What a busy weekend! D arrived home around 9p on Friday night and we headed out with Leroy in search of a sidewalk cafe to enjoy an adult beverage. Unfortunately, we couldn't think of anywhere to go, and, given the cold breeze blowing, the sidewalk dining scene was a little scarce. After dragging poor Leroy through a large crowd, of which he was definitely not a fan, we finally gave up and headed to a convenience store a block from our apartment and picked up a pint of Ben & Jerry's to share.
We were up early on Saturday morning and after eating a healthy serving of buttermilk pancakes (recipe later this week), we headed out with Leroy in tow to run a few errands. We began the day down on East Passyunk Ave., where we stopped in at the Urban Jungle gardening store to check out their gardening wares and then walked through the Crafty Balboa crafts fair (where I spotted Jay McCarroll, winner of the first season of Project Runway, selling his wares). We picked up some new food and a new sturdy toy for Leroy (he's managed to destroy his stuffed duck -- now it's more like a disemboweled duck) at Petsmart then headed to Home Depot, where we picked up a bunch of plants (several heirloom and hybrid tomato varieties, string beans, basil, mint, and rosemary) and some seeds to get our container garden going.
After a quick stop for a swirl cone at Checkers, we returned home where D headed out back to set up his garden and I headed downtown to run a few errands. The streets were filled with people -- Saturday was the grande finale of PIFA, and Broad Street was closed to traffic from Chestnut Street to Lombard Street for a Paris-inspired street fair.
{one corner of the garden}
Upon my arrival home, D and I decided to head back out to find somewhere to go for dinner. I wanted to check out the street fair, but the crowds were a bit much for Leroy. So, I walked through the event a bit while D and Leroy paralleled my walk one block away. The big event of the evening was an aerial acrobatic performance set to start at 7:30p. In the meantime, there were music performances, a grassy field set up in the middle of the street where people were picnicking and enjoying the sights, and even a Ferris wheel. Quite the event!
{street fair}
After meeting back up with D and Leroy, we continued on our journey to find somewhere with outdoor seating where we could grab a meal. Given the warm and sunny weather, many other people had the same idea, and most restaurants with outdoor seating were already filled. We finally came upon Mama Palma's Gourmet Pizza, which had several open tables, so we quickly claimed one. D and I shared a gourmet delight (veggie) pizza, which featured a thin crust, fresh tomato sauce, artichoke hearts, asparagus tips, goat cheese, parmesan cheese, and a fresh basil garnish. Pretty delish -- and enjoyably not incredibly filling. (Thin crust FTW!)
{gourmet delight pizza slice}
While dining Leroy was quite the gentleman and for the most part hung out beneath D's chair, slurping on a bowl of water the waitress set down for him.
{Leroy behaving himself}
While eating, D and I strategized what we wanted for breakfast, and I ran into the Thriftway store on the way home to pick up a few necessities. Back home we shared a few more bites of Ben & Jerry's before calling it a night.
Sunday morning was another early start (the dog makes quite a good alarm clock, well, if your aim is to get up early, anyway!) And D set to making breakfast. After dining on scrambled eggs and hashbrowns, we got our stuff together and then headed down to the Headhouse Farmers Market, as today was the market's opening day. We picked up a couple of Market Day canelés, which I had just read about in this month's issue of Philadelphia magazine, a big bunch of asparagus from Culton Organics, apples from 3 Springs Fruit Farm, and a heirloom tomato plant from Happy Cat Organics. After our successful shopping trip, we returned up South Street, stopping at The Bean Cafe for iced coffees and a slice of pumpkin bread. D and I put together a shopping list, and I headed to Whole Foods and Superfresh with our granny cart to load up on some groceries while D took Leroy to the Dog Park behind Superfresh to play. D reported that Leroy started off a bit shy, but after a few minutes, was happily playing and running around with the rest of the dogs (yea!).
Upon our return home, I put away the groceries, then chilled for the rest of the afternoon, catching up on some reading, and making some baking plans. I didn't quite get around to making a batch of black & white cookies, but I did make a batch of strawberry-rhubarb crumb cake (recipe coming later this week). D was in charge of dinner and he made a pizza with homemade dough, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil (plus some leftover bacon on his side of the pie).
We ended the meal with a canelé each -- it was quite delicious, particularly the custardy-vanilla innards. Mmm! May have to get a few more at next week's market!
{mmm, canelé!}
To bed around 11:45p, after spending the evening watching the Phillies game and catching the President's announcemment that Osama had been killed. I had actually gone to bed to read, but heard the baseball announcers make mention of Osama's death after the crowd began chanting "USA! USA!" -- so out of bed and a quick channel change to NBC to get the full news. Yup, quite the action-packed weekend, indeed! I'm so happy that farmers market is in full swing -- and I'm definitely looking forward to harvesting some of our own backyard veggies in a few months.
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