Thursday, December 30, 2010

We went to the Black Sheep Pub on 17th for the first time last night.
There are 3 floors, we spent time on the first floor and in the basement. (which didn't feel like a basement at all!)
There's a bar on both floors (I think the 3rd floor is just dining) and it has this great cozy, friendly, familiar feeling.

At the downstairs bar we ordered some snacks for the group: wings, sliders, garlic fries and potato and leek soup.
I was so surprised at how good the food was! I was expecting typical greasy bar food, but this was not!
The wings were saltier than they were spicy, so that was a disappointment. But the sliders, were great, good meat, not over cooked, sweet onions on potato rolls and they gave us regular fries with the sliders, which were good thin cut fries with the skins still on, brown and crispy.
The garlic fries were thick cut with skins on them and the garlic oil that covered them was great with chunks of garlic. It also came with a chipolte mayo dipping sauce, a perfect pairing.
I can't wait to go back and get these, they are the perfect pair with a good beer.

The potato leek soup was good, creamy, the sauteed leeks on top were fantastic. I wish the soup wasn't pureed so finely, I'd like some pieces of potato or leek and way less cream.

Overall, Black Sheep Pub has a great atmosphere and great food. Go with friends for a drink or with a casual date and get some food at a table by the fire place.

Monday, December 27, 2010

NY snow

Back yard, 10am (ish) on 12/26
So, we got some snow the day after Christmas. It started at about 10 am on the 26th. When it was finally done snowing (about 10am on the 27th) the wind continued to gust at 40 mph. Were actually still under a state of emergency...
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Front yard, 10am on 12/27

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Breakfast Praise!

I didn't only get praise for the breakfast I created this morning, Nicole actually changed her breakfast plans (gasp!) & ate something I cooked!
It was fried eggs with cheddar cheese, black beans, corn, red onion & cilantro. A lil avocado, hot salsa & sour cream on the side.
GOOD MORNING!
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500

Met a great friend for lunch today at 500 Degrees on Sansom.
Had heard a bunch about their burgers, so I dragged her along to check it out.
Wow its a closet with a griddle in it!
This tiny place with 3 tables create some of the GREASIEST burgers I've ever experienced. yuck. I'm still burping it up.
I ordered the #3, a classic burger with one topping (I chose Provolone cheese)
While I appreciate that they asked for a cooking temp when we ordered, its that much more frustrating when they don't even come close to cooking it correctly! I ordered my burger medium rare, and got a well done burger.
We waited 10-15 minutes for the burgers - too long for a fast food, burger join if you ask me.
The one minute the burger was in the bag was long enough for the grease to soak not only the burger wraper, but also the entire bag.
At first bite, all I taste is grease, and chewy meat. No cheese, in fact I didn't taste any cheese at any point. The fries were soggy. And thats pretty much how the entire burger tasted, chewy over cooked meat and grease.

Now the good parts (I always try to find something good!)
The single leaf of lettuce was green, and the slice of tomato was ripe.
The spicy fries were spicy. Not knock you off your chair spicy, but a nice spice.

I highly suggest you save yourself the
calories and eat somewhere else.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Fuji Mountain

We were lucky to get a gift certificate to Fuji Mountain 

Although they had many entrees and noodle dishes, we got sushi. 
We had 4 rolls: Spicy Tuna, Crazy Roll, Philly and Arizona. The sushi was good, but expensive. 
The place was nice and quiet and a perfect place for a date. 
Sashimi
We did get dessert this night out. We had fried bananas with vanilla ice cream. An excellent idea, but needed more seasoning. I'm going to try and convince Nicole to make it at home. :) I'll let you know how it goes!

Adsum

One rainy Sunday we decided to venture out to 5th & Bainbridge. Adsum.
In the small space with big windows, we sat and watched the rain fall.

Initial opinion was why am I sitting on such a cheap, thin, rickety chair, ordering an over priced beer?!

The food was good. Not everything I had hoped for, but definitely something I want to give a 2nd chance.

For our 1st time we had the SUPER poutine, of course. This was good, and I probably would have thought great, if that was all we had. But it was dinner time, and we needed a meal, so we ordered entrees; perogies, and the burger. Unfortunately both tasted like the poutine. I would have really liked a different taste (or even a different temperature) to cut through the rich, fatty - bacon like essence which covered everything.

Although we will go back and try different dishes, it will most likely be one at a time.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Nicole's Meals, aka. Masterpieces

Nicole really likes to pose and take pictures of the food she cooks. 
If you have any questions about recipes etc. email her at: greatgobs123@gmail.com

For breakfast one cold morning Nicole thought she'd introduce me to grits...they were surprisingly good. We put cheese in ours, but she explained that grits are kind of like tofu and take on whatever flavor you pair it with. They have a grainy cream of wheat texture. I'm actually craving them now!
Cheese grits with jalapenos.
 Salmon was on sale (YES!) so was asparagus, we got both and made a meal with a lemon butter sauce. We did it all in the oven...excellent. And BONUS very little clean up!
Lemon butter salmon with ww spaghetti and oven roasted asparagus.
 Not sure if you can tell in this photo, its pretty small, but dinner was ready at 3:30. :) We had turkey for weeks.
Thanksgiving turkey.
 Always wanted to cook with Quinoa. We got a healthy booklet in the mail with our Philadelphia Magazine this month, found a recipe in it for peppers stuffed with quinoa, perfect! We added ground turkey and had a super protein packed meal!
Pepper stuffed with Quinoa.

NYawesomeC

We took a trip to NYC a few weeks ago.

We had an agenda: good bagels (we are still searching in Philly...any suggestions?), Broadway show, snack/wander, drinks, karaoke, and DO NOT, by any means, DO NOT miss the 1am bus back to Philly.

First things first, if you know us, you know we're planners (like you can't tell by our agenda) so the night before Nicole confirms she has our bus reservations on her phone. Check!
We're already all packed for the day so all we have to do is get up get dressed and get to the bus. We managed to do that well. When we get to the bus, we can't find the reservations we had pulled up the night before. As we're looking through the emails, the ticket taker says the bus is leaving, and we're like well we purchased seats, he's like you don't have tickets...and the bus drives away!
He tells us if we want to try to get on the bus that was just in front of us, we can take a cab to X (I don't remember) FUCKER!
Fine, in cab, still searching for email confirmation we just saw less than 12 hours ago...catch bus, bus drive MUCH nicer than ticket taker. He has to call the office to confirm our seats. There were 2 seats left on the bus...is it rocket science to figure out that you have 2 empty seats and there are 2 girls chasing a bus around town swearing that they purchased them a month ago!? Coincidence? Probably not.

ANYWAYS....beautiful ride (I still highly recommend taking the bus from Philly to NYC, just print your ticket), we get to NYC and take the subway downtown to Murray's Bagels. We get ww everything bagels, one with cream cheese, lox, and capers; and the other with whitefish and cuke. OMG YUM. The bagels were huge and warm and part of the awesomest, awesome ever.
OMG - Top
YUM - Bottom
Next stop Broadway!
We saw The Fantasticks. It was great. In a small theater, fantastic actors. Good story that made you think. We liked it.

Ok, now its 4pm, to early for dinner...snack time! We wander over to Bryant Park, super cute holiday shops and ice skating...but across the street is warm soup. Not just any soup, soup from The Original Soup Man! Great variety of soups, good bread. It was a great snack...or get a larger size for a meal.


At this point it was time to meet up with friends at Stout for drinks. Stout is a great European bar with 3 floors, lots of different beers on tap and they show rugby and soccer games on their 4 huge TV's over the bar! We usually start our nights at Stout when we go into Manhattan.

Next up, karaoke at Japas! This is one of our favorite karaoke bars in Manhattan because we can rent a room all to ourselves and it includes all you can drink/eat. We sang till our hearts content, said our goodbyes and made the 1am bus back to Philly. I'll write about the hangover I had the following day in another post. ;)

Our final Long Island trip...as Long Islanders...

Nicole has been holding this post (and photos) hostage for almost a month.
And now being late is becoming a theme on this blog...I really need to stop that.

On our final trip to LI as LIers, we of course had to eat just about everything we loved there.

So our day started with Seaford Bagles.
They haven't changed the color of
the building in 50 years!
Their bagels, a great memory of childhood, are perfectly tough and chewy outside and soft and airy inside, just excellent. I always want to eat more than one, but never let myself, and we have lots more eating to do!

Best burger on LI
Next up, lunch at All American. Consistently voted best burger on LI. This place hasn't changed in years either. You can still get a cheese burger for $2. In the summer time the lines are out the door all day and you can almost always count on seeing at least one little league team there.


And of course a snack at our favorite diner. I don't think you can live on Long Island and not have a favorite diner. If you're ever on the south shore of LI, check out the South Bay Diner. Everything. Yes, everything is good!

And our final LI food stop was dinner at the one and only Momma's! The. Best. Pizza. If you're in the mood for gourmet pizza, this is it on Long Island. We had 3 slices; 1 with pesto shrimp, 1 with grilled veggies and 1 with rigatoni a la vodka. We devoured it before we could think to take a picture. Sorry!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Happy Hour - Cajun Style

So I FINALLY make it into the city and....we go to happy hour outside of the city!

Last night we, and a bunch of other rugby peeps, traveled out to Manayunk to visit The Bayou. Now Manayunk is a very cute little town about 20 minutes outside of the city. I'd love to go shopping there one day.
But, i digress, The Bayou turns out to be a great, grungy, "college bar", where there's adequate bar food (but nothing authentically cajun as the name would suggest) and great dance music and wait it gets better... $1 happy hour drinks! Thats right $1.
Now although there are many cool bars and restaurants in Manayunk, I don't believe you can find a better happy hour deal. Check it out!

 

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Moving! Week 1

So I moved last Tuesday from NY to Philadelphia.
No, not a big move, but a move none the less.

So my calendar looked like this:
Tuesday - MOVE!

Wednesday - Start new job in Philadelphia, 1st night of Chanukah, $10 Burgers & Beers at Bridget Foys & fire lighting at Devils Den.  I was a really bad jew and had a burger with cheddar cheese. Nicole was much better and had a home made veggie patty. Now I believe both these burgers were very good, but I will be honest and say that I did have 3-4 beers before the burgers arrived. I mean we were celebrating my promotion and move, they were totally justified.

Thursday - I'm adjusting to my new office and new procedures. I feel like my head is spinning, there is so much work to do. But some people in my office were going to city hall (across the street) after work to see the mayor light the christmas tree. So we got some hot cocoa and crossed the street to see the tree lighting. Even Yogi and Booboo were there!
City Hall Christmas Tree
Friday - Chanukah dinner courtesy of Nicole. For some reason, I am no longer allowed to cook, I can only re-heat things. :0/ 

Prime rib, oven roasted veggies and of course latkes!
Our menorah with rainbow candles!

Saturday - UNPACK. Toys for Tots Toy Drive. Too many car bomb shots.

Sunday - UNPACK and prepare for the week.

Woah weeks fly by! My Thanksgiving weekend.

This is WAY LATE and I'm sorry I don't really have a good reason. It was Thanksgiving and my family celebrates in Maine (about 6 hours from me) and then I moved. And I'm sure you all understand that moving can knock your world off its axis. So I will catch you up as quickly as possible with the abridged version.

Thanksgiving - Maine
3 turkeys came to Thanksgiving!

Thursday am - 6 hour drive with 2 brothers. Arrived at 6am. Brother wears super small shirt to turkey day dinner, is refered to as "fat kid in a little shirt" for the rest of the weekend

"Fat Kid" in striped shirt trying to get
some turkey before everyone else!
Friday - Dad's omelet (jeeze I miss these!) - peppers, onion, blk olives, shrimp & goat cheese. Harry Potter movie (whatever)

Dad's Omelet, Saturday - He got fancy
Saturday - Dad's Omelet - I forget, it was good. Cousins baby shower (woo?!), NEWICKS & ELF, Home to upstate NY



A must stop every time we go to Maine/New Hampshire

A little bit of heaven on earth.
Fried clams and a lobster roll from Newick's.



Monday, November 15, 2010

Cheesesteak Brunch


I find it saddening that there is not more buzz about the fact the Tony Luke's serves breakfast all day!  We all know that their cheesesteaks are world-renowned.  Their roast pork Italian is a work of art with it's perfect balance of rich, moist, perfectly seasoned pork, garlicky and wonderfully bitter broccoli robe and sharp provolone.  The pizza steak is noted to be Marc Summers of the food networks favorite sandwich of all time.  There menu also covers the gamete of roast beef, chicken cutlets, chicken steaks and much more.  I would like to draw attention to the awesomeness that is the steak & egg hoagie.  It's breakfast, it's lunch, it's large enough to be both meals... it's perfect.  I like mine with fried onions, sweet and hot peppers and sharp provolone.  In my opinion, this sandwich deserves just as much celebration as the classics, if not more.
Our brunch selections.  (Above) The Roast Pork Italian.  (Below) The gargantuan steak & egg hoagie.  Which does come in a small size, for the faint of heart. 

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Sunday - Chill Day

I can't remember the last time I had the luxury of waking up spontaneously.  In fact, I believe that I suffer from pager and alarm clock induced PTSD.  I woke up in a cold sweat with a heart rate of 140 this morning because the only thing that is worse than waking up to that damn alarm is spontaneously opening your eyes to daylight!!! Crap!  What am I late for?  Where am I supposed to be? Crap!

Lightning bolt... I'M ON VACATION!  My bed is where I'm supposed to be.

CBS Sunday morning & Homemade Brunch it is!

Potatoes with green peppers and onions seasoned with Paprika, Pepper and Everglades seasoning.
Bacon.  Perfectly, partially runny, partially set, over medium eggs.
Crunchy, Nutty Flax and Fiber Toast, with real butter.
Texas Pete Hot sauce.
And Dunkin' Donuts Coffee.

Perfect start to the day.  Now, bring on the Football.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Hooray for weekends!

This weekend was a great one! Let me start at the beginning...

Friday
9:00 am interview, 1 mile from our house. I take a cab, its about 10 minutes, WITH traffic. :D
I've been interviewing for about 8 months now, so I like to get these things out of the way early in the day.
10:30 am I'm extremely hopeful. Interview went great! I walk half way back home, but my interview heels, were not made for walking, I hop in a cab. Chat with Krystal about which referrals I'll send them.
3:00 pm After much deliberation (and phone calls with Krystal) they offer me the job! AND a raise! OMG. Is this really happening?! wow. I'm overwhelmed and extremely happy.
7:00 pm Chinese celebration dinner. Golden Empress Garden is ggooooddd :) Followed by drinks with friends at Bridget Foy's and a new bar we found on South called North. (lol, seriously.)

Saturday
I was too excited to sleep...up at 3am watching 21Grams...that movie is all screwed up. Finally fell back to sleep around 7, but only for an hour. I'm tired all day.
Went to watch a friends hockey game at Penn, shopping at Target, home for a nap and then Avitar is on HBO?! Cool! Left over chinese, HBO, 2 cats and Nicole on the couch...sounds like a great night to me!

Sunday
Slept 10 hours last night. Finally I'm rested, and grasping how my life will change with this new job.
Made mini muffins with the cranberries and apples we got from the CSA. Did laundry (5 loads!), Made real oatmeal, surprisingly yum! Watched the JETS pull off an amazing win, and met friends at Devil's Den for the Eagle's game...Didn't eat there, read way to many disappointing things about the food, but the selection of beer was impressive. Shared 5 different pumpkin beers! (Nicole was on call, so she wasn't allowed to have her own)

Hope yours was just as good! :)

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

What's one food you'll never eat again?

Fast food. That stuff will kill ya! I haven't had fast food in almost 3 years, I don't plan on turning back now!

Ask me anything

Could anyone really be sad while eating chocolate?

A few weeks ago we went to Max Brenner, (aka The Bald Man) for brunch.
I am SUPER sad to say it is one of the worst brunches we've had in Philadelphia, complete with dessert!
The food was common and uninteresting and the small portions definitely left room for desert. But when desert finally arrived, we were disappointed that the description on the menu did not match what was sitting on the table.
Bottom line, this place is much better at marketing than it is at cooking.


Monday, November 1, 2010

Austin, TX!

This past weekend we traveled to Austin, TX for the D1 Playoffs. I've never been to Texas, so I was pretty excited to see some farms and cows and big hats! Turns out there's none of that in Austin. :(
Austin was a cute urban town, there seems to be a growing trend towards using local sustainable ingredients, and of course we found one of those trendy places to eat brunch (our only - and favorite - free time).
At 24diner we had the recommended egg sandwich and chicken & waffle with a side of veggie sausage. Now, although the veggie sausage tasted nothing like sausage, it was still good..along with everything else we had.
1/2 of the egg sandwich!

The egg sandwich was on a big Challah roll with local eggs, cheese and bacon! The chicken & waffle was...well I can't really say, being from the Northwest, I don't really know what its suppose to taste like and I was surprised that the waffle was savory...it was good, but not my thing.
All that was left of the chicken & waffle

We still had 1/2 hour after brunch so we went across the street to Whole Foods, walked around and were amazed by all the different fruits and vegetables they had! Persimmons, baby pineapples, cactus leaves, 8 different types of mushrooms and 10 different types of peas! Pretty cool how different parts of the country regularly enjoy produce I've never even heard of!

Full and entertained, we headed out to Burr Field for another beautiful 85 degree day of rugby.