One my goals after coming abroad was to take the adventurous spirit I gained home with me to Philadelphia. So my friend Molly, who studied abroad in Perugia, Italy, and I decided that every Saturday we would explore a different neighborhood in Philly; eating in a local restaurant, buying weird and yummy ingredients to cook dinner with later on, and stopping into random shops we pass by, orienting ourselves to the city in the process.
Philly is such a cool city, and as cozy as Villanova's campus is, simply BEING in a city-people watching, window shopping, eating too much- is so much fun.
We started the tradition last weekend, with a trip the Italian neighborhood on South 9th street right near the famous Philly cheese steak shops Pat's and Geno's. Its definitely in an out of the way area, but the shops sell the most delicious Italian ingredients and there are some great family run restaurants.
Molly and Tricia exploring the neighborhood.
An ad hanging in the sandwich shop we went to. I was too full to get anything but Molly and my roommate Bridget got a sandwich with mozzarella, prosciutto, egg plant, red peppers, and garlic. Heaven.
The best cannoli in the world.
A vintage books and records store (called Molly's Books and Records) that we took some serious advantage of.
The Italian neighborhood also sells fresh (and super cheap) vegetables on street stands, fresh italian meats and cheese in authentic Italian delis, and as I said, has some incredible restaurants. I did my grocery shopping for the week (LOVE not having a meal plan) and came home and made some delicious prosciutto, provolone, and spinach paninis on Italian bread. Molly bought sweet potato gnocchi and cooked it with a cream sauce, with figs wrapped in prosciutto on the side.
This weekend started off unfortunately... but I woke up this morning to snow outside my window and refused to let the events of Friday night ruin my weekend.
So after coffee and an omelet made with the portobello mushrooms I purchased on our previous weekend, with the above for my view, Molly and I were off to Chinatown!
We parked far away so that we'd be able to walk around the city to get to Chinatown. The town hall always surprises me when I walk around the corner. Its such a beautiful piece of architecture.
I absolutely love that arc.
This was the street we found the restaurant we went to. The red lanterns strung across the street every half block look incredible. I wish I had the photography skills to capture it.
Here's Molly in front of the restaurant we found for lunch. The one Molly had looked up was closed, but across the street we found a noodle restaurant called Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House. The menu was in both English and Chinese, and its so popular that people share tables with whoever walks in. We shared a table with a small family and a couple, both of whom ordered the beef tendon, which looked phenomenal. Two other items on the menu were marinated intestine and spicy pig ears. Molly and I weren't that adventurous (maybe next time) but I ordered roasted duck noodle soup and Molly got the same, but with egg and vegetable instead of duck. All the noodles are homemade (as the name of the restaurant suggests).
I cannot express to you how delicious this was. Nor does the picture do justice to the immensity of that bowl. I couldn't even finish half of it. The best part is that none of the items on the menu are more expensive than 6 dollars. You can get a huge plate noodles in peanut sauce for $3!! They serve delicious tea in those little glasses to every customer, and the combination of the two was a perfect meal on a cold and snowy day. So happy we stumbled upon this gem.
Over lunch Molly and I decided that we were not done blogging even though we're back to our normal lives. Even if no one reads these, we get so much out of writing about our experiences.
After lunch, we wandered around Chinatown, stopping in grocery stores, bakeries, and craft shops.
Still wondering what this fruit/vegetable is....
This one Chinese arts and crafts shop had the most beautiful china on sale for nothing. They also had ninja suits on sale, in case you're missing yours.
So no trip downtown would be complete without a stop at Reading Terminal market, where Moll and I picked up ingredients for dinner (she taught me how to honey glaze brussel sprouts, yem). We also stopped at 4th Street Cookies and got oatmeal cookies, straight out of the oven.
On our way back to the car we walked through the town hall, and there was one solitary flutist playing. It was empty except for him, and it was so beautiful.
After stopping for some shopping, we drove home blasting exclusively country music, which may have been my favorite part of the day. Red Rag Top has been on repeat ever since I got home.
We're going to pretend we're abroad every Saturday, and we decided we want to bring someone we don't know really well each time, because exploring is such a fun way to get to know people. So if you're somehow reading this and like the activities listed above...let us know and come with us!! Later this semester we want to go see the Van Gogh exhibit at the art museum, a Moroccan restaurant called Marrakesh, to South Street, and to a funky vintage clothing shop neighborhood that we discovered early sophomore year. When the weather gets nice, we're also going to drive out to a park and go for a day long hike so I can relive my Cape Town hiking experiences. I'm so so excited for our Saturday adventures... Oh and Molly's going to post about today, and her blog is a lot cooler than mine, so check it out here.
