"Reading Terminal Market" news and stories

Here in Philadelphia, we don't have to stray far from Center City in order to get a hit of Amish country. There are number of Pennsylvania Dutch vendors at Reading Terminal Market who sell jams, jellies, local honeys, fresh produce, meats, cheeses and some of the most amazing baked goods. However, normally the PA Dutch merchants don't call much attention to themselves and stay tucked back in one corner of the Market.

However, this weekend, the PA Dutch merchants take over the whole Market for the 19th Annual Pennsylvania Dutch Festival. The fest was canceled last summer, due to some unrest at the Market, so it's doubly exciting to see it return this year. Starting today, they'll set up the festival in Center Court and it will feature handmade crafts including quilts, woodcrafts, paintings, hand-braided rugs, wooden toys, and cedar chests. Available foods will including chicken pot-pie, donuts, ice cream, pies and canned fruits and vegetables. On Saturday, they'll have a mock barn raising on Arch Street, building a garden shed on the city street as well as a country auction.

If you're in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, I highly recommend coming into Philly to check out the festival. Be prepared for crowds and come with an empty stomach!

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Living in Philadelphia, I take Reading Terminal Market for granted. It's all of seven blocks from my apartment. Back when I first moved to Philly, I would often meet up with a friend for breakfast there and then we'd spend the rest of our Saturday morning wandering around, doing our grocery shopping for the week. I even did a project there last summer where I spent time at the market, interviewing people about their experiences with the market and writing about what they told me.

I was delighted to see this picture in the Slashfood pool last night, as I always enjoy seeing a place that is so familiar to me through the eyes of another. I feel like Corey has really captured the charm and energy of the market. Thanks for adding your pic to the pool Corey! I hope you enjoyed your trip to the city!

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I'm not a huge tour person generally -- I get antsy and like to explore new cities on my own (or maybe just go shopping). But a food tour is something I definitely think that I could handle. I've been hearing about them a lot lately, as many cities now offer them. More recently, I've come across City Food Tours, which offers both walking and coach tours in Philadelphia and New York City. This company has gotten a bit of press, and they even offer personalized group packages. Philadelphia also offers tours of Reading Terminal Market, one of my favorite spots in the city, and Chinatown tours with some foodie destinations.

I've never taken a food tour, but I'd love to hear accounts from those of you have had -- especially tours that you found especially great or awful.

(Thanks, Marisa for the great picture!)

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I have a confession. That half of a cupcake you see right there, well, I actually was the one to eat it. Last Saturday morning, Scott and I went to Reading Terminal Market for brunch and grocery shopping. We bought a bunch of food and, as we were leaving, made a stop at Termini Brothers, one of the best and oldest bakeries in town. They've had a stall in the market for years and are known city-wide for their canoli, cakes, cookies and other baked goods.

We waited until we got home to bust into the cupcake and he got to it first and slicing it in half so that I'd get a fair portion. The color of the sprinkles was appealing and light in the apartment so good at the moment that he snapped a picture of the half eaten cake. Oh cupcakes, what you do to us!

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I roasted my first chicken sometime in the spring of 2002. I was 22 and living on my own for the first time in my life. I bought the chicken at Reading Terminal Market, for the extravagant price of $13 (it seemed awfully spendy at the time since I was making approximately that much an hour). When I got it home, I rinsed it with cold water, patted it down with paper towels and perched it in a battered, shallow roasting pan that I had picked up at a thrift store. Following my mother's instructions, I sprinkled the outside with salt and garlic power. Inside, I slipped a halved lemon, a sprig of rosemary and a small, roughly chunked onion.

I've only very slightly improved on this method in the last six years. These days, I slip herbs under the skin, scatter whole cloves of garlic in the pan around the bird and rub the skin with a little butter in the final half hour in order to help crisp the skin. However, I always slip that halved lemon in the cavity. Over at the Kitchn, they've tested two roasted lemon chicken methods in an attempt to find a superior method. In one they perch lemon slices over the skin of the bird and in the other they put the lemon inside. Check out the post to see what they discovered.

What's your chicken roasting technique?

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