Philly Trip, Yum!

Any of you have stress at work? Yeah, join the crowd. We've all got it, right? I have lots of tools in my belt to handle this stress. Whether I use them or not is not part of this particular post (maybe some other time?). With that said, one of the ways I deal with stress from work is to ensure my days off are are QUALITY days off. The past couple of months this particular tool has slipped out of my hand. So, Ray and I have decided to make more of an effort to get out and enjoy our surroundings...even in 11 degree temperatures! So here's a recap of our overnight trip to Philly.

Friday morning we packed a bag and made the hour trip to Philadelphia. We started by visiting the President's House site, which is part of Independence Mall. There's a section that has been excavated and glassed off for visitors to see.

There's an exhibit there concerning slavery and freedom that was touching in a way that was more powerful with it being an open-air footprint of the house than it would have been in a walled off museum. I know I'm missing the words to describe it appropriately, so I'm going to stop while I'm ahead.

We then visited the Liberty Bell Center. Here they have the history of the bell itself and how it played into the histories of abolition, suffrage and other battles for freedom. It was inspiring to see the bell in person. To see the crack and the attempts to fix it. To see the inscription, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land until all the inhabitants thereof." It's a verse from Leviticus. No wonder those fighting for their rights adopted the bell as their own. They were demanding their own jubilee.

Liberty Bell

We moved on to Independence Hall before hopping across town to take the obligatory pictures of the steps in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Independence Hall

Philadelphia Art Museum

Ray thought we shouldn't be boring in our picture taking, so we had a bit of comic relief for the folks around us.

We headed to Tony Luke's for lunch where we had roast pork sandwiches. I love these sandwiches! Afterwards, we passed Geno's and Pat's, which are apparently famous for their Philly cheesesteak sandwiches. With all of the other places we have on our list to try out, I'm not sure we'll actually stop for a sandwich here. Ray says the most memorable part of getting to these places, which are basically across the street from each other, is the education in 19th century urban development. The streets we drove through and the housing and shops we drove past, it was as if we had been transported to another time.

We then made our way to check into the hotel to take a rest before the big event of the night. We stayed at The Inn at Penn and it was great. Ray thought the room was warm because it wouldn't cool down to freezing, but I was comfy, so...

Before the concert we had dinner at The Fat Ham. The menu is made up of small plates. The owner describes it as "...a pork-centric restaurant drawing inspiration from Southern country cooking..." Okay, so small plates of Southern food. I'm on board with that. Here's where I talk about everything we ate (in case you want to skip ahead!). 

We had the charcuterie board with bacon, ham, chicken liver terrine, pickled veggies and mustard. Here's a picture of a guy putting the board together that I nicked from their site. To be honest, I didn't want to like the terrine. I'm not a chicken liver person and I'm not fond of meat that's comparable to baby food, but I want more...now.

We also had hummus made from boiled peanuts. Now, I like hummus and I like peanuts, but I do not like boiled peanuts. The man I'm married to loves them. I didn't like it and surprising enough, neither did Ray. It was too loose for his tastes. Next up was the roasted root vegetables, which were great, and shrimp and grits. There's a restaurant in Indy that makes my favorite shrimp and grits, ever. I now have a very close second. I could eat these all day long. I plan on going back to this restaurant with the sole purpose of ordering the shrimp and grits again. They were wonderful. The last of the plates were mac and cheese and fried chicken. The mac and cheese had a BBQ potato chip crust on it that was unexpectedly good. It gave it that crunch you usually get from the breadcrumb topping and a hint of sweet BBQ. It was good. 

Now we're going to have to talk about the chicken. It was fried chicken, but different. It's actually called hot chicken, which is a staple in Tennessee. I'm not a fan. Maybe if it were something I grew up with I would have enjoyed it as much as the million other people who have tried it, but it's just not my kind of eats and that's okay, because the pecan pie with vanilla bean ice cream was great!

After dinner we made our way to the Wells Fargo Center to see Martina McBride and George Strait. This was part of my Christmas present from Ray. I've been looking forward to this and they didn't disappoint. The lights of the show messed with me and my new meds, but of course we made the best of it. I even got a dance with my no dancing husband. It's one for the books! 

Saturday we slept in. It was nice, since we never do that. We're usually up with the sun and/or cats on our days off. We got ready and packed (not everything!) and made our way to our brunch reservation at Amada, which is a Spanish restaurant. One of the things we really enjoy is choosing to take part in a restaurants tasting or chefs menu. You never know what you're going to get, but you do know it's going to cover a variety of items, some of which you might not have ever thought to order on your own. So, for brunch, that's what we did and it consisted of 3 courses with each course being comprised 3 tapas each. 

Are you ready for more food talk?!?

Our first course had manchego with sliced granny smith apples, truffled lavender honey with crusty bread. I enjoy these types of plates and was blown away by the honey. So much so that we bought some, brought it home and mailed a jar to Georgia. I just know they're going to love it! Yup, we're those people. Another plate was ensalada verde, which had lettuce (of couse!) with fava beans, asparagus, avocado, and green beans. I like salads, but this one was terrific. Whatever is in your head about this combination, throw it out, you're not even close to the reality. The taste, the textures, the visuals...I want to make and eat this salad every day! The third tapas for this course was a variety of marinated olives. There were so many types in bowl it was fun for us to eat and compare together.

The second course included a Spanish tortilla, which I loved. Ray typically isn't a fan of tortillas, but I think this one won him over. If you've never had one, think frittata with sliced potatoes and onions in fluffy egg goodness. So good. There were ham croquettes with romesco that were fantastic. I could eat a plate full of them. Then there was the galletas y salsa. This wasn't your everyday biscuits and gravy. It was a serrano biscuit with a house-made chorizo patty topped with gravy. Yes, I'll have more. 

Are you full yet? One more course to go.

The third course had a warm fava and lima bean salad with onions and peppers. It reminded me of the flavors I've had in black eyed pea salads...a little sweet...a little heat...a little vinegar...it was good. Trying to recreate it is on my to do list. There was a bowl of albondigas...I love saying that word. They're little lamb meatballs served in a manchego cheese sauce and peas. Then there was the hanger steak. I'm such a sucker for hanger steak. The seasonings were great. The sauce served with it was great. I want more. I actually bartered Ray for the last piece. I gave up my last meatball for the last piece of steak. We were both happy with the outcome!

Then there was dessert. It was a pumpkin brulee served with dried cherries and figs. It was perfect and paired well with the strong coffee. Usually pumpkin anything hits you in the head and says "HEY THERE'S PUMPKIN IN HERE!" This didn't do that. It was super subtle, silky smooth and not too sweet.

Ray had a couple of brunch-type cocktails. One had coffee, cinnamon and honey whiskey. He said it was dangerous because you couldn't tell there was alcohol in it. The second one, which had orange juice, cava, gin and vodka, had more of a bite to it. The alcohol definitely wasn't hiding in it!

After we ate, we made our way over to the site of one of the homes Edgar Allan Poe and his wife (and cousin) Virginia lived in while in Philadelphia. While there's nothing there from his occupation of the house, it was still neat.

They've done a good job at restoring the rooms they occupied to their original state. The history of the man and his dying wife are there as is a timeline of his life. He had an up and down life with an amazing imagination that inspired so many after him. I think back fondly to the month we spent on Poe while I was in college. It was a difficult month with so many papers I agonized over, but one that translated to my every day life. I learned more about reading between the lines and figuring out what people were trying to say verses what they actually said. The psychology of it all grabbed my attention. I've read most of his stories, poetry and reviews multiple times. I think it might be time for another visit.

Me in the basement

Stairs in the basement

After completing the tour we got on the road for home. We had to stop near the halfway point to allow my nausea (new meds side effect) to subside. This is when we realized that we forgot Ray's shaving kit at the hotel. Gracious. So instead of taking zantac to calm my stomach down (I packed them in his kit), I had to buy chewable Pepto from the gas station. Eww, gross! If companies are going to make chewables, they could at least make them taste better.

It was a good trip for us both. Now to plan the next one...