Better Late Than Never

On Sunday we ventured off to Philadelphia (Valley Forge) to head to Interweave's Bead Wire Show.  We got a somewhat late start for some reason---guess we made up for that lost hour when we changed the clocks for daylight savings time!

It seemed that we bought sterling silver more than anything else.  Chain, wire, circles, beads & charms.  While it was a small show, it packed quite a punch.  Sometimes the punch came in the wallet too!  What we are most excited to work with the Italian mesh wire.  I'm sure some of it will end up on the pendants we are creating (see post below).  Eventually our minds were saturated and part of the day was left to do our other favorite past-time---EAT!

In a few short hours, we did make it to a few spots.  Our initial stop was to La Colombe for some wonderful cappuccinos and an espresso.  What we also got treated to was a man sitting next to us who chatted away in Italian to a stuffed graduate owl.  I say graduate because he wore the infamous black cap!  While we did not dare take a picture of said owl, here are the beautiful caffeinated creations:

After we were hopped up on coffee, we wandered around Rittenhouse Square.  It was beautiful outside.  The air was a little crisp, the sun was so warm--our favorite weather.  After walking for a while, we got hungry.  It could have been the anticipation of some fine Italian food, Philly does have some great restaurants for Italian food.  Many of the restaurants are BYOB, so we came up with a chilled bottle of Falanghina, Picco del Sole (very refreshing & around $12).  We were going to eat in Old City, either at Radicchio or La Locanda del Ghiottone.  Radicchio was really hot inside, we would have needed 2 bottles of chilled white, so we went to the latter.  Not only is the food delicious, but they are so friendly, accommodating and highly entertaining.

No Philly visit is ever complete without a visit to Capogiro for gelato.  I should have gotten my first choice of orange with cardomon, but instead ended up with half & half of malted balls with Sicilian pistachio.  Decadence!

Zizi preferred to stay home & watch Cats 101 with Giacomo.

Philadelphia Details:

La Columbe Torrefaction:  (215) 563-0860, 130 S 19th St , Philadelphia, PA 19103

La Locanda del Ghiottone:  (215) 829-1465,130 N 3rd St, Philadelphia, PA 19106

Capogiro:  (215) 351-0900,119 S 13th St , Philadelphia, PA 19107