Well, today is the 199th birthday of Charles Dickens, and probably more relevant to my life, exactly one week since my 26th! It's been a fun week of celebrating, for both me and Charlie (Evan and I went to a dramatic reading of some of his works yesterday near
his statue at Clark Park, complete with a birthday cake and singing. It was quite the experience). My birthday festivities were aptly surrounded with food -my friends obviously know me well- and I thought I'd share some pictures! It started out with a trip to
Terrain and lunch at Styers! The food was
ah-may-zing and I could have easily spent my year's salary in the shop.
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| Short rib sandy with fingerlings |
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| Scallops with raisin sauce and bulger wheat |
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| lamb sliders |
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| blt |
The next night, my roommates made me dinner, and this decadent chocolate ganache layered cake. Which I then ate multiple times a day for the rest of the week.
And to top off the birthday celebrations, I got to cheer on the 76ers with my family. The computers shut down before the start of the game, and so they actually hand wrote our tickets. Stay classy, Philly.
I love all things French. The language, the country, but most of all I LOVE the food. And I love how the French love their food. Each meal, snack or drink is meant to be the best. No skimping, no eating just to eat. The idea of a fresh local food movement probably doesn't even translate into French, because why wouldn't you be eating the freshest food already? Why buy produce from anyone other than the farmer down the road? Why eat day old bread when you can eat a fresh loaf baked today? I have wonderful memories of the Cazo bread truck (well, actually it was a van) pulling into town early every morning honking it's horn, it's doors opening to an array of unbelievably fresh (and still warm!) baked goods spread out in the back. And it was just so NORMAL to everyone! I've never tasted a croissant so perfect, it's buttery flakes melting in my mouth.