Last year, I celebrated Christmas with Jeremy and his family in Philadelphia. Not only was this my first time meeting most of his family, but also my first time visiting Philly! I went on the trip with one goal in mind: eat a philly cheesesteak. I also kinda wanted to explore the city and make a good impression on his family.
We spent the first few days at his mom's in Ambler, a suburb of Philadelphia that's about a 30-40 minute drive north of the city center. Jeremy had spent the last week before our trip in Europe for work so he was meeting me in Philly and landed a few hours before I did. He and his mom so graciously picked me up from the airport and we went for a late dinner at Parc near Rittenhouse Square. It was packed with others home for the holidays so we grabbed a drink at the bar while we waited for a table and let me tell you, it was well worth the wait.
If there is duck on a menu, I will order it. Unfortunately for me, they were out of the duck by the time we ordered so I chose the lamb shank instead. It fell right off the bone and was so tender. I would highly recommend it! Even though I have to admit Jeremy's steak did take the cake for best meal of the evening. Seriously, WOW.
The next morning we went on a brisk 3-mile run through downtown Ambler and along the Wissahickon Creek. When we got back to the house I warmed up with some hot tea by the wood stove and some cuddles from Georgia.
We visited Jeremy's brother in Manayunk later that afternoon to check out his new apartment and do some last minute Christmas shopping. We stopped for tacos at La Roca and they were pretty decent, but the chips and guac...10/10 would recommend. Later that night we did the whole fam thing at his uncle's house. It was great! Met a lot of people, ate a lot of cheese, and drank a lot of wine. What's not to enjoy?
The next day was Christmas Day and we pretty much just lounged around in our PJs and ate a ridiculous amount of panettone and home-cooked food all day. It was amazing. We had lox bagels for breakfast and his mom cooked an indulgent feast for dinner - prime rib, Yorkshire puddings, brussels sprouts, cake, pie...you name it, we ate it. Before dinner, we took Georgia for a long walk through the woods. There is not a sweeter dog in the world. I swear I could just stare at her precious face all day!
In an attempt to make up for a small portion of the outrageous calories we consumed the last few days, we went for another early morning 3-mile run in the freezing cold. It really made me appreciate our winters in Florida!
We took the train from Ambler to Philly and met Jeremy's dad and brother at a little Irish pub, Tir Na Nog, to watch the Chelsea game and sip a Guinness. It's unfortunate that Chelsea lost, but the breakfast sandwich and good company made up for it. At least for me, but Jeremy might disagree!
Afterwards, it was time to hit the streets and explore the city! We walked through the winter garden at Dilworth Park, took some cool photos in front of City Hall, ran up the Rocky steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, took a cliche photo at Love Park, and checked out the Observation Deck at One Liberty.
I finally got my cheesesteak from Spataro's in Reading Terminal Market. It was good but I have to admit I favored the Roast Pork Italiano from DiNic's, also inside Reading Terminal Market. No wonder he and his family had raved about it! Juicy roast pork, sharp provolone cheese, and broccoli rabe. We ordered both sandwiches and each ate half. Of course we didn't get a picture until we were almost finished demolishing them but you know how it goes, priorities.
We ended up walking over 8 miles around the city before making our way to his dad's place in Fairmount for dinner. His dad made vegetarian chili and we watched their cats, Skimble and Gus, play fetch with bouncy balls. All in all, it was a pretty great end to our trip.
The next morning, we caught an early flight to Grand Rapids to spend some time with my family for a few days. Check out my Michigan blog - Smitten in the Mitten!
December 2019
Comentarios