It’s freezing cold. It’s Light Up Night in Pittsburgh, so traffic is everywhere. Dr. MacNeil is nowhere to be found and it’s time to leave. But none of this can stop a Chatham Scholars group from making it to dinner at Aladdin’s Eatery in Squirrel Hill during mid November.
Upper class scholars with a free Friday evening, a car, and a craving for some good food volunteered to help shuttle this year’s class of first year Scholars to Aladdin’s and back. The group was joined by Dr. MacNeil (eventually) and Dr. Lenz, taking the total number of attendees up to about twenty. Tables had to be ushered together in the tiny, yet warm little restaurant to accommodate the large group. Scholars got to choose from a vast array of Middle Eastern cuisine that they were delighted to find was both tasty and healthy—except for maybe the odd, bright pink turnip as a sour surprise in a rolled pita. But they’re scholars; they managed to pick the unwelcome vegetable out and keep on eating.
The highlight of the evening, however, was surely dessert. Aladdin’s offered a vast array of cakes and cheesecakes for the group to choose from, each and every single one delicious. There were German chocolate cakes, cheesecakes in a variety of forms—traditional, baklava, strawberry, chocolate. The possibilities were endless, and it all seemed so excellent that the group had to order five separate slices of cheesecake and pass them around the table, each one taking a single bite before handing it over to the person beside them. Even then, some scholars couldn’t be satisfied and bought their own slices of cheesecake to eat.
After a delicious meal and too much dessert, all the scholars really wanted to do was return to their warm dorm rooms and maybe curl up with a book or movie, or even nod right off to sleep—but how could they when finals were just right around the corner?