Category Archives: Pittsburgh Gifts

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: Goat Rodeo Cheese

Yes, cheese as a gift! Locally made cheese made by the girls at Goat Rodeo Farm in Allison Park. One of my goals for this list of the 24 Gifts of Pittsburgh is to suggest gifts that are useful. If you have read the book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” you have probably spent some amount of time in the past year thinking about how you have too much stuff, and how to get rid of that extra stuff. This has spilled over into my thoughts about gift purchasing. I don’t want to get more stuff, which I will then have to figure out how to get rid of, so I should probably not give more stuff.

So in the interest of giving awesome gifts, that do not fall under the category of stuff, the next gift on the list is cheese. I learned about Goat Rodeo Cheese from their Instagram account. It is cheese lovers porn, with some photos of some pretty handsome goats.

Fresh chèvre dark chocolate #brownies !! Pick up our recipe this Saturday at Bloomfield Farmers Market! #local #food #cheese #Pittsburgh #goatcheese

A photo posted by Goat Rodeo Farm & Dairy (@goat_rodeo_cheese) on Aug 18, 2015 at 5:33pm PDT

Last weekend, I was visiting Penn Mac with a friend where the following conversation occurred:

Actual convo I’m having at Penn Mac. Friend “I’m making bad cheese choices” me: “there are no bad cheese choices”

— I heart PGH (@iheartpgh) December 12, 2015

After spending a significant portion of our afternoon sampling cheese and prosciutto, I am convinced that local cheese would make a great gift for any food lover on your list.

For your friend who loves Blue Oyster Cult… Goat Rodeo has just released a new cheese – More Cowbell.

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Shop: Goat Rodeo Cheese is available at East End Food Coop and several other local markets.

Follow: Goat Rodeo on Facebook & Instagram

You can see the other 24 Gifts of Pittsburgh here.

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: Map of Pittsburgh Quilt Pattern

This is the ideal gift for a Pittsburgh quilter. I realize that this gift isn’t for everyone, but it is such a spectacular idea I decided it deserved a spot on the list. Meet the Pittsburgh Quilt Pattern from Haptic Lab. Haptic Lab calls this a kit, but it is really just the map of Pittsburgh for stitching, you will have to get all of the other stuff to make this a quilt, so I am calling it a pattern. (Apologies if I am not using the correct quilting terms here, please correct me in the comments below. )

I love quilts, probably because quilts were like the first analog blogs. Long before blogging came on the scene, some quilts were created to tell a story. Not only can a quilt tell a story, but they are a fairly functional item that can be used everyday. I’m pretty sure a quilt is more useful than a blog when it comes to providing comfort and warmth. I am a want-to-be quilter. I’ve never completed a quilt, but I have purchased enough fabric from Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse to possibly make a quilt for everyone in my neighborhood. (By the way, Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse is THE BEST place to buy gift wrapping supplies around).

Photo of the Pittsburgh Friendship Quilt I took with my Blackberry Pearl in 2008.

Photo Credit: My Blackberry,circa 2008.

Also, one of my most favorite things I’ve visited in the name of documenting Pittsburgh was going to the Quilt Company East Quilt Show to see the Pittsburgh Friendship Quilt. If you went on a field trip to the Science Center in the late 80s you might remember signing your name to a 2.25″ x 2.25″ square of fabric. Fascinating story of how the Science Center lost the quilt – how you lose something this big is another story, but the Quilt Company East found the thing and restored it piece by piece. You can see more, not-so-great, taken with my Blackberry Pearl, photos of the Pittsburgh Friendship Quilt here.

Pittsburgh Quilt from Haptic Lab, lets assume this is a gold fabric.

If you are a knitter, then you have likely seen the website Purl Soho. It is a blog and store in New York that has some of the most beautiful and not so difficult patterns out there. If you aren’t a knitter, there are tons of knitting patterns out there, but not many that make things you might actually want to wear.

A knitting friend of mine discovered these city quilts on the Purl Soho website and has begun work on stitching her own version of the city. Because Pittsburgh is Pittsburgh and not Hollywood or Boston or Brooklyn, Haptic Lab only sells the Pittsburgh version as a kit and the photos of the Pittsburgh map don’t do it justice, so for the sake of showing you the potential of this quilt and pattern, here is what the Haptic Lab Paris Quilt looks like. (Pittsburgh is often considered the Paris of Appalachia, so at least there is some common thread).

: Detail of the Paris Quilt from Haptic Lab

: Pre-made Paris Quilt from Haptic Lab

Anyone interested in a quilting class and quilt-a-long to make the Pittsburgh quilt in 2016?

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Shop: DIY Pittsburgh Quilt can be ordered from Haptic Lab here for $38.00. This item can also be purchased from Purl Soho here.

Follow: @HapticLab on Twitter & Instagram. @Purlbee on Twitter & Instagram.

You can see all of the 24 Gifts of Pittsburgh here.

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: Olive Oil from California Olive Oil Collection

If you know about the Farmers’ Market Cooperative of East Liberty, then you know this place is an amazing little outpost of deliciousness tucked inside a building next to the Home Depot. I’m not talking about the East Liberty City Parks farmers market, and it is easy to get these confused. The Farmers Market Coop of East Liberty is open year round, but only on Saturdays and sometime the day before a holiday and it is also the oldest continuously operating farmers market in the city.

The California Olive Oil Collection imports amazing olive oil direct from the producers in California and sells it at the Farmer’s Market Coop of East Liberty every Saturday morning. This olive oil makes an awesome gift for anyone who loves to cook or just appreciates really good olive oil. You have two chances left to pick some up for holiday gifts.

You can read more about the California Olive Oil Collection and Dave Lagnese, who has quietly been working to bring more tasty, locally sourced things to Pittsburgh for years in this Post-Gazette article from March, 2015.

While you are at the Farmers’ Market Coop make sure to stop by and check out some of the other amazing vendors and grab a coffee from the Kew Park Coffee Bar. Check out some of the other gift suggestions from the Farmers’ Market Coop here.

Photo Credit: Farmers’ Market Cooperative of East Liberty Facebook Page

Farmers’ Market Cooperative of East Liberty 2015 Holiday Hours

OPEN – Saturday, December 19th, 5am – 12 noon (some vendors only until 10am)
OPEN – Thursday, December 24th, Christmas Eve, 5am – 10am
CLOSED – Saturday, December 26th
OPEN – Thursday, December 31st, 5am – 10am
CLOSED – Saturday, January 2nd
OPEN and back to normal schedule on Saturday, January 9th, 5am to 12 noon

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Shop: You can buy Olive Oil from the California Olive Oil Collection at the Farmers’ Market Cooperative of East Liberty. Check their Facebook page for updates.

Follow: Farmers’ Market Cooperative of East Liberty on Facebook.

You can see all of the 24 Gifts of Pittsburgh here.

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: P is for Pierogi Bib

Let us not forget the littlest Pittsburghers on the list of the 24 Gifts of Pittsburgh.

In keeping with the theme, P is for…

Printed in Pittsburgh by Garbella
Perfect accessory holiday pierogi eating
Purchase online or pick one up at one of these stores

Not only do I get to share some of the most Pittsburgh presents around, but this list of the 24 Gifts of Pittsburgh is giving me the perfect excuse to share events to some of the most perfect Pittsburgh places around. I have known Amy who runs Garbella for a few years now, definitely make a stop at the Garbella Open Studio on Friday to shop and support a great cause.

Donate Socks, Save 20% on Gifts from Garbella

To help you wrap up (holiday pun intended) your last minute shopping, Garbella is hosting an Open Studio Holiday Sale this Friday from 2-5pm. Stop by and donate some socks for Operation Safety Net.

This year, we’re hosting a sock drive for the homeless. Foot care is a very important health issue for the homeless as they typically spend a lot of time on their feet. Fresh, clean socks can help prevent foot infections and provide some extra comfort to area homeless. I’m asking you to help, but I’ll also be offering discounts in exchange for socks and will be matching sock donations for every item sold.

All socks will be distributed directly to homeless through Operation Safety Net.

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Shop: You can purchase the P is for Pierogi bib from the Garbella website or Etsy shop.

Follow: Follow @Garbella on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram.

You can see all of the 24 gifts of Pittsburgh here.

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: Paper Sculpture Kit from Resident Design

A lion, a penguin, a bull, a walrus and a mammoth, oh my! Resident Designs offers kits that allow you to create a paper sculpture of your favorite creatures. Puzzles and gingerbread house kits have become a holiday thing in my family. It Thanks to Trader Joe’s we’ve already made a gingerbread turkey on Thanksgiving Day. I think this is the perfect gift for some holiday family bonding time. (I am counting on the eggnog to numb the pain of any paper-cuts this may induce and hopefully following a complicated set of instructions should provide hours of distraction so we don’t end up discussing politics.)

: Walrus

: Bull

: Penguins

: Mammoth

Resident Designs is a Pittsburgh company that makes the paper sculpture kits right here in Pittsburgh. Kits come with pre-cut paper, glue and instructions for assembling your paper sculpture. The penguin is available in the requisite Pittsburgh black and gold color scheme.

There is also a video offering assembly instructions:

Save 15% on Resident Design Paper Sculpture Kits

You still have time to order for the holidays! Order before Friday December 18, 2015 at midnight and use the code IHEARTPGH to save 15% on your order.

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Shop: Resident Design Paper sculpture kits are available on Etsy here.

Follow: Resident Design on Instagram