Night on Bryant Street- Italian(2), Belgium, Japanese, Thai, a PayPhone, the Laundromat, a Market and a Bus
Monday night when we drove through the neighborhood in the rain, none of the restaurants were open except for Smiling Banana Leaf. (Thai).
Joseph Tambellini’s is the first exterior I photographed and you should taste the delicious meatballs.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Neighborhood
Phoneography special. The weekly photo challenge I have been talking about it for days. Unable to do it for a variety of reasons. Out of town. Too dark. Many people shoot with their phones. All day, everyday. Don’t think much of it, the photos sit and take up space. They have them in the phone and that’s about it.
This is just a snippet.
Tonight Steve drove us over to Shadyside for 1/2 price burger night at Shady Grove. I’ve added some shots around town I already had in the phone. This is not an attractive time of year to showcase where I live. If you want to see Pittsburgh at it’s best you can check out Francine in Retirement of Frizz in Germany. I take photos of Pittsburgh frequently. This is a collection of the everyday. The Historical Marker is where musician Billy Eckstine lived in my neighborhood.
The snowy park is the neighborhood I live in Highland Park. There are 80 neighborhoods in our city. The edges of neighborhoods are where I drive through everyday to school and across the bridge, over the Monongahela. I’ve thrown in a few you’ve seen before just to round out the gallery.
Last Wednesday’s view of the Highland Park Entrance. The second one is what my driveway looked like! It’s all gone now.
I Drove Home in a Snow Globe
and of course, returned to the park. It’s just blocks from my house. And the light was low, the visibility poor. A stark and magnificent beauty in the midst of the storm.
What were the trees doing today? One day winter, one day Spring, one day freezing and dark, one day a warm sun but a chill in the wind. I wanted to see the branches outlined in snow. The dark branches highlighted with the new fallen snow. Actually, falling snow.
I was rewarded with a stunning winter scene, just before dusk.
It had started to snow while I was at school. The sky heavy and gray. Big big flakes. Melting on the street as it was 38 degrees. I drove home in a snow globe.
Oh yes, today I got out of the car, scared off a squirrel and photographed the snowy park bench and my favorite tree. The sounds muffled by the new snow, barely sticking to the road but highlighting the curved lines.
these are unretouched color photographs
Two roads diverged….
Home to tea. Homemade spaghetti and cheese, steamed broccoli. Leftover fortune cookie and a mandarin orange. Winter.
Tree in Snow, Tree in Sun
Another in my winter tree series. Actually I drove through the park today and the snow is gone. See the tree below.
I wanted to post the trees in silhouette, though and the sinking sun behind the trunk.
It ‘s the warmth of the sun on the snow that appeals to me.
My drives through the park after school on my way home have help me appreciate the beauty of the winter.
A different tree but this is the angle of the sun at the time I was driving into the entrance of Highland Park.
Today on the way home, the car thermometer read 63 degrees. Here’s what my trip into the park yielded Monday afternoon. Find the car to check the scale of the tree. Because of the mottled peeled bark, I believe it’s a giant sycamore. Long shadows and blue sky with pretty clouds made it feel like April.
Taillight and a Tall Pine in the Snow
Back to the park after school. I was later today. The sun was sinking in the west and this was facing east. When I wrote taillight it didn’t look correct but I checked it out with Merriam- Webster online and it is spelled right! I thought about cropping out the car end but changed my mind. I think it adds perspective and information, allowing one to judge how tall the pine tree is. It looks dead to me, but I am not an arborist.
Looks like the snow glows from the reflected setting sun.
It is a pine tree, isn’t it?
detail
Dog Walker and a Snowy Tree
Scroll down for the crop with the dog walker and his dogs in the distance. Didn’t see him when I shot the photo.
Another color photograph that looks black and white. Shot with a EF Canon 50mm 1.2L Lens- 500 ISO f/16, 125 shutter. Wish I had tried a few more settings at the time but wanted to get home.
Thursday the temperature is to be in the 50′s. Unusual fluctuation- one day twenties and snow and ice, another day about zero, now up to sixty?
Something feels off.
All the leaves are down and the sky is gray
I heard a loud machine sound out my bedroom window this morning. No school today. I shot this right through the screen and glass and need to pull the storm windows down. It was a vehicle with a strong leaf blower. Hmmmm. The tree muncher arrived later to chew up a few branches that fell on the park across the street.
Saturday Night at Teppanyaki Kyoto Restaurant
Friday night we made a reservation at the Teppanyaki Kyota Restaurant for Saturday. Tonight Steve and I walked down the hill to the new Japanese Restaurant and it’s 34 degrees outside so the Hot Miso soup filled with onions was a welcome beginning. I think I was hungry and chilled so didn’t get that photo! Just ate it heartily. Next we shared a House Salad with Mango Mint dressing and a Sapporo beer to accompany the meal. Grilled Pork with Ginger and Onions and then Yaki Soba a Japanese Noodle Dish with Shrimp. After those dishes we ate a Yaki Onigiri (Grilled Rice Ball). The wife of the owner/chef explained how to put it between the seaweed leaves and eat it. Pickled radish was on the side. The cooking shown in the slideshow is Okonomi Yaki- a Japanese Pancake.
We finished with a square of Green Tea Cheesecake for dessert. Light and not too sweet. And then a very chilly hike back up the hill to home. Everything is cooked to order just for you. Perfectly. All fresh ingredients prepared with attention to detail.
And a word from the Chef off their Facebook page as he doesn’t want to turn customers away but also wants to make the customers in the restaurant happy-
I finally tell you that I decided the date to soft-open Teppanyaki Kyoto restaurant. It is January 15th. That is this coming SUNDAY. Only counter seats. Because of new style of restaurant in Pittsburgh, we take only reservation for beginning of a few months. Please CALL me to make a reservation. Phone nunber is 412 441 1610.
I am looking forward seeing you soon.
Do call and make a reservation. The food is delicious and Bryant Street is enhanced by the presence of another excellent restaurant! We had a good time and a wonderful meal.
Bagpipes and Drums Celebrate 174th Saint Andrew’s Festival
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Highland Park, Pittsburgh. 174th Patronal Festival.
What the Rector said in the neighborhood List Serve ”November 20, the people of St. Andrew’s observe our patronal festival, the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, with festive services including, at 11 a.m., our good friends of the Syria Highlanders Pipe and Drum Band. The bagpipes will begin in front of the church at about 10:45 and will play as well during the service.
A festive reception after features a traditional Pittsburgh cookie table . .” I saw a woman enter the Parish Hall with a square plaid tin of butter biscuits. Sorry to miss the cookie table. One of the bagpipers came 140 miles today. They practice once a month.
If you want to check out all things Scottish in Pittsburgh including the Syria Highlanders click here
Look What’s In The Moving Truck
Drove by the moving truck on the street that runs into mine. After I drove by, I glanced in the side mirror. Pulled over with the flashers on and caught what I saw in the truck.
BLT Essential Ingredients from Local Bryant Street Market
I enjoy shopping in a smaller market. A place that isn’t an airplane hangar or cluttered with patio furniture and piles of stuff at the ends of the aisles. Just down the hill is a reopened market on Bryant Street, cleaned up and offering La Prima coffee to grind, a delicatessen case filled with all sorts of meats, cheeses and salads. Sandwiches to go. Enrico’s Biscotti. In the freezer they have Donatelli’s Italian Ravioli-mushroom, artichoke, roasted red pepper and traditional cheese. They sell Allegro Hearth Bread, fresh produce and Turner dairy items, Bob’s Red Mill grain products, spices and Chuckles . They’ve extended their hours and will deliver to your home. After my appointment I stopped in to get lunch ingredients as a friend was coming over to eat. BLT on T shouts summer to me!
Shopping list- Vine ripened tomatoes, sliced with serrated knife
Head of garden lettuce, washed and patted dry
Boar’s Head bacon slices, cooked in cast iron skillet and drained on paper towels
Hellmann’s mayo, in a glass jar
Allegro Hearth Bread, toasted in the fancy toaster V gave me for my 50th bday
Potato chips
Tahitian Vanilla Gelato, for dessert
Front porch, to sit out and eat
A summer day
A friend to share the meal.
5901 Bryant Street
Pittsburgh PA 15206
Phone: (412) 661 8720
Hours: Mon-Fri 8 AM to 8 PM
Sat 9 AM to 7 PM
100 Year Old Tree Stump Chewed to Mulch
The sycamore’s stump was ground up into mulch yesterday. I saw the equipment in the street but when I got my camera it had pulled away. Even the pile of mulch has been removed as of today. As Beth says it’s the cycle of life. The follow up to I Used to Live on a Tree-Lined Street post.
An abundance of green. Lots of rainy days lately.
I Used to Live on a Tree Lined Street
Lucille tells me farmer wisdom says “You have to have a really good reason to cut down a tree.” More than 100 years old and felled in less than two hours. I thought about avoiding the stump, the empty space. But I felt it important to pay my respects. The “Gentle Giant” has retired all right. (click to see the tree before the removal) Chopped up in the chipper in no time flat. A sad day for Heberton Street. A loss of shade, beauty and grace. A life. Another living thing, come to the end of its life. With help from the tree men, the city and the diagnosis of canker. Beth reminds me that we all become soil or dust. It is part of the cycle of life. Here was my reminder today.
Change
My friend T says the only guarantee is change.
And lots of it.
Takes time to familiarize oneself
to the constant in our lives.
Change.
Maybe as I get older
it’s harder to accept?
Or I notice an increase in the amount.
Steve knows about planetary motion.
Explained how fast we are traveling
each second
as earth rotates and orbits around the sun.
Ouch. Just makes me sad.
Ersatz Icicle Dangles from Branch
I stared at this for a long time wondering how it could be
Yesterday I took Murphy for a walk after school. And it was about 37 degrees. Chilly but not freezing. I got down the street and saw this hanging from a tree branch.
Multilayered Heart Art in a Latté = Happy Start to End the Work Week
Original latté art by Rachel at Tazza D’Oro in Highland Park. A lovely way to start the day.
Like a little gift! You sip it in your car, make it last, wend your way across rivers, up the slopes. It tastes delicious.
A Day in the Life
Simple things.
Rituals.
Treating oneself
in moderation of course.
Someone does something nice for you.
You feel happy.
Captured with available light from the coffee shop window.
By Special Request- A Tulip Bouquet
Spring for 4.99Seems the perfect follow upto yesterday’s snow post.
At least the snow isn’t staying too long this time.
Stick to the shovel kind.
So until the bulbs push up from the ground
and bring some blooms,
I took matters into my own hands
at the grocery store.
Opening slowly but surely a sign of Spring!
Turrón: Egg Whites, Honey and Almonds Dessert from Spain
After the dinner plates were cleared at the neighbor’s house on Saturday night, Joaquin brought out a magnificent circular platter of Turrón. His mother had sent the assortment from Spain. It was a Christmas gift but fortunately for us it arrived in late January. There’s also marzipan with chocolate and a pineapple nougat on the plate, too. Sweet and a perfect finish. The area in focus is small, but you get the idea of the presentation. I should have photographed it afterward as it was about empty! Yum.
A Different Dessert
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show details Feb 1
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Egg whites
honey
and loaded with almonds.
This version hard.
The Italian I ate at Christmas was soft.
Delicious!
Turrón dates back to at least the 15th century according to wikipedia.
Delicious confection filled with almonds.
Steam Cleaning 100 Years of Soot and Grime
I drive by this structure most days, the corner of Stanton and Negley. It was in bad repair for a long time. Then it started to be cared for and fixed up. Attended some poetry readings here a couple of years ago. The accumulation of soot speaks of another time in Pittsburgh’s history, when the mills ran around the clock,spewing “carbon, sulfur dioxides and gypsum” (residue listed when they cleaned the Cathedral of Learning) . The buildings with the evidence of another time are dwindling. Tomorrow I will get the name of the company who is doing the cleaning and add it to this post.
The Union Project homepage states “Union Project’s purpose is to create connections and opportunities for learning through the arts and through community-based programming intended to serve the needs of the surrounding neighborhoods.” (click here for entire mission statement and more info on space rental and programs, stained glass classes and ceramics)
The right side is already cleaned, and the tower is being worked on now. I was at a red light and got the one man cleaning the tower but turned the corner and pulled over and rolled down the window to catch the other two workers and the contrast of the clean and the remaining visibile sign of the mills.
Beautifying and serving the community.
Diana Nelson Jones wrote an article 12/11/10 in the Post-Gazette about the restoration of all the stained glass windows.
This cannot be easy work!
Seven Robins and the Female Cardinal in the Backyard Tree
I thought the robins used to fly south! Find the female cardinal.
The other day there were two red cardinals in the tree in the backyard. I couldn’t see them no matter how I squinted. Could really see with the 70-200mm camera lens though. The neighbors in the back must have a feeder and the birds congregate. As I waited for the stunning red cardinals, which did not appear, I counted at least 7 robins in the tree. I didn’t see the female cardinal until I put the photos into the computer. Don’t robins fly south anymore?? I thought they were the first sign of Spring so that isn’t right. I am glad I am not a bird. Especially in winter. And what about all the cats in the neighborhood? Can’ t be easy.
Making Spirits Bright
Almost a gingerbread house, sparkling in the snow. Good thing there is a fence to keep in the reindeer!
Snow Enhances Lights
Left school so late that it was dark. Drove a circuitous route home to check out the lights in Morningside. The house I have photographed the past two years didn’t have a single light. Thinking about the possible reasons for no lights this year but maybe they just moved. This house up the street looked lovely in the snow with the greens and ribbons on the white fence.
Looks more like New England than Pittsburgh to me.
Foggy Morning School Bus Stop
Foggy Monday Morning School Bus Stop
Ghost Bicycles, Halloween House and a Full Moon
Steve drove me home from the Poetry Reading at Borders. Drove around the block so I could shoot the Halloween House and the FULL moon. Got out of the car and it wasn’t looking like much. Then the traffic started to arrive. And the lights of the passing cars added some interest. But when the 25 bicycles sped by with their lights on I shot as fast as I could. Not intending an animation initially but I thought it made the series worthy of publication.
Loading the 1950 BelAir, Rock Island, Illinois
Driving around with my sister, we were looking for the Historic District and saw this scene. BTW I am in Columbus OH not Illinois this weekend. One friend wrote and thought I was on a cross country trip and had stopped working. The men were loading the 1950 BelAir behind the pick-up.
Watching the men load the 1950
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