ease on down, down the road
and the poached egg on top of an egg scrambled into lemony sorrel over toasted brioche slices looked a little different than the breakfast sandwiches my wonderful friend Fil and I found a few days later, at a grill hidden inside a gas station on the way to Braddock, Pennsylvania on Monday, May 10th.
We unwrapped the foil to find our hash browns inside the sandwich of fried eggs, bacon, and mayonnaise—road food for a marathon day of driving.
A few hours later, we smiled at the sparkling mosaic sign in Braddock, Pennsylvania, proof of the artist communities that have formed here,
in this place that was once only known for steel.
We followed the signs around town, finding our way from one of the post offices to Braddock Farms,
gardens thriving near the steel mills,
with strawberries almost ready,
beds of flowers,
squares of dark, leafy greens,
and wider beds of tiny lettuces.
And even in abandoned buildings, we looked closely to see green growing on rooftops.
Different parts of this Pittsburgh suburb governed by Mayor Fetterman (who spoke at PopTech 2009 about his changing community) have architecture from different eras,
the oldest we found being the impressive Carnegie Library and its female herald of literary knowledge.
In the afternoon, we followed the yellow bridge road toward Ohio,
making our second road food stop at Henry’s restaurant in West Jefferson.
It was difficult deciding between the specials,
so Fil and I agreed to focus more on the dessert options.
The table was filled with corn, cole slaw, fried mushrooms, beets, and beef with noodles,
but it was the rhubarb pie that won Fil’s heart,
and the butterscotch meringue mine.
Singing all the way to Wilmington, Ohio, we met up with PopTech Fellow Mark Rembert who, with Taylor Stuckert (who was on a road trip himself) is energizing Clinton County, a community very different from Braddock in its reshaping for this new century.
After a tour of town and talk of local politics, Fil and I headed toward Chicago through the rain, battling fatigue with music, caffeine, and sporks.
On Tuesday morning, we readied for a day of preparation for the PopTech social mapping workshop and salon with breakfast omelettes at a Taste of Heaven (I really like how they serve vegetables like green beans alongside) with Fil’s good friend Erin, and I left with slices of carrot cake and morning bread with poppy seeds as snacks.
The carrot cake brightened an overcast day as I drove around West Chicago neighborhoods with my colleague Beth who directed filmmaker Daniel on interviews with Ceasefire “Interrupters” (look for her excellent video work on the PopTech salons page soon).
Wednesday was a full day of thinkers and creators listening and trying to think through solutions for timely crisis mapping and responding, capped with a full room of salon attendees, including women I greatly admire, PopTech Fellow Hayat Sindi of Diagnostics For All and PopTech Fellows Director Leetha Filderman, who are standing in front of Peter Durand‘s graphic report of the salon (Peter inspires me too).
Delayed by rains, my sister Kat’s flight landed in time for her to join us for the Chicago salon and reception, and that night we began to plot our route westward…
Related posts:
Leave a Reply
Posted by Kristen Taylor on Friday, May 21st, 2010, 3:25 pm * Filed in Food, Photography, Travel. * Tags: chicago, fil, kristen, kthread, taylor. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
