Go Phillies!
Only a few hours till Halladay will throw out the first pitch and its baseball season! It’s been too long in coming…..Give me some peanuts and cracker jacks! Let's hear it for the Phillies!
Best Crafting Blogs
The internet makes it easy and efficient to share interests far and wide. It's become something of a haven for craft enthusiasts, featuring many blogs dedicated to the world of crafting. Looking for inspiration? Here are five craft blogs worth reading:
The Crafting Chicks
Started by a group of friends wanting to share their creations together, the Crafting Chicks has helpful hints, craft ideas, and recipes. Step by step instruction ensures that completing these imaginative projects will be a breeze.
Craft Junkie Too
Tracy is a craft junkie, but knows that there are a lot of others out there. Craft Junkie Too is a great resource for collecting and sharing craft ideas, all of which are conveniently organized into different project categories.
Craftbits
A free site offering thousands of ideas for making crafts for holidays and occasions of all sorts. Craftbits also features a number of craft competitions, DIY videos, and a gallery of user submitted ideas.
Craftzine
The Craftzine blog showcases great ideas from a number of craft blogs, and as such is a remarkable source of information and inspiration. With a massive database full of ideas, contests, and links to other sites, Craftzine is a site that anyone with a love of crafting needs to visit.
Ucreate
Ucreate provides tutorials for making various crafts that are full of helpful photos to take you through each step of the process with ease. There are also a number of crafts for kids, as well as party ideas!
The Freight House: Chic Dining with A Menu to Match
Big city-style dining is now available in the heart of historic Doylestown at The Freight House. Leather booths, high-end cocktails, an extensive wine list, and fusion cuisine highlight this converted (you guessed it) warehouse that now houses one of the hottest tickets in the Greater Philadelphia area. An outside patio area with couch style seating and a stone fire pit round out the full court press of elegant artillery.
A raw bar featuring sashimi, king crab claws, and Island creek oysters provides guests with a lite sampling to begin their evening before slipping into small plates of kobe sliders, Kentucky fried sweet breads, or a duck confit spring roll. Entrees are steakhouse inspired, anchored by The Freight House “Surf and Turf”— a petite filet mignon and South African lobster tail served with roasted fingerling potatoes, haricot vert, and Bearnaise sauce.
The Freight House
194 West Ashland Avenue
Doylestown, PA 18901
(215) 340-1003
www.thefreighthouse.net
Savona/Bar Savona: A Must For Wine Lovers
If you’re an oenophile—one who savors the taste of wine—then Philadelphia’s Savona is going to become your new favorite spot. With the deepest wine cellar in the entire state, Savona offers more than 1,000 unique wine selections, and the well-trained staff can make navigating that imposing wine list an exciting adventure. The newer addition of Bar Savona brings a more casual spirit to the experience, with a well-composed menu of regional Italian favorites like crispy wood-fired pizzas and amazing hand-cut pasta. The presentation of the food is also superb, with dishes given amazing care in the plating process to be a feast for the eyes as well as the mouth. The service is top of the line, and Savona has earned its reputation as one of the most consistent restaurants in the Philly area. Prices are more than reasonable, and very competitive with other restaurants in its class.
Savona/Bar Savona
100 Old Gulph Road
Gulph Mills, PA 19428
(610) 520-1200
www.savonarestaurant.com
Valentine’s Day Gifts From Hands And Hearts
Nothing says “I love you more” than the gift of your own time and creativity. But it’s important to make sure that homemade gifts are something that the recipient will be able to use. Here are some ideas for thoughtful homemade gifts for Valentine’s Day.
- Make homemade candy, cupcakes, or cookies, and give them to your beloved in a hand-decorated box or bag.
- If your partner keeps a journal, a scrapbook, or a photo album, make one for them. You can decorate a pre-made book or make one from scratch. Personalize one page with a photo, collage, or note to the recipient.
- Personalize a photo of yourself and your loved one. The possibilities are endless – you can surround the photo with keepsakes and reminders of your relationship in a shadowbox frame, make a collage, or decorate a frame for the photo.
- Give the gift of scent – sew small squares of fabric and stuff with lavender or rose petals to make sachets. Create a custom blend of essential oils, or buy a soap making kit and present your partner with homemade soaps in their favorite colors and fragrances.
- Remind your love that spring is right around the corner with some pretty pots and seeds. Make your own seed packets with personalized messages and rubber stamps.
Young Ears: The Best Kids Albums
The days of music for kids being unlistenable for adults are over. Some of the modern artists for the younger set make music that parents can also enjoy. Here are five essential records that parents will enjoy, too:
Dan Zanes – House Party
Zanes is one of the most popular names in children’s music today. He has multiple albums on the market, but House Party is one of the most accessible, full of fast-paced songs that will get your kids moving.
Laura Veirs – Tumble Bee
This Canadian singer-songwriter is known for her grown-up work, but her first kids album, produced with husband Tucker Martine, takes classics from the Smithsonian Folkways collection and gives them a new spin.
The Deedle Deedle Dees – Strange Dees Indeed
Brooklyn-based historical rock band takes some of the most important people in the annals of humankind and crafts catchy, addictive tunes about them.
Gustafer Yellowgold – Gustafer Yellowgold’s Wide Wild World
This entertaining concept album draws from the excesses of 70s rock to tell a rollicking tale of a strange creature who fell to Earth from space.
Jim Copp & Ed Brown – Agnes Mouthwash and Friends
The totally unique records created by Copp and Brown in the 1960s still hold up today. They’re bursting with strange, funny characters and addictive tunes, and kids of all ages love them.
5 Best Novels of 2011
In 2011, well-known novelists resurfaced with captivating new work while new authors established their voices. Here are some of the best novels of the year:
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Japanese master Murakami offers another lengthy yet gripping novel with 1Q84, set in 1984 Tokyo and the parallel world 1Q84. The lives of his protagonists, an inquisitive young woman and a ghostwriter, intertwine by chance, building romance and suspense in a dystopian setting.
The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides
This novel follows a love triangle from college into the real world. With his trademark wit, Eugenides creates engaging characters trapped in a modern-day love story.
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
In a humorous take on The Rapture, Perrotta follows the interacting religions and personalities in a town called Mapleton after some people spontaneously disappear into thin air. The Mayor and remaining citizens must grapple with remaining and losing their loved ones.
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
Harbach’s debut explores the American pastime of baseball, examining love for the game along with love for others. Structured around two fateful games, the plot concerns the characters’ tragicomic navigations of their college-sized world.
The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht
A worldly novel written by a young author, The Tiger's Wife follows young doctor Natalia as she wades through a secretive Balkan village. In addition, Natalia strives to uncover the secrets surrounding her grandfather’s recent, sudden death.
5 Classic Holiday Movies for Kids
In the swirl of holiday activity, one of the best ways to spend some quality time with kids is to enjoy a holiday film with them. Here are some of the top holiday movies for youngsters:
A Muppet Family Christmas
This is a fun movie that will fill your house with song. In fact, the kids (and you!) probably won’t be able to resist singing along. The film features characters from Sesame Street, the Muppets, and Fraggle Rock, a colorful and energetic ensemble that brings the Christmas spirit right into your living room.
Mickey's Christmas Carol
Many film aficionados consider this Disney cartoon version of “A Christmas Carol” one of the best adaptations of the classic Dickens tale. You and your children will love watching Scrooge McDuck’s adventures as he discovers the true meaning of the holiday season.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
This Christmas classic, narrated by Burl Ives, uses puppetry and stop-motion animation to present an original twist on the famous tale of Rudolph. You’ll enjoy making holiday memories with your children as you share in the whimsy, charm, and intelligence of this film.
Home Alone
This action-filled comedy is particularly fun to share with older kids, pre-teens, and teens. The main character, a spunky eight-year-old boy, accidentally gets left home when his family leaves for Christmas vacation and finds himself fending off house robbers. Hilarious holiday capers ensue.
A Christmas Story
Generations of young people have grown up enjoying this funny, moving, memorable tale of a boy’s Christmas adventures during the 1940’s. You’ll love revisiting this classic film just as much as your kids will adore discovering it for the first time.
Review Roundup: Using Yelp And UrbanSpoon
The days of not knowing what a restaurant will deliver until your plate is on the table are long gone. A number of useful Internet services now allow you to look up reviews for just about any eatery you desire, from greasy spoon to five star culinary palace. But how do you know which of these sites are trustworthy? In this feature, we’ll compare the two market leaders – Yelp and Urbanspoon – and help you make up your mind for yourself.
Yelp, with over 54 million monthly unique visitors, has built itself up into one of the major players in the local reviewing industry. Reviewers are very loquacious and often provide a great deal of information, as well as numerical ratings of the businesses they cover. However, there has been some criticism leveled at the company by business owners, alleging that they perform certain services (such as removing negative reviews) for businesses that advertise on the site.
UrbanSpoon, unlike Yelp, focuses exclusively on restaurants. In addition to user reviews, UrbanSpoon aggregates comments from newspapers, magazines and other professional sources, as well as noteworthy foodie blogs. This presents a more nuanced portrait of the restaurant in question, making it more useful. UrbanSpoon does not cover the wide range of businesses that Yelp does, however.
Keep It Green: Five Great Salads
It’s important to have vegetables with every meal, and the most common way to get them is through salads. But if you are getting tired of the usual mix of lettuce, cucumber, carrots, and tomatoes, here are some great options to spice up your salad plate.
- Arugula is one of the most useful greens to build a salad around. The peppery green adds spice and excitement to a dish. Serve it simply, with a dressing made with lemon juice and olive oil, and garnish with shaved Parmesan cheese.
- Baby spinach is delicious and healthy, packing tons of protein. Make a salad with goat cheese, raisins, and pumpkin seeds. A simple dressing of apple cider vinegar and olive oil completes it perfectly.
- Iceberg lettuce is a much-maligned green, but it provides a great crunch in some salads. Mix it with grilled chicken, shredded carrots, strips of fried wonton wrapper, and a sesame-based salad dressing.
- Kale is one of the healthiest greens you can eat, packed with antioxidants, so using it in salad is a no-brainer. Remove the stems and toss with pomegranate seeds and slivered almonds.
- Tuna nicoise salad is a classy side dish that draws raves. Mix fresh tuna with quartered, boiled potatoes, green beans, lettuce, fresh parsley, and tarragon in a tasty anchovy dressing.
Equal Housing Opportunity