Uwishunu.com

Have you ever seen a movie where someone has one day left to live, so they try and cram a life’s worth of living into one day? It always involves a lot of beautiful, picturesque activities done in the outdoors. Fly fishing, mountain biking, horseback riding, a candlelit dinner under the stars… all so the sad sap on the poster can go to his grave with a smile. Well now you can have that day and live to tell about it. It sure is nice to have a day of beauty and outdoor activity without the inconvenience of a premature death, isn’t it?

The event, entitled A Day in the Park: Dance in the Dark, will be a full day of activities, including a 5 mile run/walk; a mountain bike trail ride; an equestrian event; nature walks; scavenger hunt for children; fly fishing demonstrations; family volunteer projects; and a dinner-dance party in the evening. Proceeds will benefit FOW’s Sustainable Trails Initiative.

For all you do-gooder types out there who want the fun-filled day but would also like to do it for a good cause, a little knowledge dropped on the Sustainable Trails Initiative will help you out.

The Sustainable Trails Initiative is a three-phased, multi-year project that will make the 57 miles of National Recreation Trails in the Wissahickon a physically and socially sustainable system that works for all park users. Friends of the Wissahickon will use funds generated with this event in partnership with the Fairmount Park Commission and project consultants from IMBA’s Trail Solutions.

Tickets for daytime events are $30 for adults, $15 for children, and $75 for families of four (two adults, two children, additional children $10). Full event tickets (daytime and evening events) are $125 per adult (evening events are for adults only).

For more information, visit Friends of the Wissahickon’s official website.

A Day in the Park: Dance in the Dark
Sunday, May 30th

Philly’s honorary creative ambassadors, Questlove and Black Thought from The Roots, talk about their love for the city and discuss their 2nd annual Picnic taking place on Saturday, June 6th at Penn’s Landing.

This day-long festival brings together artists from various genres to the Philadelphia waterfront for music and fun. Listen as they announce all-star performances.

Be sure to enter the The Roots Picnic Summer Getaway for a chance to win two tickets to the picnic, round-trip transportation on Amtrak, hotel accommodations and more!

Post by Anna Cutler

I love snails. Let me be more specific… I love escargot; those juicy snails marinated in herbs, spices and sizzled to perfection. Since I was first introduced to these slimy sensations about a year ago, I simply cannot get enough of them. But it seems like the only places that seem to sell them are expensive, stuffy French restaurants. Who can afford that every week?

Well, I found a solution: Caribou Cafe. This trendy, warm French restaurant is known for its classic French cuisine in a modern, bright and vibrant atmosphere. With an extensive menu and delightful wine list (with more-than-reasonable reasonable prices for both), its patrons can enjoy a variety of fresh-dishes (including les poissons, ooh la la) a scrumptious Pre-Theatre prix fixe menu (typical Parisian style menu for only $29.00) and sinful mouth-watering desserts.

But the best thing on the menu? The Escargot. Presented in what looks like a deviled-egg dish, these delectable treats are topped with fresh herbs, oil and roasted red peppers. Just one pop and I was hooked – and for under $10 I could afford a second helping. Pair it with a fresh French baguette and specialty drink, and I’m set for dinner every night of the week.

Don’t worry. If you don’t share my strange passion for these creatures there’s plenty of unique, sophisticated fare to enjoy at Caribou. Just dust-off your high school French textbook (yes, the menu might need some translation) and trust me, at the end of the meal you’ll feel like a beret-wearing, cigarette-smoking, espresso-drinking Parisian. OK- maybe without the cigarette.

Caribou Cafe
1126 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 625-9535
www.cariboucafe.com

Northern Liberties Hosts the 2nd Annual Philadelphia Independent Film Festival

Last year’s inaugural festival was a huge success and with the city’s independent film community continuing to grow, this year should be even better. In 2008, PIFF screened over 150 local and international films over four days, and welcomed filmmakers, directors, critics and plain ol’ movie enthusiasts from all over.

One the coolest aspects of the festival is its connection with the Northern Liberties neighborhood, utilizing venues such as the Arbol Café, Yards Brewing Company and EXIT Philadelphia.

For more information, check out:

Philadelphia Independent Film Festival – Official Site
Official PIFF Blog
PIFF Twitter

Smak Parlour in Old City; photo by B. Krist for GPTMC.

Do you love nice weather? Do you love to shop? (Okay, that should be everybody.) Then this weekend will be your cup of tea: the second annual Old City stroll and Sidewalk Sale is taking over the reputable shopping neighborhood May 16 and 17, with participating boutiques bringing their wares outside for sunshiny browsing from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Participating shops will have the event’s logo in their storefront; a better indicator will be eager shoppers browsing outside. Some of the shops include Scarlett Alley, Smak Parlour (this girl’s personal favorite), Foster’s Urban Homeware, J. Karma and many more.

And bring your appetite, because complimentary cocktails and hors d’ouevres will be offered throughout the day. And many shops will also host door prizes, demonstrations, trunk shows and raffles — some even offering $100 gift cards to lucky shoppers. So bring your lucky rabbit’s foot, too (and your sunscreen).

Keep your fingers crossed for sunshine, and I’ll see you there!

Philly in the spring is beautiful, there’s no denying it. But offer me a low-key vacation, beachside, in the Caribbean, and there’s not a chance I’ll pass it up. But otherwise, I’m kinda broke, which is why Cuba Libre‘s Cuban Brunch Getaway is my new best friend: a $14.95 3-item brunch special (3-items=at least enough food to last you all day) sure to make you feel like you’re poolside in Havana.

Walking into Cuba Libre is like walking into a movie set. There’s high ceilings, brightly colored walls, plentiful vegetation, large windows, wicker chairs (surprisingly comfortable!) and a large upstairs balcony area, which overlooks the main dining room. When I visited, the front porch was open, the sun was shining… it felt glorious.

And the food. Ohhhh, the food. The Brunch Getaway offers a choice of two starters: chrispy churros with guava jam or black bean soup. Being indecisive, my boyfriend Matt and I each ordered one, and split them both. The churros were crispy, and covered with sugar crystals (just the way I like them) and the guava jam just melted on your tongue. The soup was tasty and flavorful with just the right amount of beans…

For our meal, I went with un-believably amazing One-Eyed Ropa Vieja Hash, a classic Cuban shredded beef brisket, with tomatoes, bell peppers, red wine-on-hash-of-Idaho-russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, manduros (plantains) and corn. Ayy. It was incredible. The beef was tender and juicy, and the vegetables struck the perfect balance of sweet and mild. Delish!

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Silk City

Like all major American cities, Philadelphia will always have a list of things that we could use more of. Parking spaces come to mind, as do sports championships. But one thing no casual onlooker could yearn for in the City of Brotherly Love is DJ events. With multiple party promoters hustling shoulder to shoulder to flood an already crowded market, DJs struggle to make a name for themselves and the party that surrounds them.

But if you were to ask the average bar-hopper which type of DJ event, few are going to turn their nose up at funk and vintage-era boogie records. Its retro, its old school and there is enough dance beats to go around. The recipe is for booty-shaking and hip-quaking for the ages.

This is, of course, no unexplored territory for Philly DJs… but would you rather dance to a reinvented Turnaround Vs. Immediate party or watch a DJ try and make a name for himself remixing sad-sap indie records? Yeah, that’s what we thought.

Electric Soul has a happy medium. They are not a direct descendant of the Barbary’s funk fiesta but you can definitely expect a visceral level of old-school sounds mixed with beat-driven electro-funk, nu-jazz and boogie. And with grooves brought to you by the Illvibe Collective and special guest J. Boogie, you know you are getting the best the decks have to offer.

Best of all, the event is hosted by Silk City, famous host of King Britt’s original Monday night Back 2 Basics jam. In short, their moody lounge vibe, full of velvet paintings and twisting neon, puts Electric Soul in good company.

Check out the event at Silk City, every 3rd Sunday, starting May 17th. $5 cover.

Silk City
435 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123
(215) 592-8838
www.silkcityphilly.com

Photo courtesy of Estia

Just in time for the summer season, family-owned Greek restaurant Estia is offering a generous, three-course dinner deal for $30.

For your first course, choose among such appetizers as grilled octopus or spanikopita, while the main course could be the fish of the day, a roasted chicken dish called “kotopoulo” or a traditional Greek casserole (“mousakka”). Finally, the all-important dessert course is karidopita, a walnut-based sweet concoction. Yum, yum and yum.

Situated along the Avenue of the Arts, Estia is a great pre-theater option — and with the cuisine’s strong evocations of the Greek isles, it’s just about the perfect summer meal.

CLICK HERE for the full menu.

It’s lunchtime and you’re somewhere in the vicinity of City Hall. You know you want something a bit healthier and more substantial than a food truck hot dog. However, you still don’t want to drop too much cash. What do you do?

You walk yourself right on over to Reading Terminal Market, for their newly launched $7 Meal Deal. Every day of the week (for those of you don’t work in the neighborhood, that means weekends too), you can get lunch (and in some cases, breakfast) from more than 20 vendors all across the Market for $7 or less.

In our eyes, some of the stand-out offerings include the half sandwich, small soup and bag of chips from Hershel’s East Side Deli, rib sandwich, potatoes and drink from the Rib Stand and the spinach pie, greek salad and drink from Olympic Gyro. All the choices are after the jump, so you can plan your midday feasts accordingly.

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The 1916 Philadelphia Phillies

You may know The Betsy Ross House as the restored home of the famous revolutionary seamstress and a cute little museum dedicated to the Stars and Stripes and the birth of America. But did you know that it also hosts temporary exhibits?

Play Ball! is a new exhibit on the history of Philly baseball that’s coming to the house May 21st, and will be on display all summer, with new objects rotating in every month. You definitely know about the World Champion Phillies; did you know that before there was a curse of Billy Penn even before there was a mascot in a funny green suit? There were also the Philadelphia Athletics, the Philadelphia Stars, and (my personal favorite) the Philadelphia Pythians?

The exhibit is being co-presented by the Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co. and the Phillies, and is free with admission to the house (a measly $3). It’ll explore the history of baseball in the City of Brotherly Love: learn about the first African American teams, see original jerseys and photographs, check out seats from Connie Mack Stadium, and more! And make sure to check out the rest of the house, if you haven’t seen it yet!

Play Ball!
May 21st – September

The Betsy Ross House
239 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
www.betsyrosshouse.org