the city of brotherly love

 

…no not Philadelphia, we’re talking about the city that contains 50% of Iris’s brothers: DC.  In DC we stayed with Macey and Caroline who are taking in their last month in their adorable place before moving on up to home ownership.  With the two of them, the three of us, Olivia and Nico (their cats) and Chester (the turtle) sharing his patio/garden abode with our bikes it was a full house, but we were glad to be some of their last guests in their treasured home of 5 years.  They doted on us accordingly: Caroline, a long-time vegetarian introduced us to her Levington specialty, hummus quesadillas (if it’s sans cheese is it just a dilla?), and Macey treated us to a vegan waffle party.  Yum!

Located in Dupont Circle, with bike lanes right on their street, their place was well situated for city exploring and we were all excited to see the range of things DC had to offer.  Having been on our trip for almost two weeks, we were glad for the opportunity to spread out a little bit and check out DC’s vast array of museums and monuments with a degree of autonomy.  

After some solo and sola adventures we reunited (with Macey sporting his backpack like all the other kids) to bug up Owen in his new abode, Thurston Hall, the freshman dorm at George Washington University.  It brought us all back a little bit, we got to visit the “co-eds” as Chelsea kept putting it.  We had fun reminiscing it up and hearing the (tall) tales of college life.  Of course no trip to a dorm would be complete without a good old fashioned public urination story. Classic. 

On our last night in DC, we visited with Tara, a friend of Iris’ from her high school days at Northfield Mt Herman. We met with her and her partner Jen at a great falafel bar in their hip, eclectic neighborhood, Adams Morgan.  The conversation and falafel were both stimulating and delicious, and we really enjoyed the feel of this off-beat neighborhood. 

Before we knew it, we were saying our byes to the Bro’s and were off to Baltimore for a brief layover before heading west in earnest. 

the bean counter
miles traveled: 123
pieces of snail mail sent: 38 (a new record, bolstered no doubt by our postal museum experience)
compliments on Chelsea’s hair: 7
mullets: 0

Museum Madness

 

The American History  is home to many artifacts from the past. Both Chelsea and Iris were excited to see the kitchen of cooking TV queen Julia Child. Julia had her Cambridge kitchen sent to the Smithsonian to be put on display. The exhibit is one of the most popular in the museum and it showed as it was pretty packed. Zach checked out many of the other exhibits at the American history including one about transportation. Fun fact: The first cross country trip by car was in 1903 and was done after one person bet the other that it could not be done.

The Air and Space Museum is considered one of the most popular in DC. It is fascinating to see the different crafts used to get into space. The museum feels very dated. The exhibit on the “space race” ends in 1983 where we hope that one day the Americans and the soviets can be friends together in outer space travel. There are no exhibits about space since 1983. So much has happened since the end of the Apollo missions. Fun Fact: Coke and Pepsi had their own space race for having their soda in space.

As you can see by the mail sent counter that we (or more like Chelsea and Iris) love to send snail mail, so it was no surprise that a good chunk of time was spent at the National Postal Museum. The exhibit on direct mail (don’t call it junk mail) was a mixture of fun and annoying as you go through different touch screens giving info on yourself. At the end you got a junk mail letter (I mean direct mail letter) with your picture and a coupon for 10% off at the gift shop. There was also an exhibit on the first postal route connecting (wait for it) Boston to Philadelphia. Chelsea and Iris ended the visit by going to the stamp shop. They were like two kids in a candy store as they got all different kinds of stamps. Fun Fact: In 1888 a stray named Owney was adopted by the Albany Post Office and become the first postal mascot.

photo essay: philly

--Murals murals everywhere. this certainly is a decorated city. beautiful. however, learned a bit from Iris's friend Greg about the politics of murals- who gets to paint them where and how.  the Mural Arts Program who paints the majority of them is run by the Anti-Graffiti Network.  Most murals are painted over graffiti art, the program claims to involve young graffiti artists and the local community in the creation process, although we know of one neighborhood in west Philly where, funded by the University, they forwarded it's agenda and were less than respectful of the neighborhood's ideas, wishes and even individual's likenesses which are pictured in the mural without permission!



Mandi, fun and spunky young yogi in training, fellow blogger and nanny extraordinar, welcomed us into her home, her room and her bed.  Plenty of cozy, tea, conversations and Glee.



bountiful breakfasts. Zach made delicious vegan pancakes which through no fault of his own may have set off the smoke detector early in the morning (sorry Morgan!) which caused Chels and Mandi to (wo)man the doors, using them to fan smoke out of the apartment.  when Iris made a veggie, tofu scramble and sautéed apples the morning before there were no major tragedies.  having use of a kitchen and people to cook for: priceless.

















Chelsea has made a regular habit of changing her footwear on Frida.  The Auxiliary might also be called "Chelsea's dressing room".










Philly also provided an opportunity for much needed haircuts for Chels and Zach.   The barber shop open for business.





Chels discovers Jauque outside of Honey's.
 Love at first sight.

Iris re-connects with Greg, a high school friend and inspiration 8 years later.  Greg is dancing, living in a land-trust co-op in west Phily and generally being cool.  plus he has a porch swing.





the road crew and our hosts all do a lot of biking around the city.  ask us how Philly's public transportation is...we have no idea.
the vegan gives Philly 4 out of 5 bell rings for bikeability.










getting lost in the enchanting jungle of the City Planter.

Also business shout out to Art Star, a really cool little shop/art gallery with a bit of everything.  Mostly smaller crafted items, unconventional cards, pins, jewelry etc.

Phenomenal Philly we leave you for DC, but hope to return some day at the very least for some more vegan treats!

where are we now?  follow our progress and the break down of our route on our map!

the bean counter
miles traveled: 101
pieces of snail mail sent: 11
delicious vegan treats consumed: 5
mullets: 0

(sorry for the massive gaps and formatting issues, including photos is difficult and mysterious--even blogger is sure where the photos are going to appear until they do)

restaurant reviews: Philly food

On our first night in Philly,  Mandi, Asher and  Morgan  and the Road Crew (the name we coined for ourselves)  all went out to A Full Plate.  The ambiance, food and the people we went there with was a wonderful welcome to Philadelphia.  Zach ordered the nutty and creamy vegan mac and cheese.  The vegan reports that while it didn’t have a particularly cheesy taste, it was satisfying and delicious in its own right.  Then nut and bread crumb topping was a particularly nice touch.  I ordered a sun burger, homemade with crushed sunflower seeds, wheat germ and veggies.  Luckily Chelsea ordered my second choice the homemade spinach and black bean burger.  Instead of fries, the burgers came with a nice little salad of beans, onion and cucumbers, a lighter taste to balance with the hearty burgers.  Both were delish.

To top it all of they served our drinks in mason jars, a little touch of home.

must haves on the menu:

a slice of the Elvis cake (banana, peanut butter and chocolate) at mandi's recommendation.

-o-o-o-

In West Philly, Chels Bell’s used her prior knowledge(Mandi and Asher lived in west Philly until recently) and general prowess to direct us towards, Satellite Café for a little nosh and atmosphere while waiting to meet up with Greg.  And Satellite provided.  We sat in the cozy café surrounded by warm rich warm colors, and split the “Bike Shop” wrap.  Named for Firehouse Bicycles  Satelite’s upstairs neighbors, the “bike shop” is a delicious warm wrap with cream cheese, pesto, spinach and roasted red peppers and is available on a bagel and/or with vegan crème cheese.  The warm melty quality of the cream cheese nicely offset the fresh spinach and soft tangy peppers.  For the vegan we got a chocolate peanut butter brownie which was truly a work of art, a rich chocolate brownie with a thick layer of peanut butter chunks and topped off with a drizzling of thin white decorative icing.   The vegan gobbled it up later, quick to assert it as “the best vegan brownie [he’d] ever had, maybe even the best brownie ever. “

Must haves on the menu: 
vegan chocolate peanut butter brownie
Chels say’s: “their coffee is good too!”

-o-o-o-

I can’t say enough about Honey’s sit and eat.  It was recommended to us by Greg, a local vegan, and provided us with a lovely last meal in Philly.   We got table outside and as we began to read, were wowed by the menu.  It  was a breakfast-anytime sort of place with a distinct jewish flair.  The offerings ranged from enticing omelette's (for those who indulge), challa french toast, burgers and latkes.  The guacamole side with homemade chips was the most satisfying portion of guac I've ever been served, even some to take on the road.   The veggie "chicken fried steak" came with a gravy sauce that turned out to have dairy in it, but the accommodating staff was quick to make amends when we discovered it and the vegan seemed to enjoy it.  Chels and I devoured the gently spiced and satisfying vegetable latkes with applesauce.  Late in the meal we discovered that the patty in the chicken fried steak was the same as the vegetable latkes!  double yum!

Must haves on the menu:
vegetable latkes and/or chicken fried steak, hands down.

the Magic of South Street

What do you get when you mix a bunch of property, pieces of ceramic, pieces of mirror, a 70 year old artist and tons of mortar? The Magic Gardens of South Street.


As we were on our way out of Philly we made a lost important stop: South street. The street is full of many different shops and art galleries including one "Dumpster Divers" gallery made out of found objects. As we headed down the street we found a building covered from top to bottom with mosaic. The mosaic mixed found objects, homemade tiles, and mirrors to create amazing patterns and pictures.  And then we found another one, and another, and a whole mosaiced ally, a garage, a store front and more.

The mosaics are the work of Isaiah Zagar. Isaiah and his wife bought dilapidated buildings on South Street during the late 60's. They would renovate the buildings and add mosaics to the walls of the buildings and rent them out.  If only they had been our landlords!

In the early 90's Zagar started building what is now known as the magic garden. It is a labyrinth of mosaic and found objects. It was fun exploring the magic
garden there were so many different hidden images and messages in the walls. There were many bike wheels used like windows. While walking throught the maze we stumbled on a fashion shoot!  Chelsea was on the look out for Tyra and Miss J while we hung around waiting for them to finish so we could get our own shot in since they were blocking the best spot of the whole gardens. Rude.

All in all the gardens, and looking at  Zagar's work throughout the street was a very rewarding way to spend the afternoon.  Putting his art in the street not only decorates the neighborhood but it makes art accessible.  As Zagar reaffirms: "Art is the center of the real world".  Those words are used as a sort of slogan and repeated throughout his work.  He now teaches workshops and the non-profit organization that sprung up around protecting his work from destruction (for the creation of condos) runs community events with a focus on artistic collaboration and access.  Pretty sweet.

restaurant reviews: eats in nyc

Given all of NYC's dining options for ringing in a new year of Iris, we quickly and easily chose Red Bamboo.  It's not a hard choice really, the place offers: a cozy environment, reasonable prices, a truly unique vegetarian menu and has two convenient locations (for easy last-minute plan changes).  To substantiate the "unique menu" claim:  the most delectable offerings of vegetarian and vegan soul food.  A-mazing. Standard vegetarian cuisine can get a little, predictable to say the least, tofu stir fry, veggie burger, hummus, repeat..  This joint blows me away with its soulful and daringly delicious vegetarian food.  There is a little bit of Asian-fuison going on on the menu, but we stuck mostly to the classic soul food--much of which we've never had vegan or otherwise.

must-haves on the menu: buffalo wings
honorable mention: collard greens with ham spring rolls

-o- -o- -o-

The next morning we were looking for a nice little cafe to eat, read, write, talk and generally hold up in for a few hours.  We were staying in Chelsea (no relation) and looking for somewhere with WiFi.  Zach did some googling and discovered Paradise Cafe.  With festively painted walls, a cozy window, mosaic art on the walls and a friendly, accommodating staff it was a paradise for us on that gloomy Sunday morning.  We had the veggie burritos substituting egg for avocado and a veggie burger substituting the burger for portabello and we all sat happy and content to eat, drink, read write and generally make ourselves at home away from home for several hours.  Delightful.

must-haves on the menu: friendly staff

-o- -o- -o-

A day later (and a dollar or two shorter) we were down in Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) in Brooklyn with the Amatos looking for a place to grab some food.  For some reason on this trip we seem to be finding ourselves looking for food at the witching hours of 3-5.  After scouting out several resturants that were closed and others that were quadruple "neesh" from Chels we wandered into Jacques Torres, the chocolate factory that came highly recommended by Grace, the 11-year-old we were staying with.  And after we all drank in the sights and smells a little bit, Chels asked for a vegan and veg friendly restaurant recommendation and the nice chocolatier suggested Rice.  Everything about Rice was just what we wanted: simple, mouth-watering menu; clever, creatively put together food and atmosphere; and tell-your-friends-about-it bathrooms.  The menu included a number of veg*n options, we all went with the Tofu-steak, and each selected a dressing and a rice from the informative and appetizing selection of rices and specialty rices.  When we ordered tea it came with a beautifully displayed and intriguing selection of honeys!

must have on the menu: the rice!



* Note:  In the future I will try to take food photos before we devour it.*

end of 23 in nyc

From open fields, clean crisp air and rolling hills we headed for tall buildings and traffic.  We stopped in Ithaca, NY and arrived in NYC just after 11 on Friday night.  We found parking in Chelsea, the place not the person (*note* for this post Chelsea L. Amato will be referred to as Amato so as to avoid confusion).  With all our belongings on, in or otherwise attached to Frida we were a little worried about our security.  So Amato chatted up a resident of the street, Michael, out walking his dog, Sasha, who reassured us of the niceness and longevity of the street with a lot of dog owners who are out and about frequently walking their beasts.  “You’ve just got to chat it up with the locals” says Amato.  Too true. 


Close to midnight, looking like hobos with our bikes and backpacks, we arrived at Amato’s friend Andréa’s Chelsea apartment (yes it’s grammatically correct; go ahead and read that one again).  Andréa was more than welcoming; she gracefully took all of us, our three bikes and our backpacks into her home, located just above the Unicorn.  Soon after midnight, bikes stored in a stairwell, and backpacks and people all tucked into her cozy room, we broke out a bottle of the 2007 Riesling from KLV and drank to another year of Iris.  Like tweens at a slumber party, we stayed up late into the night talking, laughing and swapping stories.

In the morning after sleeping in, we went in search of food and an open air market in Union Square.  We found both and spent a lovely Saturday morning/afternoon walking around.  We wandered into Strand and spent a good deal of time there preening over our books, even getting an addition or two for our library.  We ended the afternoon in Washington Square Park listening to music and watching street performers.  In particular we enjoyed the mini-battle of the bands that ensued when one man and his guitar was singing out soulfully and then a 4-man band plugged in on a stage-like space nearby and drowned him out entirely.  Amato gave him some pennies for his trouble, and we turned our attention to the band which was pretty rocking (and we’re bummed because we can’t remember their name)!

The birthday night was spent delightfully at the Red Bamboo in the village, complete with a surprise guest:  Emily made our three a party of four.  The food was wonderful and we indulged and chatted the evening away.  As we were leaving, it began to rain, and we wandered around hopping from store to store looking at the wares and stepping in and out of the rain.                          

Lovely.

By Sunday morning, we felt it was time to move on--to the other side of the river.  First we all holed up in the lovely Paradise Café for a while, updating the blog, letter writing, reading and more conversing and relaxing.  Hours later we traversed the Hudson to Amato’s cousin’s Brooklyn brownstone.   


There we were welcomed by a full house of: Lisa, Paisley, Grace, Georgia, little Greta and Butter, Alfie (the dogs), Zeus and Hermes (the guinea pigs).  With the convergence of so many people there were so many more stories to be heard and told over another homey dinner and more KLV Riesling.  We heard about Grace and Georgia’s school, Greta’s eating patterns, Lisa's latest book and Paisley’s relative freedom from work and re-focus on family.  After dinner, dessert and dishes cleared, we cozyed in with the girls and the dogs and enjoyed the quasi-feminist flick, Ella Enchanted with pillows, blankets and beds abound.  There is something about this trip that is like one big ongoing sleepover vacation.  

 

We love it.

Our trip to NYC could not be complete without a visit with the Amatos.  So on a lovely Yom Kippur (day off for them) afternoon they came into the city and we biked the breadth of Brooklyn in beautiful September weather to DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass).  
Donna Jean and Dr. Lou both grew up in the city, but had never been to DUMBO:  They loved it.  We wandered around the small sometimes cobble-stoned streets of this semi-industrial, quasi-artsy area of the city.  We strolled past a line of tourists waiting to get into Grimaldi’s, apparently NY’s best pizza, and heard stories about Louie’s days as a cab driver while DJ caught us up on all the gossip!  There were great views of the bridges and the city from the park.  We shared a lovely meal with them at the gem Rice and then said our goodbyes as it began to sprinkle.

We rounded out our NY experience with a bike ride in the pouring rain getting drenched to the bone in semi-summery rain--not quite cold, but cold.  We warmed up/dried off and spent the rest of the evening playing a twisted game of Twisted Fish with Grace and Georgia and taking in moments with Lisa and Paisley in turn, sharing with them more about our plans and travels.  


The next morning we packed into Frida and took off on our wild ride to the next destination: Philly!  


the bean counter
miles travled: 262
pieces of snail mail sent: 5
mullets: 0