Unfrozen -- Spring in Philadelphia

Last weekend, I went to Philadelphia for the NCAA mens hockey tournament, otherwise known as the Frozen Four. I was supposed to go down with my friends Joe and Allison, but unfortunately they had a death in the family and were unable to make it. So, as the official ticket courier, I headed down to meet Joe's grad school friends alone.

The weather was beautiful in Philly and I had a great time seeing a lot of outdoors things. One of the first things I did was stop by Philadelphia's magic gardens, a studio and lot turned into a giant mosaic grotto by the artist.

The outside was covered in tiles for multiple stories.

I liked the grotto feel.

Not just random tiles; there were words, figures, and designs.

At the end of my visit, I tagged onto a tour and got to meet the artist, Isaiah Zagar. I stayed back to ask him a few questions, and at the end he said, "Can I get a hug?" so I said "Sure!" Then I asked if I could get a picture with him. "A selfie?" he asked. Yup, exactly what I had in mind!

The next day, I got to do some historical touristy stuff. We stopped by Independence Hall and although the signs said the tickets were sold out, the Park Ranger came out and gave us some tour tickets for free. It was really cool seeing the place where our Founding Fathers formed our nation.

George Washington sat in that chair at the back

Hard to believe that what happened in this building changed the world.

I also learned something -- Thomas Jefferson did not write the Bill of Rights. I totally thought he did, but he was busy being an ambassador to France at the time. So although he was a big proponent, and gave some ideas to the authors, the true authors were James Madison and George Mason. Oops. I had to correct my history there!

Friday we also went to a baseball game: Phillies vs. Miami. I'm not a big baseball fan, but it was still fun. We started out near the top and finished the game in some empty seats near home plate.

Buy me some peanuts and crackerjack, I don't care if I ever get back...

Blurry because it's a close up. And I had beer. 

Saturday was market day! I started out at the Reading Terminal Market, the oldest continuously operated farmer's market in the U.S.

Flowers are the prettiest, even if food is my favorite

Then I visited Ben Franklin's grave. At one point he wrote his own epitaph, although in the end he decided he didn't want that on the grave itself.

Good old BF certainly had a sense of perspective: "Food for Worms" indeed!

After that, I met up with the rest of the gang at the Italian market, an outdoor market. It was interesting because the northern end of the market was definitely European, but the southern end was more Latino in nature, and there were lots of Mexican restaurants around and you started seeing things like prickly pear pads in the veggie stalls. We also found a butcher with whole, skinned goats hanging from the ceiling! I'll save you the picture out of respect for my squeamish or vegetarian friends.

What is a trip to Philly without a Philly cheesesteak? Everyone else had already eatern theirs, but I needed to get one before I headed home. And it was fantastic! I got provolone, no "Whiz", but I was eager to forgo a little authenticity in favor of taste.

Certainly not a misteak in my opinion!

I also got mushrooms. What? I like mushrooms!

So far I haven't mentioned much of the hockey -- it was really good. The first two games were fantastic; an action packed game between Boston College and Union College, and then a slower game between University of Minnesota and University of North Dakota -- which finished with a surprise goal by U of MN with only 0.6 seconds to go! The Championship was a bit disappointing for U of MN fans (Joe and his classmates), 7 to 4, Union College. But they really outplayed Minnesota and I felt like the best school won.

So, a whirlwind trip that really gave me a nice taste of what Philadelphia is like! Overall, a very positive experience. Philadelphia has a lot of neat neighborhoods, fun things to do, and good restaurants. I call that my kind of town.

Sour Grapes (and Cabbage)

Last weekend, I attended a party on fermentation hosted by the Anchorage Taste Buds club. Because now that I'm an adult, I live life on the wild side. Coincidentally, the prior weekend I had learned about making sauerkraut at my permaculture class.* In fact, I almost didn't attend the fermentation party, because I thought I had already learned everything. What a dumb idea. The party was terrific. Gdaiva (pronounced Godiva, like the chocolate) showed us how she ferments all kinds of vegetables -- not just sauerkraut, but carrots, lemons, olives, you name it.

So what exactly are fermented veggies? Well, essentially, they're pickles. You pack a jar full of of veggies and salt, and depending on the type of veggies, sometimes water, and let it sit on the counter for a week. This encourages natural bacteria to grow, which produce lactic acid, and sour the food (in a good way). The benefit of this method is that it produces good bacteria your body needs -- like the stuff that you think is in yogurt. Unfortunately, shelf stable products are all pasteurized and have lost those beneficial bacteria. Yogurts like Activia actually add those bacteria back in.

We also learned about kefir, which is a bacteria you add to milk to make a yogurt like substance. I didn't try that one because I don't care for yogurt, but I hear there is something called water kefir, which makes a soda like drink. I'm eager to try that. And we learned about kombucha, which is tea fermented from a fungus (mushroom) that also makes a bubbly drink. The sample I had was delicious, just like a carbonated tea! There was enough interest in the drinks alone that I think Gdaiva is going to host another party just for drinks.

My sauerkraut. I actually eat it from the jar, because it is that good. And I also don't want to wash a plate.

So then on Sunday, I tried out the sauerkraut I had started in class a week prior -- and it already had a nice tart flavor! Not quite sour enough for me, but I'll let it sit a couple more days and then put it in the fridge. Who knew sauerkraut was so easy to make?

Now that I know more about it, I'm excited to try fermenting more things -- including pickles! Remember those pickles I made back in the fall? They were delicious, but I used vinegar. Then I purchased fermented pickles in Sydney at a Polish deli, and I was surprised that they tasted exactly like vinegar pickles. If I can get the same taste with beneficial bacteria? Even better! I'll let you know how my experiments turn out.

*So apparently, making sauerkraut is the latest cool thing to do. My friend Erica told me she went to another party where a lady brought her own homemade sauerkraut, and everyone was like "oh, I've been meaning to try that!" I've always been on the edge between "super nerdy" and "early adopter". Except for PBR. I never drank that.

This Little Piggie Went to Sydney

After stuffing myself silly for three weeks, I feel like it’s finally time to do a post about food! Anchorage has a lot of good restaurants, but I still missed the variety that Sydney offers. In true nerd fashion, I’ve created a restaurant log in my travel journal to document all the places I’ve been going.

Of course, I’ve been visiting a lot of my old favorites, in particular some of the old places I used to go to around the office. One of my favorite places is a tiny little hole in the wall that serves Vietnamese sandwiches – also known as Banh Mi. The basic sandwich has three different kinds of pork, pickled carrots and radishes, cilantro, hot peppers, mayonnaise and another kind of sauce that I’m not sure what’s in it. The shop around the corner from my office may not have the most authentic sandwiches (I wouldn’t know any better), but I like them, they’re cheap and they’re quick.

There’s also a lot heavier European influence here than there is in Anchorage. My coworker recommended a Polish deli just around the corner from my office, so I stopped by and picked up the food he suggested. I won’t try to list the Polish names of what I bought, but they were plums in chocolate, sour cherries in chocolate, something called “bird’s milk” that looks like 3 Musketeers, dill pickles in brine and pierogies (dumplings). The dumplings and pickles were delicious. I also enjoyed the plums in chocolate, but the verdict is still out on the cherries. They were a bit too syrupy for me.

Fulfilling my yen for dill pickles

My friends Gerry and Mel also suggested a really interesting place for me to check out – a place in The Rocks (the oldest part of Sydney) that makes hand pulled candy. The candies they make have quite complicated designs in the center. Apparently people order these for weddings and stuff a lot, so the design I saw them making was “Tony [heart] Anna”.

Those big piles of goo are the candy on a heated table

Each part of the candy is designed separately, and then they are all rolled together into one big block.

The red and white striped slabs are "Tony" and "Anna"

This makes a giant candy about 6 inches in diameter, which is then stretched out and chopped up into little bits.

Rolling into a large candy

The process was fascinating. And the candies were tasty!

Tube stretching out into candy "sticks" on the left.

They ordered 8 kg (16 lbs). He must really love her. And she must love his wallet.

I’ve been to a lot of other restaurants and shops since I’ve been here – Spanish tapas, Chinese noodles, Pho, and my favorite Australian brewery – the 4 Pines. Of course I won’t review them all here, but I’m having fun writing them down in my restaurant log to go back and review later.

My Kind of Town

Last weekend, Ethan and I went on a short trip to Chicago so he could go to a writers convention. It had been almost 20 years since the last time I was in the city, so I was pretty excited to get a chance to see it again, as an adult.

The first thing I went to see was the giant jellybean sculpture ("Cloud Gate") in Grant Park.

I love how it reflects the Chicago skyline!

It was even cooler underneath.

The last two times I visited Chicago, I went to the Museum of Science and Industry, so this time I decided to go to the art museum. It was awesome! I even got to see two of my favorite paintings in the whole wide world!

Un Dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte (A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jatte) by Georges Seurat

Nighthawks by Edward Hopper

There was also a Roy Lichtenstein exhibit on display while I was there. I like his art as well and it was really special to get to see it in person. You just can't substitute prints for actually viewing the works up close. I also went to the planetarium, where I saw a cool show on the universe.

Adler Planetarium

Yep, that would be the Windy City!

The view of the Chicago skyline from the planetarium was iconic.










One of my favorite things to do when visiting someplace is sample the local cuisine. First off, I had to have a Chicago-style hotdog.

What?!? How will I survive?

The only "acceptable" ingredients: mustard, onions, tomatoes, pickle relish, and a dill pickle. The dill pickle goes ON the hotdog!

This was still one tasty hotdog, in spite of the lack of ketchup.

Then it was Portino's for an Italian beef sandwich! The juice from the beef soaks into the bread, making it deliciously soggy.

Picture doesn't do it justice. Full of salty, juicy goodness!

We also stopped by the original Billy Goat Tavern, made famous by John Belushi on SNL. I didn't know what to expect, but this is pretty much classic midwest. And the burgers were good and cheap!

That would be an empty glass of beer in the front, with football in the background. There are some things the midwest gets right.

Of course, you can't go to Chicago without sampling some deep dish pizza. Lou Malnetti's was the restaurant we visited. I think from my experience in the past, I might like Giodarno's better, though. The crust wasn't quite as buttery as I like.

Blurry because that wasn't my first beer.

As I mentioned, Ethan was going to a writers convention for speculative fiction. I didn't really do much at the convention because I'm not that interested in speculative fiction (a.k.a. science fiction and fantasy) but I did watch the Masquerade, which is a costume contest. There were some amazing costumes there!

My favorite costume, a steam punk aviatrix. The propellers moved!

Other things that I did but don't have pictures readily available for: I took an architecture boat tour, which was really cool and informative, visited the stained glass museum, and met up with some friends for tapas! It was really great to hang out with Jess and Laura, and the tapas was really good too. As always, there were so many things I could have done but didn't have the chance. But I feel like I got a good taste, both figuratively and literally, of what Chicago has to offer. What a great city!