Lifestyles category, Page 175
The best ground covers for slopes
Question: I have a fairly steep bank in my backyard that is very difficult to mow. It is partly sunny. What would be a good ground cover to plant that would look nice and solve my problem? Thanks so much! Answer: The slopes of Western Pennsylvania certainly cause issues for...
Vandergrift children’s garden much more than just digging in the dirt
Addison Uskuraitis, 11, is painstakingly pulling weeds around a raised bed filled with dinosaur kale. When asked if she would enjoy eating the kale, even served with bacon, she recoiled and responded with a hearty “No!” It’s the tomatoes growing in another part of the bed of this Vandergrift community...
Cancer-safe grilling: Add marinade, forget the hot dog and other tips
By all means, do grill for summer holidays. But you can cut your exposure to potential cancer-causing agents by tweaking the menu and method of cooking, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). Grilling and cooking meat at high temperatures can create several cancer-causing substances that are either...
Red, white and blue treats for the Fourth of July
Before you head out the door to that fabulous Independence Day picnic, grab a few simple ingredients and make these delicious star-spangled treats. Star-Spangled Sangria This popular Spanish drink gets a red, white and blue makeover in this Star-Spangled Sangria recipe. Enjoy this festive drink on the Fourth of July...
Soul-food restaurant to open in West Mifflin Walmart
Soul food restaurant Cornbread, described as fast-casual farm-to-table, will open the first of three area sites in the Walmart at 2351 Century Drive, West Mifflin. Doors at the leased space will open at 11 a.m. July 5, with locations at the Walmarts in Frazer and Hempfield set to open before...
Moon Township garden tour includes 2 sites with water features
The Moon Township Garden Tour is planned for 10 a.m.-2 p.m. July 6, featuring six gardens throughout the township. Two of the gardens have water features with koi fish. Cost for the tour is $10 in advance and $15 day of the tour. Pre-purchase is available at eventbrite.com. From 9...
What’s Brewing? IPAs up close and personal
In this part 2 of 2, let’s continue our look at some of the various types of IPAs. With so many being offered, how do we know which one to pick? They’re not all bitter nor are they all hazy, juicy, dank or fruity. Hopefully, this will provide some guidance...
First Greensburg Restaurant Week coming in August
The first Greensburg Restaurant Week will celebrate the city’s culinary scene in August, with 17 restaurants offering discount deals and special menus. “We wanted to bring more awareness to small businesses,” said Ashley Kertes, director of Think Greensburg, which is organizing the event. “We have a really great selection of...
Penn State master gardeners will host open house in Hempfield
A little over a year ago, master gardeners from the Penn State Extension in Hempfield planted a garden to test the truth of plants traditionally labeled as “deer-resistant.” At this year’s Penn State master gardeners open house July 13, attendees will be able to see for themselves. “There’s been a...
Justin Severino’s Larder restaurant to open inside East End Brewing Co.
Acclaimed chef Justin Severino is teaming up with Pittsburgh brewer Scott Smith to open Larder restaurant inside East End Brewing Company in Larimer on Friday. “We chose the name Larder because so much of what we do is preserving food and making food such as salami or pickles as well...
Farm-to-table harvest dinner set in Ligonier
Loyalhanna Watershed Association and Ligonier Country Market are partnering in a harvest dinner at the Watershed’s Nimick Family Education Center, 6 Old Lincoln Highway West, Ligonier. The 6-8:30 p.m. Aug. 10 event is an annual summer feast served family style, planners state. A farm-to-table community dining experience, the meal will...
Out & About: Guests don bow ties and pearls for Cal U gala
California University of Pennsylvania’s first Bow Ties & Pearls Ball brought a sellout crowd of 300 guests to the Washington County campus on June 29. Party-goers found the Convocation Center arena transformed into an elegant venue for cocktails and appetizers, followed by dinner and a dessert buffet. University President Geraldine...
What to know: Pittsburgh’s fireworks frenzy on the FourthVideo
Pittsburgh will celebrate the Fourth of July in style again this year, from the 18th annual Heinz Field Fourth of July Celebration, featuring country singer Brandon Lay, to the EQT Flashes of Freedom. Be forewarned that the EQT event, staged at Point State Park, typically draws more than 50,000 people...
How the novelty pool float conquered Instagram
By the time spring rolls around, Brittany Goodman is already on the hunt for the perfect pool float. She peruses the Target aisles as well as small boutiques through April and May, determined to find her go-to float of the season. In 2016, it was a tube made to look...
Out & About: Westmoreland Art Nationals 2 opens at Twin Lakes
Westmoreland Arts & Heritage Festival Executive Director Diane Shrader credited Chef Mark Henry’s hors d’oeuvres for helping draw a crowd to the opening reception for the second Westmoreland Art Nationals exhibition, held June 29 in the exhibition building at Twin Lakes Park in Unity. It was a lovely spread, to...
Out & About: Saint Vincent Summer Theatre Gala marks 30 years
Guests at the 30th annual Summer Theatre Gala stepped into an enchanted world to enjoy “a tale as old as time” — “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.” The production capped an evening of good food and fellowship for supporters of the professional summer theater that makes its home at Saint...
Out & About: Seton Hill student writers hear from fantasy author
Twice yearly, students in Seton Hill University’s MFA in Popular Fiction program gather from around the country — and sometimes from around the globe — for a week of intensive workshops on the Greensburg campus. One feature of the week is a lecture, Q-and-A session and book-signing/reception with a prominent...
Taco Bell hotel sells out in minutesVideo
A Taco Bell-themed hotel in California sold out in minutes and fans will have to hope for another chance to experience the limited-time vacation getaway. The Bell: A Taco Bell Hotel and Resort, located in Palm Springs, California, sold out in just 2 minutes after opening at 10 a.m. Pacific...
Key to a crisp chopped salad is salting ahead of time
A chopped salad, where every ingredient is cut into pieces of about the same size, offers the perfect mixture of flavors and textures in every bite. However, some vegetables get watery and soggy when you chop and dress them, and require extra attention. In this summery salad, we first salted...
Travel tip: Win a dream trip via ‘Vacation Do Over’ contest
The American Society of Travel Advisors is looking for someone who planned the trip of their dreams, only to have it turn into a vacation nightmare. The society will soothe the pain of plans gone wrong with a $10,000 dream getaway through its Vacation Do Over Contest. Best of all,...
To kick up your chicken salad, turn to your spice rack
To apply some modern tricks to old-school chicken salad, we turned to our spice rack. Most spices boast an impressive portfolio of phytonutrients—often the very same compounds that give them such potent flavor. Mild, creamy chicken salad was an ideal canvas. First, we found we could replace two-thirds of the...
5 dishes every new graduate should learn how to make
So your kid is going out into the world. Flying the coop. Time for them to learn how to cook. Maybe, just maybe, you didn’t do as good a job as you’d planned teaching them their way around the kitchen (cough — me too, despite what one might think). And...
Living with Children: Biological vs. adopted
Question: We have two married daughters, one of whom is adopted. The biological daughter has two children who, we recently discovered, have been told that it is wrong to call our adopted daughter “aunt so-and-so” because she is not really family. Nor, according to our biological daughter and son-in-law, is...
Should I ask my new boyfriend where our relationship is going?
Carolyn Hax is away. The following first appeared Jan. 2, Jan. 5 and Feb. 27, 2005. Dear Carolyn: I have finally met a guy I really like. We have been seeing each other on and off for a couple of months. Should I ask where this relationship is going or...
‘Don’t panic’ is first rule when you lose your passport overseas
Passport problems can elicit very real physical responses in travelers. On a blazing afternoon in Jakarta a few years ago, I realized I didn’t have enough pages in my passport to get to my next destination beyond Indonesia. I had one of those skin-crawling, heart-racing moments of terror. Reason went...
