Pittsburgh Places: Rose Tea Cafe

When I was in college, I went on a volunteer mission trip over my spring break to New York City with Cru.  It was incredible for many reasons.  But one of these things that made this trip so delightful was my first exposure to the Taiwanese beverage called Bubble Tea.  It is an iced drink (although I do think you can get it hot too maybe?) that they serve to you with one of those huge straws.  [Speaking of straws, anyone else share my obsession with McDonald's straws?  They're like the perfect size.  A little chubby, but not too much, so you can get the perfect gulp when you take a sip...sigh...ANYWAYS]

It had been years (I mean...not that I'm getting old and have been out of college for THAT long but...) since I had this refreshing beverage until...(drum roll....) we moved to Pittsburgh!  We live in a neighborhood called Squirrel Hill (guess it used to be super squirrely), and in the main little strip there are lots of Asian restaurants.  Obviously the sign made me judge the book by its cover because it had BUBBLE TEA ON IT!!  JACKPOT!!!

Tommy had never tasted this heaven in a cup until this day, and can I just say I was THRILLED that he seemed to have the same excitement about the drink as me!  There are all kinds of different flavors and we have a couple that we've fallen in love with (since of COURSE we're regulars at Pittsburgh's Bubble Tea Cafe now.): Green Tea Apple, Green Tea Mango & Green Tea Peach are my personal faves.  It tastes like tea with gummy bears in it.  The "bubbles" in the tea is called "Boba" which are basically giant tapioca balls.  Apparently they're pretty easy to cook and make yourself so you KNOW I'll be trying this concoction on my own at some point.  

The inside of the Rose Tea Cafe has a great atmosphere too.  Every time we've walked in to order our Bubble Tea to go, I always see these amazing looking Taiwanese dishes at the tables, but when I browse their menu I'm intimidated.  ..so one of these days we'll go there for dinner or lunch...and more bubble tea!

This is Tommy enjoying his bubble tea.  Truth be told, this wasn't his first experience pictured here, but you can see by his expression every time is as good as the first.

The bubbles sink to the bottom, but each sip is bursting with bubbles when they fly up the straw.  These straws are awesome too btw...

Tommy's obsession with bubble tea may be growing deeper than my own.  He had started researching how to make your own tea.  He found the Boba bubbles on Amazon.  So we'll keep you posted when he places the order and he can guest blog his Boba Bubble Tea Adventure on The Bowlin Alley.

In the meantime, Pittsburghers -- go to the Rose Tea Cafe.  Out of Towners -- find a Bubble Tea joint!  You're missing out till you do.  Recommendation from the Bowlin's -- go with the your flavor of choise Green Tea & Bubbles. The Black Tea with Bubbles is more bitter and doesn't make the Boba taste like gummy bears.  Trust us :)

DIY Brown Sugar Body Scrub

Looking for an easy party favor?  Or an inexpensive way to pamper yourself?  TOTALLY have the best and easiest DIY project that's cheap too, Brown Sugar Body Scrub!!!  I love body scrub.  It's one of my fave ways to pamper myself.

Tommy's the best guy in the world and always gives me these awesome pampery type presents for my stocking stuffers at Christmas.  Last Christmas he got me this sea salt scrub that I LOOOVED this...


Obey Your Body Mineral Body Salt Scrub Treatment Exfoliating Kiwi - ADSBeauty

One day I was reading the ingredients on the back of the container and wondered if I could recreate this.  While I don't think I could ever make an exact replica of this AMAZING body scrub that I love so much, I thought I could probably get pretty darn close to replenish my stash until next Christmas's stocking.

Since I'm no match for the perfect salt scrub I decided to go sugar!  I started reading about ingredients in a natural sugar scrub and it is CAKE!  Well, it's actually sugar, but it kinda smells like cake.  And you're never going to believe how easy this was.




Ingredients:

• 3 cups of Brown Sugar
• 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil (I would have liked to have used a coconut or sunflower oil, but those oils are a little more expensive and I didn't have any on hand at the house) 
• 6 Tablespoons of honey
• a Splish Splash of Vanilla Extract if you'd like (I thought this made it more like warm vanilla sugary...so I went with it)

Directions:

1. It's basically a one stepper!  All you do is mix all the ingredients together, and then I chose to package them in these cutesie little containers that I got for $1 from Michael's...

MIX &...

 TA-DAH!!

These little containers are the perfect little bottles for a shower favor OR stocking stuffer!  I'm definitely going to start getting a little more creative with my aromatherapy skills and maybe try some different scents and oils.  Maybe SOMEDAY I'll venture into the Sea Salt Scrub world...but for now I'm going to leave that magic to Obey Your Body!  Try it out.  It's a great exfoliator and moisturizer.  Just rub it on in the shower and rinse!  Let me know what delicious and yummy flavors you concoct...this may be my new obsession!

Pittsburgh Places: Grand Concourse

Tommy and I have recently been into Gordon Ramsey's foodie shows, so we're always excited about trying new restaurants.  I recently confessed to Tommy that I think I have a crush on Gordon Ramsey...he said it's ok because HE has a crush on him too.  So our feelings are mutual.  He rules.  So we decided for our evening out that we would venture down to Pittsburgh's Station Square.  We had reservations at the Grand Concourse, which back in the day was the train station of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad.  The station was BEAUTIFUL!  

 

The atmosphere was definitely getting our evening off to a great start.  Then as we were seated at our table, were given a monster menu.  After walking past the Oyster Bar my mouth was definitely watering, but Gordon's big kick on ALL his shows is always scrutinizing the SIZE of some of these menus he comes across.  He always wants quality over quantity...so THAT was the first thing we noticed.  So both of us opted to choose items from the Daily Special Menu (which was only two pages long)....that is IF our waitress would take our order...

She came to our table and asked if she could get us a few starters.  DUH!  Yes Please!  So we ordered a lobster bisque and calamari.  We had read the Grand Concourse was known for their seafood dishes so opted for some seafoody staples.  We had totally finished our appetizers and several glasses of water and iced tea and lots of conversation before the waitress decided we could order our main course. Haha!  We were in no rush, but the service was a little weird and not timed well...  

Our main dishes were kind of odd.  But the asparagus was pretty good.  My salmon was pretty dry and tough.  Gordon probably would have asked if it was cooked and then remicrowaved (then probably would have asked to see the chef)...I kinda think it might've been remicrowaved.  Tommy got scallops, he's crazy about them.  I gave them a little taste, nothing to write home about.  A perfectly pan-seared scallop is to die for...these ones were kinda meh...

Check out the rice pyramid on my plate and the sandcastle shaped rice on Tommy's...sorta weirdish.  They tried.  So, the Grand Concourse overall could use a total food makeover, but definitely has it going on with its history and atmosphere.  Check out our view...

So my vote for the Grand Concourse is...let a few more bloggers write some mediocre foodie reviews, write Gordon Ramsey a letter about this joint, and just take your afternoon stroll through Station Square instead.  Station Square rules, the food at the Grand Concourse...not so much.  

Water for Elephant(s)?

As usual, I'm going to go ahead and throw out my typical book review disclaimer...I'm spoiler alerting you!  I have quite a few thoughts about this read that could potentially ruin the story for someone who has intentions of reading the book but hasn't yet.

But let me just preface this post by saying, I really did like this book.  The author does a really beautiful job with her descriptions, but almost to the point of it taking away from where the storyline is going sometimes.  I love vivid pictures, especially when we're talking about a circus and animals, but I also find myself getting frustrated with a book thats plot is hard to follow at times because we're going into so much descriptive detail (get on with the story already!).

Now I don't usually get hung up on book titles because most of the time it's fitting and make perfect sense...but "Water for Elephants" threw me off a bit.  First of all, there was only one elephant in the story and second, the watering of the elephant didn't really have much to do with Marlena or Jacob.  I'm not saying I could have picked a better title and I DO like elephants, but I'm just not sold on this being the best preface to what this book opens up.

It was pretty obvious from the beginning that Jacob was smitten with Marlena and he was going to fall in love with her.  I just felt like sometimes the occassional, random scenes where the author was trying to get hot steamy because Jacob was on the prowl for loving...was a little awkward at times.  Like when he was in the tent with all the dudes watching the stripper dancer who was FLOPPING her knockers up and down at ultra rapid speeds...WHAT?!...come on dudes...THAT WAS NOT SEXY! That was weird.  I'm just picturing this gross circus lady with melons so huge they're knocking people over...Maybe I was just "over sexed" by Fifty Shades of Crap so I wasn't that interested in those parts of the story because I didn't want to go THERE again...

I did enjoy the setting of the book.  I also appreciated the historical and factual accuracy of the tales being placed in an era of Prohibition/Depression.  That aspect of the book was highly engaging and entertaining for me.  But I'm intrigued by that kind of stuff.

NOT a fan of the Marlena/August drama.  I get annoyed the nice, normal, attractive and talented woman is stuck with the sloppy, drunk, bi-polar, controlling psycho who I also imagine has one of those Circus-Master beer bellies...He has nothing going for him and he gets the girl that the other dudes want.  Why does it always work out that way?  And can I say the scene (or chapter I should say) where August dies is really blurry.  It's like "Rosie picks up a stake and strikes August and he falls down..." Ok, I guess I'm used to Law & Order where we see the damage of the crime on TV, but I'm like "oh my gosh, is he dead, injured, split in two!?!?"  It wasn't really until later when there was a comment about his death certificate that I was like "Ok. Got it. The Jerk's Dead!"

But at least at that point, since the book basically turned into a love story, Marlena & Jacob could be together without her having to cheat on her husband forever and get divorced.  Rosie the Elephant (who Jacob gave water to -- and that's how the book got its title) did the dirty work and got rid of August so the true love birds could be together.  I was ok with that.

I like animals.  And especially zoo animals (and I REALLY love dogs)...and I think I always WANT elephants and monkeys and lions to have these tame feelings and emotions like we can communicate with them or something.  So I really liked that Rosie had this relationship with Jacob & Marlena, so her August strike was like her communicating that she got it...he was an abusive piece of crap so who better to get rid of him than the elephant in the corner?! RIGHT??

I will say, when my mind is in a more alert state (like when I'm back to having normal sleep patterns and I'm not uncomfortable 24 hours a day) I would like to try to read this book again and see if I'm able to follow a plot better.  Because I like the author.  And she seems like she's got a respectable head on her shoulders.  I mean, I appreciate any person who likes to contribute to charitable causes and is passionate enough about them to incorporate these passions into her writings.  Go Sara Gruen!  How about your write a book about an African Safari!  I bet I'd like that!

So yes. I liked the book.  I'm not going to say that I LOVED the book, but there were some things about the book I did find myself loving.  So I say, read it yourself and tell me what you think!  Well, obviously, if you haven't read it I've just spoiled it for you. The dude gets the girl (and the elephant and a herd of horses) and they live happily ever after-ish.  So I guess if you have ALREADY READ the book...Tell me your thoughts!

Me putting the feet up lounging in my parents sun room.  I call it the reading room.  I love it!  When I'm an official grown up and I have my adult-grown-up house I will have a reading room.  And it will be grand...like a grand circus!

Pittsburgh Places: Peace, Love & Little Donuts

Growing up, my Dad always would always tell us stories of going on car trips with the Sundell Boys (these were my Mom's cousins) and he said that Jeff could always spot the "Krispy Kreme Hot Light" from miles away.  I didn't know what this Krispy Kreme Hot Light was until we were on family vacation and Dad spotted a hot light and pulled a Cousin-Jeff-U-Turn to treat us to the hottest, sweetest, melt in your mouth morsel we'd ever experienced.  I mean, everyone has had a Krispy Kreme from a gas station, but until you've had one of the glazed donuts the minute it drips fresh off the conveyor belt, you haven't lived!

So ANYWAYS, Tommy also has this THING for donuts too.  He is crazy about them.  More crazy than me.  When we first started dating we discovered that we shared a love for certain foods: lo mein noodles, cups of good joe, chimichangas and the boston creme donut.  When Tommy discovered we shared a love for the same flavor donut our food adventures kind of started focusing more on the donut/pastry/sweets side of life than other things (which I can't say I minded. Especially since I'm cheap and donuts are cheap treats!).

A few weekends ago, we were strolling through Pittsburgh's Strip District and we both smelled the sweet aroma of fresh donut wafting in the air.  Had we been driving it would have been one of those Cousin Jeff U-Turn moments, but instead it was both of us speed walking in the direction of the smell!

We found ourselves arriving at this cute little hole-in-the-wall donut joint called Peace, Love & Little Donuts.  You walk in the door and you can see them making the donuts right in front of you.  It was like the Krispy Kreme Hot Light...BUT EVEN BETTER!!!  They have donut 'flavors of the day' and they make these tiny, cute little cake donuts and they're the tastiest, melt in your mouth donut EVER!

First you get to watch the gal pour this cake donut batter into what Tommy called "The Donut Pooper."  This little contraption holds the batter and then plops it out into the hot oil in the shape of a ring.

Then you get to watch the tiny masterpieces float down the hot river.  The Donut Master stands behind the line and flips them when they stop at the dam halfway down the donut line.  Then they plop out all hot, crispy and AWESOME!!!





Then you get to go up to the counter and tell the hippie dude what flavors of little donuts you want.  We didn't try EVERY flavor...YET!  We went for what WE decided were the top six (we had to leave ourselves with multiple reasons to go back):  Oreo Cookies & Cream, Chocolate & Cookie Dough, Vanilla Sprinkle, The Classic Glazed, Cinnamon and YES FOLKS THAT is a Maple BACON donut.  Honestly, I think the Bacon one was surprisingly my favorite.  I was like eating Pancakes and Bacon but in the form of a donut!  Surprisngly, that was the flavor I wasn't AS jazzed as Tommy about trying, but then I loved it the most.  Tommy says he doesn't have a favorite, that is how devoted he is to loving all donuts equally.  The only donuts he discriminates against are the Maple Cream Filled Logs and anything with Jelly in the middle (I mean who honestly enjoys eating something called a "log"...it's like you're eating something that is meant to go into your fireplace or a toilet).

So if you're ever passing through the 'Burgh or if you're a local Yinzer, this is a place you've gotta try at some point in your lifetime.  Check out their website  and don't tell me that DIDN'T make your mouth water, because I KNOW it did...

Pittsburgh Places: The Pretzel Shop

When I'm having "one of those days" I always feel like an Auntie Anne's pretzel makes my world a little better of a place.  They're super buttery, salty, crispy, yet soft and OH so delicious.  My mouth is watering right now just thinking about them...hot off the thing (IDK!? Do they fry them? So hot out of the dipper?).  Anyways...

We've been in Pittsburgh for about two years now and I noticed this cute little pretzel shop MONTHS ago and thought I MUST TRY!  Now as you Pittsburghers already know, to those of you that don't, PARKING in the BURGH STINKS!  So every time I've been down in this neighborhood with the idea of pretzeling it up I can never find a place to park. I get so discouraged.  

Tommy and I were driving through the Southside on Carson Street the other day and the clouds opened up, and this ray of sunshine shone down on this golden parking spot RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE PRETZEL SHOP!!!  NO BRAINER! Pulling in!!!  It was definitely our best Pittsburgh parking moment yet.  

We pull in and head into this small little shop.  My nose is instantly overwhelmed by what to do.  There were so many things and options going on.  And on top of pretzeling, they BAKE in the Pretzel Shop too??? I wanted to buy the whole store, but I had to control myself.  The little lady that worked there told us if you don't eat them pretty close to when you buy, they get kinda hard and tough after a while.  So, if I'm going to buy a lot, I'm going to eat a lot...pace yourself, Lisa!

So Tommy and I both chose two different options.  Tommy went with the breakfast pretzel sandwich with ham, egg and cheese (which is served all day).  I was on the fence between the veggie pizza pretzel, the pizza pizza pretzel or the chicken salad pretzel.  I think since Tommy was getting hot pretzel, I decided to go cold.  I don't think any of my choices would have left me disappointed.  It was SO good.  The pretzel of course was the best part.  I wished that I had more room in my stomach because I would have LOVED to have tried the pretzel that was covered in some kind of cheese and jalapenos! 

The pretzels were so good.  It's not even comparable to Auntie Anne's at all, but will definitely be one of my new comfort foods.  It's not fried...at least I don't think it is.  The dough is so good with a light dusting of that chunky pretzel salt on top. Oh my GOSH!  Now what I WANT TO KNOW is how far they deliver!  They deliver Monday - Friday from 11:00am - 1:00pm.  Can I get a pretzel sandwich delivered to my work for lunch everyday? Cuz that would rule!! A plain soft pretzel was only a $1!!  We doctored ours up.  

One of the best pretzels I've ever had for sure.  Actually, now that I'm thinking about it...I don't think I've had a better pretzel.  Definitely worth a try.  If you're in the neighborhood and you can't find a parking spot...keep circling!  It's worth the wait!

The Help

Since college, I've developed an interest in reading for fun!  Yes folks, I've been trying to convince my youngest sister of this for years, but reading is FUN!  I set a goal for myself on my goodreads.com profile this year to finish 25 books.  I know that's not many, but for the amount of free time I have, I thought 25 was an achievable SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Trackable) goal.

Typically, my book flavor leans on the side of mysteries, but been I've trying to expand my flavor pallet.  I'd heard great things about the historical fiction book, The Help, and it sure did satisfy my taste for a change!  

Promise this post won't be a spoiler!  I had enough emotions stirred by this read I don't even need to go into my thoughts on the plot to talk about the book.  The story is about what it was like being a black maid during the civil rights movement.  

Obviously, many of us can't fairly say how we would have lived or responded to that movement since we weren't there.  But I must admit, that I kept hoping that had I been alive during this movement that I would be a Skeeter (not to be confused with Rita Skeeter).  Skeeter was the main character, and had been raised in a society that embraced slavery.  She knew in her heart there was something wrong with this concept and the way these individuals were treated, and she wasn't afraid to stand up publicly for what she felt was right and fair.  

I really enjoyed Stockett's writing style in this book.  Even though this was a fictional book, she did an amazing job of creating realistic historical reenactment, that really gave a clear picture of a day in the life of a black woman during this time.  The novel is about a white woman who is secretly documenting "true accounts" of the trials these black women experience and it really felt real!

Right from the start, you find yourself getting attached to the characters with the vivid picture that Stockett paints for her readers.  I really was most inspired by the fact that Skeeter made a point to stand up for what she believed was right.  How often do you find yourself just keeping your mouth shut or looking the other way when you disagree with something?  This book really spurred me emotionally to make a point to educate myself and have intelligent opinions. I'm not dwelling on any particular issue or instance, and I'm not trying to be pushy with my political stances or offend any readers, but all I'm trying to point out is that it's ok to state your case and stand up for what you are passionate about and what you believe.  There is always going to be a Skeeter close by that agrees with you!  

On a side rant, the one thing that does drive me nuts about boisterous, opinionated people are those that don't respect people who have opinions that differ from theirs, or people who have opinions they've come to with pure whimsical thought and not by learning about the issue and developing their own stance....kinda like Hilly in the book.  So just watch out all you Hilly's cuz you might end up eating poo pie and getting your yard converted to a graveyard for used toilets!