On a lovely weekend that actually wasn’t steamy hot, one could actually eat pho and not sweat to death. So that’s precisely what we did. Place of pho? Pho Ha on 6th and Washington. Why no pictures? You’ve seen plenty of pictures of giant buckets of pho on this here blog. But the picture worth showing is this stunning (well, much more stunning in person) double rainbow that showed up after this wicked storm that we were slurping pho through. They were the biggest rainbows I’d ever seen, and went all the way from left to right. I love this kind of crazy weather.

So after I grabbed a few greasy gobs of sugary heaven, I had some time left on the meter and decided to roam around Chinatown in search of a beverage. I ended up at some random drink/dessert spot on 10th (sorry, I totally forget what this place is called). They had teas and smoothies and cakes and such. I had so many choices that I was a bit perplexed. But somehow, I ended up picking a honeydew shake with tapioca pearls. It seemed like they just took some honeydew and stuck it in a blender. It was light and refreshing. And the tapioca balls? Well, you know, they’re flavorless, but chewy, and you suck them up through this giant straw.

So whatever this place was, the girl who helped me essentially did not speak english at all. It was exhausting trying to communicate with her. I don’t know how many times I had to say honeydew shake. Way too many times. It was at least half a dozen. And then eventually, someone else showed up and ended up helping me. Later on, another customer tried to ask her where the trash was. Omigosh, it was exhausting just watching this futile exchange! I realize you work in chinatown, but seriously, it’s chinatown, not china, and you might want to learn a teensy bit of english, or at least the items on the menu.

This past week was the PA Dutch Festival at Reading Terminal Market. They have pony rides, a petting zoo, some weird Amish barn building demonstrations… They also have hot fresh doughnuts. Hand made by Amish folk, yo. I somehow skipped out last year, but I went two years ago. And I’ve been thinking of these doughnuts ever since.
Just simple balls of dough, deep fried by hand, and covered by sugar. So simple and so delicious. So this “Amish” lady below is frying the dough in a fryer powered by electricity. But perhaps it’s only pseudo-Amish. But pseudo-Amish or not, there’s nothing pseudo-delicious about these doughnuts. They’re full on delicious, and full on terrible for you, but I full on don’t care. You know they’re good when the brown bag they’re in becomes translucent…