A Tuesday evening dinner with friends on Val’s balcony. Though it was hot today, by evening there was the most amazing breeze. We sat out there for hours, talking and basking in that air.

I try to keep my canning activities off this site, to show that I have more going on than what that other blog might lead you to believe. Sadly though, the only photos I took today had to do with canning activities. Here we have a quart of chopped and macerated black figs that I chopped Sunday night while watching Mad Men.

Occasionally, the food bloggers from around the Philly region get together for potlucks. This Sunday, we gathered at the park at 4th and Washington and spent a very pleasant 4+ hours sitting in the shade, talking and playing horse balls (don’t ask, it was new to me as well).

I went with a big bowl of tomato, cucumber and onion salad, and a pan of peanut butter and jam bars. I left with an empty bowl, a few pb&j bar and three of e’s most delicious Arnold Palmer cupcakes.

My youngest cousin (if you want to be precise, she’s my second cousin, once removed) turned two years old on Friday and so the family gathered at 12 noon on Saturday to eat lunch together and celebrate the 700+ days she’s spent on the planet so far. This was her birthday cake, and my goodness, does Jean (the woman who performed our wedding ceremony) make a good cupcake.

Here she is as a newborn.

Bike sharing kiosks are coming to Philly and today, they held day-long demonstrations in Center City, to show how they’ll work. It’s a pretty cool concept. For a very low price, you can rent a bike for a half-hour or so and use the bike to run errands, get to appointments and generally travel around the city. Once you’ve reached your destination, you just check the bike back in at another kiosk near where you were going. I could see this being an incredible way to use my lunch hour effectively. I just wonder when they’ll be installed…

A sunny Thursday afternoon at Greensgrow, picking up our bi-weekly CSA share. Though it’s a bit of a haul from Center City, I love these every other week trips to this amazing urban farm.

As a promotion for our Philly Homegrown campaign, we gave away more than 1,000 portions of cheesesteaks yesterday in Love Park. They were all made with locally grown, raised and produced ingredients.

Drying dishes after a marathon night of canning.

A Monday evening dinner. The air is changing, reminding us that fall is soon to come. We got started a little early with roasted carrots, potatoes and chicken.

Helen and Scott. I love how intently they’re looking at one another.