Top Recipe Posts

Over the past year or so I've posted recipes that you readers loved. So why not remember the good times?
Here's a collection of the highest-viewed recipe posts from {A Dash of Spectacular}:

Boozy Cranberry Sauce. One of the most-viewed recipes that's not only beautiful, but so yummy, all year-round.

Kielbasa & Caramelized Onion Quesadilla. A recipe idea born from a grocery-store challenge. A delicious idea.

The Peach-Ginger-Hit Cocktail. Yes, she's a winner. Really.

Mexican Chocolate Pound Cake. One of my personal favorites for a summer dessert with tropical or spicy cocktails.

Future Travel Destinations

We've got the travel bug.
Although, I'm not so sure that's a good bug to have when you're on a budget and in school. So...
That aside: Now that Husband and I are back from our mini vacation in Chicago, we thought it would be a good time to update our 'Future Travel Destinations' list. The list is usually a top ten we morph into a top-whatever-number of cities, combining duplicates. For now, our list just ventures to cities in North America. We love to road trip, so if a city is close, that's a bonus.
Without further chit-chat, here's our combined list {in no certain order}:

1. Chicago: I mean, what more can I say? It's seriously a love affair.

The Gold Coast in Chicago.

2. Boston: A rainy day in Boston is what dreams are made of.  And, I want a dream real, real soon.

Rainy day in Boston, in 2008 on our honeymoon.

3. San Francisco: Visiting this city never gets old. Food. Fun. Family.

Via dar-za-me.blogspot.com

4. Austin: A not-so-secret love of ours. 

Now, on to the cities we both haven't yet visited together {or, haven't spent 'vacation' time in, only traveling-though}:

5. Boulder, Colorado: A city to showcase crazy wonderful art with a natural backdrop. I've been there many moons ago, and I think it's time to go back and explore.

6. Toronto: We'll be visiting Toronto this summer for a concert and our 5th wedding anniversary. It'll be my first time out of the country!

7. Vancouver: The 'west coast' of Canada is calling our names, especially after the Olympics. 

8. San Jose, Costa Rica: The photos from this place are incredible. I can only imagine the food.

9.  Road Town, British Virgin Islands: Husband has been to the Bahamas and other islands in this area, but I've yet to see the sun-washed colors of this island paradise.

10. Jackson, Wyoming: Stuck in the middle of the Grand Tetons. Done.

11. Seattle: Yet another rainy city after my heart. I hear they have coffee, too? Wink.

12. Helena & Butte, Montana: Wide-open, gorgeous spaces. 

13. Mexico City/Oaxaca, Mexico: The food. The tile. The colors. Arguably the best place in the world to eat mole sauce. Hello, lover.

14. Nashville & Franklin: Now that we have friends living there, we'll be visiting the Nashville & Franklin area hopefully in the next year.

15. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada: After reading Margaret Atwood's Surfacing, I knew I wanted to see the eerie fog lifting off the lakes of eastern Canada. What better place to start than N.S., riddled with small bodies of water.

What are your top ten cities you'd like to visit? Why? Convince me!

Chicago: Architecture, Art and Steak

We're back!
Chicago was the beautiful, bustling city we remember from our third wedding anniversary {Read Part one, two, three & four}. We fell in love all over again...with Chicago. It's certainly on the 'short list' of places we'd like to end up.

Today I write this post on my day off {flex scheduling is great, y'all}, while the rain pours outside. Sipping on a hot chocolate, too.  However, even with those lovely things, I am still missing my time in Chicago.
We started our vacation the night before, by having dinner at The Porch at Schenley. We shared the fig, arugula and goat cheese pizza {along with calamari and a salad}. Wonderful as usual, especially sitting out on THE PORCH itself, looking out to the garden and carousel. You can read my previous review here and be sure to hone in on those crispy potatoes.

Day One
Husband and I decided to road trip out to Illinois, rather than dealing with the lameness that is Pittsburgh International Airport. It was a great decision, and we saw parts of Ohio and Indiana we'd never seen. We stopped in South Bend for lunch, and took a brief self-guided tour of Notre Dame.

Immediately when we got into Chicago after our 7-hour drive, we stopped at Target to get a few things before going to the hotel. Somehow we can't escape missing putting a crucial item in the luggage.  We were greeted in Target with a nice selection of spirits and wine, which was a breath of fresh air from Pittsburgh grocery stores.
We sailed down State with our loot, and took a few car photos of the buildings. You just can't ignore Chicago's architecture.

{Over the Weekend} Solo Days and Cycling

This weekend has been one of much-needed R&R. Friday was spent alone, as Husband had to work. In my mind, it's pseudo-pointless to have a day off {even if it's a day off due to a compressed workweek} when you can't spend it with the ones you love.
But hey, I got my haircut, read more of The Lacuna, and did the laundry - I s'pose that's a win.

Haircutting appointment with Michelle and Barack.

Treats for solo-laundry-doing.

Continued reading.

Saturday {and Sunday, to this point} was spent with my love, taking a bike/jog, side-by-side on the Three Rivers Heritage trail through The Strip and down into Point State Park. Such a lovely view, with rivers to your sides and bridges overhead.
I'm so glad we made the jump and purchased my bike after so long of vacillating about the cost versus the benefits.  Already, I'm feeling the positive effects of cycling.

Trees in Point State Park.

The midway rest in the park.

Springtime bike flair.

For dinner, Husband recreated part of a lunch we ate at Cafe Sabarsky within the Neue Gallery in NYC last year.  Lightly dressed, thinly-sliced romaine {originally frisee}, lardons, and a poached egg topping the whole plate. He's too good to me.

Early next week will be a whirlwind. Lots of deadlines at work, and preparing for traveling to Chitown.   In the meantime, I'll finish off the weekend of R&R with making a stewed chicken curry and possibly exerting enough energy to do some rainy-day yoga. 

Adios, wonderful readers!

End of Finals + Roadtrip

I'm bursting with excitement to tell you readers two things. First, I am done with finals for the semester! Now, it's just time to sit back and watch the grades come in.

In fact, I'd like to sit back on this lovely chaise...which is housed in The Art Institute of Chicago!

The second thing is Husband, Seestor, her BF and I are all headed for Chicago for a quick weekend before Seestor's conference the first week in May. It's a pretty easy drive for us from Pittsburgh, and we jumped at the chance to go see them {the last time was in December!}. It can sometimes be tough when you live in a corner of the US that your family doesn't travel to much. 

Grant Park

I can tell you now, the itinerary is full of food. And, cocktails. And, walking. And, architecture.

Don't worry, I'll be posting all of my food and sights photos on my Instagram or Twitter. Stay tuned!

Spring At Last

I posted the photo below on my Instagram and Facebook last week after driving by this lovely forsythia bush on Fifth Avenue. Our windows were rolled down, the breeze was coming in, and the scent of this yellow cluster came into the car cabin.

Shortly after I posted the photo, my sister made a comment that these bushes always reminded her of our Great-Grandma Brown.

These tiny, yellow star bursts were featured in Grandma Brown's yard {or, at least within our play-radius}, among the houses on that small street near my elementary school.  I still have a single wooden bird, initially carved to ornament her German cuckoo clock, hidden away somewhere in remembrance of those afternoons of playing at her house.  I wasn't even ten years old when she passed away, but those are some of the first fragile memories I have.

{PGH Dining} Tender Bar + Kitchen

Welcome back to Lawrenceville, Readers. I know you've heard about the place, skinny jeans and all, and you may have even been to an establishment or two in the past.  There's a new reason to hang out in Larryville, and it's Tender Bar + Kitchen. I'll affectionately call it 'T Bar'. So, T Bar opened super recently, so you haven't missed a whole lot yet, except for awesome cocktails*.

Previously, T Bar's space had been occupied by a thrift store concept shop from Wild Card and others. Each time we visited the run-down, unfinished space, we'd always get there after the good stuff was taken. At least that's what we told ourselves.

What a transformation this place has made. It's like a sexy cocktail lounge with good wall paper. 

We were seated in the front room, where the library-style wall, complete with movable ladder, was located, where glittering bottles of spirits are shelved. 

The menu page featured food on the front and a smattering of drink options on the back, including wine, beer, Arsenal cider, and cocktails.  Right away, I was drawn to a tiny corner of the menu featuring 30 classic cocktails, which the waitstaff will happy trill off ingredients for you if you need a refresher on a Navy Grog.  It's nice to see something so honest it's hipster. Kidding, but it really was happily 'Mad Men'-esque to have these listed.

Which ones did we order? Well, they came from the house cocktail section and from off the menu.

Reading in April

In the brief minutes between commitments, I've been reading all over the place so I'll be ready for my book clubs in May. Yes, that was plural. In 2013, I find myself as a part of three book clubs. How did this happen, y'all!?

The first book is The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace, for my 'adult' book club. Adult meaning everyone is well-established in their lives/careers/reading acumen. About the book: This is DFW's first novel, oddly about nursing home escapees, and the first 25 pages are straight up hilarious.  This was my suggestion many moons ago with this group, but it took a bit for them to take up this lengthy novel.  They're not afraid of choosing long novels or obscure/controversial writers. But, when I bring up suggestions, they fall flat at times; it takes time for a youngster to gain some clout. We'll see what the group thinks after we meet next.

The other novel is Barbara Kingsolver's acclaimed The Lacuna, which I'm reading for the newly-created Sister Book Club. The group members include me and my sister, which is truly awesome because we're getting to do something together, though thousands of miles separate us.

We're planning to meet and discuss the novel when we're in Chicago next month. More on that soon! I'm off to work on a finance presentation.

Happy weekend!

Busy As A...

Be{cause} it's the tail end of the semester, I am loaded down with papers, presentations and assignments, all which are due in a few short weeks. I do see the light at the end of the tunnel...

And, it's filled with coffee. Rich, strong coffee.

Unintended Break

It must be obvious, but I'm taking a bit of a break from blogging. The break was unintentional and has emerged from the lack of extra time I've experienced over the past few months. In truth, this was a long time coming.

Between school, work, and relationships, this life is busy. Cray, even.

In January, I didn't knew just how busy it would be.

At the beginning of the year, I vowed to begin posting more often on ADOS, and in reality, this will be a resolution I can't keep right now. On the other hand, I'm making progress with three of the other five goals: 'Make Decisions for My Career/Education', 'Keep in Touch With Family and Friends', and 'Complete My Reading Challenge'. I've started to shadow professionals in the field to learn more about what jobs interest me the most, written cards and letters to family and friends over the past few months, and have burned through 8 of my new 30-book goal for reading this year. I'm even hosting a book club!

So, bear with me as I take a slight 'break' from the blog to pursue life. On a side note, I'm physically feeling better, so I can throw myself full-force into all of my commitments. In the future, I promise to be back regularly with lots of PGH Dining, health and 'big news' posts. For now, enjoy the smattering of here-and-there posts. :)

Happy April, Readers!