Author - Grant
Based In – Philadelphia (PA)
Calories Eaten – 5000
Calories Burnt – 5000
Today’s Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157611026793622/
The majority of health advice suggests
moderate exercise coupled with restrained eating habits. We are completely ignoring this by eating incredible amounts but exercising an incredible amount as well…but hopefully it will have the same net outcome. Day 35 is a pretty good example as Kate’s exercise for the day involved a 5 mile run and a 6 mile walk with Molly whilst mine involved a 3 mile run, 10k bike ride and the same 6 mile walk. Had it not been for the 5000 calories and skinful of ale we put down ourselves for the rest of the day we may have actually taken a decent step towards delaying the inevitable cardiac arrest.
Anyway, the plan for today was to get Molly knackered (achieved by the aforementioned 6 mile walk roun
d part of the huge and beautiful Valley Forge) and then head to Cravings Café in Lansdale (about 20 miles north of Philly) to taste test the food at the employer of Gavin, one of my cooking school colleagues. I have to admit to being really excited to see exactly what we (meaning FCI alumni) can be employed to do and it seems that Gav has sorted himself out with somewhere that might not have the Michelin stars of a New York based restaurant, but it does mean that he has a good deal of creative freedom and his main responsibilities go well beyond peeling cherry tomatoes. So the advantage of knowing the chef is that he can tell you what’s good and what will need to be defrosted before it arrives on your plate. Armed with such information, we or
dered the Wild West Chicken Wings (big, plentiful, juicy and tasty) and Tomato & Cheddar Soup (boy that soup was cheesy) for appetizers. Mains were Herbed Panko Crusted Tilapia with Wild Rice, Grilled Asparagus and Salad for Kate and I was recommended/ordered to have Grilled Chicken topped with Chilled Crab Salad with Goat’s Cheese Ravioli all swimming in Tomato, Cheese & Bacon sauce (a busy plate, no?). I had to ask Gav if they we were being treated to mate’s portions as every dish was huge but apparently these are the normal portions – that explains the extra-wide doors prevalent in Lansdale. Thanks to Gav for a great meal and the subsequent tour of the kitchen – however, no thanks to Gav for ensuring that we subsequently had a very lethargic afternoon.
I’m not ashamed to say that we spent the majority of the afternoon dozing rather than sightseeing but, as Kate rather eloquently pointed out, “seeing as I don’t actually know what the Liberty Bell is or what it represents, why do I have to see it?”. The reverse side of the argument would be that we could have seen it and learnt about it but we still have tomorrow for sightseeing and nothing comes between two full people and their napping.
That night we hit South Street which is the epicentre of bars in P
hilly and luckily had a super-friendly cab driver who was one of the jolliest men alive (possibly because he nearly died 4 months earlier when his appendix burst) who recommended a few bars for us to crawl. Our crawl, however, took on a familiar format which means that we found a bar that we liked (O’Neals) with some form of entertainment (tonight there was a pub quiz and there were Trivial Pursuit question cards lying about on the bar…perfect for the couple who have clearly run out of conversation), a food menu (we tried pierogies – a cross between a pot-sticker, dumpling and ravioli), decent beer and comfy stools…and stayed there for the rest of the night. Happy days.
We’d better bash out some Philly sightseeing tomorrow before heading to Baltimore. It’s due to be 40 degrees warmer and peeing down with rain though.
Calories Eaten – 5000
Calories Burnt – 5000
Today’s Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157611026793622/
The majority of health advice suggests
moderate exercise coupled with restrained eating habits. We are completely ignoring this by eating incredible amounts but exercising an incredible amount as well…but hopefully it will have the same net outcome. Day 35 is a pretty good example as Kate’s exercise for the day involved a 5 mile run and a 6 mile walk with Molly whilst mine involved a 3 mile run, 10k bike ride and the same 6 mile walk. Had it not been for the 5000 calories and skinful of ale we put down ourselves for the rest of the day we may have actually taken a decent step towards delaying the inevitable cardiac arrest.Anyway, the plan for today was to get Molly knackered (achieved by the aforementioned 6 mile walk roun
d part of the huge and beautiful Valley Forge) and then head to Cravings Café in Lansdale (about 20 miles north of Philly) to taste test the food at the employer of Gavin, one of my cooking school colleagues. I have to admit to being really excited to see exactly what we (meaning FCI alumni) can be employed to do and it seems that Gav has sorted himself out with somewhere that might not have the Michelin stars of a New York based restaurant, but it does mean that he has a good deal of creative freedom and his main responsibilities go well beyond peeling cherry tomatoes. So the advantage of knowing the chef is that he can tell you what’s good and what will need to be defrosted before it arrives on your plate. Armed with such information, we or
dered the Wild West Chicken Wings (big, plentiful, juicy and tasty) and Tomato & Cheddar Soup (boy that soup was cheesy) for appetizers. Mains were Herbed Panko Crusted Tilapia with Wild Rice, Grilled Asparagus and Salad for Kate and I was recommended/ordered to have Grilled Chicken topped with Chilled Crab Salad with Goat’s Cheese Ravioli all swimming in Tomato, Cheese & Bacon sauce (a busy plate, no?). I had to ask Gav if they we were being treated to mate’s portions as every dish was huge but apparently these are the normal portions – that explains the extra-wide doors prevalent in Lansdale. Thanks to Gav for a great meal and the subsequent tour of the kitchen – however, no thanks to Gav for ensuring that we subsequently had a very lethargic afternoon.I’m not ashamed to say that we spent the majority of the afternoon dozing rather than sightseeing but, as Kate rather eloquently pointed out, “seeing as I don’t actually know what the Liberty Bell is or what it represents, why do I have to see it?”. The reverse side of the argument would be that we could have seen it and learnt about it but we still have tomorrow for sightseeing and nothing comes between two full people and their napping.
That night we hit South Street which is the epicentre of bars in P
hilly and luckily had a super-friendly cab driver who was one of the jolliest men alive (possibly because he nearly died 4 months earlier when his appendix burst) who recommended a few bars for us to crawl. Our crawl, however, took on a familiar format which means that we found a bar that we liked (O’Neals) with some form of entertainment (tonight there was a pub quiz and there were Trivial Pursuit question cards lying about on the bar…perfect for the couple who have clearly run out of conversation), a food menu (we tried pierogies – a cross between a pot-sticker, dumpling and ravioli), decent beer and comfy stools…and stayed there for the rest of the night. Happy days.We’d better bash out some Philly sightseeing tomorrow before heading to Baltimore. It’s due to be 40 degrees warmer and peeing down with rain though.
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