It's been too darn hot to cook, and then I went to Philly

Over the Memorial Day weekend, the temperature shot up ridiculously. I think it got into the 90s on Sunday and Monday, and it stayed in the upper 80s all week. I just couldn't bear to even think about cooking, so I ended up eating a lot of leftovers.

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I visited Philadelphia for the Wizard World convention. Now, I'm not much of a comic book fan, but Kevin Smith was appearing, and we had to get there early to get tickets for his appearance.

So we left on Friday evening, ate at Great Sage restaurant in Clarksville, Maryland, where there is a little shopping center called Conscious Corner. They have a natural pet foods store, where we picked up some canned food for my kitty, a natural foods grocery store, and a gift shop. It's a wonderful veg-friendly oasis in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, for much of our drive to Philly, it was incredibly stormy, which unnerved me, even though I was not the one driving.

We got to our hotel out by the airport fairly late. It's eight miles or so outside of town, but we did get a good rate. We had to get up early to get to the convention center early--as I said, for Kevin Smith's appearance, one needed one of 1,000 tickets to get in. After we got our tickets for that, my boyfriend wanted to get some books autographed by an artist he admires. We grabbed lunch at a local vegetarian restaurant called Singapore Vegetarian, then went back and wandered around the exhibit hall. There were other panels the boyfriend wanted to see, so I waited in line so we could be sure of getting a good seat for Kevin Smith and the clip from "Clerks II." I have never seen him speak publicly before, and he was absolutely vulgar and hilarious, as was the clip we saw.

After he spoke, we drove over to the Historical Waterfront and South Street area, struggled to find parking--and if you can avoid driving in that area, I suggest it, as the streets are incredibly narrow. Plus, parking is very difficult to find, but we found a lot near Horizons Cafe, where we had reservations that evening. However, we had time to kill before our reservation time, so we walked along South Street, which has an eclectic collection of little shops, some nice, some grungy.

About 15 minutes before our reservation, we headed over and were seated quickly. For appetizers, I had a Portabello Carpaccio and Boyfriend had an Exotic Olive Tasting. The "carpaccio" was not only beautiful, but delicious. I don't care for olives, but Boyfriend loved them. For dinner, I had the Pan-Seared Tofu, which was very yummy and filling, and Boyfriend had the Pecan and Sage Baked Seitan, which was nice. For dessert, I had the Saffron Creme Brulee (and "creme brulee" is French for flan, it seems), and Boyfriend had a deliciously rich Hot Chocolate Tart. Horizons is a cozy little restaurant, and even as late as 10:00, it was still crowded in the upstairs dining room. I absolutely recommend Horizons to anyone visiting Philly.

On Sunday, my boyfriend still had tickets to the convention. My pass was one-day only, so I was on my own. I went to the Liberty Bell Center first to catch a bit of history. Luckily, one can take pictures anywhere in the center except the security room, which I suppose is where they have you have your bags scanned and you walk through a scanner--sort of like going through airport security, except you don't hae to take off your shoes. I got some nice pictures of the exhibit area, but my photo posting thing is acting up again--snarl! And I got a really nice picture of the Bell.

After that, I found something called Philly Phlash, a circulator bus that goes through the downtown area, up to the Museum of Art (which I didn't get to see), and near the waterfront. It's $1 per ride or $4 per day unlimited rides, which if I have a whole day for sightseeing, I may just do. I remembered a place called Govinda's on South Street at Broad Street, but they have a very limited menu during the day. I had veggie nuggets, which were very tasty, but you can't serve sandwiches and nuggets without chips! And they do. Sob! I'd like to try them in the evening the next time I'm in Philly.

I hopped back on the Phlash, and rode it around. It stopped for a few minutes at the waterfront, so I had a picture taken of me and took some pictures of the Delaware River and some buildings in New Jersey. I did a little more shopping until Boyfriend decided it was time to meet for an early dinner at Cherry Street Chinese Vegetarian. It wasn't my favorite--I much preferred Singapore Vegetarian--but it was filling and reasonably priced.

After that, we walked back to our car near the convention center, and drove home. I promise, I will try to cook this week. And I will try to post some pictures from my trip.