Meg might hate me for posting this picture but I think she looks totes adorbs. I was lucky enough to benefit from her epic donut bike ride, which she wrote about here. She got yelled at and I got to eat all the donuts in Philly. Yes all of them, there are none left.

A lot of donut related content here recently. Might have to change the name of this blog to Fries with that Donut or Donut with that Shake. Mmm sounds delicious either way.

My friend Meg and I are sharing this plot and look we have stuff growing! It is amazing to me how scared I am of planting things into the ground. I worry I’m doing it all wrong. For two busy ladies, who haven’t had a lot of time to spend on the garden, we are doing pretty good. I’ve killed spider plants in the past so anything coming up is a success to me. I’m easy to please.

It felt great this weekend to do some weeding, head over to Greensgrow to pick up more stuff to plant, put them in the ground and then water them. I actually became a big fan of weeding. It’s super relaxing and I love seeing the end result when I’m done.

I am especially excited about the butter lettuce you see above. This was a part of our first round of planting which also included:  mixed greens, cauliflower, kale, four kinds of basil and cilantro. This weekend we planted: rosemary, some weird herb I can’t remember the name of,  hot peppers, yellow peppers, grape tomatoes, plum tomatoes, tomatillos, and melons. Again we are calling this an experiment so we’re just having fun and learning from the experience. The cilantro has done amazing well. Cilantro pesto here we come!

This is a great project to have with a friend. We’ve gotten into the habit of meeting up for breakfast before we work in the garden so we get to cook together too! Yay friends!

During one of our recent visits I was surprised to see an extensive burger list. Some of them even sounded kind of exotic, French burger anyone? I joked about having burger club at Oscar’s but I feared for the safety of my burger club lovelies. So I did it myself with a small group of fearless burger eaters: SouthernArchivist, MarcRecords and Slosh. I have changed the names to protect the not-so-innocent.

I kept it simple and ordered the bacon cheeseburger. I would say it was a 6 or 8 ounce patty. Cooked super well done so it was a bit dry but actually had a nice char which added something to it. The bacon was crispy and the burger was topped with tomato and raw onion. It was served on a kaiser bun, which is my least favorite kind of bread for a burger bun but it worked with this burger. It was a good quality kaiser roll.

MarcRecords wins a metal for bravery, he ordered the French burger. The burger was described as being topped with baked ham, swiss cheese and a burgundy wine sauce. While I saw the ham and the cheese, I did not detect any of the burgundy wine sauce. I was strangely disappointed. I had a bite of the French burger but didn’t really get much flavor from the ham or cheese. Bummer. I would probably just stick with the plain cheeseburger or bacon cheeseburger. SouthernArchivist kept it super simple with a plain burger and Slosh got the cheeseburger and it might also have had bacon on it. Thanks you guys for playing along!

When at Oscar’s stick with the cheese fries. Super crispy and topped with Cheez Wiz. Have I mentioned my love of Cheez Wiz? Oh I haven’t. Well when you’re parents divorce at 8 and you live with your dad, you learn to love Cheez Wiz. We ate that shit on everything and it was awesome. Thanks dad! Back to the fries, we often get 1 or 3 orders of these things because after a few monster glasses of beer you need cheese fries. It’s simple mathematics, I’m sure there is an equation for it.

At the end of the day would I order a burger from Oscar’s again? Probably not. Especially now that 500° just opened right down the street. I’m pretty excited about it. I will continue to visit Oscar’s to get together with my library pals, drink cheap beer and have a good time.

1. Find a dimly lit bar with a big window to watch the snow. Bonus points for having a sweet jukebox.

The Royal Tavern has both of the above. Dimly lit but has a big window so you get a feel for the snow without actually feeling the snow. I still hate being out in the snow, but I definitely like it better when I’m sitting in a bar.

2. The bar must offer some kind of warm drink involving whiskey or rum.This is also a warming mechanism. I have found that having a small amount of whiskey flowing through my veins this winter has made me a warmer person. Oh and drunker. Funny how that works.

In this instance The Royal offers a hot cider with rum. Oh and a cinnamon stick which some of my friends may or may not have taken home with them to reuse. Weirdos.

3. Indulge in some kind of comfort food. Preferably a childhood classic and a large serving of french fries. Winter = carb overload. Don’t worry, you will walk it off when you realize that Septa has shut down and you must walk most of the way home.

Vegan Sloppy Joe at The Royal. Look I can eat vegan, I swear! It was good but not great. I think I like my Sloppy Joe a little more on the sweet side. This was more on the spicy side. I still ate the whole thing. CARBS! Their fries are excellent.

4. On the second day of daytime drinking, keep it close to home. You will be exhausted from your previous snow day. Drinking indoors can be exhausting work.

Many of my wonderful South Philly and West Philly compatriots met me at my favorite bar in the city, Johnny Brenda’s. Yes it’s my favorite. You can quote me on that.

They were offering an emergency brunch. I really appreciated this because I was craving something breakfasty.

5. Move to the more brunchy cocktails. You need to slowly sip on these so take it easy. You will be marathon brunching. So have a few cups of coffee and enjoy a mimosa or Bloody Mary. Also hydrate with some water. Basically you will have like 20 beverages in front of you. This is ok.

6. Eat only dishes containing pork and potatoes. Protein for energy and carbs to absorb the booze. Right? Ok, it’s just a good combo. Also alliteration.

Do you see how much pork they have on this menu? Love. You can also get 3 different kinds of potatoes. FRENCH FRIED POTATOES, SMASHED POTATOES, AND GRATIN POTATOES.

One friend followed my strict rules and ordered the Cubano. This is a must try at JB’s. Hot pressed sandwich with pork and cheese. Fries = potatoes, in case you forgot.

Unfortunately, not all of my friends could heed my advice. Vegetarian friend got the french toast. Very good and if you prefer a sweet breakfast this will do it for you.

This is the perfect kind of breakfast for me, ham and cheesy grits. I have mentioned my love for JB’s grits. And again I will beg them to BRING BACK YOUR SHRIMP AND GRITS. COME ON!

Crispy ham, creamy grits and yolky egg.

7. Make sure you do all of the above with awesome friends who will travel miles in the snow for you and brunch for 3 hours.

This is what you get when you play around with my camera while I have stepped away. Ok clearly this logic is false because none of them were holding the camera but still they were accomplices.  Seriously though, thanks dudes for making my snow days so epic.