Tag Archives: 24giftsofpgh

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: 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: 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

24 GIFTS OF PITTSBURGH

Each day in December we are sharing a different Pittsburgh gift suggestion.

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh GameDay Yoga Pants

The perfect gift for the yoga loving Steelers fan. These yoga pants are perfect for the gym or an upgrade from your flannel Steelers pajama pants.

I was reminded of these pants because I have been dragging myself out of bed and onto the spinning bike each morning. In an effort to catch up on last years New Years resolutions, I’m attempting 24 days of fitness. For some reason, I decided I would try to go to a spinning class everyday before Christmas. There are some grandmas, who – for the record – are in way better shape than me, in these spinning classes that have some jazzy workout pants. As I was pedalling to nowhere this morning, I remembered these clever Steelers pants and thought they would make a clever addition to the 24 Gifts of Pittsburgh.

You can usually find me on the bike in the back row at Steel Revolutions in one of the morning classes. If anyone wants to join me for a bike ride to nowhere, check out the app ZenRez. ZenRez is a pretty cool little startup that was founded by some CMU alum that offers last-minute deals on fitness classes. You can get a $10 credit in your ZenRez account when you sign up with this link.

These pants are made by an Etsy seller named Bells and Bain. I can’t find out much about them, but they must have some love of the Steel City. It would be great to learn more about the story behind these pants. If you are looking for more jazzy workout pants to wear to your next spinning class, check out the Pittsburgh startup Donna Jo Fitwear.

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Shop: Bells & Bain’s Pittsburgh GameDay Yoga Pants are available for $40 on Etsy here.

Follow: @ZenRezFitness @SteelRevRider

Source: I’m pretty sure someone I know shared these on Facebook earlier this fall, but I can’t remember who. If it was you, let me know.

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: Silent Night Ornament

I think I first learned of the Light of Life Christmas ornaments from Jane Pitt’s holiday gift guide a few years ago. After I had spent most of December searching for a beautiful ornament that had some sort of story to go with it, and I found nothing. I have included this ornament on our list in case you are looking for a way to send someone a little bit of Pittsburgh for their tree.

This is so much more than just a Christmas ornament. This is a gift that benefits the Light of Life Rescue Mission, a Pittsburgh nonprofit that provides housing and other resources for homeless in Pittsburgh. This is a word of art that was designed by Barb G., a graduate of the Light of Life Women’s & Children’s programs. This is an ornament that was made locally by Wendell August Forge.

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Shop: You can buy this Silent Night Ornament by making a donation to Light of Life here.

Follow: Follow Light of Life on Twitter @LightofLife and Facebook.

Source: Thanks to Jessi Marsh for the suggestion. Follow Jessie on Twitter @LemonScarlet.