With A Little Help From My Friends

As I recount my time at Penn, it is moments like these that make me remember how lucky I am to have such amazing friends. Love you guys, to many more great memories together <3

Celebrating in Extravagance

Barclay Prime is as close as it gets to the meaning of opulence in Philadelphia. $100 cheesesteaks, Wagyu strips, a wine list the size of a textbook... no regrets.

Wagyu beef sliders + cheese popover + West Coast oysters and king crab

Lobster bisque + kale salad + roasted bone marrow

10 oz. Satsuma Wagyu NY Strip from Kyushu Island, Japan
Sides of tator tots and brussels sprouts + dessert of fresh fruit and creme fraiche

If you've never tried wagyu steak before, trust me when I say that it's about as good as it gets (in Philly and most other places). The meat is so marbled and full of flavor that each piece basically melts in your mouth with every bite. To top off that experience even further, we were each offered a choice of a steak knife - all designer knives that you would see hanging in the cases of William Sonoma. The Shun steak knife we all chose (not diverse at all, I know) cut through everything as if it were softened butter. Is it weird that the knife made the whole experience that much more fun?

Revel-ing in Atlantic City

Took a casual road trip to AC with a few friends to take advantage of our last days as seniors; from forgotten wallets to in-suite champagne, it was definitely a memory of a lifetime. Photos from our dinner at The Continental:

Tea Time!

Just finished my last final exam of my college career! Time to celebrate by writing a post about one of my favorite things ever: Afternoon Tea :D These places are all in NYC since I haven't found a nice tea place in Philly yet, but will be visiting The Dandelion Pub sometime this week, so will update with that soon!

SoHo

Harney & Sons (SoHo): Darjeeling tea, vanilla and cheddar & chive scones

Harney & Sons has supposedly been around for three generations now, which is evident by their massive tea collection in their shop in SoHo. Their walls are literally covered in all different types of tea, but the best part of this place is that they have a nice little lounge in the back of their shop where you can sit and enjoy one of their many tea selections. We decided to go as a light brunch one weekend and shared a pot of Darjeeling between the two of us. We also ordered the vanilla and cheddar & chive scones, which were the perfect combination of buttery and crumbly. The vanilla came with the traditional clotted cream and jam, while the savory scones came with a tangy dijon honey mustard spread. Not super filling, but definitely a nice place to stop by if you're ever shopping in the area!

St. Marks

ChikaLicious Dessert Bar: Tea with a chocolate tarte

This is more of a dessert place than for tea, but we had tea here so it counts! Desperate for dessert after dinner one night in the St. Marks area, we stopped by ChikaLicious Dessert Club, but, after finding a line out the door, we walked across the street to its Dessert Bar instead. While the Dessert Club is a small shop with very little seating (much like the Momofuku Milk shops), the Dessert Bar is like a little restaurant. We saw that most people there went for the three-course dessert menu, but seeing as we just finished a very filling dinner, we decided to just order a pot of tea with one of their dessert selections. It was a little disappointing. The tea was fine but the dessert was not only tiny for the price, it also wasn't anything special. I'll probably just stick to buying their other treats to-go from the Dessert Club on the other side of the road.