City Pics, Philadelphia

Pictures from commuting last week and Friday evening in the city.

  

10 Years Ago Today...

my mother and stepfather told Ivy and I they were expecting Carter.  How do I remember this?  I have an exceptionally good memory when it comes to numbers and, specifically, dates.  I could not forget this date if I tried, not that I would want to.  So I thought I would share.  I could make a blog about my unusual memory... it would definitely be an interesting outlet for all of the randomness that's stuck in my head.  Hmmm....

A Beautiful Weekend in Canada

Thomas and I packed our bags and headed north to Canada!  We spent two nights in Niagara Falls.  Our original plan was to go even farther north to explore Toronto, but we were having such a good time walking around the Falls area in beautiful weather that we decided not to bother.  We're saving Toronto for another time.

Our time in Niagara was lovely.  We had the best weather over the weekend, which made walking everywhere so enjoyable.   The botanical gardens at the end of the Falls had a special Easter feature with live bunnies throughout the gardens and an awesome turtle pond.  We did our best to find little, more intimate restaurants to dine at since Niagara Falls is very touristy and caters to families.  We enjoyed the meals we had at the restaurants, but the best meal came from the local grocery store we found about 5-10 miles outside the touristy portion of Niagara Falls.  Thomas had so much fun finding his favorite chocolate sweets, cereals, washing powders, and baked goods.  It was entertaining to watch him search for the items he has missed so much from home.  We bought homemade hot crossed buns, milk custard, and sandwiches.  We had our delicious food back at the Falls and even saw a rainbow!!

Brother-Sister Date: Harlem Globetrotters

Trifle #3

I made my third trifle this weekend.  A super duper chocolate one.  This trifle has a duplicate layer of: brownies, chocolate pudding, and whipped cream with chocolate chips on top.  I used this recipe for the framework and only really followed the pudding and brownies part.  I made the whipped cream from scratch, and like past trifles, this one was delicious!  

Recipe: Strawberries 'n' Cream Trifle

I recently purchased a trifle bowl and am making good use of it!  So far I've made a chocolate cherry trifle and a strawberries 'n' cream trifle just this weekend.  Both were fabulous and served over 8 people each time.  I did make a small adjustment in the strawberry trifle recipe, which calls for the prepared whipped topping in a container, but because I strongly dislike the stuff in the container, I made my own!  My version consists of heavy whipping cream and just a tad bit of confectioners sugar.  The homemade cream was a hit and helped the recipe come together nicely with its subtle sweetness.

Dog-Sitting and Snowboarding

Bella girl is the adorable black lab in this photo.  We watched her while her owners and our friends went to San Francisco.  She was great; well behaved and trained.  We spoiled her rotten because we couldn't get enough of her cuteness.  I also got to spend a lot of time with her due to another Nor'easter that came through at the end of last week.  I worked from home last Thursday and Friday and was able to take her on many walks.

I took a break from watching Bella to go snowboarding with Ben and Carter.  Ben actually skied and Carter and I braved the slopes on snowboards.  I had been snowboarding once before and really enjoyed it.  This time around was like starting from scratch!  I fell a few hundred times in the beginning and then gained enough skill to make it down the hill twice WITHOUT falling!  I was super impressed with Carter - he took to the slopes with determination and was awesome!  I wish I had video of him maneuvering down the hill, but all I have is one of him after he fell and Ben next to him.  It was also a lot of fun to watch people from the lift.  I saw numerous accidents, some really funny and others that weren't so funny.