Lots of travel and very few photos to show for it, but some great culinary experiences. We love Philadelphia - we learned to appreciate it when two of our three (four, if you count La Quercia!) children attended Swarthmore College, a quick and easy regional rail ride from Center City Philadelphia. You can start with some of the best ice cream in the United States - Capogiro Gelato. Artisanal, seasonal, regional, innovative, and totally delicious. We try to get there whenever we can. In December and January they have candied chestnut ice cream. The June strawberry ice cream is sublime! In the fall, it's fresh fig.
As noted, our Swarthmore student (in his senior year) is a big draw and we were able to go to an Ultimate Frisbee game. There's a photo of Aaron and Herb at the game below. I love Ultimate Frisbee - this was a tournament and we watched Swarthmore vs Franklin & Marshall. College sports at their best - self reffing, no contact, good sportsmanship. Take that, NCAA!
Here are Herb and Aaron watching the field. Sadly, Swarthmore lost, but they were fun to watch and impressively fair minded.
So - we spent some time at Swarthmore, but we spent even more time in Philadelphia, particularly eating particularly delicious food. Aaron joined us for every meal!
First night - Friday, October 21. Dinner at Chef Jose Garces's Amada. Lively, crowded, and noisy, full of vim and vigor. Excellent food and great service even though we squeezed in at the bar. Aaron spent part of last year in Barcelona and he was thrilled to see some of his favorites on the menu and even happier when he tasted them. Special highlights, all washed down with Cava: Pimientos de Padron, Croquetas de Jamon, Fideos con Mariscos, Calcots con Salbitxada, Pulpo a la Gallega, Cocas con Alcachofas y Setas, and for dessert the Crema Catalana and the Dulce y Amarga. Delicioso!
On Saturday, we did a demo at Di Bruno Brothers' Rittenhouse Square store. It's a great store and they have a nice selection of La Quercia meats, including our fabulous guanciale.
There's the store in the old Italian section of Philadelphia (classic, traditional, redolent of spices, cheeses and meats, very old school), and a third store in Ardmore.
Here's Herb talking to some customers at the Rittenhouse Square store. It's really fun to give tastes of delicious American artisan prosciutto to appreciative (and sometime surprised) eaters!
Saturday night we had beer and sausages with the German Club of Swarthmore in celebration of Oktober Fest (no, none of us speaks or studies German, but we are friends with Professor Hans-Jakob Werlen, who is also a leader of Slow Food in Pennsylvania). The highlight of the meal for me (and I hate to sound so chauvinistic), was our Iowa White Spread on soft, warm pretzels. The native-born Germans were ecstatic- real schmaltz!
The pretzels were good, too!
On to Sunday! We took a lovely walk through the heart of Philadelphia to Penn's Landing, where (can you guess?) William Penn landed in 1682. Here's a photo looking toward downtown from the esplanade along the river.
One of the great things about Philadelphia is that it is chock full of iconic and very accessible pieces of American history. The Liberty Bell. Independence Hall, Carpenters' Hall. Betsy Ross's home.The home or business place of this or that significant figure - founding father, mother, child. Abundant and very fine statuary in charming parks. One of my favorite "installations" is the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier in Washington Square. Words from George Washington's Farewell Address of 1796 are inscribed on it. You can read them in this photo.
Next installment: Two amazing meals! Great food is another great thing about Philadelphia!
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