Philly Visit: Reading Terminal Market

Another must-stop when we visit Philly is yet another market (sense a theme here?). The Reading Terminal Market is smack-dab in Center City Philadelphia, just off of Market Street. It's part of the city's Convention Center Complex and according to its website, it's been in operation since 1893 and was originally tied to the Reading Railroad that ran through there. It's had its ups and downs over the years, but it sure is thriving now, with many of the original stalls still in place.

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.