This is the first in a series, on my recent time in Philadelphia at Eat, Write, Retreat 2013. Since this entry is a collection of my favourite sights, I’ll let my photos tell the story.
The Hilton Double-Tree was perfectly located, right in the heart of the city.
Everywhere I walked, I was thrilled with the gorgeous details of Center City.
We came across this gorgeous funkified area of downtown on our walk to our first lunch outing at Supper Restaurant .
This beauty is now luxurious condos. She reminded me of the architecture of the “ladies” that line Central Park on the Upper West Side in NYC. We discovered that Philadelphia’s urban park is 10 times the size of Central Park.
That evening we were 37 stories high at R2L Restaurant where the Gala Awards were given out. I consoled myself for not winning with my California Raisins entry by gazing out at the Philadelphia skyline, in the setting sun! Just kidding, I was thrilled for the lovely winner Roxanna with her Raisin Cheese Crackers.
After the conference had concluded, my roomie and I purchased a 24 hour pass for the double decker bus tours. This was taken as we zipped by. There was rain coming so we did the loop to decide what sites we would stop at the next day.
I thought that this view of what Rocky would have seen from the top of the steps after his triumphant run, was far more interesting than the stairs themselves (or the statue of Rocky for that matter).
I was so disappointed that the galleries in Philadelphia are closed on Mondays. I would have loved to have seen the Impressionist collection and the Rodin exhibit. Ah well, my memories of Paris will have to suffice.
Joannie, depicted here, was my symbol of all of the valiant women that I met at the conference. One in particular, I know will be my lifelong friend.
Kath’s quote: “I’d like to see Paris before I die. Philadelphia will do.” Mae West
Sister #3 gets together with a group of long-time friends on a regular basis to eat, drink and be merry together. Glee is an acronym for a phrase which I can’t recall at the moment.
“Gone are the days of stopping by the video store and picking up the movie you want to rent. Sure there is Netflix but I’m still pretty old school and my computer equipment is not current enough to accommodate such things. So with an upcoming Glee dinner to host, I sat down with my remote and searched MTS Video on Demand for a film I could build a dinner party around. I decided on Woody Allen’s From Rome with Love. Primarily so I could make the theme: Italian.
The evening started with Heather’s bruschetta and sparkling Ruby’s; a combination of Italian Ruby port and prosecco. Kathy provided the salad, our best guess at Amici’s house salad made of butter lettuce and toasted pine nuts with a “from scratch” dressing. I decided to be politically incorrect and make veal. Breaded in Italian bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, it was fried in olive oil and topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella. I picked up my veal, port and prosecco at Piazza Di Nardi along with some of their fresh spaghetti and made a delightful clam sauce.
Here’s the recipe I found on-line. I’m so glad I did as it was scrumptious!
1 T anchovy paste (I know, but it won’t work if you don’t use it!)
4 cloves of garlic
1 t red pepper flakes
½ c dry white wine
1 can chopped clams with juice
1 can chopped clams - no juice
¼ c fresh chopped parsley
Grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Put oil, minced garlic, red pepper and anchovy paste in a large skillet. Heat on medium low. Do not brown the garlic. Mix and incorporate the anchovy paste until it dissolves into the oil.
Add wine and clam juice and bring to a boil for five minutes, until water starts to evaporate. Turn heat off, add clams and mix.
Cook one pound of spaghetti. Add pasta and parsley to the sauce and mix. Let stand for 5 minutes. Top with parmesan cheese and serve.
3.2.1230
Barb and the other Kathy did what they do best, went shopping! Barb’s visit to Goodies Bakery resulted in a lovely variety of mini cakes for us to sample and Kathy provided the wine. An integral part of any good dinner party. As for the movie…..not so much, but the food was stellar and the company unsurpassable!”
Kath’s quote: Interestingly, according to modern astronomers, space is finite. This is a very comforting thought– particularly for people who can never remember where they have left things. -Woody Allen
We do not venture south on Pembina Hwy. very often and do not savour the complex tastes of Indian food frequently either, so this visit was unique on both accounts. Our eldest daughter picked the Eat On Samoa (109-2800 Pembina Hwy.) for us. She is an adventurous eater, as are all of our kids-what a blessing. When we arrived, the little place was full but there was a large table right in a bright and sunny window, that seemed to be waiting for us.
Orders are placed at a quick-serve counter and we decided to try four varieties of somosas between the three of us. The lovely lady behind the counter (we found out subsequently that she was the owner Manika Pradhan) encouraged us to select a half dozen instead. She helpfully suggested, that the cost was lower and that there was no tax assessed when purchased in this manner. So we chose two chicken, one vegetable, two beef and one bison samosa. Upon tasting each, we decided that enjoying three out four varieties was a good thing. We did not care for the gamey taste of the bison-not a criticism, just a preference.
Next up, we shared two butter chicken platters for the three of us and it was more than enough food. We enjoyed the chick peas and mixed vegetables as much as the chicken itself. Our palettes are not discerning enough to know if the curries were the same on both the veggies and the beans. We didn’t mind, as both were delicious.
The butter chicken was perfection. The chicken was still moist and tender, just like “butter”. This is how the recipe got its name, as you may already know. We enjoyed the extra tomato-based sauce on the jasmine rice and lopped up every droplet.
There are Dine –in, take out and catering menus available. Be mindful of a slightly elevated lip at entrance; otherwise the restaurant is weheelchair accessible. There is plenty of surface parking available. Fort Richmond is fortunate to have this convenient place in their neighbourhood for eat in dining, take out and catering.
Kath’s quote: “Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly.” –M.F.K. Fisher
Hello lovely readers. How far back does memory go? I can distinctly remember being four years old. That is because I started kindergarten that year. Now a days it is called junior kindergarten or nursery school but back in the late 50’s (yes I am THAT old), there was no such thing as these or of day care, for that matter. Most Moms were of the “stay at home” variety, unless there were extenuating circumstances, such as my Auntie who was a school teacher because, my uncle passed away suddenly at the age of 27. I was also familiar with a couple of Moms who were nurses and there was my Mom’s best friend who lived (and still does) across the street, who had a kindergarten classroom in her basement. As a favour to my Mom, she invited me to join this class when I was four years old.
When I was three, my Mom give birth to my twin brother and sister and so the gesture was to give my Mom a bit of a break, as there was a distinct possibility that I was a tad precocious. I still remember many of the resources that were in the classroom that assisted us in learning our colours, numbers and letters. I also remember how the room was set up with long tables in a “u” formation and where the teacher’s desk was placed, in addition to the shelves that held extra fat crayons and pencils for little hands.
I love exercising my brain in this way because as is often the case as your grow older, my long range memory seems sharper than my more immediate. I am forever running downstairs to our basement pantry and then yelling back upstairs “Does anyone know why I came down here?”
I suppose that I remember my fourth year so distinctly because I loved every single minute of school. Does it make sense that the most vivid memories are of things that you love? My love of food brings clear images to me as well, but in even greater detail, including aromas and tastes. My first memory of an authentic Canadian food experience was when my Mom and Dad purchased a 1/4 bushel of corn on the cob. I don’t even know how much that is, but I clearly remember that a pick up truck arrived in our back lane and we were rallied around to unload, what seemed to me, an endless supply of cobs. The truck had come from a farm in Morden, Manitoba where the long, warm growing season produces bumper crops of corn and apples.
At this particular time, there were seven people in my family, as Sister #3 was not born until I was eight years old. Feeding seven people is no easy task on one income and my Mom and Dad were very resourceful. My Mom canned and pickled and my Dad had connections in the food-service business so that he could buy “wholesale”. My Dad was an agrologist and knew many local farmers and so it must have come to pass that he got a deal on this bulk corn.
I also remember that we were all enlisted to shuck the corn. The twins were too young to help and so my hands were the youngest and not the strongest, therefore instead of the muscular task of removing the husks and snapping off the stock, I was in charge of pulling out the fine strands that sometimes remain between the kernels. When the corn was “bare naked”, I recall that my Mom blanched batches of it in her “pressure cooker” pot and then after they were patted dry, she lined six cobs into each freezer bag. The day was a hot one and in those days there were very few homes with air conditioning. The continual process of blanching the corn, produced a very steamy kitchen, indeed. By the time supper came around we were all “dying” to taste the fruits of our labour. I also think that my Mom must have been pooped, because what did we have for supper that night? Corn on the cob, of course. Just…corn on the cob.
There was always a pound of butter sitting on the kitchen table as well as the salt and pepper shaker and I was allowed to dress up my own cob. Perhaps this is one of the sources for my love of sweet and salty tastes. The corn was super-sweet-in fact, I think that was the name of the variety that we had ordered. When slathered with creamy butter and liberally dosed with a glistening of salt, well, I don’t know if there is a taste in the world that would compare. I was allowed to have seconds. In fact, I was permitted to eat until my heart’s content. I don’t recall the exact count, but it was the greatest number of cobs that I have eaten in one sitting, to this day.
Morden corn-my first authentic Canadian food experience. Here’s a bonus. Sister #3 is preparing a cookbook of all of our family and friend favourites. She has tested our Mom’s recipe for wild blueberry pie. I told you that my Mom and Dad were resourceful and this included yearly family foraging trips for enough wild blueberries to freeze for the winter. One year our car got stuck and we were almost stranded in the woods, but I leave that tale for another day.
Most of my readers will know by now that Daughter #3 is carrying our first Grandchild. Yes, I am going to be a Glamma! J2 is also a blogger and if you are a young Mom or Mom to be, you will really enjoy her posts: Baby Lady of the Prairies
“In my first trimester of pregnancy I had zero energy, zero motivation to get anything done, my house was a mess and the thought of cooking or even being near my kitchen made me queasy. Then, like clockwork, at 15 weeks life started to gain its color back. I started getting antsy to start and finish projects, I once again gained the satisfaction of having a clean house and best of all I loved food again!
Loving food again is helpful as baby is growing and developing in the second and third trimesters – especially loving foods rich in protein. The amino acids that make up protein are the building blocks of your body’s cells. Pregnant women are advised to consume around 70-100 grams of protein every day. I don’t track the specific number of grams that I take in, but I am always aware of how I can add more protein to every meal.
Since I don’t have any dietary restrictions (by choice or otherwise) I usually eat at least one good-sized portion of meat every day which generally contains about 20-35 grams of my daily protein intake. Lately I have been trying to be creative with other sources of protein besides meat.
Here is a yummy recipe I have made including the beloved quinoa. Just 1 cup of cooked quinoa contains over 8 grams of protein.”