Philly - Breakfast and Murals

One day in the middle of December Rebecca and I made a trip to Philly.  She's told me several times how much she had wanted to see the city so as a Christmas gift we booked a few nights on AirBnB and made our way east on the Pennsylvania turnpike.  The trip was a busy one as we only had a few days in the city of Brotherly Love.  It was filled with:  food, art, walking, more food, and more art.  Most importantly, and this goes into the food category, she got the opportunity to experience a genuine Philly Cheesesteak.  She's a Pat's gal.  I'm a Tony Luke's guy.  But, there will be more on that to come.  

On one of our first days she found a great breakfast spot called Sabrina's Cafe.  A quaint cafe which supposedly had good coffee.  I can't vouch, I'm not a coffee drinker.  However, the food was amazing.  I had "The Cure for Hunger" Breakfast special - Cheddar cornbread topped with hot Italian sausage, bell peppers, onions, chilies and home fries finished with a mango-melon BBQ jam.  Good.  Rebecca's breakfast stole the spotlight though.  She had "No Sanctuary" Special Stuffed French Toast.  It was some sort of special bread stuffed with sweet cream cheese, apples, apricots, candied walnuts and other yummy, tasty treats topped in a berry-honey syrup.  We easily could have shared.  Of course, we didn't.  No leftovers either...

After breakfast we made our way back towards the center of town stopping at a few murals along the way.  The city of Philly has maps with routes for the Mural Walks.  There were 2 separate routes and I believe each was under 2 miles.  So, we got to see a ton of murals (PDF of Mural Walk - Map).  So, here are a few of the photos from the day...

(Sabrina's Cafe - Best Brunch in Philly)

(There were quite a few chalkboards up inside the restaurant - rather enjoyed this one in particular)

(Part of the menu - Brunch specials)

("The Cure for Hunger")

("No Sanctuary" Special Stuffed French Toast)

(A quaint little cafe)

(Never Floss with Strangers)

(Sweet Bike Lock - too bad it didn't do much good...)

(The murals begin...)

(Animal mural outside the animal shelter)

(One of my favorites because of the extra dimensions)

(Same mural, because it was really big, at a different angle)

(Pixelated impressionist mural)

(Hot dogs and a finger pointer)

(For Fido - fun dog treat snack station we passed on our walk)

(May the Force be With You as well)

(GHOSTS EXIST!!!)

(A Family Feast)

(Just to give you an idea of the scale)

("Pride and Progress")

(More "Pride and Progress")

(Even more murals)

(Philadelphia Muses)

(Some wacky stuff on the side of a building)

(Perhaps my favorite because of the texture)

(The texture...)

Another Thursday Adventure...

Had another fun adventure this past Thursday.  No big hike or trip to Banff, instead we had a bit of fun around Calgary.  Started off the morning at oeb or Over Easy Breakfast.  Shereen kept telling me about the breakfast poutine there.  So, we had to try it.  She got a veggie poutine, with an egg, tomatoes, avocado, perhaps some green peppers, cheese curds of course, and the gravy was substituted with hollandaise sauce, all over seasoned potato wedges.  I got mine with bacon or lardons are they called it, eggs, hollandaise sauce, all over wedges.  Quite tasty and rather filling.  Enjoyed it with a Cesar, Calgary's 'native' alcoholic drink.

Next, since we were out and about, stopped by Hair Haven and got a cut from Lyn.  Friendly older woman who enjoyed chit chatting.  Told me she was from Thunder Bay and spent a year living in New Zeland before settling down in Calgary. The haircut was average, to say the least, but I was quite content seeing as how I've been needing one for a bit.  At one point I was a bit distraught for the simple fact I couldn't just go get a hair cut.  So, I am happy I don't have to worry about that for another few weeks.

Ended up at Stumptown, a Portland-esque coffee shop after that.  There was a 'cardboard' buffalo head.  After that, we headed to deVille Cafe and Wine Bar out towards Bridgeland.  I did a bit of writing while Shereen did a bit of studying.  I got a chocolate coffee while she had a green chai tea of sorts.  After that, we walked down to Bridgeland Market and Tazza, a middle eastern deli.  She ended up getting a pita of sorts while I was still full from breakfast.  This was around 5 in the evening.  A fun filled day with lots of adventure.  Here are a few of the photos!

(oeb Menu)

 (For a Thursday at 10 am, the place was packed.  We had to wait about 10 minutes for a table.  Nice little set up with the chalk board over head.)

 (Our neighbor was kind of enough to let us take a shot of her food - looked delicious)

(Perhaps the weakest Cesar I've had since arriving in Calgary.  No asparagus, no celery, no beef stick, nothing to really spice it up...  For those of you who don't know what a Cesar is, it's vodka, clamato, hot sauce, and worcestershire sauce.  Like I've said before, the Cesar is Calgary's claim to fame, at least in terms of mixed drinks.)  

 (Breakfast time after a little crossword action)

(It came out in what I consider a take out box.  You can see the egg and hollandaise sauce, as well as a few bacon bits and perhaps a cheese curd or two and maybe even a potatoe wedge.  It's pretty hard to mess up fries, eggs, and bacon for breakfast and this was a hearty meal.)

(It actually says - OVEREASY)

 (Time for a hair cut - you'll see what it looks like later)

(Stumptown Coffee Shop)

 (They also had a record store)

 ('Flight of the Conchords' album)

(Cardboard buffalo head a Stumptown - they sell their own coffee as well)

 (Trying to figure out what to order)

(Time for some writing - notice the new haircut)

 (Green tea of sorts and chocolate coffee)

(Shot of deVille Coffee and Wine bar)

(Here's what part of the shop looks like)

 (Bridgeland Market)

(Ok, not sure why I took photos inside the market.  It wasn't a sweet floating market like in Vietnam or an awesome street market like in Korea or Thailand.  Not sure what I was thinking... but I did it anyway.)

 (Black and white shot)

(Again, not sure what's so great about it, but Shereen seems to love it)

(A nice little quote and painting based on the teachings of Bob Ross - There are no mistakes, only happy accidents.)

(Entrance to Tazza, the Middle Eastern Deli)

(A lot of the food looked great)

 (I'm hoping to get back at some point for a falafel sandwich)

 (Again, looked yummy)

 (A shot of the menu, although not the best - Menu at Tazza)

 (There was a little dining room in the deli as well as some seats on the porch.  Thinking about it now sure makes me hungry for a cheese steak...)

(Shereen grabbed a pita or sorts, can't remember what kind.  Anyway, she wasn't overly impressed... I still want to try a falafel sandwich.)

(This is just a random shot of the moon the other night - it looked huge)