Meat machine

A couple of weeks ago, Matt was working in Philadelphia, so it seemed like a good opportunity to visit the City of Brotherly Love. I could see Matt, who had been on the road for work for almost two straight weeks, and I could visit with my brother Drew and my sister-in-law Heidi, who are expecting a new addition to the family in July. The weather turned out to be awesome that weekend, so I got a chance to take in some on the sights.


First, it was off to Center City Philadelphia with Drew and Heidi. We went to the Reading Terminal Market, which in and of itself is an interesting place. There are vendors everywhere selling all kinds of food.

But as an added attraction, it was the first-ever Scrapplefest! Who can turn up scrapple?!? Actually, to be honest, I never had scrapple until that day. We tried pork scrapple, pork and beef scrapple, and turkey scrapple. We all agreed that the turkey scrapple was the best. That's Drew with the Hatfield pig. We didn't let the pig know that the turkey was the best.

Got some wedding ideas while we were there. I can honestly say that we hadn't thought of a scrapple wedding cake. And not to worry, there will be no scrapple wedding cake.

After Drew and Heidi dropped me off at the hotel, Matt and I left on a quest to answer one of those burning questions in life...

Geno's or Pat's? Matt has been to both establishments on a number of occasions, but I have never been. So I had to try them both for myself. We ordered (actually Matt ordered because it's a little overwhelming) a sandwich from each place (wiz wit -- that's a cheese steak with cheese whiz and onions -- the things you learn), and we each had a half from each place. It seems as though we live in a split household. Matt likes Pat's, and I like Geno's. But I'll be honest -- I'm not picky. I'll eat from either place. Although after the scrapple and the cheese steaks, I had my fill of meat for the day.

Here's a look that the intersection at Geno's. The only thing that I missed out on was the full effect of the neon signs. We later found out that both places are open 24 hours a day. I'm sure that knowledge will come in handy some day. There was a pretty good crowd going, but the lines kept moving. Do you see the taxi cab on the right? The driver was sitting there waiting for two women while they got their sandwiches and then take them on to their next destination.