J4F: Coke Commercial

Pretty awesome! Saw the 30 second version at the movies yesterday and had to look it up. Features Kevin Olusola from Pentatonix, the crazy beat boxing cellist.

Time POY: Pope Francis

This year's Time Person of the Year is Pope Francis. I honestly haven't read much about him until the issue came out and I was rather impressed! As a good ole conservative Protestant Christian, I didn't bother to learn much, if anything at all, about the Catholic church. There is a lot I don't know or understand about the world. Sometimes my own viewpoints and perspectives prevent me from wanting to know more and understand more. That unfortunately limits all the good I can learn from all different kinds of people.

Certainly, each pope must be overwhelmed with the limitless number of issues that he must address, as is true of other rulers, presidents, and prime ministers of our day. Often times, it's just easier for us normal folks to distill the legacy of a pope into a singular issue. For Francis, though he has only begun, that legacy could probably be defined as "simplicity".

The Catholic church gets a lot of flack for being ornate and flashy when much of the world (and the majority of its followers) live in poverty. One of the first things Francis did was to dump that papal Mercedes for a Ford Focus. While this doesn't seem like a very important or significant act, it is symbolic of his priorities. Whereas most of us are constantly trying to upgrade our homes, electronics, wardrobes, cars, and jobs, Francis portrays a vision of simplicity with his life.

His choice of Francis as a papal name is also not without significance. He is actually the first Francis, choosing to invoke St. Assisi, who famously said "Preach the gospel always, and if necessary use words." He frequently ditches the limelight to anonymously visit poor areas and attend to the poor without revealing who he really is.

Though we won't agree on every single issue, I am particularly fond of what Francis has been able to do thus far. Here's hoping for a meaningful and impactful papacy that not only brings to light the issues of poverty but also does work to reverse its effects.

Romping Around Philadelphia: Part 2 - Food Adventure

This is Part Two of my excursion into the city on the warmest Winter Solstice Philly has ever seen. You can read my experience with a couple tea shops in Philly in Part 1. (For those with a keen eye, this is a pic above was taken from the Art Museum, which we went to on a previous trip.)

Today, I'll go through our food stops - Shake Shack for a concrete, Monk's Cafe for fries, Jim's Steaks for a cheese steak, and Terakawa Ramen for ramen of course.

Shake Shack

Does Shake Shack really need any introduction? I actually forgot to mention this stop in the last post, since it's not really a unique Philly experience. I'm pleasantly surprised that I can now fulfill my Shake Shack cravings in the city and even at the newly opened location near the KOP mall!

My first Shake Shack experience was with a few church people after an RWC membership class at the OG Remnant office down on 29th street between 2nd and 3rd Ave. Since it took me an hour or so to get down there from the UWS, I usually had lunch before my trek back up. This was probably sometime in 2004-2005, when Shake Shack's only location was the original "shack" in Madison Square Park, and you had to wait 30-45 min in line for a burger. Even though I was starving, the wait was SO worth it. The burger itself was cooked just right, nice and juicy, and the salt/seasoning level is perfect. The only problem is that their patties are too small!

Anyway, I digress. Our objective was not a full meal but rather just a snack to get us going. We decided on a concrete, which is kind of like a high-end McFlurry, and found one to our liking. The Rittenhouse, which shares a name with Rittenhouse Square, one of the swankiest areas of Philly, is a chocolate custard with La Colombe coffee beans, coffee marshmallow sauce and chocolate truffle cookie dough. Delicious. The chocolate truffle cookie dough was truly over the top awesomeness.

Monk's Cafe

Our next stop was Monk's Cafe, a bar famous for its Belgian beers and "pommes frites" (we like to call them fries). I had a random urge to find the best fries in Philly, so I did some light research to find a good spot.

To be honest, I haven't really been in a bar before. Konny will tell you, I was actually quite confused as to what we were supposed to do. There wasn't a seat at the actual bar so we had to stand off to the side where we didn't have direct access to the bartender. Confused, I asked the waitress if I was supposed to order with her or at the bar. This happened again when we were supposed to pay :)

After about 10 minutes of wondering if I actually placed an order or not, we got our fries. Pretty unimpressive. Visually, they were very boring, a mound of fries in a plastic basket. They're supposedly double fried, but the texture wasn't super crispy like you would expect. Some of the fries were almost under cooked and a lot of them were an inch-long. Salt was pretty sparse. The saving grace was most definitely the Bourbon Mayonnaise dipping sauce, which had a nice spice and tang that lingered in your mouth. But the fries... sorry, "pommes frites" - not worth it.

Jim's Steaks

Next stop, Jim's Steaks! This was Konny's very first Philly cheese steak, whereas I've had three - Pat's, Geno's and Jim's. Jim's has a pretty big reputation, similar to that of Pat's and Geno's, so I figured it was a respectable start.

We ordered a cheese steak (Provolone) with onions to share. The bread (hero roll?) was solid, no complaints there. The cheese, whether it's provolone, american, or whiz, is layered on both sides of the bread, followed by the steak, advertised as USDA choice meat, which is grilled on a flat top and chopped up before being mashed into the bread. The meat was good, but they opt not to season the meat, so it was actually a little bland for me with the provolone. Cooked onions are scattered on top, but these also are unseasoned, so the whole package lacks salt. Next time, I'll try the whiz. Konny (and I) got a little scared by the big can o' whiz that they were using. Kinda looked unsanitary. But who am I kidding. This is a cheese steak we're talking about.

Verdict: Solid cheese steak, but definitely going to try some others.

Terakawa Ramen

Our last stop was kind of a surprise. I didn't really expect to eat dinner because we had eaten so much during the day - but in the end, the Yelp reviews won us over. We sat down for two ramens and an order of pork buns.

The pork bun was really strange. It was the first that I've had with lettuce and tomato, as if they were catering to an American crowd. There was also a thousand island-esque dressing that was just odd. The pork itself was very tender (and made us excited about the ramen), but the appetizer was confusing. But then again, Konny and I kicked ourselves for ordering a mostly Chinese dish at a Japanese restaurant. Next time, we'll be trying the Karage.

On to the ramen! Luckily, they had two tonkotsu-base ramens, which is my favorite. (So far, my favorite tonkotsu is from Haru Ichiban in Duluth, GA. Don't let the crappy website fool you, it's quite delicious.) I got the "normal" tonkotsu, which is called the "Terakawa Ramen" and Konny got the "Mayu Ramen", which is essentially the Terakawa Ramen plus mayu oil (dark roasted leek with crushed garlic oil). I thought the Terakawa was a little light (I prefer a rich soup), but the extra mayu oil was an amazing touch (but might be a bit much if you don't like garlic - or if you don't absolutely love garlic).

The noodles were interesting - instead of the wavy egg noodles, they have a "straighter lighter colored noodle", hailing from the Kyushu tradition. I didn't have any particular opinion on the noodles, they were still good - but not my favorite.

I've never been to a real Japanese ramen bar, but it looked pretty authentic. The chefs were all Japanese, or at least learned how to say "HAI!" in response to orders. We had some green tea (at $1 a cup), which we needed to be convinced to try - the waitress said they made it in house - but it was actually quite good! It's the legit kind with matcha-like powder.

Overall, the experience was great. Highly recommended!

P.S. This post was way too long and took me forever to finish. I'll try to split things up even more next time...

Tolls and Rolls

I'm not sure why, but I've been remembering some old lines from the old classic, Robin Hood: Men in Tights. I've conditioned Konny to respond to "If we don't get no tolls, then we don't eat no rolls". For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, "lend me your ears" and educate yourselves!

Just for Fun, Old Sport

After watching the Great Gatsby, I had a phase where I liked to address Konny as Old Sport whenever I had the chance. Usually, I went with a silent "t", to make it more snobby :)

Romping Around Philadelphia: Part 1 - Tea Shops

What would you do with a sunny 60+ degree day on the first day of winter? How about a 5 mile loop around the city? (4.93 miles according to Google). This included a trip to two tea houses, a stop at Monk's Cafe to try the "best fries in Philly", Konny's first Philly cheese steak at Jim's, a walk through Old City, and dinner at an excellent Japanese Ramen restaurant in Chinatown.

Since I most recently wrote about teas, I might as well write about my tea experience first. We hit up two shops in Philly, Premium Steap and House of Teas. These seemed to be the two major shops in the area, but I'm going to keep an eye out for others.

Premium Steap

First of all, hasn't anyone told these guys that it's "steep", not "steap"? (Konny thinks it's because steap, which is a really good guess, but I still think it's stupid!) Despite the language flaw, this shop has a good online reputation (a solid 3.5 stars with 60+ reviews on Yelp along with a 4.0 rating with 15 reviews on Google). I'm not sure how much of this is attributed to great location (mere steps from Rittenhouse Square) as opposed to great tea. The website is pretty simple and sleek, so that's also a plus.

Part of the supposed allure of this store is the smell anything policy, which somehow has been advertised as a unique characteristic of Premium Steap. This is kind of strange because I don't think I've been in any tea shop where I wasn't allowed to smell any tea that I wanted. (Not that it helps at all for me, my nose is terrible for this sort of thing!)

My overall experience of the store left much to be desired, but I'm giving them a mulligan this time around - apparently, we stumbled into this store on its busiest day of the year (not surprising to my wife at all!) I was denied any sample packs since there were too many people in the store when we were there >:o Hopefully, next time will be more pleasant and filled with more conversation about their teas, since from the small chit chat we had, the owner seemed to be knowledgeable about her teas. Maybe Peggy will be a little more free to indulge me in a few sample packs too ;)

Since we ran out of black tea recently and I've been craving China blacks, I had a couple of decisions to make. Golden Needle (malty) vs. Golden Monkey (chocolaty), both from Fujian Province and Keemun Mao Feng (1 bud 2 leaf) vs. Keemun Hao Ya A (I'm not really sure!), both from Anhui Province. We ended up buying:

• 2 oz 2013 Golden Needle ($9/2 oz)
• 2 oz 2013 Keemun Mao Feng ($7/2 oz)

Reviews to come as I "steap" these suckers!

House of Tea

I almost gave up on this one because we stopped by Jim's on South Street to pick up Konny's first official Philly cheesesteak! (Of course, this is another story.) By the time we finished, the store was closed - or at least was supposed to be closed. Luckily, they had extended hours due to the holidays and we happily entered. Contrary to Premium Steap, there were no spelling mishap in the name :) While it seemed that they enjoyed fewer visitors, they still sport a respectable online reputation with 4.5 stars on 12 reviews on Yelp (and no takers on Google). I suspect that their clunky, old website and distance from Center City yield them less traffic compared to Premium Steap.

There was no sign of Nathaniel Litt nor "Boss Lady" during our visit. My first impression was sadly quite poor. Apparently, tea shops have taken to employing people who know absolutely nothing about teas (I'm talking to you Harney & Sons in NYC), which is quite a shame. There were two people working there and seeing that I was being helped by the one who knew nothing, my tactic was to keep asking questions about tea until the other person came to help. (Haha, do I sound like a snob yet?!) Unfortunately, the other one also knew little about the Chinese blacks that I was so interested in, but at least she could hold a little conversation. This eventually led to a phone call to "Boss Lady" to find out where that darn Golden Monkey was from, but alas, even "Boss Lady" didn't know! But at least I was happily surprised to find that they stocked Golden Monkey, since their (presumably outdated) website didn't list it at all.

The lady seemed to be much more familiar with Assams, so I took her up on her recommendations. Apparently, she is not a fan of Darjeelings, so Assam it was! She shoved two canisters underneath our noses and said something like "do you smell the difference"? I've done this a few times in other stores and pretended like I knew what they were talking about, but by now, I'm just like - whatever. I have no clue!

Since House of Tea had less traffic, they were more free to dispense sampler packs. I got to sniff their Keemun Mao Feng, Keemun Hao Ya A, Keemun Hao Ya B, and a couple of Assams. Though I could have been more aggressive, I only came away with a single sample pack. We almost got two, but I felt bad and upgraded one to an actual 2 oz package. In hindsight, I wish I got that extra sampler of Hao Ya A! Here's our takeaway:

• 2 oz 2013 TowKow Assam ($7/2 oz)
• Sampler 2013 Golden Monkey

Review of the TowKow to come. We tried the Golden Monkey yesterday, but I neglected to use the normal proportions in favor of having a gigantic "American" sized pot in bed. Oops!

Exploring Teas

Today I spent a couple hours browsing through online tea shops, wondering if I should buy some more tea. Konny and I have made our way through a number of our tea bags from Silk Road Teas, which I purchased when we lived in Atlanta. I've made a couple remarks to people at work about placing an order together, but no one seemed interested - I guess they're fine with their Celestial and Tazo Teas! Ew!

My senior year of college, I lived with four other guys (and unofficially several more!), including one who had an affinity for teas. He had a little wooden box full of various teas from all over. I got into it and started exploring the supermarket for my own favorites. I ended up favoring the Twinings brand, probably because I appreciated the clean and straightforward packaging, which gave off this sophistication that I was attracted to ;) Twinings had several good teas that I enjoyed, starting with Earl Gray, which continues to be a staple of my tea diet. I also tried Lapsang Souchang, a tea that I often describe to others as a baseball mitt :) (That's probably too condemning of a description, but "smoky" wasn't really part of my food vocabulary).

When I graduated, the same friend gave me some loose leaf with some tea bags to try. I don't remember the exact tea that it was, but I do remember that it was a fruity flavored black tea. It was the first loose leaf tea that I "owned", so I was quite happy with it. After finishing that bag, I went back to my Twinings Earl Gray, since I was either too scared or too cheap to try purchasing loose leaf tea on my own. Probably the latter :)

I had one memorable encounter regarding my tea snobbiness one day at Konny's apartment while hanging out with some of her roommates. We were discussing the practice of adding milk to tea, which I dislike because it muddles the pure taste of the tea. Remembering a story I once heard, I pronounced, "Tea for Peasants!" There was a memory that the reason the English added milk in their tea was because it was a way of getting more tea. Of course, if you try to search for the origins of adding milk to tea, you won't find any evidence of that, and if you think about it logically, more water is probably cheaper than more milk. Alas, I still prefer the taste of pure tea without adulteration.

After moving down to Atlanta, I met a new friend who had an affinity for teas, among other things. I think he was a hobbyist - that is, one who gets really excited about certain things (e.g., coffee, tea, wine, board games, and British TV). He had on occasion hosted tea tastings, where he would bring out a few of his loose leaf teas for people to try. In some cases, he had special notepads for the participants to describe their experience of each tea. Unfortunately, I never got to experience this tasting event, though we had tea many times in a more informal manner. My memory is a little foggy, but I do believe that he also gave me a 2 oz bag to try on my own. It was through him that I was referred to the online tea store Silk Road Teas and I finally purchased some loose leaf tea for myself.

My first purchase was actually a rather large one. Silk Road Teas had a free shipping policy for orders above $55. If you go really expensive, $55 might only buy you a couple of ounces of tea (think Teavana, eww!). I opted to cast as wide a net as I could, within the confines of the store's tea offerings at least, and grabbed 3 sampler packs, which amounted to 9 two-ounce packs of tea. (I originally split the order with another friend, but a year after the purchase, he admitted that he didn't drink any and returned the rest to me). I've since then become an enormous fan of two specific teas:

• Keemun from Anhui Province (I've only tried Mao Feng, but I'd like to try some others, including Hao Ya)
• Golden Monkey from Fujian Province (A fully oxidized Silver Needle, not to be confused with Golden Yuunan)

I'm interested in getting to know the Indian teas a little better, like the standard Assam teas and eventually some Darjeeling teas. The Chinese and Taiwanese oolong teas sounds really interesting, since the liquor taste is supposed to change from one steep to the next. Depending on the tea leaf, you might get 4-6 steeps out of one leaf!

I think this is probably quite enough for today. I'm about to explore two tea shops in the city, so I'm pretty excited! Both have a fairly limited selection of Chinese blacks, but I think I can still pick up my Keemun!

Next time, I might go into some teaware that we've been able to collect over the past couple of years. Happy Tea drinking!

Edit: I almost forgot! The whole reason for the original post was so I could put a few links up.

• Silk Road Teas: Online Tea Shop
• Adagio Teas: Online Tea Shop
• Teavivre: Online Tea Shop
• Tea Trekker: Online Tea Shop from authors of the Tea Enthusiasts Handbook
• Steepster: Neat tea reviewing website
• Teachat: Tea forum