Pre-Vacation Staycation Continued...

Mom and her Spicy Korean Soup.

And so the pre-vacation Staycation continues. The days are blurring together, and until I saw more than a dozen people in costume- I hadn't realized it was Halloween. Mom and I got our fitness jam on this morning and then headed to center city to Giwa for some epic Korean eats. I'm sure that there is a super cheap hole-in-the-wall , super-authentic Korean place somewhere in the city, but Giwa was pretty damn good. Mom had the spicy kimchi soup and I had the vegetarian Dol Sot BiBimBop. It was served piping hot in a cast iron pot, with kimchi and pickled cucumbers. In Central America, I have seen FIGHTS go down over the "carruncha", the crispy rice at the bottom of the pot. Well, this dish had the best damn "carruncha" that I've ever had.

After lunch we strolled around and (unfortunately) strolled through anthropologie and lululemon, where I treated myself to a few nice things :) The conversation at lunch had actually been about how when I'm traveling I don't want "things" and I don't feel attached to "things", being completely content with my modest backpack of goods. But being home, I want STUFF. I love "things"...$90 yoga pants? Yes please. 10 of them. Meanwhile, that'd pay for 2 months of a good life in Asia. Ayeyaya. So after spending (too much) money on some of my favorite things in my two favorite stores, I walked down the block and carved into the cement was exactly what I was thinking...

Brooke and I did a yoga class at Dhyana, and then my mom joined us and we had a kickass Mexican meal at Distrito in West Philly. Octopus Ceviche, lobster tacos, tortilla soup, jicama salad, and unbelievable margaritas. Brooke was super stoked on the decor as well, which included a VW beetle that was made into a seating area.

Another great night on our pre-vacation Staycation.

Wodding and Pumpkin Carving.

Lazy morning, free coffee and breakfast from one of the hotel employee admirers, and then lounging in the room with mom. We headed down to the gym around 11 and got our fitness on...boom. Mom rode the bike and did her workout while I had my iPod on full blast, running up and down flights of stairs and trudging through my homemade WOD. I realize that I haven't explained crossfit very much and since I'm sure that you speak less "CrossFit" than I do, I should atleast specify that WOD means "Workout of the Day". The one I created for myself today was:

Warm Up:

*Vinyasa

*Hold Plank, Forearm Plank, ardha navasana (arms overhead), locust

WOD:

5 flights of stairs 3x then 20 mountain climbers, twenty jumps from plank to squat and back, 20 alternate knee to elbow

*repeat 3x

Short vinyasa to reconnect with breath, then:

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:

-5 push-ups

-10 sit-ups

-15 air squat

Ended with a Yin series:

Supra baddha konasana, twist R + L, wide knee child's, saddle, headstand. 

Brooke and Tommy picked mom and me up a little before 3pm and we headed to Kraftworks for a late lunch, some harvest brews, and...some pumpkin carving!!! The pub is having a contest and had a pumpkin carving station set up in the back of the restaurant. And even better was that the pumpkin was free!!! It was a super fun time and I'm hoping that Brooke has off tomorrow too so we can play somewhere else in town. 

Laying in bed now, tossing around the idea of heading out on my adventure earlier than expected. The OC zen den was pretty damaged in the storm and it'll be a while before its back up and running. Until then we have our margate studio, but I'm taking it as a sign that maybe I should begin my journey sooner than later. I hear that the hiking is great and crowds are low the month of December in Nepal....

Tommy and Brooke....team Serwatka.

Pumpking Carving Fun.

Cailin Callahan

www.cailincallahan.blogspot.com

Cheese, Please.

MmMm...DiBruno's!!!!

I decided that this year I am going to try to stay away from the beach. STAY AWAY FROM THE BEACH??? Yep. Stay away. I figure that with all of the sun that I am forced to get in Costa Rica by being in the water, that it would be so horrible for my health to just SIT on the beach in Jersey. Therefore, this summer I am trying to limit my sun intake and keep the beach bronzing to a minimum. With this said, Shawn and I decided to head to Philly for the day as opposed to a day plopped in a beach chair at the {not so sunny anyways} Sumner Ave. We obviously had Vietnamese for lunch. We skipped the Vietnam Restaurant, and the Vietnam Palace for the place on 11th street that I really love. Shawnie wasn't feeling the Green Papaya Salad yesterday, and I was torn between Vermecilli Bun {because I love the spring roll topping) and Pho - so our order was a bit of a deviation from the usual. I had a spring roll appetizer {so delicious} followed by Pho, which Shawn and I both had. We decided that the overcast day, and my vicious head cold, called for some spicy soup. For those of you that aren't familir with "PHO", it is Vietnam's national soup.

Phở is served in a bowl with white rice noodles in clear beef broth, with thin cuts of beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank, brisket). The broth is generally made by simmering beef (and sometimes chicken) bones, oxtails, flank steak, charred onion, and spices, taking several hours to prepare. Seasonings include Saigon cinnamon, star anise, charred ginger, and cloves. The dish is garnished with ingredients such as green onions, white onions, coriander leaves (cilantro), ngò gaiThai basil, fresh Thai chili peppers, lemon or lime wedges, and bean sprouts. Phở can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The noodles are usually picked up with chopsticks and placed onto a soup spoon. The spoon is then dunked into the broth and topped with meat/condiments and eaten. Vietnamese phở restaurants usually retain the cultural practice of not delivering the bill to a customer's table, since it is considered rude—in the Vietnamese culture, it is seen as a way of trying to rush the customer out the door.

When they place my bucket sized bowl of Pho in front of me, I begin doctoring it up to my taste. First I rip up some thai basil into it, throw in a few slices of jalapeno, squeeze two big chunks of lime juice into the bowl, and throw in some bean sprouts for crunch. Then I add in a big of Sriracha hot chili sauce and some {plum} Hoisin Sauce. NGON! {this means "delicious" in Vietnamese}. Being the beverage queen that I am, I surrounded myself with a glass of water, a never ending cup of hot tea, and an ICED VIETNAMESE COFFEE! MmMmMm sweetened condensed milk and strong, fresh espresso over ice :)

Our Vietnamese indulgence was followed by a trip to the famous {ahem, expensive} DIRBUNO's. If I was to die tomorrow, I hope that heaven is DiBruno's. It has all of my favorite things: cheese, bread, olives, salami's, spreads, dips, crostini's and MORE! UGHHHH..love it. Love it. LOVE IT. If you don't live in the Tri-State area, and haven't had the glorious opportunity to step foot into this small, delicacy filled heaven then you can check out their website,

www.dibruno.com

Shawn says that I get all "cracked out" the second I step food into the shop, and you know what - I'll agree. So many smells and delectable aromas, I don't know where to start. Did I mention that this place is always jam packed too -- which stresses me out a bit, gets me excited and confuses me all the same. One day I want to go during the afternoon, on a weekday, and just sit in there and try every cheese (they are very nice about letting you sample). I spent $70 in a matter of minutes....that was MORE than I had in my %10 Play Money Envelope, damnit. I walked with a Vermont Brie, my tried and true fabulous brand of Parm Reg, some spicy Sopressta, and a pepper encrusted goat cheese. I ran next door to Claudio's (a similar store...less pompous, less expensive, but less glamorous, and purchased a bag of my favorite Rosemary crostini's! They are $2.50 cheaper here than DiBrunos...).

The rest of my day was spent with a huge smile on my face, and an empty wallet.

"A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be oversophisticated. Yet it remains, cheese, milk's leap toward immortality."
Clifton Fadiman

The Belgian Cafe ... MmMm

What a lovely day in the City of Brotherly Love.

Today Shawn had to visit his accountant and in the evening his work was on display at a Temple Alumni Art Exhibit (Opening) - so we opted for a day in the city. While he was going to be busy punching numbers, I had coaxed Susan into entertaining me for the day. She's like family, and she {conveniently} lives on Queen Street in Philly. I only had coffee for breakfast (rare...very rare), and after a ride up that seemed to take forever, Shawn thought it best to stop at Lorenzo's for a slice before I totally melted down. Good call on his part - I just began to get delirious, dizzy and incredibly bitchy {food rules my life for those of you who haven't noticed}.

Lorenzo & Son Pizza, 305 South Street, Philadelphia

For $2.50 I got the biggest and most delicious pizza that I've had in a long time. Perfect crust...it was thin, but still had some umph to it. I hate thick, doughy crusts (think Dominoes delivery...ew). I guess that I can't really be a good judge about the slice though because the hunger I was suffering from had me in a state of delirium. After I inhaled the slice Shawn pawned me off onto Susan: he left for the accountant, and we left for shopping, bopping, and more eating!

Reading Terminal Market : 51 North 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

"Mouth-watering aromas. Produce fresh from the field. Amish specialties. Fresh meats, seafood, and poultry. Unique, hand-made pottery, jewelry and crafts from around the world. The hustle and bustle of a multitude of diverse people. It’s all here in Philadelphia’s historic farmers market, Reading Terminal Market. An exhilarating selection of baked goods, meats, poultry, seafood, produce, flowers, ethnic foods, cookware and eclectic restaurants are peppered throughout the Market."

Susan and I walked a distance to the Reading Terminal {Amish} market, "Fresh & Local, Every Day". At the market Susan and I split a corned beef special on rye {i mean, come on, when in rome....}, as well as splitting a freshly rolled soft pretzel with spicy mustard on top. I also picked up a jar of my favorite snack at the Pickle Vendor...PICKLED GREEN BEANS! They were spicy though. Real spicy. Perhaps too spicy. Also, I read the ingredients and one was "yellow #5" , which really turned me off. Pickled Green Beans are pure, there is no reason for the #5. Oh well, you live and you learn. Anyways, after the market we walked through Chinatown where I loaded up on a few boxes of my favorite, Genmai-Cha (Green Tea w/ Roasted Brown Rice) and I finally found a bottle of plum drinking vinegar! A blog about Asian drinking vinegars will be coming this week, and until then I will just leave you sitting on the edges of your seat!

Wandered home, Shawn met up with us, watched some pretty awful Sci-Fi shows, played with the cats, napped for a few seconds and then packed up and headed off to Shawn's opening. The opening was held at the Icebox Gallery @ the Crane Building. A b.e.a.utiful building. Old and timeless and beautiful...one of those buildings that you stop, stand, and stare at.
The mission behind the Crane Building is:

· Creating a unique community that encourages and supports artistic production by both emerging and established artists.
· Assisting the development and growth of Philadelphia’s creative resources, assets, and potential.
· Creating a unique location for certain creativity-based businesses to thrive alongside the vibrant, Crane Arts community.
· Providing unique space for the visual and performing arts to showcase events on a local, regional, and national scale.

Crane Arts, 1400 N American Street, Philadelphia

Shawn's show was awesome. There were some truly odd "pieces of art" that are just too difficult to describe, so I'll just leave that to you. To read more about the exhibit go here: http://www.temple.edu/tyler/victory/index.html

By this time, I'm obviously ravenous, ready to eat my fist. I suggested a place that I've been before and adored, The Belgian Cafe by the Eastern State Penitentiary {a very cool, somewhat creepy old building - i hear they do a wicked "haunted house tour" around halloween: http://www.easternstate.org/ }.

THE BELGIAN CAFE. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THE BELGIAN CAFE.

They are known for their mussels here, and though I'm sure everything else on the menu is delicious, I would not dare order anything other than their FAN.TAS.TIC mussels. MmMm. Muy good. The mussels come in two sizes: small or large. The small is the perfect amount...I cannot imagine even being able to eat the large pot, even with some help from friends. So for $9.95 you get a "small" {but totally big} bowl of mussels in your choice of sauce {there are several amazingly mindblowing sauces to choose from}. The bowl is served with a good roll, for dipping of course, as well as a basket of their AWARD-WINNING, fresh-cut frites with two dipping sauces: a homemade bourbon mayonnaise and a homemade spicy-sweet-smokey ketchup. So satisfying. That's how I describe this meal, satisfying...every drop, every morsel. I will say though that I was totally disappointed in the frites this evening. My other times dining at the Belgian Cafe they were big and crispy...the fries today seemed, eh, so so. Thinner fries that perhaps sitting in the back for two long. They were still way better than any fries I've had this year, and it didn't stop me from eating the whole basket. SO, for $10 you not only get a delicious meal, but it's also just the right size and the most pleasing atmosphere. It's small and intimate, but not so small that you are sitting on top of eachother and hearing one anothers conversations. It's a happening place, but not so awful that yuppies have taken over and you have to wait hours for a table. Kick ass food, served within 15 minutes of you ordering. And the paintings, *sigh, the paintings. They are beautiful. Organic and graceful. They make me smile. Especially the one by the window that is half woman/half mermaid.

The Belgian Cafe, 21st & Green, Philadelphia

We strolled back to the car through the brisk, cool spring breeze and headed back to the shore.

What a lovely day in the City of Brotherly Love.

Vietnamese, Sunshine, Yelling Children and Hail.

What a day, what a day.

We arrived in Philly and ate some Vietnamese...I had an iced coffee {sweetened condensed milk with fresh vietnamese coffee over ice}, hot tea, Pho {vietnamese soup: its broth, usually some kind of meat, and noodles served with sprouts, lime slices, jalapenos and basil on the side. mmm good}, and a Green Papaya salad with Beef Jerky. Afterwards stopped by DiBruno's for some of their fabulous goat cheese encrusted with whole peppercorns, a good parmesean reggiano block, and some rosemary crustini's. Shawn had some stuff to do for work, so I bopped around the city to shop. Well, I bopped, but I didn't shop. Everything in the stores right now is crap. Crap, EXPENSIVE crap. I went to my favorite stores Anthropologie and H&M, and out of desperation went into Urban Outfitter's and Gap. Everything was poorly made, overly priced, and ugly. Resurgance of the 80's? Um, no thank you. After my failed shopping attempts, I met back up with Shawn and his friend Tim's house. Tim and his wife Liz are badass. Liz is a potter (see the blog that I will post in the next five minutes) and Tim is a professor, architect, builder, intelligent extrodinaire! They have two beautiful, talented, fabulous, funny kids (and that's saying something, because I don't really like kids) Jack Peter and Steele. They live in an eco-friendly building that Tim designed and constructed, and they eat good food and drink good wine. We snacked for a bit, sipped some wine, and Shawn chef'ed it up and made some Red Curry for dinner. At 5pm I walked Maude around the town. We soaked up sunshine, enjoyed the 70 degree weather, and Maude sniffed...not finding any place suitable to relieve herself. By 6pm it got crazy windy, and at 615pm it was hailing. Serious hail. Big hail - turning into a sideways, gusting rain mixed with hail. Interesting..... After all the screaming kids left (some neighborhood children were over...all under 4 years old), we relaxed in their cozy living room and played some music. I didn't know until last night, but Tim is also a kick-ass guitar player. We talked about life and travels and food and music.

Woke up this morning, had coffee with Shawnie, and then he headed to school to teach to youth and I headed home for a doctor's appointment. Yoga'ed it up, ate some mango and drank some tea when I got home, and now I'm about to pack up and head to my parent's house. Pheasant for dinner! MmMm!

I'm going to end on this note...though children and cute, and cuddly...they also come with snot and tears. Though children are clever, they are also coniving. Though it's my dream to have a small army of children one day, that day will not be ANY day soon. So in the meantime, I will just visit Jack Peter and Steele at Liz and Tim's, and Fiona at Jill's. I will hug them, love them, and play with them - and then hand them back.