Recycled Art

I have to say that I see something new and beautiful every day as I walk around this beautiful city.

This is the ultimate piece of recycled art. it is in the lobby of a building on Juniper Street in the Philadelphia Building.

The entire lighting fixture is made of recycled light fixture and chandelier pieces.

 

Sorry, my pictures do not do it justice!

 

Food Network Recipe

I wanted to try a new recipe for stuffing for Thanksgiving. After hearing the protests of my husband and kids, I decided to make two types. They still wanted my regular, sausage-sage stuffing.

This recipe was from Food Network but I made some changes. We all loved it!

Cornbread Stuffing with Ham and Shrimp

stick of butter
1 lb. ham, chopped
1 onion chopped (small dice)
2 stalks of celery, also small dice
1 green pepper, chopped
1 tsp. tarragon
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 14 oz. cans of chicken broth
1 can of Campbell's Cream of celery soup
1/4 cup chopped parsley
4 cups cornbread stuffing
4 cups of white bread stuffing
(I used Pepperidge Farm)
1 pound of cooked Shrimp, chopped

In a large pot, sautee vegetables in butter until softened, andd spices, chicken broth and soup, then parsley and shrimp. gradually add stuffing until moisened.

Bake at 350, covered with foil,until heated through.

Delicious! It had a slight kick because of the Old Bay.

Photo Courtesy of Food Network:

Pinterest

Are you as addicted to Pinterst as I am??

I especially love looking at ideas for Christmas.

Are these the cutest? I am so going to use these ideas.

From bakerella.com

From hwtm.com

From amandaparkerandfamily.blogspot.com

City Hall's Christmas Village

Every year they set up a Christmas Village around city hall. We are under constuction so it is set-up across the street in Love Park. It really looks so cute, they set up wooden sheds and trim them in white lights. Vendors come from Lancaster come to sell wooden crafts and ornaments. It has become one of the many Christmas traditions in the city.

Looks great at night, glowing with white lights.

Hand-crafted wooden candelabras.

 

Cookie Swap

I am so excited about this year's cookie swap. My friend Shannon is hosting this year and it will be held December 7th. It's a little early this year but it was almost cancelled due to so many conflicting schedules.

I held several cookie swaps at my house in past years but my group of friends are not really bakers so I invited myself to another group of friends' party.

I asked people to come dressed for a prize and my good friends Donna and Debbie always gave us a good laugh. One year they were a tree and an angel!

Another year they were Mary and Joseph (they"borrowed" Baby Jesus from some one's front yard)!

I love getting together with girlfriends around the holidays.

Whew! Shopping at Reading Terminal!

We have this great indoor market in Philadelphia, the Reading Terminal Market. It opened in 1892 and brought indoors the open-air style of markets. Theres are so many awesome businesses. Farmers, fisherman and all type of businessman sell their food and wares. Today I went to pick up a turkey at Godshall's which has been in the market since 1912! I was number 92 and they were on number 60, luckily they had lots of people working the counter. Their poultry is awesome. I heard a man say he has been married 48 years and he just purchased his 48th Thanksgiving turkey.

Many of the Amish from Lancaster County have stands in the Market. They are the hardest working people you've ever seen and the best bakers!

Two days before Thanksgiving and the lines were wrapped around some of the stands. It was a blur of activity!

An old image from Godshall's

Old Time photo of the Market

I love the painted signs in the market.

So much to choose from!

 

I will be blogging often about the awesomeness of the Market. It's one of my favorite places in the city. The woman in front of me bought fresh-ground sage sausage, so I HAD to get some for my stuffing. I will blog about that too!

 

Thanksgiving and Pie!

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is the pie.
Do you have a favorite?
Is it pumpkin, apple, lemon meringue?
I am going to make one or two and buy a couple of pies.
I will post about some of the delicious foods I'll be making!

Philadelphia's City Hall

I am fortunate enough to work for Philadelphia City Council, in City Hall.
Every Friday, I would like to feature a part of this building, which is beyond magnificent. They started building in 1871 and did not complete it until 1901. It cost 24 million. You could not build something like this today. It is the largest municipal building in the country. Everyday I see something new.

The building is such a treasure and anyone who is an architecture buff should really visit. I often think of who may have walked these halls. Anyone who got married in this city would have to come here for their license.

A statue of William Penn adorns the top.

So pretty at night!

Billy Penn!

This gives you an idea of how large the entrances are. There are four and these lead to a center courtyard. This is taken during a New Year's day parade.

Four of these marble pillars inside the entrance facing North Broad Street. They are at least five foot in diameter.

Cherubs appear to hold up the roof!

These are at least 12 foot tall.

Beautiful mosaics at the base.

 

 

 

 

 

Secretly a dog-lover!

I always say that I'm not a dog lover but I have a dog that I adore and recently painted this picture of my girlfriend Frannie's dog. She named him "Puppy", he is the cutest dog ever. I'm going to surprise her with this watercolor painting of him.
Too cute!

Philadelphia's Chinatown

Although we aren't as big as New York, Philadelphia has so much diversity, culture, art and architecture. I am blogging about my city, the city of Brotherly Love, to show you some of the sights and how priveledged we are to have all of this within our city.

On Sunday it was in the 70s and sunny here and I came into the city around noon to go to Chinatown. It was hopping! So many people were out and about eating, shopping, and enjoying the beautiful day.

There are over 100 Chinese restaurants, it is hard to know which to choose. Many chefs come to shop for the exotic vegetables and fish.

To welcome you to Chinatown!

Dragons adorning one of the parking lots.

Tea house, restaurants and unique shops.

So many vegetables that I had never seen before.

Lunch was yummy!

It could have been worse...

So many people saw so much devastation with the recent Hurricane Sandy. I know so many lost their homes, possessions and many lives were lost too. I continue to pray for those families. We were spared at our cottage at the Jersey Shore. We had a little cleanup and the water came up to the front door, but not inside! I had so much debris, mailboxes, recyclables, trash and reed grass. I loaded everything on the curb and I continue to Thank God it wasn't worse!

Our good friends lost their dock and their boat was totalled :(   But, all of us keep saying we were the lucky ones! It is so rare for us to be touched by hurricanes and devastation like this. I can't imagine how other areas go through it time and again.

The water came up to the top step, but not inside! The water marks were still there.

A picture taken of our neighborhood, during the storm.

So much debris washed into the yard!

Even found a mailbox!

8 contractor bags

Good friends didn't fare as well, that is the roof of their gazebo and their dock is demolished!

Poor Bob. He loved fishing on his boat, especially in November. The boat is totalled!

He is so bummed!

We will rebuild and continue to make good memories!