Planting the Garden

Here's what we started with in the garden...mainly some sort of flowering tuber. We pulled them up and enriched the soil with a few bags of good dirt.


Elizabeth is showing off her green thumb inadvertently here. We've got pea plants running up the wall, with zucchinis in front of that...the first flowers are already showing.

To the right of that is a row of sweet basil and some arugula in front of that.

Elizabeth ran a row of flowers in front of the veggies...a mix of sweet william, coxcomb/towers, dahlia and a few coleus.



Here's the thyme planter...a cool mix of regular thyme, orange thyme and creeping thyme.



Herb Row...we've got a mix of tomato and herb plants here...Elizabeth's cleaning up after the plantings as well. We've got some cilantro, basil, fennel, basil, rosemary, oregano and one I'm watching closely...winter savory...we used some with a rack of lamb dish last weekend and it reminded me of a cross between sage and oregano...less oily pungent than sage and a bit more aromatically peppery like oregano.

Stay tuned for the yields...zucchini flowers will probably be first up on the menu.

Flea Market Finds

We were up at the flea market by the old Eastern State Penitentiary a few weeks back and I'm just now getting around to posting some of the more interesting finds.




This one just cracks me up...it's a shredder...it's a chopper...it's a slicer...it's La Machine. I wonder when this was an 'incredible new food prep system'.

A quick googling on the web reveals that this Miami-Vice era machine does not hail from France, but rather Virginia Beach, VA and could be bought at JC Pennys.

Highlight of La Machine history was the 1986 recall for over a million of these things for multiple cases of hand lacerations and finger amputations...mon dieu!




Here's what we really were on the hunt for...Bakelite bangles for Elizabeth. She spotted a little old lady sitting on a treasure trove here.



This is a close-up of a different display case of carved Bakelite bangles....what you're looking at would probably fetch between $10K - $15K. The lady who owned it makes appearances around town at local festivals and flea markets...her name escapes me, but she was very helpful and friendly.

Walking back down Green St. we saw the remnants of some pink blossoms scattered about like snow...thought we'd get one last look at the blooms.

Spring Weekend

Park in front of Elizabeth's office


Long walk to the Art Gallery



Reverse shot from the top of the museum stairs...the "Rocky POV"


Iron fence detail surrounding the Spring Gardens

Spring is Here! What have we been up to?

Even the Eagle at Macy's is getting into the season.



Spring arrived in Philly this month. Here's a few pics from around the neighborhood.



So what have we been doing? Actually, most of our blogging has been over at CE Phood. Hop over there for a quick peek of what's been coming out of our kitchen and some of the kitchen's we've been visiting.

Snowy Day in Philly

Snowy Night

Christmas Dinner: Ricotta Gnocchi with Butter & Olives

Ahh...pillowy soft ricotta gnocchi. Elizabeth has always done a great potato gnocchi and got a grip on the techniques you need to keep them light, fluffy bites of pasta instead of small, gummy bullets of dough, but when she tried the ricotta gnocchi at Mercado last month, she knew that potatoes are second fiddle to the wonder that is cheese.

We were visiting my family in D.C. and wanted to share with them our new-found primo pasta. I waited in line nearly 40 minutes the day before Christams at Claudio's just to make sure we'd have the freshest ricotta to use for this dish...after all, it's all about the cheese.



Since we were going to do Ricotta Gnocchi with Olives & Browned Butter, I splurged and bought some Italian butter as well. It ended up making a slight positive difference...more on that later

The recipe itself is simple and fun to make. But getting the right dough consistency was crucial and you cant' do a straight potato-to-ricotta swap. After perusing the internet for consensus on how to get a light dough that won't break apart we came to the conclusion that:

• ratios vary because of the moisture content of the ricotta...start with a firm ricotta (Claudio's FRESH ricotta from the case does it for me) or drain the store-bought stuff over a strainer for at least several hours
• alot of people load up the dough with extras to overcome runny cheese or to avoid excessive flour...a favorite is to use finely grated Parmesan, some potato or eggs.

We decided to keep it simple and only use ricotta & flour...no matter what, you season the ricotta (salt, pepper...some people use nutmeg).



Elizabeth dumped out 1 cup of flour then slowly added it, 1/4 cup at a time, to 2 lbs of Ricotta...I don't think she used all the flour, but I could be wrong. The main thing to remember here is that you get the dough firm enough to be rolled out like a 'snake' or a pretzel...Elizabeth & Taylor played with the dough until it got to that stage, then got to work.

It was great watching Elizabeth and our niece Taylor mixing the ricotta & flour together, then rolling the dough out and cutting it.

Drop your little pillows in a pot of GENTLY boiling water, then pull them after they've floated to the top and bobbed about for a minute. I offered to be the lifeguard and taste them to make sure they were ready to get out of the pool.




So I bought some 'Parmesan Reggiano' butter from Claudio's and sauteed the gnocchi in it as they came out of the boil. The butter added a little more flavor than your average Land O'Lakes...it didn't seem as cloying...more subtle. Plus, it didn't foam nearly half as much, so I guess it has less solid fats in it, which was nice because I didn't have to worry about scorching it.




I apologize for the blurry photo here, but we were plating for a party of 9 and I rushed it...still you can make out the snowfall of Parmesan, the glistening butter-coating and meaty slivers of Cerignola olives all resting on fluffy pasta pillows.



After the pasta course, we served a side of Broccolini & Plucked Brussel's Sprouts, roasted in garlicky olive-oil.



Along with the roasted greens went a heavy dose of veal sausages I picked up from Martin's Meats in Reading Terminal Market.

We had started the meal with a Seared Scallop, Arugula & Clementine Salad...the scallops were bought from Johnny Yi's in RTM as well...and ended it with a Strawberry Panna Cotta.

That's the basic run-down of our "All-Philly Ingredients" dinner that we cooked for the family in D.C....all of which was good...but the gnocchi were my hands-down favorite.

Brother-in-law Scallops

The Thai have a dish called son-in-law eggs in which an egg is boiled then deep-fried...recipe search begins here...the story goes that this was the only meal that a young suitor knew how to make when he cooked to impress the family of his prospective bride.

We seem to have developed a dish that our brother-in-law loves to drool over, judging by his comments on our blog...the seared scallop.



We cooked a Seared Scallop & Arugula, Clementine Salad over Christmas for the family and we couldn't help but tease him a bit. We splurged & bought some dry packed U-10's from our source in Reading Terminal Market, Johnny Yi.

This one's for you Chris!

If a blogger blogs in in the woods...

Hooray! We finally made were made mention on the foodie scene with a few nods on one of the definitive Philadelphia food blogs, Foobooz

December-
Is this the economy? CE Phood is writing up Under the C at the Comcast Center food court. Best of all, 50% off prepared foods at the end of the day. [CE Phood]

January-
Don’t read CE Phood’s roundup of dinner at Apamate on an empty stomach. Candied sausage, oxtail, cheese and pepper on a plantain, Iberico ham thinly shaved & sweetened figs. It goes on and on. Luckily we’ve got Spanish wine in the rack. [CE Phood]

It’s good to hear good things about the latest items coming out of the kitchen at South Philadelphia Taproom. [CE Phood]

Thanks Foobooz!

Ok, so we were credited with spotting a deal...no big deal...and we're glad that we could share some great in-town eats. Nice to know that people are actually reading the blog.

Snowfall in Philly

Here's the mustang wearing her first coat of snow...time to get a car cover

Winter Lights

Here's a few shots of the last holiday lights around Headhouse Row...

Prosciutto Ham & Hirtenkase Cheese Pastry

Elizabeth saw this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa and changed up the ingredients a bit.

Here's the link to the original...


We bought some prosciutto and a German cheese called Hirtenkase to replace the ham & Gruyere. The Hirtenkase is a super-strong cheese, like an Emmentaler or strong Swiss cheese with the crunch of a Parmesan. Elizabeth left out the mustard because the cheese was so strong and had that bit of zestyness that Dijon would've brought.

This came out of the oven golden brown and delicious...we sliced it up into pieces to have with some wine, but saved some an reheated it for breakfast.

Christmas in Philadelphia: Christmas Village @ City Hall

Last weekend we noticed that a small village of stalls had set up shop around City Hall near the City Hall Christmas Tree.
During the daytime it's a little low-key, but at night it comes to life.


They call it Christmas Village and it's filled with food vendors, holiday gifts & ornament shops and a small stage.
Here was one of the Christmas-ware vendors...a Russian nested doll shop.