Pearl's Oyster Bar.

Today I went to Reading Terminal Market with my mom. 

Fried oyster platter.

This was my second time being there. I decided to be adventurous and try the fried oyster platter at Pearl’s Oyster Bar. It came with cole slaw and fries. The oysters were new to me, so I thought they were interesting. And the cole slaw and fries were really good.

One of my favorite places.

For dessert I had a black and white cookie from the Famous 4th Street Cookie Company.

Yum.

The cookie was really good as you can tell by the picture.

Black and white cookies.

They also sell freshly dipped amazing chocolate chip cookies. And if you like chocolate chip cookies and chocolate, I would recommend that sometime you try one.

Chocolate chip cookies dipped in chocolate ganache.

After eating lunch, we shopped around at the different stands, including the Herbiary where I found a “bath bomb” and some herbal throat spray.

I love the Reading Terminal Market!

Here are just a few of the cookies that we baked, decorated, and donated to accompany food baskets for families in need.

Yesterday I went to my friend’s church with my mom, and we decorated home-made sugar cookies to donate to a local food organization that gives out food baskets to families in need.

First we all brought in about four or five dozen cookies that we made at home. Then at the party, we used lots of colorful icings and sprinkles to make them pretty. There were about forty people and we ended up with a few thousand cookies to donate, which made everybody feel great.

Here are the big boxes used to carry the Christmas cookies. I hope we spread a lot of Christmas joy.

My mom’s friend Jen has been organizing this event for four years now at her church. It takes a lot of work and it’s really fun, and it is great to know that we helped to show people that we care, and spread some holiday cheer.

Here we are making some s'mores at Cosi in Old City Philadelphia.

On Black Friday, my mom and her friend Kelly and I all decided we would go into the city.  So we took the train and then a cab to Macy’s. We saw the holiday light show there and also their Dickens Village on the third floor.  It was amazing. The figures almost looked real.

We had a nice lunch at Parc on Rittenhouse Square (I had the warm shrimp salad and a decaf latte). Then we went to other stores we like such as Anthropologie, an art supply store, and a place in Old City that’s a glass blowing studio called Hudson Beach Glass. 

Next we went on a carriage ride and our horse’s name was Martini and he was a very friendly horse. 

Then another highlight of my day was when I made s’mores at Cosi.  The s’mores were yummy and it reminded me of summer because over the summer I love to make s’mores.  And this time I got to make them on a platform with a miniature campfire in the middle.

It was a fun, busy day and a great way to spend Black Friday!

Here's the delicious coconut shrimp.

I had coconut shrimp and here’s a beautiful picture of it. Doesn’t it look fabulous?

Here's the salad, my shrimp, and the bread with olive oil.

And my mom ordered a salad with goat cheese and red beats and pecans and we shared. It was all really good.

Here's the chowder with crab and the baja tacos.

Then we had chowder with lump crab meat and baja cajun tacos. We had a lot left over and brought some food home.

And finally, here's the Jamaican coconut pie.

Last but not least, I ordered the Jamaican coconut pie.  I thought it was delicious but I only ate some of it because it had a lot of eggs in it.  It was a very eggy custard pie, more adults might like it than kids.  It even had sauce with a little bit of rum in it, but it was just for flavor and just a tiny tiny bit.

Also, my waitress was very kind. And I would love to go back again some time soon.

Here's a picture of my beautiful corn and chile salsa and super seeded tortilla chips from Trader Joe's.

Today after school for my snack I had Trader Joe’s Corn and Chile Tomato-less Salsa with their Super Seeded Tortilla Chips. (I love this store  because it has a bunch of different really good foods but it’s not overwhelming to pick which ones to try.) The chips were really good and so was the salsa. Chips and salsa is one of my favorite snacks, and it was delicious. At first I thought it was going to be too hot, but no, it was sweet with a little bit of spice.  So if you’re looking for a tasty and healthy after school snack, this was really good.

Here is the beautiful food that we got at Susanna Foo's dumpling stand at the Wayne Market.

The other day we went to Susanna Foo’s new dumpling stand at the Lancaster County Farmer’s Market in Wayne, Pa. We wanted to get some take-out food for dinner.  I absolutely loved it. We got chicken curry dumplings, pork dumplings, edamame, brussels sprouts, very pretty golden beets, and sweet coconut rice. I especially liked the beets, and normally I am not a big fan of beets but this time I thought they were really good.   If you’re ever in a rush and you need to pick up dinner, it’s a great place to go.

The market was really nice, and I loved the gigantic case of pretty chocolates at Nancy’s Candy Corner.  I got some raspberry cream filled chocolates for dessert, which were delicious.  They come in milk chocolate and dark chocolate.

The market is held Saturdays under the Gay Street Bridge in Phoenixville, Pa.

Today I went to the Phoenixville Farmers’ Market. It’s under the Gay Street Bridge in Phoenixville, Pa.  Being under the big bridge was cool and if it rains, it helps. There was a guitar player playing some pretty music and it was a beautiful day.

We walked around for a little bit and the first thing I got was an almond croissant with almond paste in the inside.  It was really really good.

This stand had organic veggies.

We also bought some vegetables such as arugula and tomatoes (actually tomatoes aren’t really vegetables).

Then we bought some fruit from North Star Orchard, such as peaches and asian pears.  My mom also got some organic eggs and grass fed beef from Forks Farm.

Pulled pork sandwich with tango mango sauce. Yum.

For lunch, I had a pork sandwich with mango sauce. It was delicious.

For dessert, I was about to order a  “Pieces of Reeses” cupcake from Iced by Betsy, but they sold out of them right as I was about to order.  So instead I got a vanilla cupcake with berry filling and berries on top.  It was a very tasty and beautiful cupcake.

This cupcake was as delicious as it was beautiful.

Later in the afternoon when we were back at home, we cut up an asian pear and put goat cheese on it that we also got at the market. It was very delightful as a snack and the pear was sweet and juicy. The goat cheese was from Shellbark Hollow Farm. My mom especially loved the goat cheese.  I want to try it again to see if it’s something I really like.

Later at home, an asian pear with fresh goat cheese.

I am really looking forward to going again.

Here's me trying out one of the hanging wicker chairs. They were awesome.

This week I went to the Continental Midtown in Philadelphia for dinner, and it was amazing. This is definitely one of my favorite restaurants. I went with my mom and my sister.

Tofu tempura.

To share, we had tofu tempura. We all enjoyed this dish and my sister especially enjoyed it because she’s vegetarian. It looked really pretty when they brought it out on the plate.

Thai chicken lettuce wraps.

I ordered the Thai chicken lettuce wraps. So basically you just take a piece of lettuce and wrap the Thai chicken in it.  It was delicious and the best part was that you still had some room for dessert. In the photo you can see that we could look out a porthole and see Chestnut Street.

Lamb flatbread.

My mom got lamb flatbread and she really liked it.  

Calimari salad.

My sister got calamari salad and she really enjoyed it.  Calamari is deep fried squid.  I had it before and I tried it again, and I liked it a lot.

Dessert!

Their desserts are really yummy too. For dessert we all shared the chocolate and peanut butter mousse cake, the blond bombshell, the cherry cotton candy, and the peanut butter and jelly ice cream. It was all really yummy. I’m not even sure which one was my favorite because they were all amazing!

Our waitress and the manager were really nice. I can’t wait to go back with just one other person so I can sit at a table with the cool wicker chairs.

Thank you for checking out my blog and if you go to the Continental, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Grilled cheese with bacon from Bruno's Cafe.

It was very very hot outside, so we had to make sure to keep hydrated with a lot of water. We walked around for 3 1/2 hours. 

That's me in the middle of the net.

The first place we went was called Out on a Limb and I went out on a big net in the tree canopy and looked down and my mom got a picture. It was really cool, like being a squirrel. I also went out in a big gigantic life size bird’s nest.  There were big robins eggs that you could sit on like a mother would.

The megaphones were awesome, it was amazing to hear like an animal hears.

We also listened through megaphones that allow you to hear things like an animal would. So, if you have a dog, do you ever wonder why it moves its ears around when there is just a tiny sound?  Because they have great hearing and they are moving their ears in different directions toward the sounds.

Also, in the beginning, before you walk around, kids get a passport that you take around to different stations and emboss it, which means indent the paper like a stamp, sort of. 

Me in the Springhouse, where it was cool because of the water underneath it.

All the different stations are called Out on a Limb, Oak Allee, Springhouse, Log Cabin, and Dawn Redwoods.  You stamp your passport at every station and learn a bunch of different things about trees, nature’s different temperatures, plants, and stuff like that.

Here's me outside the Springhouse, where it was much hotter.

At the Log Cabin, I pumped water out of an old fashioned pump.

This place was amazing.  If you like walking around and learning new things about all the plants and looking at all the beautiful things of nature, then you should go to the Morris Arboretum. And I recommend eating at Bruno’s Cafe so you have lots of energy for all the walking and adventures.

It was really fun to see all the beautiful plants and run through the sprinklers.

Our at-home yummalicious summer salad.

The ingredients were mashed up chickpeas, different kinds of sweet peppers (pretty yellow and purple ones), lettuce, hard-boiled organic eggs, and raspberry walnut dressing.  For the mashed up chickpeas, we just mashed them lightly with a potato masher and added olive oil, salt, pepper, and cumin.  The mashed chickpeas were delicious and they made the salad more tasty and filling as a summer salad lunch.

It was one of the best summer salads I have ever had.