Philadelphia

Last week I had a business trip to the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia.  It was my first time to the city and everything I heard about it before heading up was negative.  Everything.  I wanted to see for myself before I made any decisions about the city so I went in open minded.

It's a pretty rough around the edges type of city.  VERY different from Atlanta and complete opposite from where I grew up in Orlando.  We were there to visit Bottom Dollar Food locations all around the city, so I was prepared to get to see a few different parts of town.  Some were nice, others made me want to leave as soon as we drove in.  Let's just say that I won't be volunteering to move to Philly any time in the future.

While the city left a lot to be desired, the Bottom Dollar Foods that we visited were great.  The stores are unlike anything we have in Atlanta and I wish that wasn't the case.  The stores are smaller in size than a Publix and don't have all of the frills that you'd find in a Publix or even a Kroger, but the prices can't be beat.  I wouldn't do all of my full shopping at at BDF (I'm too much of a seafood and steak snob not to shop at a farmers market or Fresh Market) but I'd definitely make a trip or two a month for a lot of my grocery list.  If you read the blog you know that I do most of my shopping at a farmer's market, so liking a grocery store, other than Publix, is a huge stretch for me.

The second day we were in town was to attend the Grand Opening of a new store.  The doors opened at 7:30am and there was a crowd!  I had no idea people waited in line to go to a new grocery store.  

Also new while in town, a Philly Cheesesteak.  A hot, steak sub with a lot of cheese and veggies isn't my idea of a great lunch but while I was in town, I had to do it.  My boss and I drove around for 30 minutes looking for a legit, authentic cheesesteak place and we came upon Steve's Prince of Steak.  A hold in the wall, walk up and order place with delicious food.  They've been open 30 years, they must be doing something right.  Here is the cheesesteak that I ordered.  It was physically impossible for me to finish the entire thing, I ate half.

Back in Atlanta Friday night we went to the Braves game honoring retired manager, Bobby Cox.  What a great night and such a fun game.  I must admit, section 403 is the way to go for upper deck seats.

Saturday morning was a garage sale at my house for my two neighbors.  Stephen and I bought a few things, my favorite being this fun mirror.  I'm not a fan of the flaking gold paint, but stripped and repainted it will be beautiful!  Stay tuned to see what color Stephen and I choose.