take me out to (dinner, drinks and) the ball game

WOW! best day off ever! yesterday was totally awesome, i would file it up there with "day off at the beach last tuesday" and possibly "day off where i laid in the park all day, reading, writing letters and watching dogs and little kids". yes people, THAT good. well i'll help you off the edge of your seat there and let you know what the deal.

started the day off with some good old yin yoga. i've been meaning to write about this non-food related staple in my life because every tuesday morning at 9:30 i look forward to my body feeling blissfully jelly-like. i won't go into great detail here but will save it for a more deserved solo post in the future. post yoga i ate a leftover tempeh club from the royal tavern for lunch (can't beat two days worth of meal for the price of one) and headed over to firehouse bicycles in west philly to bike browse. guess what? I BOUGHT A BIKE! well, more like i bought every single component of a bike and am having them build it for me. it's going to be so kickass! i'll post pictures of my new baby within a week. i also have to come up with a name for her. yep, i name my bikes, get over it.

oh i'm sorry, am i boring you? fine. here's where it gets good. at 5:30 i headed southward to meet sister dear at the cantina los caballitos for some pre-phillies game dinner and drinks! i'm kind of shocked we've never written about the cantina on here as we've been there countless times and almost nary a bad experience. no one to blame but ourselves, i guess, but i shall now remedy that malady. the cantina is a mexican joint with a pretty wide selection of inventive and exciting mexican food. also the margaritas rule and the tecate & tequila special for $4 ain't half bad either. they have a really great happy hour from 4-6 - although a little on the early side for my taste - featuring $2 cups of classic lime margarita, half priced lime margarita pitchers (that's only $10!), half priced drafts and $2 bottles and cans of mexican beer. i mean, if you want to get sauced at 5:30 on any given weekday, this is a great bang for your buck. em and i split a margarita pitcher and munched on the free chips and salsa that they give every table (really good salsa roja and salsa verde, and the chips are good too!).

however, the cantina truly tugs at my heart strings with the best (only?) vegan fajitas i've ever had. you know when they bring you that sizzling hot plate of chicken, beef or veggies at applebee's? it's nothing like that. these come on a regular plate of the non-sizzling variety and who really cares when that plate is covered with wild mushrooms, peppers, onions, black beans, white rice, pico de gallo, guacamole, flour tortillas and tofu and seitan so smokey and succulent you might think it was cooked over an open flame somewhere in the desert and then brought in by men riding donkeys, for authenticity's sake. i think we call that "liquid smoke" here in desert-less philadelphia. the platter comes in at $14 and is pretty perfect for two people to share or one person to have again for lunch the next day (i do love my leftovers!).

bellies full of dinner and all juiced up we headed south again to watch the phillies take on the cincinnati reds. we were both looking forward to another win after monday night's blowout (22-1)! we had seats in section 416, about 3 rows down from the highest row in the whole stadium. but the view was great and i was glad to be sitting down and relaxing. i've been to two phillies games this year and i must say i'm quite impressed at the beer selections at their "brewerytown" stands. last game we got troegs sunshine pils and victory hop devil and this game we got flying fish extra pale ale and yards philadelphia pale ale (after all that fajita, we decided to keep it light). i mean, yeah, ok we did get the tall 16 oz budweisers later on in the game, but we started off classy.


sadly the phils ended up losing 4-3 after a close but disappointing game. we still had fun! and now we have a reason to go back - we want to see them win!! plus i personally am looking forward to hatfield dollar dog night where ALL DOGS are $1 and they have veggie dogs at citizen's bank park! oh vegetarian friendly stadium, i salute you.

post-loss we met up with ryan at grace tavern on basically 23rd and south street. i've only been here a few times but it always rules. the bartender is the chillest dude ever and calls everyone, ok every lady, "love" every time you talk to him. by this point we were getting hungry again so we ordered double fried french fries and cajun spiced blackened green beans! both dishes were really good and i probably should have ordered large instead of small (sorry guys, i think i ate most of the fries while you weren't looking). it's also worth mentioning that they do a really quality vegan burger at grace tavern as well. a few more beers and a round of soco and lime shots (what?!) and then we strapped on our helmets and rode into the beautiful philadelphia night.

love, lauren