Yeh, Morph It!

Subtitle: Ode to Sme and Sleigh

My sister and her friend (slash mine!) came to visit last Thursday night. They were on Spring Break from UVA/William & Mary, respectively. So most collegiate Spring Breakers can be found bikini-clad (or less) on the shores of Cancun and the like. For these two, Spring Break involved no boys, no booze, and no boorishness (okay, I just needed a 3rd "b"...so I like alliteration, sue me). Instead, they traveled to visit quite possibly the most fully-clothed people on the planet - the AMISH!

The Amish are cool for a number of reasons:

a) Many of them live in Pennsylvania.
b) They have cute homemade dresses and bonnets.
c) They have the best jam and ice cream known to mankind. MMM
d) Amish children are particularly adorable in the aforementioned dresses and bonnets.
e) They ride in buggies.

So Pri and Ash spent a couple of delightful nights in a cutecutecute little house in Amishland (aka Lancaster...LENKester, not LAN-CAS-TER), complete with Amish quilt and Amish fudge and Amish crackers waiting for them upon arrival, all for $79 a night (Dan and I fully intend to take a weekend trip there this summer). After traversing the Amish countryside they came to Philadelphia for a night. Yay!

Philadelphia is also cool for a number of reasons:
a) It is in Pennsylvania, thus sharing land with the Amish.
b) It serves as the home to the Philadelphia Orchestra.
c) There are tons of super awesome theaters and restaurants and museums, etc.
d) Penn.
d) Scannicchio's!

Scannicchio's is a remarkably wonderfully fantastic little gem that Kelly and I discovered a year and a half ago when we were on a quest for an authentic South Philly Itailian restaurant. Dan & I have since made it a habit to take every single visitor there. After just a few visits, our waiter remembered what I order every time (eggplant rollantini) and always welcomes us "back." We mentioned to the hostess the last time we were there that we had gotten engaged over the holidays, and she promptly congratulated us about 14 times, which was also the first and last thing she said to us this time. :)

Anyway, needless to say, it was glorious. Dan very wonderfully accompanied us even though he had a midterm and a mega-enormous project due the next day. Since I know you're dying to know the details of our food extravaganza, we ordered the stuffed whole artichoke (a new experience for the Virginians...mmm garlic) and bruschetta for appetizers, and tried the eggplant, penne alla vodka, and fettucini alfredo with chicken for entrees. Then dessert (even though we were all beyond bursting...except ash...): we got the peanut butter tartufo. mmm. The best part is that it is so perfectly cut and all cute (it looks like a cut apple) and I told them we were there for Priya's birthday (this week) and the brought it out with a candle with "Happy Birthday" written in caramel all along the sides. Oh, and Mark (the waiter) sang with us. It was super cute, and very delicious.

So then we went on a little tour of Philadelphia, and Ashleigh has decided to move here. Glad you loved it, Ash. :) Philly misses you.

Thanks for visiting, girls! And happy birthday, sis!

(If you're wondering about the title, we had a little fun that night at MorphThing.)