The best of Cape May

Tagging along with the Russell family to their family reunion in Cape May, NJ was amazing. We had no internet connection and I had to keep my phone off since I didn’t bring my charger with me so I was pretty much disconnected from the real world, I had an anxiety at first, then I got used to it. It was quite nice, actually. I recommend all the New Yorkers to try it at one point in life. All the meals we had were home cooked, from breakfast to dinner. The morning before we left, we stopped by the Italian market on 9th Street to pick up all the ingredients for the trip. Right across from the Italian market there’s Pretzel Co. on Washington Avenue. The pretzels here are weirdly shaped and flat, compared to the pretzels we are used to in New York (those were always stale). We picked up $10 worth of pretzels, which got us 30 fresh baked pretzels. People here eat their pretzels with spicy mustard on top, which was unfortunate for me, since I hate everything about mustard. The first night, we had a cookout, the burgers were served with grilled vegetables covered in garlic, pepper, and sea salt followed by blueberry pie and peach pies for dessert. On day two, we checked out the boardwalk where we visited the Fudge Kitchen and tasted almost all the flavors. Another thing about the boardwalk, they always have these delicious flavors of water ice that you can’t get elsewhere.

Bitchy Wine

We had to run to the liquor store while we were in Cape May because we ran out of gin at the house. While we were at the liquor store we spotted this Bitch wine. I'm not so sure this would be tasty though... 

 and I think this is a little pricey for a bitch wine...

Pho

I completely agree with the fact that we can get the best authentic food of any kind in New York City. That was very accurate until I had a taste of Philadelphia pho at Pho75. The place is brand new (sorta) and ridiculously spotless. It's located on Race St. in Chinatown in Philly. Pho at this place is by far, the best pho I’ve ever had. They offer you sliced onions soaked in vinegar that go amazingly with pho. Everything is super authentic and delicious. Their tripe are the best. I was once scared of tripe when I found out they came from inside the cow stomachs. The whole time I had this idea that they were some kind of seafood. Not so exotic anymore but still delicious.

Mr. Softy is totally soft.

I grew up in New Jersey, so we were used to having Rita’s all the time. Since I moved to New York, life was never easy without Rita’s. So now whenever we come to visit Ian’s parents in Philly we get to pay Rita’s a visit. It’s a block away from his house and I always order my favorite, gelati. It’s when they fill the bottom of your cup with soft serve ice cream and fill the middle with water ice (your flavor of choice) and then top it with more soft serve. Their custard soft serve is super thick, solid and taste like how soft serve is supposed to taste. No fat is removed and it’s never watery. I can say that their soft serve custard ice cream is the best ever, totally putting Mr. Softy to shame!

You can get a Full Plate in Philadelphia

We finally moved out of our apartment in Brooklyn on Bedford Ave. We moved all of our stuff into Ian's parents' storage in Philly and after all that they took us out to dinner at Full Plate on Liberty's Walk off the American St. Their menu was pretty interesting, mostly healthy-vegetarian dishes. They served their water in these huge jars that  made Philly tap water look even more delicious than ever. 

I ordered myself a fresh mozzarella with fried green tomatoes salad. Basically, the mixed greens sit on the bottom and is topped with fried breaded green tomatoes with fresh mozzarella pieces with homemade balsamic vinaigrette. This dish was absolutely delicious. The vinaigrette was the best I've had in awhile. 

They also served little plates of side dishes so we ordered a plate of macaroni and cheese. I could say that I've never seen mac and cheese in natural yellow that tastes like real cheese.

We ordered grilled portabella mushroom quesadillas for our entrée. The quesadillas were stuffed with grilled portabella mushrooms and roasted red peppers. They were very tasty.