Didja miss me? I missed you. There was a blog shaped hole in my heart since I haven’t updated for an eternity. I think it’s only been two weeks in reality, but I was feeling REALLY antsy, and couldn’t wait to get tapping away on my trusty Mac again. As you may know, we’ve been packing, moving and unpacking. It’s finally all done… for the most part. And I feel like a human being again. I was starting to feel like I was on that show “Hoarders” with boxes everywhere. Well now that my kitchen is in order, I should be coming up with some new recipes soon. But in the meantime, I’ll be continuing on with my east coast series. While I was visiting my family in Philly, I had the chance to go to a “taste of Philly” type of street fair with my sister, brother in law, and their friends.
This brought back fond memories because the first time I ever visited Chicago with Joe, in order to meet his parents, we ended up going to the “Taste of Chicago,” where I got to sample the Windy City’s finest, as well as classic street fair-type food like deep fried ravioli, or BBQ turkey legs. This was the same type of deal, but a big difference with this one was the mosh-pit crowd.
It was nearly impossible to get anywhere and I felt like I was suffocating, because of course it had to land on a day where it was 1000 degrees outside. And the live bands were BOOMING their music. My little nephew was not having it. So we started our day kind of frazzled, trying to soothe a crying baby, while pushing a stroller in vain through the sweltering heat.
But all was forgotten the moment I sank my teeth into this juicy kobe beef slider. It had no frills, condiments or toppings. It was pure high quality kobe beef patty deliciousness and that was flavor enough.
We moved onto this roasted pork and spinach contraption that was equally as succulent and delightful. I’ve been a Philly girl nearly my entire life and just recently discovered the wonders of the Philadelphia roasted pork sandwich. Yes, it’s not all about cheese steaks. Who knew?
They were even doing live culinary demonstrations from chefs from the famous Steven Starr restaurants. There’s a whole slew of amazing restaurants that belong to this group, but amongst them is Morimoto, as in after Iron Chef Morimoto.
Then we checked up on Hyden to see if he was looking alright. As the day went on, and we walked in the shade, he calmed down and ended up just chillin’ and relaxin.’ So we kept on eatin.’
I think our favorite booth was from Le Bec Fin, a famous French restaurant in Philly. I remember my French class in high school even went on a field trip there, but for some crack-a-do reason, I couldn’t go, so I never got to eat there before. So I was happy that I’d finally be able to sample some goods. As you can see by the book nicely displayed on the table, the Executive Chef is Georges Perrier.
But there he was, standing there, holding his champagne and riling up the crowd!
We ended up getting a couple orders of the scallops, PERFECTLY seared, crispy and caramelized on the outside, and a little rare and tender on the inside. They were so buttery delicious, especially paired with a sweet golden raisin and celery relish. I kinda want to go make scallops right now just thinking about them.
And there was a lamb chop, served with what seemed like a fresh bread crumb topping. Again, masterfully cooked, sink-your-teeth-in tender, and lightly seasoned.
This booth also boasted an impressive array of French pastries, but we dropped enough cash at this one booth, so we moved along.
But eventually desserts started calling our names, so we decided to go with a delicious cannoli and a tiramisu trifle cup from Termini Bros.
The tiramisu tasted as how you’d expect it to taste.
The French vanilla marscapone filled cannoli was creamy, silky, crispy and not overly sweet. I loved it!
We then waddled across the park and into a store to buy Hyden some shades, which he sincerely enjoyed and rocked for the rest of the day.
So with shades on face and stuffed giraffe in hand, all-in-all, Hyden had a great day. And that made his parents happy. It was a pretty crazy day filled with yummy eats and sweets. We rolled ourselves back into the car and headed home, hot, tired and full of Philly.
