Tour Guide

Krista Stevens at WordPress creates some interesting photo challenges. This week we’re to show where we live with the theme Tour Guide,   

Here’s a Pittsburgh montage.  Knowing when to stop digging in the archives is the problem but it’s one AM so we’ll start with this gallery tonight.

If you enter the city from the south- Ft Pitt Tunnel and Bridge this is the view when you emerge from the tunnel,

Duquesne Incline and a view of the city

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Statue of beloved Mayor Caliguiri on the steps of the City-County Building

 

Andy Warhol Museum Detail and the old Lobby

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East Liberty Carnegie Library and Presbyterian Church

 

Mr Rogers Sweater and sneakersMr. Rogers Sweater and Sneakers at the Airport Display

The Point and the fountain. Where the three rivers meet, Allegheny and Monongahela form the Ohio River,

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InclineSnowyNight

Incline in the Snow

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museum of Natural History.jpeg

Carnegie Museum of Natural History\

 

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Carnegie Museum of Art

 

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Carnegie Museum of Art Sculpture Garden Courtyard

ForbesFieldWall

Above-Forbes Field Wall and Bill Mazeroski Statue with Fireworks.  1960 World SeriesBill Mazeroski

 

Immaculate REception

 

 

Polish Deli.jpg

RittersDiner

Ritter’s Diner

PNC night game.jpeg

 

 

St Paul Cathedral

St Paul Cathedral at Night

night-game-HeinzField

Heinz Field at Night

Heinz Hall

Heinz Hall at Night

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Prantl’s Bakery-Home of the World Famous Burnt Almond Torte

 

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Heinz Chapel

HolocaustMemorial

Keeping Tabs- Holocaust Memorial- Squirrel Hill

 

University of Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning

PittsburghFineview

From the Norhside- Fineview

CarrieFurnace

Carrie Furnace on the Monongahela River

 

Got Bridges?  Why yes, we do!

 

kennywood-at-night

Lost Kennywood- Kennywood Amusement Park

 

North Side- Cloud Arbor by the Children’s Museum

ClubCafe

Southside Club Cafe   Live Music VenueSt. Paul Cathedral in Oakland

PNCPArkPNC Park

AMTRAK station downtown

 

CArnegieLibrary

Carnegie Library- Oakland

East Liberty- Motor Square Garden and the Presbyterian Church

StMArysMountSt Mary on the Mount -Mount Washington

Guard rails, hills, and retaining walls.

 

PhippsConservatory

Phipps Conservatory

Lawrenceville Neighborhood- Arsenal Lanes

 

StacksatWaterfrontimagesArt Rooney Statue

Art Rooney Statue in the Snow

ShadysideVarietyStore

Shadyside Variety Store

Kaufmann’s Clock Downtown.

 

Three RiversRacerKennywood

Kennywood Amusement Park- Racer

TOUR GUIDE

Cherry on Top of a Burnt Almond Torte

Cherry on Top

The fun weekly photo challenge by Michelle W.   I should get in the car and head to a local ice cream shop but it’s really humid and hot and we’ve already been out for dinner.  Wish I knew the Cherry on Top challenge beforehand but then I remembered a Cherry on Top I photographed six years ago.

The following was posted in May 2010.  Since then the Burnt Almond Torte was declared America’s Greatest Cake Here’s the article Thank You, Pittsburgh, For The Greatest Cake America Has Ever Made   (By the way, I never saw a cherry on top of a Prantl’s Burnt Almond Torte)

Burnt Almond TorteAnd here is the original writing from my May 2010 blog post

Burnt Almond Torte and Copycat Recipe

Different regions prefer certain pastries, baked goods.  Burnt Almond Torte is popular in Pittsburgh. I’ve seen it as a wedding cake. tiered!  Who brought the recipe here I don’t know but many Pittsburghers LOVE it.  I’d never tasted one until we moved here.  This one is from the Oakmont Bakery.  Joan brought it to dinner one night.  We split it three ways. Don’t know who ate the cherry.  Not me.  But before we devoured it, I photographed it.  Here is a link to the Recipezaar Copycat Prantl’s Burnt Almond Torte recipe in case you want to have a taste of Pittsburgh Pastry/Dessert.  I hear there’s one where chocolate is involved.

Checking the Copycat Recipe is still valid, YES!!!

The Molasses Swamp is now a Chocolate Swamp post was a slow low day on the blog today.  Bet this Cherry on Top will top it!!

 

Greatest Cake in America says Huffington Post

 

 

 

 

Burnt Almond Torte WEdding CakePrudence and Jordan’s Burnt Almond Torte wedding cake-    assisted by his father wielding the fire axe  September 2012

 

Julie R Thomson of the Huffington Post thanks “Pittsburgh for the greatest cake America has ever made”

 

Prantl's Burnt Almond Torte

and a link to a previous blogpost with the copycat recipe

 

 

Prantl's Bakery Pittsburgh

 

 

 

 

 

The Top Ten Hit Upon in 2011

As I look at the yearly summary, I found that only four of the most hit upon posts out of the top ten were actually posted in 2011.  I am not sure what this means except there are a lot of searches for disco balls, burnt almond torte, furry convention and city rooftops at night.

1.    Wordpress sent out a report on my 2011 year in Blogging and my top post of the year was the one I posted for my son’s birthday.  He’s a grown up man, married with four children of his own(see Zoo Lights post if you didn’t already)  but when he was a little boy he had a wish that remained unfilled until last May.  I can tell by his expression how surprised and delighted he was when he opened his gift.  Sometimes parents can’t realize how important certain things are to a child and I certainly felt bad when I would hear occasionally how he ALWAYS wanted this Millennium Falcon but didn’t get it, usually when he and his brother were together and they reminisced about growing up.

If you want to read the rest of the story click here                       

Thanks to Phil, who owns Where The Toys Are  Canonsburg PA!  

2.  The second most viewed post this year is those furries that show up every year for a big furry convention in Pittsburgh. I just happened to stumble upon them when I was going to a gallery in a downtown hotel.  This post was first posted in 2010 and yet it gets hits every week.

3.  And the disco ball image. Go figure.  Almost EVERY day someone hits on this disco ball/mirror ball reflection. I shot it at wedding (the couple now has a darling baby girl) and it looks retro but is not.  Here is that image.  Should I be concerned that some of my top hits are from different years than 2011?  This is from 2009!   Why do people search for disco ball“?

4. And the next most popular every week is New York City Rooftops at Night.

This was posted in 2009 as well.

5.  The Pug Guard Dog in a Shadyside store got linked and hit from Tina (Pug owner/lover) at Carrots ‘N’ Cake blog

6.  Copy Cat Recipe for BurntAlmond Torte gets weekly hits and adds up to the 6th  most hit upon for the year

7.  The Bookshelf (most controversial on reddit.com) single most hit upon in one day over 18,000 hits!!!

8.  And the Tenth Street Bridge lit up at night for the Tom Cruise Movie

9.  The ninth most hit upon post in 2011 is a tribute to my cousin Lori Lynn Baur Meli. She touched a lot of lives as her name still comes up in searches. She fought a valiant battle with breast cancer.  Her husband Fredi just became an American citizen recently.

10.   The tenth most hit upon post from this year was

Open Letter to Shiny Buick Man

My new project for 2012 is Cardboard Me Travels.  Hope you will consider checking it out and subscribing to see where Flat Ruthie travels this year.  Read the about page to see how Flat Ruthie can come and visit YOU.

Burnt Almond Torte and Copycat Recipe

Different regions prefer certain pastries, baked goods.  Burnt Almond Torte is popular in Pittsburgh. I’ve seen it as a wedding cake. tiered!  Who brought the recipe here I don’t know but many Pittsburghers LOVE it.  I’d never tasted one until we moved here.  This one is from the Oakmont Bakery.  Joan brought it to dinner one night.  We split it three ways. Don’t know who ate the cherry.  Not me.  But before we devoured it, I photographed it.  Here is a link to the Recipezaar Copycat Prantl’s Burnt Almond Torte recipe in case you want to have a taste of Pittsburgh Pastry/Dessert.  I hear there’s one where chocolate is involved.