Welcome to Philly!

Since we always come from the south, our perfect reintroduction to Philly comes as we get off on the Broad Street exit, head a little ways north, hang a right on Passyunk Avenue and up to the Italian Market section in South Philly on 9th Street. Today, we departed from our usual MO of getting a cheesesteak from Pat's or Geno's and instead hit Paesano's, one of chef Peter McAndrews' several Italian places in Philly (and maybe not the last one we'll sample this trip!), where we split an Arista (pulled suckling pig, Italian long hots, broccoli rabe and provolone) and a bowl of Italian wedding soup. Both quite excellent! After that, we took advantage of the sunny and not-too-chilly weather to take a stroll through some of the market's more iconic shops and sights. Here are a few photos from our walk:

Happy Holidays, Philly Weekend and Other Things

It wasn't intentional for the blog to go dormant for nearly a month, but between the holidays being hectic and a spike in the workload that made me disinclined to spend *more* time sitting in front of a computer when I wasn't working, here we are. It's Christmas Day and I'm finally getting some time in front of the personal laptop while the oven does its magic on the roast beast.

The Accidental Wine Collection, Part Deux: Stat-Geek Edition

After going through the organizational exercise I described in my previous post, I was reminded that one of the interesting (dare I say fun?) things about having a collection of any kind is being able to analyze what you have and draw conclusions. Sorta reminds me of when I collected baseball cards as a kid -- I'd organize them and analyze them to figure out what gems I had (like my 1971 Johnny Bench or my 1978 Eddie Murray rookie card) and how close I was to my annual goal of collecting every member of the Reds and the Yankees (my two favorite teams at the time). I could spend hours messing around with that. I did.
 

Fermentation Friday: First Look at Bluejacket!

"Fermentation Friday":  An semi-regular look at the holy fermented trinity:  beer, wine and cheese.

As the holder of a Nats season ticket package of one type or another since Day One, I've spent plenty of time lamenting the fact that there's not much to do around the ballpark except go to the game. Sure you can hike to Barracks Row, but that's a haul. This year, that finally changed with the opening of a Gordon Biersch near the stadium. And while that's fine (and certainly better than nothing), what I've been really watching with great anticipation for the better part of two Nats seasons is Bluejacket Brewery.

The Accidental Wine Collection

Yep -- 178 bottles. How'd that happen?

I don't think either one of us ever set out to be wine collectors. Sure, we like wine, and we've purchased and consumed our share. But there was never one epiphany where one of us woke up, turned to the other and said, "Honey, I think we should start a wine collection."

Wine collections are for rich people. They seem decadent, and maybe you should be spending your money on something else. Once upon a time we bought plenty of wine, but most of it was from Trader Joe's or Planet Wine's $15 and under rack. And we didn't collect it. We drank it. In many cases, it went straight from the shop to our bellies without spending much time in a rack. I used to use our lone 16 bottle wine rack to store other things, like large format beer bottles and cider, and there was usually plenty of room.

But somewhere around the mid- to late-2000's something started to change.

Fermentation Friday: Port City Brewery

"Fermentation Friday": A semi-regular look at a member of the holy fermented trinity:  beer, wine and cheese.


I remember visiting my brother and sister in law in San Francisco a few years ago. Cam (my bro in law) and I got to yammering (as we usually do when we're together) and drinking (ditto) when the subject turned to beer. San Francisco, and California in general, has a famously thriving craft beer scene. Lots of hops, lots of options, and little reason to look very far for good beer. He asked me what our craft beer scene was like out in the DC area. "We don't really have one," I said. Sure, there were some Pennsylvania beers, Dogfish Head (of course) and a few other odds and ends. But nothing compared with what they have out there.

That was a few years ago. I'm happy to report things have definitely changed. Right in my own backyard.

Anniversary Weekend: Local Tourists

November 2 marks our 12th wedding anniversary. Some years we've been able to celebrate by taking a little trip to someplace nearby, going out to a nice dinner in DC, or on a couple of wonderful occasions, taking a two week trip to France. This year, we're going to reach back to one from our younger, less economically able days:  Local Tourism.