) one rainy evening for dinner at Kaya. I've been meaning to try Kaya for some time now, and so when Mystery suggested it for a birthday dinner, I was anxious to give it a go. The ambiance was warm and festive and a corner table was a welcome hideaway, though being an early weekday evening, the restaurant was by no means crowded.

Inside Kaya

On Mystery's recommendation, we got a carafe of red sangria. It was light, refreshing, and not too sweet, served in tall, elegant wine glasses. We decided to do tapas so to get a wider selection of Kaya's offerings. To start out, we ordered the hot black bean dip which came with spiced sweet potato chips. I like just about anything that includes black beans and/or sweet potatoes, but both? It was a yummy combination, and the bean dip was true to its name, that is, unabashedly spicy. Our tapas selections that evening included the scallops, the salmon and crab cakes and a vegtable medley with chorizo sausage and shiitake mushrooms. The scallops were perhaps the most amazing scallops I have ever eaten. Spiced and braised brown on both sides, these huge sea scallops were perfectly done, so tender and silky that they sliced like a steak. No joke. The salmon and crab cakes were nothing to complain about, but I was expecting something more phenomenally delicious... being salmon and crab, after all. But they were just of average tastiness. The sausage and mushroom medley was quite good itself, though the sausage was a little hard for my taste. The shiitake mushrooms were the highlight of the dish, tender and subtle, I wouldn't have complained about a more shiitake-dominant medley.

Sabrina and Ted at Kelly's

Later in the week, Friday, it was out on the town yet again, this time to Kelly's in East Liberty for cocktails and their infamous macaroni n' cheese. Sabrina and I showed up early for a round of cosmos (Friday is Kelly's $4 cosmo special) and girl talk. The cosmos at Kelly's, I'm happy to report, are excellent. The problem with cosmopolitans is that a lot of bars treat them like a mixed drink, rather than a martini-strength drink. Cosmos are supposed to be mostly vodka with just a dash each of triple sec, lime juice and cranberry juice, but a lot of bars go way too heavy on the juices. Not so, at Kelly's. The cosmos came in their own individual cocktail shakers, which the waitress poured at our table. They were pale pink and appropriately tart. We were soon joined by Ted and Mystery, whereupon we placed our orders for the notorious Kelly's macaroni and cheese. The Kelly's mac n' cheese turns out to be everything one could imagine, complete with breadcrumbs and bubbly cheese on top. And while this baked concoction is full of rich velvety cheese, the skill of this dish is that the macaroni isn't too squishy (which is the danger of over-baking pasta; cheese is harder to over-bake). I was glad I elected the small size of macaroni and cheese because it turned out to be just enough, satisfying but not overly filling.

Krobar

After finishing our macaroni and cheese, we continued on to Krobar, a new-ish Top 40 dance club in the Strip. The crowd was a little thin upon first arrival, but we got there early enough to be waved in with no cover charge, and given the priviledge of free drinks. That's right, free drinks. From 9-11pm, Krobar offers well drinks free of charge. Now, we quickly found out that these free drinks were pretty light on the booze, but still... who can really complain about free drinks? The crowd gathered slowly, and the dance floor was slow to get busy. The DJ played, disappointingly, several awesome dance songs early on before the floor was appropriately hoppin'. It should be noted at this juncture that there are actually two dance floors at Krobar, the regular dance floor and the VIP dance floor.

Watch out! Domenico is after the ladies of Krobar!

We ventured first to the VIP dance floor, as it seemed more crowded. We soon realized that it was indeed crowded... with women. As it turned out, that night, MTV was having a casting call for a new dating reality show, and so Pittsburgh gals where there in full force to audition for TV's newest twist on The Bachelor. Luckily it was only a matter of time before both dance floors were busy and we finally hit the floor to Timbaland's "The Way I Are." All in all, the dancing was great, though some peculiarities did become apparent. First, the DJ was playing the radio edit versions of every song that normally has explicit lyrics. What's up with that? We're at an over-21 club, who's getting offended? Also, on the sometimes plus- sometimes minus-side, the DJ played a greater variety of music than just hip hop, tossing in some international club fare here and there. Sometimes this was good... it's fun to hear Darude's Sandstorm actually played at a club, but in some cases the DJ's choice of music cleared the floor (apparently Krobar regulars aren't fans of Daft Punk),

Sabrina and Ted bring sexy back at Krobar

and being a relatively small dance floor it didn't take too many dissenters to empty it out. For the most part, fun club, good specials, highly-dancable music selection... I will most certainly go back.

And so, I went home from Krobar bolstered by belated birthday fun... but wait! After one particularly lazy Saturday, I found myself back out on the town for birthday celebration. Only, it wasn't my birthday this time. Here I went and celebrated my birthday for so long, I nearly ran into Neilbert's birthday!

While Neilbert's birthday does not tend to occur in or around any particular holiday, he does have the strange fortune for his birthday to fall the day before his mother's birthday. This typically means that Neilbert is in Salamanca the weekend of his birthday, and this year was no exception. So, to celebrate among the immediate family, Saundra took the three of us out to dinner Sunday night at Eleven in the Strip (suspiciously close to but markedly unlike Krobar).

Eleven

Eleven is the rare sort of Pittsburgh restaurant where you can find haute cuisine and uber-chic dining. Neilbert and Saundra had been there once before, but that Sunday was my first time. Eleven, I must say, is the sort of restaurant that makes me feel better (though, by no means good) about the fact that Laforet is now defunct. Unlike Laforet, Eleven swings toward a marriage of traditional and contemporary cuisine. For my first course I ordered the house specialty arugula salad which comes with... get this, Lamb Bacon. Yes, folks, at Eleven they use clever cuts of lamb for the express purpose of making lamb bacon. It was heavenly... but I'm just one of those crazy people who loves lamb and loves bacon... For the main course I had duck, which couldn't have been tastier. A generous serving of duck breast left a little rare in the middle, served with an amazing concoction of broccoli and nuts. Very late autumn, very yummy. Eleven, watch out, I'm coming back some day for the tasting menu!

Me, Neilbert and Star Trek Season 7

From there it was home to the abode of Neilbert and Saundra for the opening of gifts. This was a particularly momentous occasion because it represented the end of an era. On that fateful Sunday night I gave to Neilbert... drum roll please... Season 7 of Star Trek: TNG. The last season of TNG on DVD is now in Neilbert's possession, which means we will move seamlessly as usual from Season 6 to the end of the series, and come next Father's Day Neilbert will be getting... Voyager Season 1? Cringe. This means of course I have to watch Voyager. Not just watch it, but buy it too. Hmm... well, I guess time will tell. I suppose I should be fair and give Voyager a fighting chance. But no Picard? No Data? No Giordi? And in return we get Seven of Nine? Hmm... crafty, crafty Neilbert...

Check out more pictures of our birthday celebrations in my Facebook album.