Firsts

Back to Reading Terminal today with the full group (Bone Marrow, Captain America and T-Bone). We decided to try Mexican Food at the 12th Street Cantina. We all had very high expectations. I was thinking that it would be very much like Beck's Cajun in taste, quality and experience. Unfortunately this was not the case. We have had other experiences were one of us has been disappointed, but others have had good meals but not this time.

T-Bone was warned by Captain America that the Taco meal might be small, but he bravely ordered it anyway. He got one Taco, not much of a meal. Maybe two Tacos make a meal, 3 would be a bonus. One better be the best Taco ever. It was "just a Taco". Bone Marrow went with Pork Burrito, which started good but ended average. Captain America and I went for the chicken and black bean burrito. We were thrilled with the weight and knew that we would be full. Unfortunately it was more black bean than chicken. Overall the food was 2*. They did score a 1/2 * for on site seating, good sauces and great jalepenos.

Dinner came round. We decided to order out and I got a fantastic Buffalo Chicken Cheesesteak. It had tomato and lettuce on it which was a surprise but really added to the taste. As a side note this is as close as I get to eating a salad. With it I sampled a Winter Ale from Blue Point Brewing Company (Blue Point Brewing). Although I preferred the previous two I tried, this was still pretty good. It was a well balanced amber ale that wasn't too heavy but had plenty of taste.

Wegman's and Beer

There are many strange laws in this fine country and one of them is the purchase of beer in Pennsylvania but over the last couple of years it has become a bit easier. One of those changes is selling beer at Wegman's grocery store. Of course it isn't perfect and you can only purchase 16 12 oz beers. Apparently it dates back to when beer came in 16 oz bottles and therefore you could get 2 six packs.

Anyway we were in Wegman's on Saturday afternoon and I slipped away from the family to browse the beer section. I would describe myself as a green bottle beer drinker. I generally like lagers and pilsener style beers and if you look closely they come in green bottles but I like to try different beers too. As we are entering the holiday season I decided to purchase a 6 pack of winter holiday beers. The first one I tried was a Dundee Festive Ale. The website describes it as a hearty and full bodied ale. (Dundee Festive Ale) It was good and worth the try.

The next one I tried was a Brooklyn Brewery Winter Ale (Brooklyn Brewery). Again I was surprised how much I liked it. It wasn't too heavy and very drinkable.

2 for 2 isn't bad. I'll knock the others off this week. I think I'll organize a beer exchange for Christmas. No better way to try a lot of different beers for a fraction of the cost.

Thanksgiving

We slept late, and as we got ready to play football it started to snow. The boys were very excited to play football in the snow (as was I), but it soon turned to rain but decided we would go out anyway. We arrived at the field with no other families in sight. After a phone call and a couple of minutes our numbers doubled. We started to play volleyball, which was surprising fun in the rain and cleats. Two more families arrived and football beckoned. We had players from 9 years old to 50, and ended up with only a few tears and no injuries. Best of all I can even walk today.

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner. Fantastic food and got to try some wines I had wanted to try for a while. We opened a bottle of Wirra Wirra Shiraz Viognier Catapult 2006. It was really good and was only $17.99 from the state store. Also had a Hardy's Botrytis Semillon which I think was only $9.99 and was great too. Shiraz and a sweet dessert wine are probably my favorites. Well you could throw in a good Tawny Port and I would be a happy man.

Thanksgiving Prep

T-Bone, Bone Marrow and I headed to Reading Terminal Market for some Thanksgiving Preparation. After some discussion we decided that Bassets Original Turkey should be the destination for lunch. We were are suitably impressed with the offerings. Bone Marrow raved about the Turkey Platter with Mac & Cheese, T-Bone went for the Turkey Club, and I had the Turkey Cheese Steak. The turkey was moist, the bread good (after all it is all about the bread). A score of 4 asterisks was awarded.

We then went done to Beiler's Bakery. As of this morning the 3 apple fritters, and 6 donuts disappeared to a chorus of cheers from the family. This place was packed too. Pies were flying off the shelves, and everybody was in a holiday mood.

Happy Thanksgiving.

What is a Philadelphian?

I had a busy couple of evenings that I thought was very Philadelphia. Sunday night was spent at the Eagles v Giants  game which had the good guys winning and taking first place in the division. Not sure which was the best part, the win, or ShEli's fumble to give us the chance to win.

Last night was spent at the Flyer's game which they also won. Today had a great Cheesesteak at Reading Terminal and then off to the Union League for a function. All very Philadelphia, but not according to some.

This morning I was talking to one of my boys about the last two nights. He asked what I had eaten at the Flyers. I said a Hamburger. What else he asked? I said ice cream. That still wasn't enough information. Ok I had beer too. I thought here comes the lecture, but no, he said what else. Nothing else. He said really? Yep really, why? You didn't have crab fries? You are not a Philadelphian.

For those that don't know Chickie's and Pete's Crab Fries are good, really good. Try them.

How did it start?

We had been going to Reading Terminal Market consistently for a few years, but we always went to the Rib Stand for lunch. Don't get me wrong, the reason we kept going back was that the Rib Stand is excellent. The Boneless Rib sandwich, cheese, hot sauce (not really hot), and two sides. I always go double mac & cheese, but potato wedges and green beans are available. If you can finish the you are well satisfied.

But one day, Bone Marrow observed that there may be other places within the market that may be worth a try. So we set ourselves a challenge, to eat at all the restaurants.

We walked around the market and determined which places we could eat lunch and which places were really just butchers, poultry, seafood, and vegetables. We were looking for prepared food and boy did we find it. Fifty something places to try. At the moment we are about half way through, and we have tried the full range. We have 3 five asterisks (star, a story for another time) places, one half asterisk, and many in between. We have had the surprisingly good, the disappointing and the ones that didn't live up to their reputation.

We started at the end of June and I always had it in my mind that we would finish it by the end of the year. After only completing a couple in June, none in July and only a few in August the task looked impossible. We got back on track in September and really picked it up in October and November, and that is where we are now.

At one stage I was so focused on completely the task that the end became more important than the experience. In a moment of true clarity T-Bone reminded us that by rushing and cutting corners we were not doing the challenge justice. We took a step back and decided that a more realistic time frame was to finish by Wing Bowl. Which means the Friday before SuperBowl. Wing Bowl is another post all together but is a great day enjoyed by many. I even offered T-Bone a new nick name as Yoda, but he refused. It is a good lesson that a brief moment of being lucid doesn't make one Yoda.

Now that you have the background we will visit many of the establishments and our comments over the coming posts.

Journal or Diary

Is a blog a journal or a diary? This was the question that was posed to me. I suppose it depends who is writing it. If I have to choose it is a journal. Typical male answer. Like Greg says in Diary of a Wimpy kid:


"it's NOT a diary, it's a journal!" Greg insists, preferring the less-sissyfied designation


Don't forget to vote for the "This Year in Baseball Awards". Vote Phillies, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Carlos Ruiz. You need to check out Mark Buehrle's play as well in must see play.

This Year in Baseball

Comment of the Day

After the best players were stripped from Captain America's football team, ManU (who has a pretty good team) was asked why he didn't want any players. Straight faced he said, "When you own a candy store, why would you want a Tootsie Roll?" He really needs to be brought down to size.

As a rookie he was only invited into the league to play the role of patsy. I'm very disappointed that he couldn't even do that. I'm not sure that he will be invited back next year.

Big Sports Day

Eagles win Monday Night Football and are tied for the NFC East lead. Roy Halliday wins his second Cy Young Award, and Villanova Basketball is looking good. However the big news is the Fantasy Football Fire Sale that occurred this morning.

Captain America decided that his chances of making the playoffs where next to impossible and as such posted the following on the league website:

Captain America, GM of the SSBs, announced the liquidation of his team after a very difficult and disappointing season. 

"We knew it was a rebuilding year for us, but we didn't expect this." 

The team was riddled with injuries to its top draft picks throughout the season and is currently ranked # 1 by CBS Sports in terms of schedule difficulty. When asked to comment on some of ups and downs of the season Captain America commented, "The loss to Johnny in the Toiled Bowl really killed any momentum we had this season. The highlight for us was pulling off the only blockbuster lopsided deal with Minuteman and cutting Commissioner Cast Iron out Gekko style. I have nothing but great respect for the commish, but that felt great." 

SSBs will be taking calls and emails promptly at 9:00 ET Tuesday morning for any offers (monetary or food/beverage) in exchange for any players on their current roster. 


Of course I had to take advantage of this and snagged the top Tight End and Kicker, and an upgraded WR. T-Bone, Puddles, Johnny and Steel all took advantage of the sale, taking QBs, Running Backs, TEs and WR.

By the end of the day Captain America posted the following:

Team owners/GMs T-Bone and Cast Iron were camped outside of fellow GM Captain America's office at 5AM this morning to take part in the fire sale. There was a flurry of activity and quick negotiations once the bell sounded at 9AM. By 9:47AM the SSBs most valued assets were sold off to other owners in the league through a frenzy of discussions, emails, texts, and IM's: 

Captain America commmented, "It was an orderly wind-down process and I feel that each owner/GM who contacted our organization today felt satisfied with their new team additions. There was plenty of wealth to spread around just in time for the holiday season." 

Captain America continued by stating that the team has already emerged from bankruptcy and will continue to field a team for the remaining three games of the season. Granted it will be in a much reduced capactity. 

Captain America finished the press conference by stating, "We will continue to actively monitor the team and set lineups so that we may look to add at least 1 more win to our already pathetic season. All that play the Shoe Shine Boys will still have to face a an acitve but crappy team." 

In a related story, rumors are circulating that Minuteman's Team may soon be seized by league officials for re-distirbution to league owners due to lack of participation. Another possible liquidation may be on the horizon sooner than anyone thinks. 


After all this what did Captain America get? A 12 pack of Tecate, a dozen Doughnuts, a box of cookies, and a steak sandwich. Of courses Puddles didn't offer anything and the trade will be reversed unless he steps up and compensates Captain America.

Better news I get to play Captain America's stripped team this week and currently favored by about double the points. Knowing how these things have gone before I'm bound to go down by double digits.

Monday Night Football

Wow. 28 points in the first quarter. Largest road team lead in the first quarter in NFL history. McNabb signs a huge extension and then does nothing to help his team (hardly surprising). I don't think he will have to worry about a 2 minute drill tonight.

Bone Marrow is a little nervous with DeSean's long touchdown, and I'm sure that now that Maclin scores he is even more nervous. He is playing Puddles who has both DeSean and Maclin as his WR. He was 130 points up at kickoff and now only 90. Still enough to win.

Captain America losses to ManU. He puts up 200 points beating 6 other teams and still can't buy a win. I beat T-Bone in a very low score and pathetic affair. It looks like Minuteman may have woken up this week to beat the league leader Steel. It will all depend if the Eagles can keep a lid on the Redskins scoring, and Cooley not doing anything for Steel. Johnny should easily beat Coach. Coach starts McNabb so a beating is what he deserves.

All up a good night so far.

E-A-G-L-E-S

Fantasy Football

I'm in two fantasy football leagues, but I'll only talk about one today. This is its sixth year for this league and has ten teams with 8 of us having played together for a number of years. It is a lot of fun and only played for bragging rights.

This week I'm playing T-Bone who is leading the league despite having an average team that just manages to win by playing the teams that aren't performing as well that week. That compares to Captain America (Green T) who has a decent team but manages to play the better performing team each week. Captain America is unlikely to make the playoffs, which is too bad as he won out fantasy baseball by riding a hot second half team. He again is outscoring most of the league and unlikely to win the week. Anyway with a bit of luck I should hang on to win with two good Steelers going to night vs the Steelers Defense. Unfortunately in our league a defense can put up big points. Last week the team I was playing (Puddles) put up 50 points playing the Packers D. It is not often that I want the Cowgirls to score points, but they are so pathetic this year they can't do anything. Of course they are scoring 33 points this week, but against the Giants will give the Eagles a chance to lead the division.

The other 5 players are The Coach, Steel, ManU, Johnny and Minuteman. ManU and Johnny are both Rookies in our league, Coach is a founding member, Steel is always competitive, and Minuteman although having played for a few years, generally forgets to play about half the games, and finishes last. Not this year though that will be Captain America.

Let the games begin

I have been thinking about writing a blog for a little while and after some encouragement from a few friends it begins. What will be written will be anybody's guess. Mostly observations and experiences about food, sports, travel and people.

The current experience is eating my way around Reading Terminal Market (Reading Terminal Market). Reading Terminal is a farmers market inside the old Reading Railway Building in Philadelphia. There are 53 eating establishments, that we consider that we need to try. Who's we? I'm fortunate to be joined on this journey by three friends - Green Tee (also know as Captain America), T- Bone, and Bone  Marrow. We are about half way through and eaten at the very good, The Rib Stand, Millers Twist and Beck's Cajun, all 5 star in our opinion, to the average, to the very bad.

Now that this is up and running we will revisit some of the ones we have completed, and comment on the new ones we try.

Anyway enjoy the ride. Comments are welcome.