Yesterday, I was one of six kids who were finalists in a painting contest to make paintings for the little boy character in a pilot for a TV movie called Locke & Key (based on a graphic novel by Steven King's son Joe Hill) - I had made three BIG paintings two weeks ago as a tryout and they liked them! The contest finals were at my school and my friend Natalka was the only other Waldorf kid there; my dad wouldn't let me look at the book that the movie is based on (he said that it was a graphic graphic novel), but I had to make one painting from one of the pages.

Because we were all so tired afterward, we decided to go out and celebrate with SUSHI! We went to the New Dumpling House in Squirrel Hill that has Chinese food on one side and an AWESOME sushi bar on the other. We sat at the sushi bar because I like to see the sushi chefs cutting the fresh fish and putting the sushi together. I also like the sushi at Plum in Eastside but this sushi is a bit more affordable at New Dumpling House and we enjoy talking with the sushi chef. My favorite is the super white tuna sashimi and our sushi chef Ching split it nicely and carefully put a tiny spoon of black tobikko (herring roe) inside with the tiniest thin slice of lemon. As my dad says: DEE-LISH!

Vanilla Pastry Studio

My dad always asks for cupcakes to celebrate his birthday, rather than a usual cake, because, as he says, "A cupcake is like your own personal party." (The truth is that he doesn't like to share his cake.)

Vanilla Pastry Studio's cupcakes, in the East Liberty area of Pittsburgh, beat homemade (my mom is cringing). I love homemade cupcakes - they're the right texture - they're just not quite the right taste. My favorite cupcakes at Vanilla so far are: the Red Velvet and Lemon (I haven't had any of their other ones yet, but I'm sure they will all be my favorite too). They use little ball-like decorations that are like nonpareils (my mom's word) but nonpareils are usually too hard. Vanilla's are like tiny rice balls with a metal looking coating - but it is really shiny sugar.

It all started . . .

. . . on December 23rd, having dinner at Habitat at the Fairmont Hotel in Pittsburgh before going to see A Musical Christmas Carol. The service was a little confused and slow at first, but then Raj, our server, worked to change things, and then miraculous FOOD (and hot chocolate) arrived at our table.

You see, I started the "Mac & Cheese" tour 2-3 years ago, and Habitat's Mac & Cheese now ranks #1 on the list. The noodles were big and curly, and the cheese sauce was better than anything I've had so far. It wasn't crusty, hard, and dry like Max & Erma's (when our server snuck out for a smoke while our food shriveled under the hot lamps). Habitat's Mac & Cheese was THE BEST. The chef has kids - no wonder the Mac & Cheese was so great - and I've never been to a fancy restaurant where they had a kid's menu . . . Habitat gets big points for being SMART too.