We woke up and decided to grab breakfast before heading into the city. We went to a place that was closed (I see a theme on this trip!) so went to another called Mil-Lee Diner. It's a quaint old-style diner in Lower Makefield (I think!) We got leaded up on coffee and got omelettes and oj then headed into the city.
My friend had some work to get done, so she dropped me where my cousin works so he could grab my bag. He works at One Penn Plaza/JFK Boulevard, above a train terminal and site of an old terminal station. There are mosaics in the lobby that show the history of the place.
I decided to cab it over to the museums, which would have been a 20ish minute walk had I known where I was going. The cabbie was frustratingly hilarious. 'Where are you going?' 'The Barnes Museum at one Ben Franklin Boulevard.' two minute pause. 'where are you going?' 'One?' 'What road?' Wow. So after clearly stating 'One Ben Franklin Boulevard' about 100 times, I gave up and demanded he let me off. The meter ran up a few extra dollars during this interchange, and we passed it a while back at that point. The funny part too was that he pulled over to ask someone where it was, and that person clearly had no better grasp.
http://withart.visitphilly.com/museums-attractions/the-barnes-foundation/?gclid=CNCL4rmGgLECFYkSNAodyi1SBQ
I walked down Ben Franklin and stopped at the Rodin Museum. The Museum is closed for renovations (yes, we did find that out before leaving) but you can walk the grounds. It was really beautiful and there were statues around the grounds to enjoy. A large replication of the famous "The Thinker' was out front, reminding me of when I was in Paris and almost got tossed from the Rodin Museum there of taking a picture of it.
http://www.rodinmuseum.org/
I saw a Whole Foods and decided to pick up some of the soap my friend had at her house (she has a 'thing' with soaps, lol!) They unfortunately didn't have it, but it was nice a cool and a good break from the heat and humidity. I continued walking to the Barnes, to find out, yes, you guessed it! It's closed on Tuesdays. Ugh. Sad but true. It just opened in mid-May so would have been really nice to see. Oh well..
So, I admired the building a bit then made my way to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
There was a beautiful and large statue of George Washington on his horse on the grounds in front of it that I stopped to look at, then headed to the South Entrance made famous by Stallone in the movie 'Rocky.' To commemorate it, they have a large statue of 'Rocky' at the base of the steps, and of course, tourists were having fun talking a picture posing in boxing stance, beside it. I walked up the steps by a family who did a race up them, so it was pretty entertaining to watch. Especially when the youngest boy of the crew declared 'I'm dying!' and nowhere near the top. The stairs are an architectural feature and quite impressive. Near the top there are quite a few beautiful sculptures, and the building is beautiful to look at.
There was an exhibit on 'Arcadia: Gauguin,Cezanne,Matisse that was really beautiful and well-done with an auditory accompanyment. You could also play music from the era as you walk around.
The museum has a lot of Monet, Renoir, Gauguin and others, so I enjoyed walking around. There's also an armour collection which was interesting, and some modern art as well as European art from other time periods.
http://www.philamuseum.org/
I spent two hours touring, pretty much my museum limit, then headed back toward's my cousin's office. I stopped in the Comcast building next door, which has huge displays on the wall inside the building, offering constant movies. Downstairs is a food court, but a rather upscale one. I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat for a bit, enjoying the coolness!
My cousin got out of work early so we headed over to the Continental for a drink. It's a funky place that we ate at the last time I was here (maybe three years ago.)
http://www.continentalmidtown.com/
It has a rooftop restaurant as well with a nice view, so we went up there when it opened. We met up with my cousin's wife and two friends of hers from work, and talked for a bit.
We left and made our way to Parc, where we were eating. It's in the Rittenhouse area of Philly, which is very nice and beautiful, with a large park in the center. The restaurant is french and very good, with gorgeous tiles on the floor, almost like a mosaic, and very french-style seating. For dinner I got the scallops, and my cousin got french onion soup (when in rome!) and spaghetti bolognese and Lisa got chicken. We got an order of pomme frites (french fries) for the table. It was great.
After we left, we decided to walk around the park, which is very dog-friendly, and the area. They showed me million-plus dollar condos on the square which didn't seem quite so impressive. We walked back to the car and came home to Northeast Philly.
Their cat, Ashley, is not very happy about visitors, and that hasn't changed. Surprisingly, she isn't hiding constantly though, and has stared at me a bit.. from a distance. I think that means she likes me!
Today we go to Longwood Gardens, which I'm looking forward to. Then *fireworks*.. yay! I LOVE fireworks.
Have a great day!!
s
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Philly Day 3
Good morning! I need to get caught up from yesterday, which was a busy day! And fun!
We got up early again and enjoyed an amazing cup of coffee with Penzey's cinnamon and nutmeg (the cinnamon, I found out today, from Vietnam, China and Indonesia! Yum!)
Even though I lived in New Jersey for a year, I never went to Princeton! We had plans to go somewhere in Jersey and decided to add it to the trip!
We parked near the campus and walked down the main road, Nassau Street, a while. We stopped in Small World Coffee and had a cafe au lait. They gave us separate little decanters with coffee and warmed milk so we could mix our own. A nice touch! My friend introduced me to this coffee a couple of years ago and brought me a bag in Phoenix. It's a great, small independent place that roasts the beans in Marlton, NJ. http://www.smallworldcoffee.com/ I purchased two bags (Joker Poker and Indie Blend, so my bag will smell wonderfully for the rest of the trip!!)
We then walked down Main Street for a bit, and enjoyed the quaint storefronts. We crossed the street to go onto the Princeton campus, which was amazing! There's a huge church made of this beautiful stone. Most of the buildings are of the same stone and the campus is really a showpiece. There's large metal sculptures sprinkled around, and lots of mature trees shading from the sun. It's really hot and muggy here now but yesterday was fairly nice, and the humidity was lower than it's been. In the shade it was quite pleasant. There was some kind of filming going on, and we watched for a few minutes then headed on to tour the rest of the campus. It's very easy to see the school is well funded! There's a building with plaques from many of the classes, and has 1971, 1952, 1993, etc. rimming the building.
We toured for a little while more then crossed back over to Main Street in search of lunch. We were too full from dinner last night to even think of eating until then! We found PJ's Pancake House, a famous Princeton place and a landmark in the city. They offered breakfast and lunch during this time (breakfast is offered all day). I got my Philly cheesesteak with a swiss substitution, and it was great. I rarely eat red meat but when in Philly..
We next went to Grounds for Sculpture, which we found out was unfortunately closed. It's a beautiful area with lots of large and very interesting sculptures. There's a restaurant called 'Rats' there, named after some literary character, but I chuckle at the name for a restaurant. Seems kind of wrong to me. We walked around that area and saw some galleries as well, with several cute sculptures of couples from the 1800's wandering through the courtyard, and there was one in the window looking down on us too!
On the drive out we could see some of the brightly-colored sculputres in the fields of grass and trees. Maybe next time! www.groundsforsculpture.org/
Since I have never been to the area where my friend lives, we did some exploring htere. We drove to Washington Crossing, which was the site of.. you guessed it! Washington's crossing!
www.ushistory.org/washingtoncrossing and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Crossing_Historic_Park.
It marks the area where Washington crossed the delaware during the Revolutionary War. The grounds are beautiful. We walked by quite a few historic homes, and a gazebo to the bridge, and walked for the first time that day into NJ! Reenactments are done here, and the grounds really are beautiful overlooking the river. We walked the hilly landscape under gorgeous mature trees for a while, appreciating the shady canopy, then headed to the Washington Crossing Inn for a cool beverage.
The Inn is gorgeous and the grounds even more so. We sat outside on the back patio and chatted with some of the people there. The bartender is going to the University of Phoenix (where I work!) What a small world. We then drove through Newtown, which is beautiful and historic. We took note of the plaques on some of the homes, marking them as having been built in the early 1800's and some in the 1700's. Everything there is beautiful and well-kept.
We went back to their house for a bit to get ready for dinner, and headed to New Hope and Lambertville to walk around. New Hope is known for the 'alternate lifestyle' and is a very artsy and fun community. There was a really nice Irish store that we checked checked out, and a couple of pet stores, one of which we went into. We then for the second time walked over a bridge into New Jersey, into Lambertville this time. It's a small town and very quaint known for antiques.
We went to Lambertville Station for a drink, a quaint little tavern, and then over to the Boathouse, which was right next to the restaurant we planned to dine at. it was really cute! A very small place decorated with everything nautical from mastheads, pictures, tin cups. Decorations were adorning the walls and ceilings, filling every spot of wood on the walls! The bartended was a character as well and we enjoyed talking with him a bit. We purchased a bottle of wine there as the restaurant is a BYO, and walked over. The wine we got, a french Pouilly-Fuisse, was excellent.
We enjoyed a great dinner outside on the patio including oysters and mussels, crab cakes and an interesting dish with a sheet of pasta over a poached egg, ham and spinach. We had duck, skate and liver (surprising the two of us who didn't order the liver that we kind of liked it!) The desserts were pretty good, and I definitely scored with the key lime pie. They got a berry mousse and an almond cookie. www.hamiltonsgrillroom.com
We walked back along the water to get to the car and saw fish dancing in the canal. It was a really lovely day and I have enjoyed everything we've done thoroughly! Of course, I may never eat again once I leave here, but we are all major foodies so it's been really nice to go to some amazing restaurantsand have such truly amazing food!!! I love that about my friends. Today we got up early and went for a walk for a couple of miles. We are heading into the city for lunch, then I'm going to visit with my cousin for a couple of days before returning home. I can't wait to see him!
We parked near the campus and walked down the main road, Nassau Street, a while. We stopped in Small World Coffee and had a cafe au lait. They gave us separate little decanters with coffee and warmed milk so we could mix our own. A nice touch! My friend introduced me to this coffee a couple of years ago and brought me a bag in Phoenix. It's a great, small independent place that roasts the beans in Marlton, NJ. http://www.smallworldcoffee.com/ I purchased two bags (Joker Poker and Indie Blend, so my bag will smell wonderfully for the rest of the trip!!)
We then walked down Main Street for a bit, and enjoyed the quaint storefronts. We crossed the street to go onto the Princeton campus, which was amazing! There's a huge church made of this beautiful stone. Most of the buildings are of the same stone and the campus is really a showpiece. There's large metal sculptures sprinkled around, and lots of mature trees shading from the sun. It's really hot and muggy here now but yesterday was fairly nice, and the humidity was lower than it's been. In the shade it was quite pleasant. There was some kind of filming going on, and we watched for a few minutes then headed on to tour the rest of the campus. It's very easy to see the school is well funded! There's a building with plaques from many of the classes, and has 1971, 1952, 1993, etc. rimming the building.
We toured for a little while more then crossed back over to Main Street in search of lunch. We were too full from dinner last night to even think of eating until then! We found PJ's Pancake House, a famous Princeton place and a landmark in the city. They offered breakfast and lunch during this time (breakfast is offered all day). I got my Philly cheesesteak with a swiss substitution, and it was great. I rarely eat red meat but when in Philly..
We next went to Grounds for Sculpture, which we found out was unfortunately closed. It's a beautiful area with lots of large and very interesting sculptures. There's a restaurant called 'Rats' there, named after some literary character, but I chuckle at the name for a restaurant. Seems kind of wrong to me. We walked around that area and saw some galleries as well, with several cute sculptures of couples from the 1800's wandering through the courtyard, and there was one in the window looking down on us too!
On the drive out we could see some of the brightly-colored sculputres in the fields of grass and trees. Maybe next time! www.groundsforsculpture.org/
Since I have never been to the area where my friend lives, we did some exploring htere. We drove to Washington Crossing, which was the site of.. you guessed it! Washington's crossing!
www.ushistory.org/washingtoncrossing and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Crossing_Historic_Park.
It marks the area where Washington crossed the delaware during the Revolutionary War. The grounds are beautiful. We walked by quite a few historic homes, and a gazebo to the bridge, and walked for the first time that day into NJ! Reenactments are done here, and the grounds really are beautiful overlooking the river. We walked the hilly landscape under gorgeous mature trees for a while, appreciating the shady canopy, then headed to the Washington Crossing Inn for a cool beverage.
The Inn is gorgeous and the grounds even more so. We sat outside on the back patio and chatted with some of the people there. The bartender is going to the University of Phoenix (where I work!) What a small world. We then drove through Newtown, which is beautiful and historic. We took note of the plaques on some of the homes, marking them as having been built in the early 1800's and some in the 1700's. Everything there is beautiful and well-kept.
We went back to their house for a bit to get ready for dinner, and headed to New Hope and Lambertville to walk around. New Hope is known for the 'alternate lifestyle' and is a very artsy and fun community. There was a really nice Irish store that we checked checked out, and a couple of pet stores, one of which we went into. We then for the second time walked over a bridge into New Jersey, into Lambertville this time. It's a small town and very quaint known for antiques.
We went to Lambertville Station for a drink, a quaint little tavern, and then over to the Boathouse, which was right next to the restaurant we planned to dine at. it was really cute! A very small place decorated with everything nautical from mastheads, pictures, tin cups. Decorations were adorning the walls and ceilings, filling every spot of wood on the walls! The bartended was a character as well and we enjoyed talking with him a bit. We purchased a bottle of wine there as the restaurant is a BYO, and walked over. The wine we got, a french Pouilly-Fuisse, was excellent.
We enjoyed a great dinner outside on the patio including oysters and mussels, crab cakes and an interesting dish with a sheet of pasta over a poached egg, ham and spinach. We had duck, skate and liver (surprising the two of us who didn't order the liver that we kind of liked it!) The desserts were pretty good, and I definitely scored with the key lime pie. They got a berry mousse and an almond cookie. www.hamiltonsgrillroom.com
We walked back along the water to get to the car and saw fish dancing in the canal. It was a really lovely day and I have enjoyed everything we've done thoroughly! Of course, I may never eat again once I leave here, but we are all major foodies so it's been really nice to go to some amazing restaurantsand have such truly amazing food!!! I love that about my friends. Today we got up early and went for a walk for a couple of miles. We are heading into the city for lunch, then I'm going to visit with my cousin for a couple of days before returning home. I can't wait to see him!
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Philadelphia Day 2
Hello again, and welcome! What a fun day we had today! We first touring the Reading Terminal and the recent renovations they've had. It's in indoor market complete with every yummy goodness imaginable: farmer's markets, salumerias, delis, restaurants, bakeries... and on and on. We picked up a ginger scone and a bavarian-style pretzel with carraway seeds and salt for a snack.
We went on a mural arts tour, and took a trolley around the city to learn about,and enjoy, some of the 3,500 murals around the city.
Philadelphia is often now known as the 'city of murals'. What an amazing way to explore the city! We got to tour many neighborhoods and got to see 40-50 murals, ranging from small areas to the entire sides of buildings. We also saw several mosaics, which were beautiful. This organization started in 1984, evolving from the Philadelphia anti-graffiti Network started Mayor Wilson Goode to eradicate the city of graffiti. Jane golden was hired to run the organization, and developed a respectful relationship with the graffiti artists, recognizing the raw talent that they had. Their motto, 'Art Saves Lives' really tells their story, engaging convicts, teens and all ages from all walks of life to beautify the city in a grass-roots effort to build community and build a sense of belonging while promotoing art and beautification.
We took the center city mural arts trolley tour: http://muralarts.org/tour/trolley-tours. Some of the artists included Meg Saligman and others. The murals were really impressive, ranging from sports characters, heroes and social issues portrayed by beautiful artistry. We then went back to the Reading Terminal to cool off and enjoy some mimosas. After two, we stumbled our way out and then headed to the Constitution Center, which had some recent renovations. We watched the presentation/movie which was really interesting, then walked through some of the exhibits reading through the history of the country and recent history, then walked through the 'framers', the life-sized statues of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. We enjoyed the view of Independence Mall, across the way is the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.
We made our way over to Society Hill, including lots of colonials in an older part of the city. It's a very residential and historic area, and quite beautiful. We walked toward South Street and went into Bridget Foys for a drink and a snack. It's in the mid-90s and very humid, so we needed to cool off. We walked down South Street for a bit. It's a rather intersting area of town with an eclectic vibe, including eateries and, oh, unique boutiques. :o)
After walking a bit and feeling quite hot and sticky, we decided to head toward the restaurant. First we went to Cuba Libre for yet anothe drink to cool off. It's an adorable very cuban-style restaurant that I've been to once before. I am not a fan of mojitos usually but was told they are amazing here so I tried it. Yum! It was excellent!
Then we headed to the restaurant where we had reservations. Amada was, in a word, excellent. http://www.amadarestaurant.com/ Our waitress was amazing, and the restaurant was gorgeous. The food was incredible. We got the tasting menu and it was plentiful. We got tapas and one wine tasting that we shared. Some of the plates included jamon iberico, octopus (which I tried and surprisingly liked) with paprika and potato slices, lavash with tuna and capers, spinach salad with dates, toasted nuts and wrapped in serrano ham, pesto scallops, toast with a black truffle spread and an egg, shrimp mixture that I'm not doing justice to in describing, but it was amazing.
We also had artichokes in a parmesan sauce, flatbread in manchego, lamb chops, tile fish from florida in a tomato broth with the chef's personal garden vegetables, lamb meatballs with a cream sauce, anchovies with green olives and roasted pine nuts, and oyster and trumpet mushrooms with pesto... oh, amazing! We had a white, rose, red and a sparkling for wine. Dessert was a strawberry rubarb with a cakey-typed cookie and a strawberry marshmellow creme, and a chocolate hazelnut layered cake with a banana saffron ice cream and toasted hazelnuts.
We thought we might need to roll out of there but slowly made our way. Unfortunately, it was a bit too swampy to walk it off so we stumbled to the car to make our way back to their house. Yet another amazing dining experience. Yum! Yes, we are eating our way through Philly, which is something I've done before and yet, this time is very different and quite good. Yum. Double Yum. Very fun day with the murals tour and the good eats. Looking forward to more tomorrow!!! Have a great night all! s
Philadelphia is often now known as the 'city of murals'. What an amazing way to explore the city! We got to tour many neighborhoods and got to see 40-50 murals, ranging from small areas to the entire sides of buildings. We also saw several mosaics, which were beautiful. This organization started in 1984, evolving from the Philadelphia anti-graffiti Network started Mayor Wilson Goode to eradicate the city of graffiti. Jane golden was hired to run the organization, and developed a respectful relationship with the graffiti artists, recognizing the raw talent that they had. Their motto, 'Art Saves Lives' really tells their story, engaging convicts, teens and all ages from all walks of life to beautify the city in a grass-roots effort to build community and build a sense of belonging while promotoing art and beautification.
We took the center city mural arts trolley tour: http://muralarts.org/tour/trolley-tours. Some of the artists included Meg Saligman and others. The murals were really impressive, ranging from sports characters, heroes and social issues portrayed by beautiful artistry. We then went back to the Reading Terminal to cool off and enjoy some mimosas. After two, we stumbled our way out and then headed to the Constitution Center, which had some recent renovations. We watched the presentation/movie which was really interesting, then walked through some of the exhibits reading through the history of the country and recent history, then walked through the 'framers', the life-sized statues of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. We enjoyed the view of Independence Mall, across the way is the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.
We made our way over to Society Hill, including lots of colonials in an older part of the city. It's a very residential and historic area, and quite beautiful. We walked toward South Street and went into Bridget Foys for a drink and a snack. It's in the mid-90s and very humid, so we needed to cool off. We walked down South Street for a bit. It's a rather intersting area of town with an eclectic vibe, including eateries and, oh, unique boutiques. :o)
After walking a bit and feeling quite hot and sticky, we decided to head toward the restaurant. First we went to Cuba Libre for yet anothe drink to cool off. It's an adorable very cuban-style restaurant that I've been to once before. I am not a fan of mojitos usually but was told they are amazing here so I tried it. Yum! It was excellent!
Then we headed to the restaurant where we had reservations. Amada was, in a word, excellent. http://www.amadarestaurant.com/ Our waitress was amazing, and the restaurant was gorgeous. The food was incredible. We got the tasting menu and it was plentiful. We got tapas and one wine tasting that we shared. Some of the plates included jamon iberico, octopus (which I tried and surprisingly liked) with paprika and potato slices, lavash with tuna and capers, spinach salad with dates, toasted nuts and wrapped in serrano ham, pesto scallops, toast with a black truffle spread and an egg, shrimp mixture that I'm not doing justice to in describing, but it was amazing.
We also had artichokes in a parmesan sauce, flatbread in manchego, lamb chops, tile fish from florida in a tomato broth with the chef's personal garden vegetables, lamb meatballs with a cream sauce, anchovies with green olives and roasted pine nuts, and oyster and trumpet mushrooms with pesto... oh, amazing! We had a white, rose, red and a sparkling for wine. Dessert was a strawberry rubarb with a cakey-typed cookie and a strawberry marshmellow creme, and a chocolate hazelnut layered cake with a banana saffron ice cream and toasted hazelnuts.
We thought we might need to roll out of there but slowly made our way. Unfortunately, it was a bit too swampy to walk it off so we stumbled to the car to make our way back to their house. Yet another amazing dining experience. Yum! Yes, we are eating our way through Philly, which is something I've done before and yet, this time is very different and quite good. Yum. Double Yum. Very fun day with the murals tour and the good eats. Looking forward to more tomorrow!!! Have a great night all! s
The City of Brotherly Love
Welcome all.. the city of Brotherly Love: Philadelphia! The city that I hailed from, though I moved at age five to the Boston area. I love this city and am really excited to be here visiting some friends and my cousin. My favorite cousin, as he would tell you!
I arrived around 5 pm, just in time for dinner. :o)
We headed directly into Philly,into the Society Hill part of the city. Lots of really great restaurants are here. We went to Zahav, a wonderful Israeli/middle-eastern restaurant offering a tapas-style dinner with small plates meant for sharing. Their tasting menu,as they call it, was wonderful. The place was really gorgeous.
When you walk in there's some very middle-eastern looking decorations on the wall, opening to a large room with several stained-glass squares made by the owner's father. There's a large picture of the top of a crowd from Israel. The lights are very middle-eastern in appearance, and then there are several areas with draped tapestry over the seating area. They look almost like a chuppah, which is the tapestry/cloth that is draped over an area used for a wedding ceremony. The cloth was beautiful and made the area appear very intimate.
It starts with an incredible bread, almost pita-like but larger and clearly just made from a brick-style oven, with 'salad items' including a large bowl of hummus. It's not like the traditional hummus and was quite creamy with some kind of black beans in it and lots of tasty olive oil. 8 tiny bowls came with it, with things like tabbouli, eggplant (almost like baba ganoush but prepared a little differently), a tomato and cucumber mixture, beets in a seasoning (and I HATE beets, but rather liked this), carrots, and a couple of others.
Next we selected 6 small plates and the food seemed to just keep coming! We got this amazing watermelon 'salad' with small pieces of olive, feta cheese and pistachios. Then came fried cauliflower, roasted zucchini with cheese and hazelnuts, kibbe naya, which is a raw lamb seasoned mixture over small lettuce leaves with some nuts (almost like the lettuce wraps you can get at some asian restaurants.) My friend's hubby recommended a 'chef's choice' for our remaining two items, and we got a chicken liver appetizer which was surprisingly good, and I forget what else! It was all incredible.
For our 'entree' we got three dishes: duck kebabs with with ground pistachio and saffron, veal with black-eyed peas, kale and saffron and moroccan chicken with almond bulgar, matbucha and a fried egg. The moroccan chicken was the nicest presentation, with the chicken,a tomato salad and a lovely small fried egg. Dessert was incredible with a pavlova surrounded by basted strawberries, a katafi with lebanese ice cream, valharona chocolate and mangoes (it's a shredded phyllo dough dessert, not dissimilar to the consistency of baklavah), and crispy phyllo cigars with lemon sherbert. We had asked about the rugelah and the waitress brought them over too, with the chef's pleasure. Yum... everything was simply amazing. The portions were great as well.. we were all full, but not bursting given the volume of dishes we had the opportunity to try. They were perfectly portioned to have a taste of everything without being overwhelmed. I couldn't recommend this place more highly!
www.zahavrestaurant.com/
If I haven't mentioned it, my friends are total foodies so they have some amazing restaurants planned. We'll have a great time eating our way through the best Philly has to offer! As we were walking to the car, we noticed some of the July 4th festivities going on and decided to check it out. There was a live band playing an Earth, Wind and Fire song that was quite good, and we stood for a bit enjoying it. WaWa Welcome America at Penn's Landing is going on for the next week or so. We watched the crowd for a bit including some kids playing in a little fountain area with a sign prominently displayed 'no wading'. It was an interesting cross-section of the local population for sure!!!
We made our way back to their house and I got the 'grand tour.' Really lovely place and made me miss the northeast a bit! Their backyard looks out to a lush green area filled with large, mature trees. Ahhh.. This morning we woke up early and went to Einstein's to meet up with some of their friends. Have an enjoyable breakfast and coffee to start our day. today we are going on a mural arts tour which I'm really excited about! I'll write later today/tomorrow to fill you in on our adventures!!!
We headed directly into Philly,into the Society Hill part of the city. Lots of really great restaurants are here. We went to Zahav, a wonderful Israeli/middle-eastern restaurant offering a tapas-style dinner with small plates meant for sharing. Their tasting menu,as they call it, was wonderful. The place was really gorgeous.
When you walk in there's some very middle-eastern looking decorations on the wall, opening to a large room with several stained-glass squares made by the owner's father. There's a large picture of the top of a crowd from Israel. The lights are very middle-eastern in appearance, and then there are several areas with draped tapestry over the seating area. They look almost like a chuppah, which is the tapestry/cloth that is draped over an area used for a wedding ceremony. The cloth was beautiful and made the area appear very intimate.
It starts with an incredible bread, almost pita-like but larger and clearly just made from a brick-style oven, with 'salad items' including a large bowl of hummus. It's not like the traditional hummus and was quite creamy with some kind of black beans in it and lots of tasty olive oil. 8 tiny bowls came with it, with things like tabbouli, eggplant (almost like baba ganoush but prepared a little differently), a tomato and cucumber mixture, beets in a seasoning (and I HATE beets, but rather liked this), carrots, and a couple of others.
Next we selected 6 small plates and the food seemed to just keep coming! We got this amazing watermelon 'salad' with small pieces of olive, feta cheese and pistachios. Then came fried cauliflower, roasted zucchini with cheese and hazelnuts, kibbe naya, which is a raw lamb seasoned mixture over small lettuce leaves with some nuts (almost like the lettuce wraps you can get at some asian restaurants.) My friend's hubby recommended a 'chef's choice' for our remaining two items, and we got a chicken liver appetizer which was surprisingly good, and I forget what else! It was all incredible.
For our 'entree' we got three dishes: duck kebabs with with ground pistachio and saffron, veal with black-eyed peas, kale and saffron and moroccan chicken with almond bulgar, matbucha and a fried egg. The moroccan chicken was the nicest presentation, with the chicken,a tomato salad and a lovely small fried egg. Dessert was incredible with a pavlova surrounded by basted strawberries, a katafi with lebanese ice cream, valharona chocolate and mangoes (it's a shredded phyllo dough dessert, not dissimilar to the consistency of baklavah), and crispy phyllo cigars with lemon sherbert. We had asked about the rugelah and the waitress brought them over too, with the chef's pleasure. Yum... everything was simply amazing. The portions were great as well.. we were all full, but not bursting given the volume of dishes we had the opportunity to try. They were perfectly portioned to have a taste of everything without being overwhelmed. I couldn't recommend this place more highly!
www.zahavrestaurant.com/
If I haven't mentioned it, my friends are total foodies so they have some amazing restaurants planned. We'll have a great time eating our way through the best Philly has to offer! As we were walking to the car, we noticed some of the July 4th festivities going on and decided to check it out. There was a live band playing an Earth, Wind and Fire song that was quite good, and we stood for a bit enjoying it. WaWa Welcome America at Penn's Landing is going on for the next week or so. We watched the crowd for a bit including some kids playing in a little fountain area with a sign prominently displayed 'no wading'. It was an interesting cross-section of the local population for sure!!!
We made our way back to their house and I got the 'grand tour.' Really lovely place and made me miss the northeast a bit! Their backyard looks out to a lush green area filled with large, mature trees. Ahhh.. This morning we woke up early and went to Einstein's to meet up with some of their friends. Have an enjoyable breakfast and coffee to start our day. today we are going on a mural arts tour which I'm really excited about! I'll write later today/tomorrow to fill you in on our adventures!!!
Monday, May 28, 2012
San Diego Pictures and the rest of day 3!
We headed for the 'gayborhood' called Hillcrest to hit Snooze, a fun and trendy breakfast joint. We had a 30 minute wait, so we walked around a bit. We found Babette Schwartz's place, one of the drag queens at the show last night and the hostess.
http://www.babette.com/
There were a ton of fun things, though unfortunately, Babette apparently doesn't wake early and the store didn't open until well after we were on our way.
Breakfast was amazing.. I got eggs benedict italian style with procuitto, balsamic arugala and toasted ciabatta. Snooze is known for their interesting pancakes. I asked the really great waitress what her favorite is, and she said 'cinnamon sticky bun' without hesitation. It had a cinnamon and cream drizzle and white chocolate chips hiding inside. Heaven!
http://www.snoozeeatery.com/ Absolutely worth checking it out!
We headed home after breakfast, stopping in Dateland, a small town with a rest stop known for its date products. I heard the date shake was great and decided to try it, and was not disappointed. It was quite interesting! Traffic wasn't bad heading home and got in mid-afternoon with plenty of time for laundry, email and getting some critters settled! Pictures!!!
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u794t2oehznqjf7/fdB2InFTzz
Sam
Breakfast was amazing.. I got eggs benedict italian style with procuitto, balsamic arugala and toasted ciabatta. Snooze is known for their interesting pancakes. I asked the really great waitress what her favorite is, and she said 'cinnamon sticky bun' without hesitation. It had a cinnamon and cream drizzle and white chocolate chips hiding inside. Heaven!
http://www.snoozeeatery.com/ Absolutely worth checking it out!
We headed home after breakfast, stopping in Dateland, a small town with a rest stop known for its date products. I heard the date shake was great and decided to try it, and was not disappointed. It was quite interesting! Traffic wasn't bad heading home and got in mid-afternoon with plenty of time for laundry, email and getting some critters settled! Pictures!!!
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u794t2oehznqjf7/fdB2InFTzz
Sam
Sunday, May 27, 2012
San Diego day two
We woke up and headed to Old Town to walk around a bit in the historic district, the first area settled by the europeans in California. It's very quaint and slightly tourist trappy, but parts of it retain their old feel of times long past. We went into a few shops and walked around a bit. We walked past a restaurant where women gathered over a big table rolling out tortillas for the breakfast meal.
Then we headed to the edge of little Italy, the oldest continuous neighborhood in San Diego to Extraordinary Desserts for their European Breakfast. http://www.extraordinarydesserts.com/ The owner is a San Diego native who is a french-trained pasty chef. She has a huge array of every delectable sweet known, and they make what they feel like that day. You walk in and see a huge case of some of the most gorgeously decorated cakes, tarts and torts I've ever seen. It was a quite impressive display.
We met with my friend's friend and her family. A beautiful 7 year old fashionista with light auburn hair just like her mom, and a three-year old boy with hair in big blonde curls. The breakfast spread was impressively laid out and extensive. They had the best granola I've ever had with lots of nuts and dried fruit. Smoked salmon, several kinds of fresh bread, pastries, cheese, veggies.. and a nice but small sampling of little desserts to tempt the palate. Mmm...Her friends were great and I really enjoyed getting to know them.
Then we headed out to Balboa Park, a huge area of parks, gardens, restaurants and museums. We planned to go to the Museum of Man, but after driving for at least 20 minutes through parking lots to find nothing at all for open spots, and several close calls with aggressive drivers cutting us off to try to gain better positions, we decided to give up gracefully and move on.
Instead we went to the Marston House, which was lovely! It's a 1905 arts and crafts house owned by George Marston. His daughter, Mary, lived there until her death, and donated it to ensure it's preservation. It wasn't one of the nicest homes on the street, but most were sold for the land. There's even a large apartment complex right across the street! The gardens were beautiful and on a 5 acre lot. The house is huge, even by today's standards, and boasted quite a few bathrooms with running water and electricity, walk-in closets, and amenities that seem rather modern. There were also several screened in porches and areas built to take advantage of the air flow to cool the rooms.
We walked through a park for a bit and headed back to the room to relax for a bit. We had plans to meet my friend (who lives in SD) at Lips, the ultimate in drag queen dining. http://lipssd.com/ What a hoot! The gals were fabulous an the one that waited on us was done incredibly well. It was 'Show tunes Sunday' so we got to hear some great tunes! I did this once at Jacques on Boston and it was so much more tame. The gals entertained us with very off-color hilarity before the show even started. The food and decor were surprisingly good. It was so wonderful catching up with my friend. She had never been to this place, but had been to one similar before. Fun night for sure.
The table next to us were a bunch of 'golden gals' as one of the performers called them. One, Kay, was celebrating her 75th birthday. Another kept going up on the stage dancing, and a third was a rockette in NYC 65 years ago! Bless her heart! Kay shared with us that she and Rebecca, in a blue sequined shirt, who kept going up on the stage to give the gals tips, just lost their husbands. I commend them for getting out and living life! And in such style, so to speak.
Last night in SD before heading home to the desert. Hell, as I call it this time of year! Ick. Can't wait to see my furry babies though, so looking forward to it. And on Saturday I get my latest foster, a boy named Donovan who I'm going to spring from county and the 'e' list (euthanasia), which he's bounced off and on of. Saving a life.. that's what it' about! So, a lot to look forward to in going home. Tomorrow am we're going back to Hillcrest, the 'gayborhood' to a restaurant called Snooze. We may meet up with my friend's friends that we saw for breakfast today.Probably will head out after. Cheers!! I'll be in Philly in July and then *Yellowstone* in September, so you'll have some more adventures before the year is through! Goodbye for now.
Then we headed to the edge of little Italy, the oldest continuous neighborhood in San Diego to Extraordinary Desserts for their European Breakfast. http://www.extraordinarydesserts.com/ The owner is a San Diego native who is a french-trained pasty chef. She has a huge array of every delectable sweet known, and they make what they feel like that day. You walk in and see a huge case of some of the most gorgeously decorated cakes, tarts and torts I've ever seen. It was a quite impressive display.
We met with my friend's friend and her family. A beautiful 7 year old fashionista with light auburn hair just like her mom, and a three-year old boy with hair in big blonde curls. The breakfast spread was impressively laid out and extensive. They had the best granola I've ever had with lots of nuts and dried fruit. Smoked salmon, several kinds of fresh bread, pastries, cheese, veggies.. and a nice but small sampling of little desserts to tempt the palate. Mmm...Her friends were great and I really enjoyed getting to know them.
Then we headed out to Balboa Park, a huge area of parks, gardens, restaurants and museums. We planned to go to the Museum of Man, but after driving for at least 20 minutes through parking lots to find nothing at all for open spots, and several close calls with aggressive drivers cutting us off to try to gain better positions, we decided to give up gracefully and move on.
Instead we went to the Marston House, which was lovely! It's a 1905 arts and crafts house owned by George Marston. His daughter, Mary, lived there until her death, and donated it to ensure it's preservation. It wasn't one of the nicest homes on the street, but most were sold for the land. There's even a large apartment complex right across the street! The gardens were beautiful and on a 5 acre lot. The house is huge, even by today's standards, and boasted quite a few bathrooms with running water and electricity, walk-in closets, and amenities that seem rather modern. There were also several screened in porches and areas built to take advantage of the air flow to cool the rooms.
We walked through a park for a bit and headed back to the room to relax for a bit. We had plans to meet my friend (who lives in SD) at Lips, the ultimate in drag queen dining. http://lipssd.com/ What a hoot! The gals were fabulous an the one that waited on us was done incredibly well. It was 'Show tunes Sunday' so we got to hear some great tunes! I did this once at Jacques on Boston and it was so much more tame. The gals entertained us with very off-color hilarity before the show even started. The food and decor were surprisingly good. It was so wonderful catching up with my friend. She had never been to this place, but had been to one similar before. Fun night for sure.
The table next to us were a bunch of 'golden gals' as one of the performers called them. One, Kay, was celebrating her 75th birthday. Another kept going up on the stage dancing, and a third was a rockette in NYC 65 years ago! Bless her heart! Kay shared with us that she and Rebecca, in a blue sequined shirt, who kept going up on the stage to give the gals tips, just lost their husbands. I commend them for getting out and living life! And in such style, so to speak.
Last night in SD before heading home to the desert. Hell, as I call it this time of year! Ick. Can't wait to see my furry babies though, so looking forward to it. And on Saturday I get my latest foster, a boy named Donovan who I'm going to spring from county and the 'e' list (euthanasia), which he's bounced off and on of. Saving a life.. that's what it' about! So, a lot to look forward to in going home. Tomorrow am we're going back to Hillcrest, the 'gayborhood' to a restaurant called Snooze. We may meet up with my friend's friends that we saw for breakfast today.Probably will head out after. Cheers!! I'll be in Philly in July and then *Yellowstone* in September, so you'll have some more adventures before the year is through! Goodbye for now.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
San Diego!
The lure of a long weekend sparked my enthusiasm to travel, and I decided that I want to dip my toes in the sand. Booked a week ago, we headed out mid-day on Friday. The drive is around five hours from Phoenix, though it seems like FOREVER. Not much to see. Oh sure, you go through Gila Bend (ick), Yuma (blech). Then drive on and on through sand dunes, through some mountains, then down, down, down into San Diego!
I've traveled a few times in the last few months, but mostly short trips to see family. This definitely will not be my year for travel, but I'll make the best of it with some fun weekend trips. I did head down to Rio Rico, AZ a few weeks ago, by the Mexico border. We stayed in a great resort and went down for a heritage festival that a friend of a friend of a friend was throwing to raise some excitement in the area and to get people to travel there. Small turnout but a nice effort for a first festival, and it was fun! Some interesting classes, and we got to meet a man who has his doctorate in ornithology and is a passionate birder. Some of the stories he told us about being in Panama were amazing!
Anyways, back to San Diego.. We decided to hit a spa for a deep tissue massage to work out the kinks from the ride. Then went into Old Town for some mexican cuisine. We went to a place called El Fandango (or something like that!) Great meal-- I tried mole sauce again and loved it. And of course a margarita to replenish fluids. :o) Headed to the hot tub for a quick soak before bed. Looking forward to our explorations tomorrow! Absolutely nothing planned for the day, so we'll see what we're in the mood for when we get up.
We woke to a gray and overcast day and a broken coffee pot. OMG! Hideous! But we made do caffeine-less and made some decisions for our day. The drive was beautiful and much of it was along the water. At one point we were slowed down by a large number of boy scouts walking down the road. Then to our left and right were large military cemetaries that seemed to extend forever. Like headstones stood in perfect row formations extending to the water on one side, and to the trees on the other.
We head out for the Cabrillo National Monument. We stopped at several parking lots to walk around to view the ocean and the tide pools. The rocks swirled and there were some interesting large boulders sitting on very striated rock formations. We wandered down towards the water and looked into some of the tide pools to see what we could find. We drove past a national guard base and a navy base. We then drove up to the Old Point Loma lighthouse and Cabrillo statue. First we stopped at the statue of Joao Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese explorer who landed in the area in 1542. A statue was erected in his honor overlooking the water and San Diego.
We then walked up to the lighthouse, which was a cream colored structure with an attached house and a separate building nearby. It was brick painted. The rooms were set up as they might have been, and the separate structure had a replica of a lighthouse, as well as information about the lighthouse and the area. The house attached to the lighthouse also had signed up by every room, that talked about what the rooms may have been used for and talked about the family that once lived there. The lightkeeper was Robert Israel. The lighthouse was only used for 36 years starting in 1955. It was short-lived because while the location seemed ideal, the fog often obscured the light. In 1891, a new lighthouse was built at the tip of Point Loma, called the 'New'Point Loma lighthouse. It's in the property of the national guard compound but could be seen from the tide pools area.
There was a man dressed in 1890's attire smoking a pipe and greeting everyone in an irish brogue. He was a 'newspaper man' in 1894, and lived in the area. Interestingly, he lived in Arizona for a while during the civil war, keeping the area safe from rebels and indians. He was at the lighthouse looking for the lightkeeper..
We wandered around for a while then headed out towards Coronado 'island', which is no longer an island but a peninsula as the area between it and the mainland was filled in. We parked on the main drag and wandered through some of the shops on the way to lunch at Costa Azul. A very sweet and shy shepherd mix helped me with my shrimp, and we enjoyed some live music while we ate. We bought some hats then headed off, driving past the Hotel del Coronado ('Del') which is HUGE. It's really beautiful and a local landmark.
We then drove down past the beaches and headed north past San Diego into La Jolla. I had been to San diego maybe five years ago, but hadn't been to La Jolla. It's a beautiful and wealthy seaside town. We went to the Cove, and parked to walk along the ocean. We went down some stairs to the beach to dip our toes in the san. The beach was packed of families and lots of children running around. There were little sea caves that we explored, regaled by the sound of seals sunning themselves on the rocks. There's a grassy area overlooking the water above the beach and we wandered around there for a while before going onto the rocks by the water to enjoy the different view of the ocean. I sure do miss the sound of the water crashing onto the rocks!
We then stopped at Soledad Mountain, a war memorial with a controversy! At the top of a large hill, this monument has pictures and descriptions of the people killed during the wars since WW1. The controversy is around the large white cross built at the top of it. The place offered gorgeous panoramic views, and was only a short drive from the Cove. We walked a lot then headed back towards San Diego.
We went into the Gaslamp district, the historic heart of San Diego marked by a lot of restaurants, bars and theaters. First we stopped at a place called Chocolat for coffee. My friend got a gelato which she enjoyed. We wandered up and down the streets settling on Taka, a sushi place, for dinner. Living in Arizona, it's a nice treat to go to a place near the ocean for fresh seafood! It was quite good. As I was leaving, I noticed a couple that I used to work with! It was strange as not only do they not live in San Diego, but with all the restaurants in the area, that they ended up in the one I went to. Small world, even in a large city!
Having seen the wonderful-looking gelatos, I decided to stop by for dessert back at Choclat. Yummmmm... We drove to Mission beach to walk along the beach and enjoy the sunset. It was chilly with the sun going down, but beautiful. A lot of people were still out as we walked around taking pictures. It's a lot cooler than Phoenix here, and it was breezy much of the day. It was probably in the mid-60s, and got quite chilly as the sun was going down! Nice change from the 100 degree days we are now having in Phoenix! We have some fun things planned tomorrow, and will meet up with some friends. We haven't figured out what we're do during the middle of the day, and will wing it! Woop, woop!!! Night all..
I've traveled a few times in the last few months, but mostly short trips to see family. This definitely will not be my year for travel, but I'll make the best of it with some fun weekend trips. I did head down to Rio Rico, AZ a few weeks ago, by the Mexico border. We stayed in a great resort and went down for a heritage festival that a friend of a friend of a friend was throwing to raise some excitement in the area and to get people to travel there. Small turnout but a nice effort for a first festival, and it was fun! Some interesting classes, and we got to meet a man who has his doctorate in ornithology and is a passionate birder. Some of the stories he told us about being in Panama were amazing!
Anyways, back to San Diego.. We decided to hit a spa for a deep tissue massage to work out the kinks from the ride. Then went into Old Town for some mexican cuisine. We went to a place called El Fandango (or something like that!) Great meal-- I tried mole sauce again and loved it. And of course a margarita to replenish fluids. :o) Headed to the hot tub for a quick soak before bed. Looking forward to our explorations tomorrow! Absolutely nothing planned for the day, so we'll see what we're in the mood for when we get up.
We woke to a gray and overcast day and a broken coffee pot. OMG! Hideous! But we made do caffeine-less and made some decisions for our day. The drive was beautiful and much of it was along the water. At one point we were slowed down by a large number of boy scouts walking down the road. Then to our left and right were large military cemetaries that seemed to extend forever. Like headstones stood in perfect row formations extending to the water on one side, and to the trees on the other.
We head out for the Cabrillo National Monument. We stopped at several parking lots to walk around to view the ocean and the tide pools. The rocks swirled and there were some interesting large boulders sitting on very striated rock formations. We wandered down towards the water and looked into some of the tide pools to see what we could find. We drove past a national guard base and a navy base. We then drove up to the Old Point Loma lighthouse and Cabrillo statue. First we stopped at the statue of Joao Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese explorer who landed in the area in 1542. A statue was erected in his honor overlooking the water and San Diego.
We then walked up to the lighthouse, which was a cream colored structure with an attached house and a separate building nearby. It was brick painted. The rooms were set up as they might have been, and the separate structure had a replica of a lighthouse, as well as information about the lighthouse and the area. The house attached to the lighthouse also had signed up by every room, that talked about what the rooms may have been used for and talked about the family that once lived there. The lightkeeper was Robert Israel. The lighthouse was only used for 36 years starting in 1955. It was short-lived because while the location seemed ideal, the fog often obscured the light. In 1891, a new lighthouse was built at the tip of Point Loma, called the 'New'Point Loma lighthouse. It's in the property of the national guard compound but could be seen from the tide pools area.
There was a man dressed in 1890's attire smoking a pipe and greeting everyone in an irish brogue. He was a 'newspaper man' in 1894, and lived in the area. Interestingly, he lived in Arizona for a while during the civil war, keeping the area safe from rebels and indians. He was at the lighthouse looking for the lightkeeper..
We wandered around for a while then headed out towards Coronado 'island', which is no longer an island but a peninsula as the area between it and the mainland was filled in. We parked on the main drag and wandered through some of the shops on the way to lunch at Costa Azul. A very sweet and shy shepherd mix helped me with my shrimp, and we enjoyed some live music while we ate. We bought some hats then headed off, driving past the Hotel del Coronado ('Del') which is HUGE. It's really beautiful and a local landmark.
We then drove down past the beaches and headed north past San Diego into La Jolla. I had been to San diego maybe five years ago, but hadn't been to La Jolla. It's a beautiful and wealthy seaside town. We went to the Cove, and parked to walk along the ocean. We went down some stairs to the beach to dip our toes in the san. The beach was packed of families and lots of children running around. There were little sea caves that we explored, regaled by the sound of seals sunning themselves on the rocks. There's a grassy area overlooking the water above the beach and we wandered around there for a while before going onto the rocks by the water to enjoy the different view of the ocean. I sure do miss the sound of the water crashing onto the rocks!
We then stopped at Soledad Mountain, a war memorial with a controversy! At the top of a large hill, this monument has pictures and descriptions of the people killed during the wars since WW1. The controversy is around the large white cross built at the top of it. The place offered gorgeous panoramic views, and was only a short drive from the Cove. We walked a lot then headed back towards San Diego.
We went into the Gaslamp district, the historic heart of San Diego marked by a lot of restaurants, bars and theaters. First we stopped at a place called Chocolat for coffee. My friend got a gelato which she enjoyed. We wandered up and down the streets settling on Taka, a sushi place, for dinner. Living in Arizona, it's a nice treat to go to a place near the ocean for fresh seafood! It was quite good. As I was leaving, I noticed a couple that I used to work with! It was strange as not only do they not live in San Diego, but with all the restaurants in the area, that they ended up in the one I went to. Small world, even in a large city!
Having seen the wonderful-looking gelatos, I decided to stop by for dessert back at Choclat. Yummmmm... We drove to Mission beach to walk along the beach and enjoy the sunset. It was chilly with the sun going down, but beautiful. A lot of people were still out as we walked around taking pictures. It's a lot cooler than Phoenix here, and it was breezy much of the day. It was probably in the mid-60s, and got quite chilly as the sun was going down! Nice change from the 100 degree days we are now having in Phoenix! We have some fun things planned tomorrow, and will meet up with some friends. We haven't figured out what we're do during the middle of the day, and will wing it! Woop, woop!!! Night all..
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