Just Another Monday

I wish I had a really cool Monday update, but the day was spent mostly at doctor's office. I do what I can while I am home.

I was able to meet up with my parent's lunch, at the restaurant right next door to my dad's office.




Lunch was quick, then we swung by my dad's office so I could do some work, aka print out my plane ticket.



Then it was on to the next doctor's appointment, where I think I found a new pair of glasses.

Later in the day I was able to meet up with my last friend still living in Lubbock, Simon. Unfortunately he won't be staying in Lubbock for long, which means next time I will probably be friendless.



Sorry vegans, but Simon asked that I showcase his bacon cheddar fries on the blog, and since he was kind enough to meet me for a drink, I obliged.



We met up at Skooners, a local bar, where I spent many, many Friday's (and Saturday's) in college. The catch? Giant schooners of beer. You can't go wrong (especially for $1.75).





After Skooners, I swung by to see my friend Allison. RANDOMLY, Allison was in town visiting family. Her and her husband live in Seattle, and they had a kid not too long ago...about 8 months. She is my first friend with a kid, and it's freakin' awesome.
Allison and I met in high school, and we shared a love of all thing German. She is really awesome, and one of the smartest people I know. A few years ago she was living in Germany with her husband Tim, and my mom and I just happened to be hanging out in Europe for a few weeks so we got to hang out a lot. I think that's when our friendship really solidified.
Anyways, I finally got to meet her and Finn, who is so lucky to have Tim and Allison as parent's.



I spent the rest of the evening at home, eating dinner, packing, and teaching my parent's how to foam roll. My dad is hoping to run a half marathon with me later this year and I am trying to keep him injury free.

And at this moment I am flying back to Philly! I can't wait to see Eric and the cats!

Philly Beer Week 2010.

So with my parents being in town last weekend we only did a little beer week action. We sampled some of my local hometown beer, Victory Brewing Co. at El Camino



We then stopped the beer garden at Standard Tap in search for Victory's new beer, Summer Love Ale. Lauren had seen this and was itching at the bit to try the newly crafted beer. Victory teamed up with, With Love Philadelphia XOXO to debut this ale at Philadelphia's beer week. Anyways we heard this was going to be one of the places it would debut and it would, but not quite yet. After having a beer or two and hanging out in the park we headed home.



Tuesday night we headed back to Standard Tap where Victory took over 20+ taps.



We tried a bunch of good beers and were able to drink the new Summer Love Ale. To say the least we were disappointed. I think we were all expecting something different than it was but the bland semi-hoppy beer was nothing worth trying again.



Luckily everything else we had on tap was delish.




We didn't do too much during the week since we both wake up 5-5:45 every morning. Since Lauren had a half Friday I left work a bit early and we got to work (as in drinking work). 1st stop was to a beer tasting of Sierra Nevada at the Foodery. We then stopped by Standard Tap because I thought there was a Dogfish Head event but the time posted online was incorrect so we strolled over to Cantina for their happy hour.

Next on the agenda was meeting the head brewer from Unibroue, Jerry Vietz at Belgium Cafe. We tasted some samples and listened to him explain the story behind some of the beers/names.

We then had a seat and samples some of their finest work, La Terrible, a dark, abbey-style Belgian ale. We ordered one each.



I was especially excited for this since I haven't had it in a bottle in a while, let alone on draft ever. It was quite the treat.



I then had the Unibroue Chambly Noire.



And Lauren had Petrus Oak-Aged Pale. Shes really into sour beers and this did not disappoint. Lots of oak, vanilla, citrus, and sourness to keep you occupied throughout.



At this point we had a few beer beers under our belt and weren't sure if we could make it until 8pm when Nogne 0's Kjetil Jikiun was making his way to the bar.



Luckily we did and they opened the taps to two Nogne 0 beers they had on tap.



We tried both the Nogne 0 #100 and the Sunturnbrew. We enjoyed both but the Sunturnbrew was amazing... an 11% smoked barleywine, yes please! One of my favorite beers I sampled over the weekend and will definitely pick up a bottle if I can find it again.



On Saturday Lauren went to the gym and instead of watching the US vs. England World Cup game by myself, (and since I don't have any friends) I walked over to the Abbaye for "The Belgium Bomb," as they were calling it. They invited the brewers from St Bernardus, Abbey Du Val Dieu & Abbey de Rocs and were pouring their best. I forgot the camera but was able to sample a few (aka four) of their finest on tap. My favorite was Brasserie Des Rocs, Triple Impériale by far. Another that made my top list of the weeks beers and will be bought again asap.

Overall beer week was an excellent time and I am really glad I emailed plenty of companies before to see which beers were actually vegan. Luckily all of the Belgium breweries I spoke to confirmed the use of only a few select ingredients (all not derived from animals). It might take a few days/weeks/months to recover from all this beer, but it was well well worth it. Until next year, cheers!

Photos from the Weekend

I mentioned last week that we had some pretty special people coming to visit this past weekend...Eric's parents!



They got in Friday afternoon and hung out with Eric while I was at work. After work we walked around our neighborhood, ate dinner, and watched the Flyers game.

Saturday morning Eric and I headed over to their hotel. The entire weekend called for thunderstorms, but we lucked out with nice weather.
We walked around Chinatown to take in the sights and sounds (and smells) of Philadelphia.



Then we headed to Reading Terminal Market to pick up some food. We found an awesome kitchen store that had every sort of gadget you would never need.
Case in point:




I was mesmerized by the wall of cookie cutters.


I was pretty excited when I saw a pickling stand in Reading Terminal Market. I settled on a hot pickle...in honor of my friend Morgan.
You might not know this about me, but I am a hot pickle eating champion. Morgan and I used to take long breaks during our design class and eat hot pickles.



The pickle was delicious and I need to go back to buy a few more.

Eric's parents had other things to do that afternoon/evening, so Eric and I headed back to our neighborhood.
I really like the neighborhood we live in for the little things. Like coming across this while walking down the street.






Eric and I scarfed down lunch then headed over to Josh and Kelly's. It's not always fun and games with them, and they put Eric to work.




Luckily Eric did a good job at making a few cocktails for us to enjoy.




Philly Beer Week just started, so we set out to a bar in the neighborhood hoping to get a taste of the new Summer Love Ale, a craft beer from Victory Brewing Company and With Love Philadelphia, XOXO.
Sadly it wasn't released yet at this bar, so I settled on a different beer.


Later in the afternoon we walked over to our neighborhood park for some kind of festival that was going on.








We bought some vegan goodies at the park too. A snickerdoodle cookie, a cranberry cashew cookie, and a cinnamon bun. I am going to try to find out the name of the company, because this stuff was amazing!


After some park hanging Eric and I headed to El Camino Real, which used to be our main bingo joint. Sadly bingo has ended so we hadn't been in a while.


I tried to stay up till atleast 10pm, but I don't think I made it. Waking up early during the week is really throwing off my staying up with the cool kids schedule.
But Eric and I had a big Sunday planned, so getting good sleep was probably better than drinking more beer.
Eric's parents came over in the morning and we walked around the neighborhood some more. We walked by some gardens and I was really jealous of the kale in this garden.


After lunch we headed into center city for some sightseeing.
We started at City Hall




and worked our way over to Love Park


then to Rittenhouse to meet up with Emily, Eric's cousin. Emily brought her dog Samson, who was quite the character.






And after hanging out at Rittenhouse we continued walking to the Schuylkill River.


Took some lovely pictures of the family.






Then we headed back into center city for dinner. We decided on Monk's which has the most impressive beer list ever, and quite a few vegan options.




Eric took some pictures of the food, but sadly none came out. I ordered the vegan burger, Eric ordered the seitan meatballs and his mom ordered the seitan cheesesteak.

After eating Eric's parents dropped us back off at the hotel and they are now on their way back to Texas.
It was a lot of fun having them up here and I am glad they finally got to see our apartment and our neighborhood!