"Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” Henry James

This has been a crazy summer so I have been a little haphazard in documenting my eats.  Hopefully things will slow down soon and I can get back to more consistent food musings, but in the meantime here's a (somewhat long winded) recap of July.

Another summer brought another summer associate class at work... which brought another excuse for summer associate karaoke at Sang Kee Noodle House!  It was just as much fun as last year, and the food was just as delicious.

 [note my favorite, peking duck]

 [boy band]

 [end of the road]

[the mcgraw family]

The firm also sends the summer class to Jim Thorpe for a rafting trip each year.  Although I've not been in a couple of summers, I was a summer associate mentor this year (and that means obligated to attend).  The weather could have been better (the water was freezing and it was a nippy 65 degrees out and raining) but we still had a good time.

This summer B and I finally made it to one of the Night Markets sponsored by the Philadelphia Food Trust.  Food trucks come from far and wide so the masses can sample tasty tidbits, and there are beverage vendors as well.

It is a great, and affordable, time - I would highly recommend checking it out!

The night after the Night Market, B and I left for a trip to my family's lakehouse in Southern Virginia for Fourth of July.  We had a great time roadtripping together despite driving through what looked like the final scene in Twister, and had an even better time with the family boating, jet skiing, cooking out, and bowling.

[no road trip is complete without Doritos Jacked]

[paddle boat]

When we got back I put myself on a veggie only diet to gear up for my brother-in-law's wedding.  In addition to my favorite kale chips, I found some delicious treats at wholefoods including roasted vegetable gazpacho and "detox salad".

One thing I had that was NOT so delicious was Columbia Gorge Organic Carrot Leafy Green Juice.

It tastes like you are drinking a pureed carrot stem.  On the up side, at week's end I was feeling great and was ready to celebrate AJB and J5.

 [my wedding party gift from the bride and groom.  love it!]

The rehearsal dinner was at my in-laws shore house.  They did a beautiful job setting up, and everyone had a blast.

 [B and me]

 [the bride and groom]

[clockwise from left: mini lobster roll, cole slaw, corn fritter, tomato salad, crab cake, mini pulled pork sandwich]

 [group hug]

[boom]

On Saturday we woke to beautiful weather, and the girls prepped for the big day.

[the bride]

 [all gussied up]

Because the couple wanted to miss as little of the cocktail hour as possible, they took a good number of photos in advance.  Before photos, they did a dramatic reveal (that all of the girls got to watch from the upstairs balcony of the hotel).

Once things got rolling I was having way too much fun to take any photos, save one adorable first dance shot.

Congrats to my bebies!!

The following weekend all of our pals got together for a Saturday Phillies game.  Good food, good friends, and good times.

I spent the final weekend of July in NYC for my friend MMA's bachelorette party.  We started out with cocktails at our favorite lesbian bar, the Cubbyhole.

Then we moved on to the Frying Pan for dinner and more drinks.

 [outside of the Frying Pan]

[the bride and her prized possessions, bling and pitchers]

For our final stop of the night we headed to Second on Second, a cool karaoke spot near our hotel.

[only shot I could steal was of us in the cab on the way there]

Saturday night was romper themed, so we spent some time trying to find HBK the perfect romp.  Unfortunately, no luck.

To drown our romperless sorrows, we got some cupcakes at Baked by Melissa.

[featured: chocolate peanut butter, peanut butter and jelly, mint chocolate chip]

These bite-sized gems are to die for - go there immediately, but beware you won't be able to stop at just three!

Saturday night we threw a little "shower" in the hotel, and then went to dinner at Supper for before hitting the town.

Dinner at Supper was fantastic, and we had an amazing night.  Can't wait for the wedding!!

"Always keep a song in your heart - it's like karaoke for the voices in your head" - Robert Fulton Abernethy

I'm not a particularly great singer, and I wouldn't say I have any great ear for musical prowess, but for some reason I just really like karaoke, both performing or watching.  There is something equally thrilling about watching someone totally bomb as there is about watching someone rock the house.  Although its not necessarily as fun to yourself bomb in public, I recently discovered a place in University City known as Sang Kee Noodle House where you can get good food and unite the best and worst of singers in a private karaoke room without (much) judgment.

For our firm's last summer clerk event, the Women's Network at the firm sponsored dinner and fun at Sang Kee.  For $25.00 a person for food, plus a $10.00 per bottle corkage fee (Sang Kee is byob), we enjoyed wonton soup, an appetizer of dumplings and spring rolls, and multiple plates of delicious asian-inspired shrimp, chicken, beef, and rice entrees as well as a fantastic peking duck dish.  After sufficiently stuffing ourselves we moved to a private room that holds 15-20 for karaoke.  The song selections are expansive, covering foreign and American artists alike, and conveniently broken down by female artists, male artists, duets, and groups.

We traded the microphone for about 2 hours, singing everything from NSync to Labelle to Jay Z, with Jackson 5's ABC as our grand finale.

 [at dinner before karaoke]

 [Jay Z and Alicia Keys - "New York"]

[good times]

While I found Sang Kee to be fantastic because it removes the potential public embarrassment of the traditional karaoke bar, if you prefer more of the "real deal" I can recommend McGillin's on Wednesday or Friday nights (but beware - the regulars are no joke!).

"A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the will's freedom after it." - Aldous Huxley

The opportunity to enjoy free lunches with summer associates is one of the main perks of law firm life during the summer time.  Interestingly, these summer lunches often include appetizers and/or desserts - even when dining with attorneys who usually reserve lunch for a simple salad.  Last week, for example, I attended a summer lunch at Hoolihan's.  Despite the fact that we were all relatively full after our soup and half a sandwich meals, we decided to order not one but two mammoth desserts - caramel apple pie with vanilla ice cream and a chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce - between the three of us.

Needless to say we were in somewhat of a food coma for the reminder of the afternoon.

There is, however, one lunch that a partner in my firm organizes every summer which tops all others - the P.F. Chang's lunch.  Each year a group of 6 or so attorneys takes the summer class to P.F. Chang's for what is inevitably a 2 or 3 hour eating extravaganza.  The partner in charge orders a variety of appetizers, entrees, and desserts for the group - the only requirement is that you come with an appetite.  Among the multitude of plates sampled this year were lettuce wraps, the appetizer sampler, crispy honey shrimp, dan dan noodles, kung pao chicken, mongolian beef, the great wall of chocolate, and the banana spring rolls.

Although there were additional dishes on the table, the plates were passing too quickly for me to get a shot of everything.  That said, I think you get the gist - yum, yum and more yum.  P.F. Chang's may not be "high-end" but for a chain restaurant they do a pretty great job.  Can't wait until next summer.

“A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it's better to be thoroughly sure.” - Czech proverb

Wednesday I attended a firm beer tasting mixer hosted at Little Tuna in Haddonfield for our summer clerks.  Little Tuna provided three courses of heavy hors d'œuvres, and each course was paired with two types of beer.  We arrived a bit late so the first and second courses were sort of lumped together for our group (they were kind enough to make sure we got to taste all of the action), but nonetheless delicious.  For starters we were served jalapeño poppers, spicy chicken dumplings, and goat cheese "balls", accompanied by Stoudt's Gold Lager and a ginger peach wheat Dogfish Head.

The poppers were a bit bland, and the goat cheese balls were just too much cheese without anything to cut the taste (which is particularly difficult to swallow - pun intended - when dealing with a dry, crumbly cheese like goat cheese).  The spicy chicken dumplings, on the other hand, were tender and had a nice zip without being overpowering.  The Stoudt's was good but the Dogfish Head was a little too reminiscent of carbonated Arbor Mist for me.

The second course included salt-and-sugar pan seared sea scallops over a zucchini and butter puree, crab cakes made with blue cheese, spinach and red bell pepper, and chicken satay, and was served with Victory Hop Devil (my favorite) and a Flying Fish.

Although the satay was bland, the scallops and crab cake were to die for, and paired perfectly with my Hop Devil.

The final course consisted of lobster and sweet corn quesadillas with a smoked chipotle sauce, oysters rockafeller with crispy prociutto, parmesan, spinach, and garlic, and seared tuna, and was served with a Tripel Karmeliet and a Troegenator Double Bock.

I steered clear of the tuna as I unfortunately despise the taste of cooked tuna, but, the quesadillas and oysters were delicious (though the quesadillas were a little short on lobster meat).  The Double Bock was a little wintery for me, but, I found the Karmeliet delightful and plan to pick some up next time we are at the speciality beer spot on Columbus Blvd.

All-in-all a great time and assuming the tasting menu was just a preview of the great ditties on Little Tuna's full menu, I would definitely recommend stopping in for a bite.