Lifestyles category, Page 145
Out & About: Bethlehem Project raffle helps fight homelessness
“Home for the Holidays” was the theme of a raffle party held Dec. 15 at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg — a fitting title for a project that fights homelessness in central Westmoreland County. The Bethlehem Project began in 1998 in response to homeless and near-homeless people requesting help from...
Remember When: Dec. 23
100 years ago 5,580 youngsters get Christmas sweets New Kensington city hall on Fourth Avenue was the site of Community Christmas tree exercises where 5,850 boxes of candy were distributed to children. The Moose Lodge 53 band entertained at the holiday program. 75 years ago Rural school still snowbound West...
Living with Children: What did I think of Mr. Rogers?
With the release of “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” inquiring minds want to know: What did I think of Mr. Rogers? I never met the man, but in the early days of my fatherhood, I watched Rogers’ show enough to figure out that as was also the case with...
Pull up a chair and leave holiday dinners to the professionals
For some holiday celebrants, the greatest gift is a night off from kitchen duty. Several area restaurants will be open Christmas Eve, including Bahama Breeze Island Grille, with a location in Robinson Township, and Braddock’s Rebellion, also open Christmas Day, 107 Sixthth St., Pittsburgh. If you can’t escape to the...
Travel tip: Holiday travel delays more likely at certain airports
From overbooked flights to weather-related complications, holiday air travel can be stressful. AirHelp, a website with information on air passenger rights, says these airports experienced the most disruptions — such as delays, cancellations and overbookings — during Christmas 2018: 1. Chicago O’Hare International Airport 2. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport 3....
Learn how to ID, harvest edible fiddleheads this spring
Have you ever eaten a fiddlehead fern before? They’re really a gourmet delight. Among the earliest edible items you can forage from a forest (or better still, from your backyard), fiddleheads have become a popular seasonal ingredient among chefs and those who enjoy eating unique foods. In fact, they’ve become...
Warby Parker to open at Ross Park Mall
Warby Parker, a business that provides prescription eyewear, is opening a store Saturday at Ross Park Mall. The first Pittsburgh-area Warby Parker location opened in East Liberty two years ago. The new location offers eye exams and contact lens fittings by appointment and accepts most insurance. “Inside you’ll find design...
A tale of 3 Santas: They’re making the holidays extra special
What makes Santa Claus, well, Santa? Beyond the red suit, sack full of gifts and general jolliness, it may come down to how he relates to the smallest among us. If children look past the generous belly, twinkling eyes and white beard and believe, truly believe, then Santa is Santa....
There’s a Pittsburgh spin on this line of nail polishVideo
Christmas is less than one week away. Still in need of a stocking stuffer or two, maybe a small but glam gift for a work party, or Secret Santa present? How about some Chipped Ham? Church Pierogi? Cookie Table? There’s nothing edible about those gifts, just three of the fun,...
Winter cacti are hard to name but easy to grow
Years ago, I had one of those spineless cacti that once a year splash colorful flowers out the ends of their flat, arching stems. Such plants are usually named for when they are supposed to bloom: Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter cacti. I just call them “holiday” cacti because they rarely...
New plants sure to make 2020 gardens lush, colorful
Every year we see new and interesting plants introduced. It’s exciting to see what gardening professionals are interested in growing this season. Cultivate ’19 is a trade show spanning eight acres at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. During a visit to Cultivate over the summer, those pros showed some exciting...
How to manage mosquitoes next gardening season
Question: We had so many mosquitoes in our yard last summer. I’d like to know if there’s anything we can do in advance of the coming season to keep them away. I see there are companies that spray, but I don’t know what they spray and I’m sure that whatever...
How Christmas decorations sent hundreds to the ER last year
On the first day of Christmas, the universe gave to me: A new toy and an injury … OK. That was bad. But things were worse for the 423 people who had a not-so-joyous Christmas last year, thanks to the injuries that sent them to emergency rooms because of the...
Tilted toilets nudge employees back to work
Are you reading this on the toilet? Many people find restroom stalls to be the perfect retreat for catching up on emails, social media or the day’s news on their phones. The theory is that we spend more time in the privy than is necessary to do our biological business....
Laurel Highlands lands on Travel Lemming’s Top 5 list
What do the Laurel Highlands; Lausanne, Switzerland; Prince Edward Island, Canada; McLaren Vale, South Australia; and Nova Scotia, Canada, have in common? They are the five winners of the travel site TravelLemming.com’s annual Reader Awards, following an online competition among 30 emerging travel destinations on the site’s annual list of...
How to avoid giving bad holiday giftsVideo
We’ve all been there – heading to the store to return a gift the day after Christmas, because it was the wrong size, the wrong color, or the just plain wrong present. Nobody wants to be the person who gives the bad holiday gift. But how is it truly avoidable?...
Snap a photo with Santa and a penguin at National Aviary session
Talk about being poles apart — Santa Claus hails from the North Pole, while penguins hang out at the South Pole. But on Dec. 21, they’ll come together for a photo opportunity at the National Aviary. Photos With Santa and a Penguin is scheduled for 11 a.m.-1 p.m. that day...
How to host a holiday party on a budget
’Tis the season to eat, drink and be merry! That being said, when you’re hosting friends and family for the holidays, your grocery bill can easily double or even triple in no time. All that extra spending can add to the stress of the season, especially if you still have...
How not to ruin that pricy piece of meat in the holiday meal
Nothing says “celebration” like a ridiculously expensive piece of meat. Well, that’s not really true, but this is the time of year for splurging, in dollars and eating. And with apologies to all the vegetarians out there, few things are as impressive an anchor to a festive meal as an...
What’s Brewing? Beers for holiday cheers
There’s a chill in the air and the holiday season is in full swing. Pumpkin and Oktoberfest beers have been cleared off the shelves and out of the taps to make way for the seasonal varieties and Christmas ales we enjoy each year. Holiday brews, which are sometimes referred to...
TribLive Test: Squeak natural cleaning productsVideo
This week, our TribLive Taste Test, well, it doesn’t involve any tasting. If it did, we’d probably be testing the effectiveness of our local emergency room staff, since this week’s test was on all-natural cleaning products from Squeak. The Squeak line of products was created by a mother of three...
Kennywood’s Steel Curtain finishes 10th in coaster rankingVideo
Kennywood’s newest roller coaster made the list of best steel coasters of the past decade — barely. Coaster101.com last week ranked the top steel roller coasters that opened from 2010 through 2019 and Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain took the tenth spot. The coaster’s nine inversion are a North American record and...
2nd Alta Via to open in McCandless; new Big Burrito eatery coming to Lawrenceville
Big Burrito Restaurant Group continues to expand. The company announced Tuesday it planned to opened a second Alta Via restaurant in McCandless and had another eatery in the works for Lawrenceville. The first Alta Via, an Italian restaurant, opened in April in O’Hara. The second location will be at 5300...
Study: Americans will spend more than $5.5B on Christmas trees in 2019
Martins Christmas Tree Farm is getting a bigger share of more than $5.5 billion Americans will spend on Christmas trees, and the Rostraver business has been a victim of its own success. “Last year was our best year,” said owner Brad Martin, who recently took the farm over after his...
Out & About: Magic of ‘The Nutcracker’ returns to The Palace stageVideo
A girl receives a nutcracker on Christmas eve, and the gift comes to life and wages a battle against an evil rat king. It’s an 1816 tale from Prussian author E.T.A. Hoffmann, adapted into a well-loved ballet in 1892 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreographers Marius Petipa and...
