Citygirl Bites! Philly Road Trip Edition, #3

Well, we are finally at the end of our Philly food adventure, and the end of our trip all together. Sad, isn't it? Our Thursday was rounded out with a trip to The Franklin Fountain. Look at that photo up there. The staff all wear early 1900s soda fountain/ice cream shop uniforms, and the whole place is set up like a classic ice cream place. They even have a vintage cash register.



I don't remember what I got and I don't remember what HUBS ate. But! They were both amazing and refreshing and sweet and yummy! All their ice cream is made in-house, how can you beat that? Plus, our dishes were filled to the absolute brim. Don't you love getting your money's worth?



Our last stop, on Friday, was technically in Gettysburg. We'd visited the battleground and extremely thorough museum and after a few hours needed dinner. HUBS had pre-scoped a restaurant located in a building built in 1776, The Dobbin House Tavern.



We shared a bowl of revelatory French Onion Soup. I capitalized each word there because this was the best FOS I've ever had. Ever. EVER, PEOPLE!! I generally avoid such soups because they tend to be hellishly salty, to the point where it feels like my throat is going to close up. This? This was perfectly seasoned, cheesy, with bits of tooth tender beef and onion floating in there. Oh. My. God. So gooooooood.



In addition to the soup (which immediately made me want more when we finished the bowl), I got a club sandwich and HUBS got a burger smothered in mushrooms and onions. Everything was amazing. These folks know food! And, again, all the servers are in period costumes. This means the ladies are dressed like old tyme serving wenches. I know what you're thinking, cleavage and good soup? That's right, people. Everything you could ever want in one spot!



Now I'm starving! That's what I get for talking about food for three days straight, huh? Before I go stuff my face, here's a Friday Funny for you:



Happy Friday, friends!

Citygirl Bites! Philly Road Trip Edition, #2

When we hit Cape May on Tuesday, our first stop was The Sea Shanty, a tiny spot in a strip mall-esq spot right across from the beach. The food was simply amazing. We actually had so much that it was hard for either of us to finish. I barely managed to eat all my lobster roll, while HUBS had to donate some of his fried clams to the seagulls. We did box up our mountain of fries, though, and luckily they held up well as we explored Cape May and Atlantic City.





Our big meal on Wednesday took us to the corner of two rival Philly cheesesteak behemoths: Pat's King of Steaks on one side and Geno's Steaks on the other.





Geno's wins in the cheese sweeps; it was loaded to dripping wit whiz. But HUBS and I both thought Pat's had slightly better meat. Plus, the sweet peppers on his were the bomb (yeah, I know nobody says that anymore...). I apologize, but for the second time in just a few days my ravenous hunger prevented me from thinking clearly and snapping shots of the sandwiches. Suffice it to say, they both looked roughly like this:


Photo

Now, here comes something truly special. On Thursday we were determined to get up early and get some major museum-going out of the way. As a reward for getting our asses out of the hotel pre-noon, we picked a spot for a nice breakfast out. We decided on Honey's Sit-n-Eat.



I don't even know how to describe the amazing-fantabulousness of this food. It's so good that I immediately knew I needed more of it after taking one bite of my challah French toast. It's so good that we went back again on Friday, our last day in Philly. It's so good, people, that about two weeks after getting home I yelled out I WANT HONEY'S SIT-N-EAT!! one night when we were debating dinner options. It's so good that you'll have sweet, maple syrup scented dreams after seeing what we ate:











See? Awe inspiring! Tomorrow? Part 3 of our Philly food adventure and some Friday goodies. Yea!

Citygirl Bites! Philly Road Trip Edition, #1

I haven't done a Citygirl Bites in ages, so, what better way to wrap up our Philly road trip story than to spotlight all the straight-awesome food we had while we were away. Mmmmm...Food porn!



On our way into Philly we stopped in Pittsburgh to eat dinner at Primanti Bros. Restaurant. They're known for their huge sandwiches with fries and cole slaw on the sandwiches. This is my fish sandwich. HUBS got a root beer float and some giant red meat sammy, plus we shared an amazing order of chili cheese fries. (That's right, we got fries even though each sandwich had fries on it. We are special.) If you're ever in the area you need to eat this food. Really.

Our next meal was a hotel-delivered one from Romano's on Sunday (our travel recovery day). Of course, I forgot to photograph a single item we ordered, but everything was good. We ordered a pizza (great crust, sauce and toppings), chili (filled with sweet peppers and meat and giant beans), a crab cake sandwich (yum) and a stromboli (HUBS ate this one by himself, but he loved it.) There were a ton of leftovers. Thank God we got a kitchenette in our room!



On Monday we stopped at Moshulu. It's an early 1900's sailing ship that's been turned into a restaurant. HUBS and I had been walking around all day and were tired, sweaty and sticky. We were also starving and my feet were aching. I was so glad that this place didn't have a dress code, we would not have gotten in with our tennis shoes and shorts otherwise.



This is my pulled pork sandwich. Um...You will not have a better pulled pork sammy, people. I swear. It was served with homemade chips and a little salad. Both very, very good as well.



HUBS ordered this. I think it's pork with some rice. Now, it was really tasty. But, you see how little is on that plate, right? Does anyone think that HUBS, who routinely eats two Bic Mac's, fries and a giant soda in one sitting, could be even close to full by eating this? No? Wow, you guys get smarter every day. Again, glad we had those leftovers!



We also shared dessert. Do you see this beauty? It's the Mosulu Coupe and it includes: banana fritters, dulche de leche ice cream, caramel peanuts, flourless chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream, fresh chantilly cream, chocolate sauce and wet pecans. Dammit! It was good! God!

I'll be back tomorrow with the rest of our eats. But, in the meantime, I'm working on ideas for my Tuesday Tipday series. I need to know: What kind of tips would be helpful to you? Let me know in the comments!

Music Monday: VMA Edition

Thanks guys. There's just never enough tongue in celebrity photos.

Did anyone watch the MTV Video Music Awards last night? I gave up my award show fascination about 10 years ago, but I still enjoy a brief recap of fashion and faux pas, don't you? Well, here we go!

What folks wear is always the best part. Some people inevitably look good no matter what, but some of our celebs are so desperate to stand out/not-be-forgotten that they'll put on any damn thing and leave the house. Observe...







I mean, what in the crispy fried hell, people?! A mask, Nicki? A head cube, Katy? A...whatever the hell, whoever the hell you are? It's a little bit pitiful how everyone has been so intent on out crazying Gaga for the past couple of years. (Kind of like how everyone wanted to out freaky-couture Rhianna a few years back, but no one ever managed it.) And yet, without this ridiculous motivation, we wouldn't be witness to sights like this, would we?

They all need to just stop, and give Gaga the Crazy Crown. Why? Because this is how that heifer showed up last night:



See? And now no one else can show up dressed like a dude 'cause it'll be obvious they don't have an original fashion thought in their heads. (Not that fashion originality should matter much. Can you sing? That's really all that should count. Alas, the world doesn't quite work that way all the time.) Gaga decided to go all Satchmo Fierce on our asses and debuted her male alter ego Joe Calderone. Apparently she stayed in character for the entire show. Awesome.

In other news? That's right, Bey is gestating:



All VMA pics, zimbio.com.

Now, on to more important music stuff. Last week a music legend you may not have heard of died: Nick Ashford. With his wife, Valerie Simpson, he wrote several hits for artists like Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Chaka Khan and the duo of Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell.

They also recorded as Ashford & Simpson. Don't tell me you've never heard this one: