Philly Phood!

Here's the rundown of our culinary adventures in Philadelphia. We spent the first weekend in May in Philly to belatedly celebrate our 40th Anniversary with my Sister and Brother-in-Law.  We had a great time, warm weather and a need to return to our diets!

READING TERMINAL MARKET

PEARL'S OYSTER BAR

On Friday we arrived around noon, checked in and walked over to Reading Terminal Market a few short blocks from our Hotel! This Market is definitely a Food Sensory Overload! After 5 minutes I was convinced it could take a few weeks to eat and savor the tastes available here! With four people all with unique ideas as to what lunch should be we finally decided to go to Pearl's Oyster bar. We secured a great table next to a window looking out onto the street. It is located on the perimeter in a corner of the building and would become the area from where we launched our search for everything food! Three of us enjoyed fried oyster platters and one had the Deviled Crab platter! The oysters were huge and well breaded and not greasy at all! Delish! Strolled through the entire market not missing a single booth, made some purchases of jarred items, like green tomato pickles and pickled brussels sprouts, jams and homemade ginger snaps for dessert!

PARC RESTAURANT

Our choice for dinner was Parc located across from Rittenhouse Square a beautiful metropolitan green space. Parc is a French Brasserie and as such has all the typical Brasserie dishes. (And as an amateur Francophile I couldn't fault that!) We enjoyed the following: Kir Royale or Stella Artois. I had Pissaladiere and Skate Grenobloise and for dessert Apple Tarte Tatin. Kathy had Tomato Tarte and Beef Bourguignon; Debra enjoyed Escargot and Bouillabaisse and Profiteroles; Fred tried Steak Tartare and Braised Lamb Shank. Felt like we were in Paris! Food was outstanding and the atmosphere was perfect, large open doors to the outdoors, very busy bustling dining rooms and friendly, warm service! What more could you ask for? Just a great night out.

CARLUCCHIO'S

On Saturday we hit the Italian Market after riding the ducks sightseeing tour. First stop was Fante's Kitchen supplies, shopped till we were starving, on recommendation of one of the managers we seeked out Carlucchio's a small Italian restaurant one block south of the Italian Market--where else should you eat a wonderful Italian meal if you couldn't get to the south of Italy? Kathy had the most amazing Asparagus Risotto, Debra Chcken Parm Sandwich, Fred Rib Eye Cheesesteak Sandwich w/sweet peppers and I had a Chicken Cutlet Panino with Broccoli Rabe! SOOOOOOOOOOO Good! The restaurant is new in 2010, only 26 seats and is BYOB!

LA BOURSE

A beautiful respite of a Lobby Bar in the Sofitel hotel for drinks before dinner! White Sangria or Sauvignon Blanc, all very refreshing.

TINTO

Saturday night's choice was Jose Garces' restaurant off Rittenhouse Square for Spanish style small plates. We enjoyed this experience as well! The food is over the top, each dish was better than the last and the only thing we decided was just great not over the top was one they put on the table that didn't belong to us: Crab Crostini! Nothing wrong with it, just wasn't up to the par of everything else. I'll just list the many things we had:

Mixto Charcuterie and Mixto Cheese Platters

Rodaballo a la Plantxa (Turbot, sauce pastis, baby fennel, citrus

Diver Scallops, cider demi-glace, benton's bacon, shaved apple

Duck Confit, serrano ham, black cherry, la peral spread

Kobe Beef, pisto lilbaina, romesco

Asparagus, smoked tomato compote, mahon espuma

Wild Mushrooms, roasted potato, shallt, parsley

Organic Chicken, truffled whipped mash, brussels sprouts, smoked bacon

Reveuelto De Cangreho, soft scrambled egg, jumbo lump crab, benton's bacon, english peas, herbed toast

No room for dessert! Wonderful Tempranillo wine! Talk about sensory overload!

AMIS

We were unable to return to our first choice for brunch on Sunday due to an MS Run taking over Broad Street preventing us from getting across town. So we went to Mark Vetry's newest restaurant and Roman version of small plates. Kathy had Artichoke Alla Giudia and Frico (montasio cheese and potato tart) and assorted marmalades. Debra: Homemade Italian Cornetti with marmellata and Warm Belgian Waffles with maple syrup. I had Escarole Salad with apples and radish and Polenta Pasticciata with fennel sausage and provolone and Fred had: Warm Belgian Waffles with maple syrup and Frico (montasio cheese and potato tart) and assorted marmalades. While the food was very good and unusual it wasn't what we'd been expecting to eat @Parc.

RIDE HOME IN MR. GRAY

From Whole Foods on South Street: Apricot Ginger Muffin, Orange Cranberry Scone, Fruit salad, Bottled Water!

We truly enjoyed our Culinary Adventures in Philadelphia, can't wait to return!

Blogging Revisited

I am finally getting up to speed on blogging, and the plan is to work at it to keep it up! Wish me luck!  So I'll probably spend less mindless time playing solitaire late at night and more time being productive here!  Stay tuned for some good reading (hopefully, it will be enjoyed)!

Weekend Experiments

Saturday--Pasta with Sausage, Fennel & Onions from Lidia's Family Table. I have borrowed the book from the Library and will now add it to my Cookbook Wish List! Lidia is very "instructional" as she is on her TV show. Her recipes are pretty straight forward and her directions are explicit. Great book for novices as well as seasoned cooks looking for some specific Italian dishes both innovative and traditional.

Sunday was big experiment day! First, baked a Pineapple Upside Down Cake in my cast iron skillet using the recipe on Cook's Illustrated. Used fresh pineapple and it turned out very nice, good caramelized topping with cherries and pineapple pieces arranged in a mosaic style vs. the canned ring/cherry center version!

Sunday dinner was the Spring Roll project! Chose a Vietnamese recipe found in PERFECT ASIAN COOKING by Anne Willan A Barnes and Noble publication.

I have a new appreciation for spring rolls. What a labor intensive dish! But when all was said and done....Quite tasty! Of course I went over the top and created three dipping sauces and served two bottled chili sauces, one sweet and one hot, with them as well! One of the made sauces was the typical dipper of Fish Sauce, Lime Juice, Sugar, Rice Vinegar, Chilis and Garlic. Then there was the Tamarind paste & Cilantro version also with Fish Sauce, Soy Sauce, Lime Juice and Sugar. And then I also made a Mint/Cilantro chutney, which was the least favorite.

Back to the beloved spring rolls: boneless chunks of pork (poached), boiled shrimp, marinated carrot julienne, cabbage leaves, rice stick noodles, Japanese cucumber, bean sprouts, leaves of mint and cilantro.

Just prepping the ingredients is time consuming. Adding to that fact it's also a very tedious process to layer and wrap. Of course realizing that I had 6 1/2 inch Rice Paper versus the 8 1/2" called for in the recipe after the fact was a problem. With the variety and quantity of ingredients those extra two inches would have made a very big difference! Also larger = easier handling.

For alongside our Spring Rolls, we tossed together a vegetable stir-fry using Japanese Eggplant, Red Pepper, Garlic, Ginger, Bean Sprouts and Chinese Cabbage and served it over the extra Rice Stick Noodles.

So the experiment was a success, learned a lot and will plan to make spring rolls again, however limiting the number of ingredients until we have used up the 6 1/2 inch rice paper! Also if making for a crowd, will definitely make sure the rest of the menu is do-ahead items! Although, I must say, these held nicely in the fridge with a damp kitchen towel over them while we cleaned up and made the stir-fry.

Have to plan tonight's follow up meal, we have two rolls leftover, used in the photos--but have some extra cooked shrimp, maybe a cool salad platter to pick from! MMMMMMM-just remembered I got some red fingerlings, maybe a warm potato salad with some French flavors or mint and shallot vinaigrette!

Weekend Movie Notes: Rented Capote and Firewall this weekend, Capote was VERY good, Philip Seymour Hoffman became Truman Capote, amazing portrayal. Firewall was a good suspense flick, just not history making!

Enjoy!
EAT WELL...BE WELL!