Wandering back in Philly

It's been five years since J and I went back to Philly. We were afraid a lot had changed, especially shops disappearing and landmarks fading.

We went on a quick 2 days 1 night weekend trip with two other friends. It mainly consist of a lot of eating, and quite a bit of walking.

Philly was still how I remembered it, just like NYC but a lot less congested. We revisited places like City Hall, Independence Hall, Pat's and Geno's. We stroll along new places like the Italian Market and the Franklin Fountain.

It was a good weekend getaway especially for the change of scenery. Our favorite seafood restaurant was still there, which we were ecstatic about. Oyster House has definitely gotten more popular. They even changed their happy hour which used to be 5-7pm and 9-11pm, we usually went for the latter since it usually means less people. But nowadays, happy hour on Friday is only 5-7pm and weekends are 9-11pm. We were lucky enough to snatch a table within a 15 minute wait. The oysters and clams here are the best, they're fresh and full of meat. Not briney or salty at all and they're just $1 during happy hour - can't express how much I loooove this place. And a new discovery this time around, the New England Clam Chowder is pretty bomb also.

Our 2 days in Philly involved a lot of sandwich eating. We had four Philly cheese steaks and 2 pork sandwiches. For the pork, I like DiNic's better. The pork is sliced thinner, the broccoli rabe gives a nice crunch and dimension to the sandwich and the provolone was sharp but not overpowering. As for the cheese steaks, I realized that J and I can't choose between Pat's or Geno's. I know I've mentioned in the past that Geno's was better but after this past weekend, it felt like both sandwiches complimented each other a lot more than anything else. The juiciness of Geno's made up for the lack sauce that Pat's didn't have; and Pat's cheese and generous amount of steak made up for the few slices of meat that Geno's offered.

Other honorable mention during this trip was Franklin Fountain - delicious ice cream, the Hydrox Cookie (what an awesome name) basically tasted like cookies and cream but so much better, the cookies were soft, not crunchy or hard, and it blended with the ice cream so well; Federal Donuts - the honey butter donuts was just as good as I remembered it, the story goes that I ate the only donut five years ago when we ordered it with the fried chicken (I was drunk when I devoured it), luckily this time around they were willing to sell the honey butter donuts without an order of fried chicken - WIN!

Side note - after this mini trip, I definitely need another trip. Actually, I need a vacation where I can just lounge, soak up the sun and drink. Also, J and I are planning our Japan trip coming this fall, exciting!

Pork sandwich with spinach and sharp provolone @ John's Roast Pork

Pork sandwich with broccoli rabe and sharp provolone @ DiNic's

Philly cheese w/ onions and wiz @ Tony Luke's

Philly cheese w/ wiz @ Sonny's Famous Steaks

Hydrox Cookie @ The Franklin Fountain

Happy Hour oysters and clams @ Oyster House

For more in depth reviews of places we eat - head over to Husband and Wife Eats.

Currently watching: Doctor Stranger (K-drama)-halfway there; Korean Odyssey (K-drama)-standstill

Being home for 2014

The last couple of remaining days of 2013, JDL and I decided to spend it together but not in NYC. There were so many places up in the air for us to go to but in the end, we chose to go back to Pennsylvania. We spent 2 days in the city and 2 days in the Amish countryside at a bed and breakfast.

This small getaway was for us to unwind and relax before facing 2014. We took it nice and slow to try and enjoy each other's company. We revisited old place and found new places we like, nothing better than spending time with the person you love.

For New Year's Eve, we stayed at Candlelight Inn in Ronks, Pennsylvania. A beautiful house owned and ran by a sweet middle-age couple. The rooms were beautiful, especially when you have your own private jacuzzi. A place I would definitely recommend and most definitely come back if given the opportunity.

As for 2014, I'm thankful that 2013 was actually better than I thought. I hope 2014 would be just as great or even better. I already know 2014 is going to be a tough year but you can always find something great in something that's bad. Happy New Year everyone!

 

Zavino
112 S 13 Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Oyster House
1516 Samson Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102

Yummy Yummy
52 N 10th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Swiss Haus Bakery
35 S 19th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Candlelight Inn Bed & Breakfast
2574 Lincoln Highway E
Ronks, PA 17572

Kitchen Kettle Village
3259 Old Philadelphia Pike
Intercourse, PA 17534

Love,
LN

Philadelphia - within a year and we're back :: Day 2&3 of 3

Day 2 in Philly included a lot of walking. The weather started to get a lot better the second day we were there so we took this opportunity to explore the area a bit.

Susan, J and I grabbed brunch first. We got a bit lost since the road in actuality wasn't the same as the maps we were using. Eventually we got there, Cafe Lift was on a deserted block which was weird because inside was so lively.

The food here was amazing, and so was the coffee - might I add it's refillable coffee. The Chicken Crespelle was the best out of all we ordered, the truffle oil along with the chicken and mushroom was so bomb. Susan had Jen's Crespelle which was a regular crepe with egg, sausage, cheese and was given syrup to finish it up with. I had the Prosciutto Panini, wasn't in a mood for something breakfast-y but wanted something light, like a sandwich. Nevertheless, it was still a really good meal.

After such an awesome meal, we really need to walk it off. Even though it didn't seem like much, we felt uber fat, especially from what we had the day before.

Since we weren't able to go to Mutter Museum the previously day, we were determined to go today. It was a far walk but it was such a beautiful day out and we really needed the exercise.

As we walked, we stopped by some places and took random photos.

Especially some silly photos. We were at a square that had these ginormous pieces of board games, remember sorry? chess? monopoly? yea, those pieces.

My poser! He didn't even realize I took a photo...haha skills!

But seriously, the streets were quite empty and clean. I barely see any garbage cans in the streets. Finding one was like finding Waldo, and when I finally found one the can is full to the brim...talk about luck.

We finally go to the Mutter Museum and spent a good 2-3 hours there. None of us thought we actually took that long because the museum was small, 2 floors. But, it was packed with information that was bizarre and had different oddities. It's definitely not for people with a weak stomach because some of the exhibits were really graphic. It was a good educational portion of this trip.

The next thing we knew, it was time for dinner! But we needed to kill some time first and ended up at a speakeasy, The Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co.

Really dim and laid back, but there was something missing from here that I couldn't get my hands on. It was different than New York's speakeasies, maybe I just prefer NYC more.

After a drink here, we took another walk to get to our dinner spot which had us meet up with Samantha and her cousin.

Acting silly while waiting for my food. We ended up at a wine bar which I wasn't that fond of, Vintage Wine Bar.

Susan got a latte, she said it was really good. She's a crazy coffee addict so I'll take her word for it since she's such a pro.

The food wasn't so crazy. I didn't participate in the cheese platter since I'm not a fond of cheese at all. Escargot was quite good, really like how it's still in its shell. Both entrees were so great, Grilled Steak was bland and the Linguine Carbonara lacked flavor.

J and I ended up back at the hotel after this and enjoyed some more wine. We were exhausted after so much walking.

---

We started the next day a bit slower since it was our last day. Samantha and her cousin decide to take us all to Sabrina's Cafe, another well-known brunch spot in Philly. Out of the 3 days we were there, the 3rd day was the hottest. Walking in the sun was torture.

Even though they made reservations, we still had to wait a good 30-45 minutes for a table.

J and I were the only ones that got our coffee in a stein, interesting. The choices on the menu didn't appeal to me much. I end up getting the Egg White Omelette with artichoke and mushrooms, J had the Huevos Rancheros which did not appeal to me at all. The plates were huge but I didn't think the food actually delivered. It was just meh to me.

Philly this time around was different and interesting. There will be another trip very soon to Philly again. We really need to jump this time!

Philadelphia - within a year and we're back :: Day 1 of 3

My boyfriend, 2 other friends and I were actually planning to go Philly to skydive. We already had our tickets and even reserve a time to jump. But somehow it poured on the day of our jump and we had to reschedule it. Meaning, there will be another Philly trip sometime very soon.

This is actually the second time I visited Philly with my boyfriend, J. Our other friends, Susan and Samantha, not too sure about their standings on Philly. J and I knew there were some places we had to visit again, and when I say places, I basically mean food.

When we knew our jump was cancelled, we had to turn our car around and head back to Center City Philly. From there, we explored the Reading Terminal. Basically a market which comprise of food, produce, souvenirs and a lot more food!

Our first was the memorable Gator Gumbo. It was a lot spicier this time around, I had J finish it since the gumbo was started to burn. The gator sausage was really good, went extremely well with this dijon mustard they gave us.

And if that wasn't a good enough breakfast, we also got a Roast Pork Sandwich from DiNics. So insanely good, I love the broccoli rabe with the sharp provolone cheese. I never like cheese, but I'm slowly getting converted because of these great pairings.

So, walking around Reading Terminal J and I saw these mouthwatering donuts. It was also National Donut Day when we were there, it was very tempting but we had other donut plans for the day.

After much walking and pretty much satisfied our tummy for the meantime. We left and decided to go to a museum. Not just any museum, but the Mutter Museum. The museum where the most abnormal and oddest anatomy were to happen, graphic and utterly long descriptions. Very educational and also very gruesome, not for the faint of heart so beware. Unfortunately, it was closed on that Friday. Like literally everything was not going our way.

Instead, we drove around. J and I sort of gave Susan a little tour of Philly. Samantha met up with her cousin in which she missed out on the next few things.

Federal Donuts was what I was waiting for. Read up on it on another fellow food blogger and knew it was a must visit. Besides the donuts they also have fried chicken which I failed to take a picture of because I was too busy eating it that night.
The donuts were amazing. Soft and pillowing, tasted almost like a cake. I could probably finish all 3 if I didn't have to share it with J and Susan.

Susan was complaining how we're fattening her up. She's one of a lot of friends of ours that don't understand how we can stay so slim and yet eat so much. I'm sure she's jelly jelly. (Hi Susan, if you're reading this *waves*)

We also took some silly and normal photos while waiting for the deliciously fresh donuts.

See, I told you it was raining. But it didn't stop us from doing all these awesome things.

Haha, Mr. rabbit teeth!

Next stop? Another food spot!
I mean, since we're in Philly, gotta have some cheesesteak!

Definitely waste no time. We went to Geno's. Between Pat's and Geno's I like Geno's better. We could've went to Pat's too but someone was complaining she's too full and she's going to explode soon *ahem*Susan*ahem*

After all this food coma. We headed back to the hotel to rest a bit and get ready for the night.

I wanted to try out Cuba Libre because of Happy Hour they have there. Only thing was, HH happens only at the bar. Not complaining since standing would be a better idea if we're drinking.

We didn't order much to eat, but what J and I ordered were pretty good. The best would be the pork belly on the top right. We focused more on drinking, they have pretty good white sangrias here.

The night ended with us back at the hotel again. Drinking more wine and watching Say Yes to the Dress...happy times.