FAVORITE SPACES: MID-ATLANTIC MERCANTILE

I finally made it to Mid-Atlantic Mercantile in Lawrenceville this week and boy, was I impressed. Emily, the owner and creative visionary behind the shop, is the sweetest person you'll ever meet. She has curated the most inspiring retail space with a thoughtful and carefully crafted aesthetic that matches the high-quality  characteristics found in the items she carries. I could have spent hours perusing the racks, noticing beautiful small details (let's talk about those tote bags!!) and chatting away with Emily. I walked away with a gorgeous dress that I can't wait to feature here on the blog and would have purchased more if I hadn't been so smitten with the scenery.

If you're in, or near, the Pittsburgh area this weekend, you should clear your calendar and make your way to Butler Street. The Lawrenceville summer sidewalk sale is going on from now through Sunday and there are so many treasures to be found!

Check out more of the shop and my finds after the jump!

Check out Mid-Atlantic Mercantile's facebook page for more details!

AMUSEMENT PARK LOVE

When I was 15 years old, I went to Kennywood Amusement Park and met a shy cute boy. We became very dear friends, lost touch in college, reconnected, fell in love, lived in a new city, moved back to our home city of Pittsburgh and got married. Our story is thirteen years in the making, and it all began staring awkwardly at our feet and sneaking glances at the carousel in the middle of an amusement park.

We went back to Kennywood this year and it was still full of the same wonder and excitement we experienced as kids. Who doesn't love roller coasters, amusement park junk food and good old nostalgia? I, for one, can never pass up a soft serve ice cream cone with sprinkles.

Check out the best parts of our day after the jump!

A Guide to Pittsburgh (in Flipbook form)

This weekend, Pittsburgh will welcome two rad new residents. My dear friend Jessica and her hubby Doug are moving from East to West across Pennsylvania to start their new life in the Burgh.

As someone who has city-hopped over the last couple years, I was excited to share some of my favorite Pittsburgh spots with them in the form of a flip-book to make their transition a little smoother.




By Neighborhood

Oakland
Lulu's Noodles
Caliban Used Books
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
Carnegie Museums (especially the dinos at the Natural History!)

Waterfront
Pre-order a dozen of Nancy B's chocolate chip cookies and prepare to eat the BEST cookies of your life

Oakmont
Oakmont Bakery
BrrKee's Ice Cream (get a scoop of Kahlua flavor)
Walk along the train tracks

Point Breeze
East End Brewery for the Growler hours
East End Food Co-op
Point Brugge Cafe for mussels and frites
The Cafe at the Frick for brunch or tea

Squirrel Hill
Gullifty's a Pittsburgh dessert staple
Bankok Balcony yummy tofu curry
Aiello's Pizza my brother Taylor, a pizza guru, swears it's the best

Shadyside
MCN Salon for a pampering cut & color
Girasole for a romantic date night
Oh Yeah! Ice Cream for a yummy scoop (dog friendly!)
Amazing Yoga for sweats and stretches

Regent Square
D's 6 Pax for hot dogs and the beer cave
Ambiance Boutique thrift
Square Cafe for brunch
Regent Square Theater for an indie flick

South Side
Drink some beer at Fat Head's Saloon
Frequent the following restaurants: Dish Osteria, Cafe du Jour and Nakama (get the sushi)
Big Dog Coffee for a spritzer and cup o' joe with your pup

Downtown & the Strip
Roxanne's Dried Flowers
Primanti's, Pamela's Diner and Enrico Biscotti
Take a walk around and under the Convention Center
Kayak ride at PNC Park

East Liberty
Kelly-Strayhorn Theater
Conflict Kitchen & The Waffle Shop
Paris 66

*(I should have added Lawrenceville to the book)

Lawrenceville
Piccolo Forno for amazing flatbread - BYOB
WildCard for hipster goodies (think a glorified Paper Source with a Pittsburgh flair)

Gingerbread Anise Biscotti with White Chocolate

If you're a regular reader, you know one of my favorite places to frequent when I'm visiting family in Pittsburgh is the Strip District. Penn Avenue is always jam packed with locals shopping for aromatic coffees and teas, freshly-caught seafood, just-baked biscotti or handmade crafts. It's chaotic and energizing all at once and I always leave with something interesting.




Over Thanksgiving, Rich's extended family visiting from out of town provided the perfect excuse to embark on a Strip District adventure. I walked away with an enormous bag of star anise and a lust for biscotti.



I did some digging and found a great recipe for Gingerbread biscotti and knew the addition of Anise would really take it over the top.



With some cute packaging, I think this recipe would be a sweet gift idea for the coffee lovers in your life.





Texture is a big point of contention among biscotti eaters. It's a little of a Goldilocks and the Three Bears syndrome...some like it hard, some like it soft. For me, some point in the middle (toasted exterior with a soft center) is juuuusssttt right.

If you like a full-on crunchy version, bake these for a few minutes longer than suggested.



I think next time I'll write some pretty cursive messages on top :)



Gingerbread Anise Biscotti with Drizzled White Chocolate

adapted from here

ingredients
1/3 vegetable or canola oil
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoons ground star anise
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 cup white chocolate chips for melting

directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet.

In a mixing bowl, combine oil, sugar, eggs and molasses. In another bowl, combine flours, baking powder, ginger, pumpkin pie spice and ground star anise. Mix dry ingredients in egg mixture to form a stiff dough.

Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a rolls the length of the cookie sheet. Place rolls on sheet and pat down with your hands to flatten to about a 1/2 inch thickness.

Bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

When cool enough to touch, cut into 1/2 inch thick diagonal slices. Place sliced biscotti on cookie sheet and bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes on each side, or until toasted and crispy.

When biscotti are completely baked and cooled, melt 1 cup of white chocolate in a double broiler. Place melted chocolate in a plastic bag and cut a tiny tip at one corner for piping. Decorate as your heart desires. Let chocolate cool completely before serving.

Lavender Lemon Bundt Cake

Roxanne's Dried Flowers in Pittsburgh, PA is one of my favorite shops to visit when I'm home. It is packed with beautiful interior decorations, statuary, and its namesake dried flowers. A place to wander, get inspired, and splurge when a too-tempting-to-resist item presents itself.

My latest trip to Roxanne's over Memorial Day weekend yielded the seasonal treasure of edible dried lavender. Lemon bundt cake seemed the only natural compliment to such a subtle flavor and I can't recommend this combo (and recipe) enough.





Baptisia, a delicate purple flower, from my mother's garden served as the perfect floral pairing.



The recipe comes straight from Williams-Sonoma, which seems fitting as the bundt pan used in this post is from the same shop.

a pitt stop

I spent the weekend in lovely Pittsburgh for Mother's Day. Defying the grim weather forecast, it was filled with sun and warmth. Family, yummy food, and a little therapeutic weeding in the garden with my mother was just what the doctor ordered.

DIY Tote Bag: Chicago Neighborhood Map

Canvas tote bags are the new black. The environmentally conscious urban dweller would rather be caught dead than stroll out of Whole Foods without their reusable shopping bag.




The explosion of the tote bag market has brought some rad city map renderings on canvas. So you can represent where you were, are or want to be. Maptote has an awesome Chicago and Pittsburgh version.

As cool as they are, I wanted to make something more personalized as a gift for my mom. So I sketched a Chicago map of places my parents and I visited on their last visit to Chi-town.



After I was happy with the image, I took the JPEG file to FedEx Kinko's and asked them to make it a transparency.



Then we took the transparency and exposed it to a screen in Rich's printing studio.



This is the almost-final result. I hated the straps on the original canvas bag, so I removed them and sewed something a little more stylish on.