Home & Lifestyle Archives - Pittsburgh Quarterly

This story is part of “The New Americans” series, a project of Pittsburgh Tomorrow. While food halls were having a moment in Pittsburgh, Asian food halls were having a moment elsewhere. “In bigger cities like New York, they have food halls just focused on Asian food,” says Alex Tang, who started Mola restaurant in East …

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Home & Lifestyle Homes

Starting Fresh

by Marylynn Uricchio

Most young couples embarking on a life together might buy a starter home, combine the furniture that survived their single days, and dream about a dream house. But not Alison and Matthew Weiss. They became engaged, bought a plot of land in Upper St. Clair, got married, built a house, and had a baby almost …

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Food & Wine Travel

Pass the Pasta

by Barbara Eichenlaub

As the hot days of summer wane and we get out our sweaters and jackets, our meals also transition from lighter fare and grilled foods to heartier, cozier options — including pasta.Rebecca Romagnoli has a passion for pasta, so much so that she makes it available to her customers at a variety of “involvement” levels …

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Home & Lifestyle Homes

Fun in the Sun

by Marylynn Uricchio

Though they had lived in Manhattan for 20 years, being stuck in an apartment with two children during COVID caused a young couple to consider a change. They had often visited his parents in Naples, Florida, and enjoyed it even more during the pandemic when the husband worked remotely. “We realized this could be our real …

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Travel

A Garden for All Seasons

by Barbara Eichenlaub

Western Pennsylvania is about to be invaded by massive bugs, but unlike the spotted lantern fly, these insects will be welcomed by throngs of visitors. “Big Bugs + Pollinators” is an installation of 10 gigantic, anatomically accurate sculptures of pollinators, insects and spiders that will be on display from June 15 to Sept. 15 at …

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Travel

The Wonders of Iceland

by Marylynn Uricchio

When you check into the luxurious Silica Hotel at Iceland’s famous Blue Lagoon, the receptionist mentions the possibility that the nearby volcano might erupt. The resort is built on lava fields that date back to the 1200s, but there are miles of fresh lava that stretch endlessly on either side of the highway in this …

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American Spirit Food & Wine

Quest for Cake

by Louise Gray

A birthday celebration calls for a birthday cake and gifts. As far as I’m concerned, forget about the gifts, but keep the cake. My love affair with birthday cakes began when I was four. Each morning on his way to work, my Uncle Eddie drove his two aunts and my mom to their jobs and …

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Home & Lifestyle Homes

Livable Luxury

by Marylynn Uricchio

Interior designers Lindsey Longacre and Kate Tomalis became close friends while working at Restoration Hardware. They discovered they shared a similar aesthetic, and as their friendship grew, so did the requests for help from customers that went beyond the scope of the store. “Clients continued to ask us to work on projects beyond picking furniture,” …

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Food & Wine

Cliff Forrest’s New Pittsburgh Brewing

by Evan Pattak

Glory Daze, the region’s annual extravaganza of vintage and custom motorcycles, is moving. This year’s show will take place Sept. 21, and it will be hosted by Pittsburgh Brewing Company. Wait, what? An event that draws up to 10,000 people is occurring at a brewery? Where they make Iron City and I.C. Light? Strange as …

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Travel

It’s Tapping Time!

by Barbara Eichenlaub

Most of us were taught that there were four seasons, but go to Hurry Hill Maple Farm Museum & Farm Stand in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, and you will learn about a fifth one. It’s sandwiched between winter and spring, during the time of mud and snow when the nights are still freezing and the days are …

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Food & Wine

Recipe for a Cookbook

by Lidey Heuck

I’ve loved cookbooks for as long I can remember, long before I ever fried an egg or roasted a chicken. I would take one off the shelf at my house while growing up, and leaf through it, absorbing the stories, places and foods, many of them foreign to me. One of the first cookbooks I remember …

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Food & Wine Home & Lifestyle

Launch Party in the Strip

by PQ Staff

Join Pittsburgh-native food writer Lidey Heuck on March 13 for a launch party to celebrate the publication of her first cookbook, “Cooking in Real Life.” Lidey is the former assistant to The Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, and is a recipe developer for the New York Times who also produces her own blog, lideylikes.com The event is in partnership …

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Food & Wine Home & Lifestyle Pittsburgh Immigration Pittsburgh Tomorrow

Bringing Spice to Pittsburgh

by Aakanksha Agarwal

In the heart of pittsburgh, amidst its rivers and bridges, a culinary revolution is taking place. It is a revolution of flavors and aromas, carried on the shoulders of immigrants who have brought their cherished recipes from distant lands. What do burritos, General Tso’s chicken and pizza have in common? They are all delectable creations …

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Home & Lifestyle Homes

Mid-Century Modernized

by Marylynn Uricchio

The house was unremarkable, a single-story, three-bedroom structure built in 1952 and designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, though who and exactly where the architect studied is unknown. What was remarkable, even extraordinary, was the setting. It abuts the Schenley Golf Course, with a sweeping view of the greens and beyond, to the …

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Food & Wine

Warm the Cockles of Your Heart with Chestnut Soup

by Lidey Heuck

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” — it’s an image that instantly evokes crackling logs and the warmth and cheer of the holidays. But how often are chestnuts actually on the menu? In Italy, where many of the chestnuts sold in the U.S. are grown, they’re popular in the fall and early winter, roasted by …

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Home & Lifestyle Homes

A Second Chapter

by Marylynn Uricchio

When most people become empty-nesters, they think about downsizing, buying a vacation home, perhaps, or seeing the world with their newfound freedom. But one Fox Chapel couple decided to pursue a different dream — staying home and making the renovations to their 1965 Colonial that years spent traveling with two children active in sports had …

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Food & Wine

Fall in the Apple Orchard

by Lidey Heuck

Apple orchards have always been a part of my family’s life. My dad grew up on an apple orchard in Cincinnati, helping to pick bushel baskets of apples each fall. My grandfather used an old cider press to make gallons of fresh cider, and my grandmother baked apples into pies and other treats. I never …

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Travel

Ohio’s Amish Country

by Barbara Eichenlaub

If you were lucky, at some point in your childhood, you collected a bunch of old boards, raided your dad’s toolbox, teamed up with your pals and built a treehouse. It might have been rickety, or so simple that it was basically a platform in a tree. But seen through the eyes of a child, …

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Food & Wine

A Simple Summer Treat

by Lidey Heuck

Farm fresh cherry tomatoes are one of summer’s most special and fleeting treats. It’s tough to beat eating them straight from the vine, but when I want to dress them up for company, I make these roasted tomato crostini, with creamy fresh ricotta cheese and a hint of heat from calabrian chili oil. While these …

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Travel

Going to Gettysburg

by Barbara Eichenlaub

The battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1-3, 1863, in temperatures nearing 90 degrees. Fighting in wool uniforms and long underwear, with water and food in scarce supply, the 160,000 troops struggled to survive under Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and Union Gen. George Meade, appointed to command the Army of the Potomac just …

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Travel

Two Pittsburghers on the Road Less Travelled

by Scott Bergstein

Even though we’ve been married for 15 years, Jessica and I converse. Usually, the exchange of thoughts happens as she drinks her morning tea and I, my coffee. The following comments are typical of what you might hear were you an early-rising fly on the wall of our living room. “There’s a new Asian restaurant …

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Homes

Design Happy

by Marylynn Uricchio

As a child, Betsy Wentz had the best playroom — the carriage house her mother Kay Wiegand used as the office for her interior design firm. It was packed with color, wallpaper, fabrics and furniture, instilling in Wentz a passion that guided her years later when she decided to switch careers. She had been a …

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