Boathouse Row - The Other Houses

If you aren't sick of boathouses yet, here are some shots of the rest of them + some native Boathouse Row wildlife.

Boathouse Row - The Crescent

Can you tell I am excited about the photo filters on Imgur? Above is the snapshot filter used on a picture of the stained glass above the entrance to the Crescent Boathouse, where the Naval Academy parents' party was. The party was to welcome the new freshmen. All the Academy jibber jabber was sort of lost on me, so I used this opportunity to photograph the Crescent and the other boathouses and to eat lots of cannolis (something else that is not often seen in LA).

Boathouse Row

I didn't actually find pictures of Boathouse Row from the turn of the last century. Imgur has a old timey photo filter that I used. But the boathouses on the Schuylkill do make me feel like I've gone back in time. They are all more than 100 years old, and they are used for the same thing today as they were in 1911. I went to a Naval Academy parent event there with my mom this summer (my brother is a junior there), and I took a million photos which I'll post this week.

Reading Terminal

One of the first very uniquely Philly things I did after moving there this summer was to go to Reading Terminal. I went for lunch at the Greek stand one work day. It was delicious and really made me miss having easy access to Greek food. (Of all the great ethnic food in LA, I think Greek is particularly hard to find.) I went back later in the summer and witnessed an ice cream eating contest. (The winner smoked the competition! She ate her whole bowl, without using her hands, in 3 bites. And then I saw her in line to buy more ice cream later!) But even without ice creaming eating contests, there seems to always be something to entertain you at the terminal. There are exotic sausage shops, shops with homemade food from the Amish (I got my brother the pictured Amish pumpkin butter), a pretzel shop, seafood shops, fruit stands, a spice shop, an oyster bar, several well-known dessert shops (see the crazy nose, lung, and rat shaped chocolates below), a used bookstore, and 0f course cheese steak shops.

Bye Philly!

My summer in Philly has come to an end. I got back to LA a few days ago. But I realize I didn't share 90% of my Philly experience because there was just so much going on between working and playing. Now that things are finally relaxed (aka I am sitting in my apartment just watching X-Files on Netflix) I can post everything, starting with a picture I took from the parking lot of my office building. One day toward the end of the summer, I walked out side to get my bike and was blown away by the brilliant pink clouds. We certainly don't get clouds like this in LA!

Sampan: Asian Fusion in Washington Square West

Hello hello! Finally, an update from Philly! I had a great, relaxing weekend. On Friday I went to dinner with some coworkers at a restaurant called El-Rey, where the zucchini blossom quesadilla is delicious. It's the perfect mix of unhealthy with a little bit of healthy snuck in. Then on Saturday my parents came to visit. We wandered around old graveyards, watched an ice cream eating contest at Reading Terminal, sipped ice teas in my local coffee shop, people watched in Washington Square, and then had a lovely dinner at Sampan.

I will (eventually) post about the graveyards, market, and park, but right now I have to share some of our favorite dishes from dinner. It is small plate style, and we had (in photo order): the crab and scallion tacos, the suckling pig satay, the edamame dumplings, the pork bao buns, the mushroom dumplings, the tuna rice crackers, the Korean BBQ satay, the beef tataki, and the shrimp dumplings. We also got the pork and shrimp crepe, which is not pictured because I took a horrible picture of it. Everything was very good, but a few things were stand outs. First, the edamame dumplings are the best thing there: inventive, well-executed, and just delicious. We ended up getting 3 orders. In addition, the beef tataki and tuna rice crackers (like an Asian-style spicy tuna bruschetta) were also phenomenal. The service was also great. The atmosphere was trendy, but not too loud. So it was easy to have a conversation while enjoying the food.

Brooches as Necklaces - Part II

So sorry for the long absence! There were a few weeks there where life was completely non-stop. I imagine posting will still be spotty until I get back to LA since I am trying to play catch up in life, but for now, check out the brooch as necklace look (previously seen here) that I'm thinking should be a new trend!

As seen on the Glamourai.