Philly Fun...

One major bonus of living in NJ is that, within 2 hours of going in any direction, you can manage to hit 2 major cities and the Jersey Shore (don't judge...we don't ALL have orange tans and big hair;)  So on the gorgeous day that was yesterday, we thought we'd hit up a few places in Philadelphia!  Starting with one of our favorites: The Reading Terminal Market...

Reading Terminal is a foodies paradise!  I think we could visit there 100 times and not have the same thing twice.  There are just SOOOO many good things tucked away in that place!  But yesterday, we already knew where we were headed for:

 

Who could resist Southern Fried Chicken???  I honestly don't think I've had fried chicken in over 10 years, but it was a sweet, sweet reunion:)  The collard greens were delicious too...but A LOT.  Scott gladly polished off almost that huge portions worth:)

But let's not beat around the bush.  I knew EXACTLY what I was there to try...

Delilah's very famous SEVEN Cheese Mac & Cheese.  I've been wishing to try this ever since we saw it on Bobby Flay's Throwdown!  And oh my goodness, it did NOT disappoint!  Especially since it was FILLED with a bunch of those delicious crispy ends all swirled through it.  Even Scott liked it, and he is not a fan of Mac & Cheese (weird, I'm aware;)

The only thing we didn't get to try was Delilah's cornbread, since they were out....but I think we did JUST fine;)  I'm not even a big fan of "chicken on the bone", and I think I did pretty OK...(thought you'd be proud, A:)

After lunch, we wandered around the market a bit more and went to my favorite little spice shop that has everything...and I mean EVERYTHING!!!

Lesson of the day:  I had needed Ground Mustard for a recipe I'm making this afternoon.  I had seen it at the Acme that morning for $5.75 A BOTTLE.  Reading Terminal Spice Market Baggie: $1.95!  How can you beat that???  It's wayyyyyyyyyyyy cheaper to buy spices in bulk, ESPECIALLY ones you don't need very much of!

After the spice market, we got whipped around since there was an Italian festival going on and it was VERY crowded.  So we headed for the exit, but not before stopping at one of our favorite Amish markets in the terminal...

They have THE BEST cream donuts I've EVER tasted (thus far;)...however they were out of donuts yesterday (DIDN'T THEY KNOWWW WE WERE COMING??:), and we were left to choose from thier other 4,000 ridiculously delicious options...

I had been wishing for a cannoli since I had seen them filing the shells at the festival.  But since I could get them at quite a few places close to our house, I'm glad we held off until we found THIS to share....

A chocolate chip whoopie pie!! :)  It was one of those things that I tasted and just started laughing...it was THAT good:)  Squishy fresh baked cookies with cream??  What's not to like??  And 1/2 was just enough to "fuel" us for our journey;)

After our cookie, we started "working off" our lunch by walking through the city!  Highlights include the Swann Memorial Fountain in Logan Square....(which you can see in "The Sixth Sense"  <~nerdy film student fact;)

And my old dorm room!!  Appropriate since I was rockin my Temple Owls t-shirt;)

Bringing us to our destination of the day:  The Eastern State Penitentiary.  Looks ominous, huh??

I, for some reason, thought this would be a good idea...despite the facts that all things involving prisons creep me out and make me nauseous:)  hahahahhaa...but thankfully, we chose a beautiful day to do the tour, so I think the sunlight held my COMPLETE creepiness at bay...;)

It was a really good audio tour and a pretty interesting place to take pictures.  Not gonna lie though, my heart was pounding in quite a few locations...could it be due to THIS??

Hard to tell if it was my OWN "sixth sense" OR my slight case of claustrophobia;)  But this picture was quite a creepfest;)

After the tour, we took our 2 mile hike back to Reading Terminal and I chased the ghostly thoughts away with some of this...

Bassetts is America's oldest ice cream shop.  Interesting, right??  I knew exactly what I wanted, but still had some trouble after seeing this list of flavors!!

We each got 2 scoops to try....Scott got the Dark Chocolate Chip & I got the "Whyy Experience", which was vanilla ice cream with chocolate covered pretzel pieces and butterscotch.  They were both good, but both paled in comparison to the one I was wishing for the most:  Peanut Butter Swirl which we BOTH got and loved;)

We even managed to make it back to our Amish bakery, which was near closing and selling everything for $2!  We snagged this bread for Sunday morning breakfast....(SO GOOD!!!)

And another VERY Amish dessert for tonight! :) 

So overall, a very wonderful day with the best company around:) 

Today is the polar opposite from yesterday...rainy & damp. So today will be spent cooking and lounging on the couch watching "Ghost Adventures"...and best yet: At 1 o'clock, they are showing the "Eastern State Penitantary" episode! Can't wait:)