Capogiro Gelato Artisans

I think I might be a foodie

2012-01-27T11:18:00.010-05:00

And for some reason, I really have had to come to terms with that. It just SOUNDS bad. I don't want to be a foodie. Do you?? It's like being called a hipster (I'm still not quite sure what that means, for the record). I think it implies brevity - following a fad. Is that right? Whipping your camera out and taking pictures of....everything. Stalking Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain because you know they would love you if only they knew you (ok that WAS me).
My whole life is about food. I'm pretty ok with it. My bulldog's whole life is about food too, and I want to be like him when I grow up. I think it's possible that there are two factions: foodies, and food lovers. Without foodies we wouldn't have things like THIS or THIS, which would really just be a shame. Yes folks. It's a rock. A rock on a string. AND it's sold out.
Foam is a foodie thing. It used to be a molecular gastronomy thing. Which, before foodies, I'm pretty sure was just called haute cuisine. Or something. And now it's fruit paper, and shrimp cocktail in an atomizer.
Now, don't get me wrong - I think what Grant Achatz and co. have done for food is nothing short of extraordinary. And if eating is really all about sense memory (ok and, you know, sustenance), then I guess it gets the job done. It recalls the memory of the most perfect shrimp cocktail. Or the ripest, most beautiful tomato. But nothing can ever, never, replace an actual most perfect tomato. Especially if it's still warm.
The antithesis of atomized flavors has got to be these guys - the Slow Food Movement. It's people who do what their families have always done, within their culture, preserving terroir (a sense of place, loosely) and ensuring that it IS the most perfect tomato, or the most perfect cheese.
Another incarnation is Thomas Keller. Hero status? Maybe. The man is a beacon of all things good. And hopeful. When the Occupy Movement descended upon the French Laundry because a group of prominent bankers were dining there, what did he do? Passed out chocolate chip cookies. Dining at Per Se was one of the single most powerful, beautiful, and memorable nights of my young life. The care for the diner is so evident. The care of the food, the chairs, the flowers, There were NO burnt out light bulbs! I know he has legions of fans (foodies!?) following him around in worship comas, but...I have to say, I kind of feel as though he deserves it. I don't think it's such a bad thing getting people to care about food and where it comes from, even if it has become mostly a marketing tool. Who cares? I found this in the Acme the other day:

They're...potatoes. Fingerling potatoes, guys. If, as a culture, this is how far we've fallen, we might be in big trouble. Or maybe this is a glimmer of hope? I'd like to think so. Except then I think about the Organic Movement. And how it's gotten so big that the Big Bad companies have jumped into the pool. Aka, the sources of all things bad and evil in this world. Sort of. But because of how big it's gotten, it's impossible to sustain. You can call your yogurt organic and source the milk from an organic cow in Tajikistan. There's no consideration given schlepping your wares across the globe from an environment that's unmonitored and potentially hard to control (this is, of course, a hypothetic situation. We here at Capogiro love Tajikistan). End of story? It's organic. So it must be good. It must be good so people will buy it. And those people might be foodies, who only eat organic.
You know what's good? Farmers markets. Gardens. Your backyard. Your neighbors backyard. I know it's damn near impossible to live like this all the time - I mean it's just unrealistic. And let's be honest, expensive. But for me, it's an "every little bit counts" scenario.
I'm not trying to climb all up on a platform. It's just a whole bunch of truth, all this mess. I don't want to live like the Jetsons. I do want warm tomatoes forever and ever. I don't want bananas to go away. They're seriously one of my most favorite things in this world. I also don't want a genetically mutated banana. But, I'm a food lover. Maybe Grant Achatz can make one for me.

Time Moves So Fast

2012-01-26T13:33:00.004-05:00

Time moves so fast. Capo is almost 10 years old. I now have a 15, a 13 and an 11 year old. Look at them there. They were annoyed to be stuck at Capo Midtown Village in the midst of construction. Bored and probably starving wandering behind the new bar which is protected with plastic during painting. Ages 6, 4 and 2. Wow. I am getting old. If it were not so sweet, I would have given up long ago.

Yesterday someone asked me if my daughter worked at one of our cafes. I know that I will have to address that issue soon. Our peeps, as wonderful as they are, are not a PG crowd and I believe that although they are gracious, they would not be appreciative if my kids worked there. I could be wrong. My daughter is hilarious, but who wants to work with the boss' daughter?

I used to carry around on my phone a pic of two of my employees. The pic was snapped at a party without their knowledge. These men looked as if they had been snatched from the early 70s and were clearly having a great time. Guitars in hand and shirts unbuttoned, skin tight jeans and heeled boots; they made you smile and wish you were there. Whenever a friend would ask if I could hire their high school aged kid, I pulled out the image. I then stated, "Sure, if you don't mind one of these two rubbing up the back of her...or him." That usually ended the conversation.

Additionally, I have watched some Capogirians get married and have their own kids. It is happy and sad and wonderful.

I'm sitting in a cafe. Blogging! What's happened to me?!

2012-01-26T13:26:00.002-05:00

So I randomly have a weekday off, since Becca has to go bowling with her in-laws on Sunday or something. And there are a ton of things I've needed to get done in my personal world that I've been neglecting, mostly because of Skyrim. (If I can reliably beat up a dragon, why is it that I so often get pummeled by a stupid bear? Not many of you are going to understand that, I'm guessing. Video game nerd thing.) So I knew that if I didn't drag myself out of the house today I wouldn't get anything done.

Thought to myself, "Self, where could you go at the bright, shiny crack of 1:00 in the afternoon to get coffee and wifi and settle in for a bit to do some work?" Well. Capo13, obviously. For starters, Sean and Nelson are nice guys. Plus it's not MY store, so I know I'm unlikely to run into anyone I know to distract me from getting stuff done.

The thing is, I sort of never hang out in cafes. Like, never ever. I honestly can't remember that last time I sat and had a cup of coffee and read a magazine. You mean I could get a bagel and not have to abandon it in the middle to go do something else? Is this how normal people live? Seriously, old, lukewarm bagels are incredibly disappointing. I'm honestly a little flummoxed. You'd think I'd be familiar with all this, given how much of my career I've spent running the places where people do exactly what I'm doing now. But I'm all at sixes and sevens, awkward elbows and feeling conspicuous about all the stuff on my table. (Laptop, iphone, list of stuff to do for the day, my planner, my staff's request-off-book, a diet coke, and a cup of coffee. Is that a lot? It feels like a lot. Then there's my backpack, my jacket, and my laptop charger.)

And then. Super-embarrassing. Little chagrined that Sarah was here to see it, because I'm fairly certain she'll bring it up again at a later date. I'm one of those people that can focus better when I have my own music to listen to. Not totally earth-shattering, right? I'm hardly the only one. So...launch itunes. Start something playing. Don't realize for about five minutes that my headphones are still plugged into my phone, not my laptop. Everyone has been listening to Yo Yo Ma and I'm too clueless to get the awkward glances I'm assuming everyone around me is casting my way. When did I become unsuitable to be in public? Clearly I need to leave the house more.

Shiny new things at 20th Street

2012-01-25T14:58:00.009-05:00

So, it's been a pretty quiet week all over the city, and Rittenhouse is no exception. Even though not much has been going on this week, but we've been doing loads of cleaning, telling corny jokes to customers, and slinging some top notch gelato. We salute all of our brave customers who fought through ice and snow to visit us this weekend. You're amazing! We got a huge shipment of British candy this week, so feel free to drop by for some Cadbury Double Decker or Bounty Bars. Also, SO many Happy Hippos. So many! We are also teeming over with cookies, brownies and bundt cakes. Come and hunker down with some tasty treats.

Big news this week is the arrival of two shiny new sugar bowls at 20th Street. I am hopeful that they are indestructible, and that no one, especially Zach, will be able to break them. They're cute, they're functional, they look kinda like Muppets!

Vanilla is not the same as plain.

2012-01-24T18:13:00.004-05:00

I might be a bit of a foodie or food snob even for this being a peeve but I feel like helping to educate people will alleviate that feeling.

We get a lot of people who think of Vanilla as "The" plain flavor. But our Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla is certainly incredibly different than the Fior di Latte which would be considered the plain. (Though in my opinion nothing we make is plain but the Fior is our unflavored and un-messed-around-with flavor and it is wonderfully delicious.)

I would like to point out that Vanilla is actually the second most expensive spice after saffron and is very tasty, incredibly unique and treasured.

It comes from an Orchid. The "bean" is a sort of pod growth that shoots out from the body of the plant.

There are multiple varieties of Vanilla but at Capogiro you will most frequently find Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla (which has no actual bourbon in it). It originates in Madagascar (obviously) but is also currently produced in the Comoros, and Reunion (both islands in the Indian ocean).

Vanilla is delicious and amazing and now everyone who has read this knows that our plain (though awesome and tasty) is not the same as our wonderful Vaniglia or Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla.

What Makes a Good Cup of Coffee?

2012-01-23T10:20:00.003-05:00

We take tremendous pride in our coffee. When we opened a little over 9 years ago, I was convinced that we did it for two reasons. One: John wanted a slicer. He wanted access to his own perfectly sliced prosciutto. Two and most important: John wanted to have a $10,000 espresso machine that made a perfect espresso.

What goes into the perfect cup? Well, the coffee is key. We only use La Colombe. Our hometown roaster is bar none. I just returned from the west coast and although the coffee was good, it was not La Colombe good. How luck are we, here in the city of brotherly love?

The second thing is the espresso machine. Ours is a specimen, is it not? I love things that are gorgeous AND work tirelessly. Our gorgeous Victorio Arduino. It is worth every penny.

The third and most important part of the great coffee equation is the barista. You can have a great machine, great coffee and still have a horrible cup if the person making your cup has no idea of what they are doing. We train and train. You don't make a perfect espresso, you are not allowed to make espresso. That simple.

Coffee is as important to us as our gelato. That means it is as important as the air we breathe. Breathe deep, my friends and join us for an espresso.

Mulled wine? Isn't that just wine that's been well considered?

2012-01-20T10:01:00.006-05:00

Get it? MULLED wine? Ha? Sorry. Busy day. Little off my game. BUT. If you're chilly--and I'll bet that you are--you should stop in and have some. Not only is our mulled wine piping hot, it's also quite...brawny. If you see what I'm getting at, and I think you do.

Totally distressed that Seattle's getting more snow this year than we are. What IS that? Seattle has no idea what to do with snow. You don't want to know what happens to the articulated buses at the top of the hill on Montlake Ave. Where's OUR snow? People get mad at me when I ask. Maybe because I've been asking for snow since July? Maybe.

Anyway! Come stop in and warm up. Wine not your thing? How about a little Gran Gala for your hot chocolate? Irish whiskey for your americano? There's a proper toddy, you ask me. (We can make a proper hot toddy as well, if you're of a mind. We've got you covered.)

Past the holidays...got a ways to go until the spring. But pitchers and catchers report in less than a month! Keep your head up.

Gelati flavors that aren't meant to be

2012-01-19T18:10:00.003-05:00

Rocky vs Apollo Road

Oops! All Cream

Cookie Crunch Dough with Extra Dough

Sweet and Sour Milk

Chocolate Syrup Schuylkill Swirl

All-Natural(tm) Organic(tm) Artisan(tm) Fruit

Mac'n'Cream Cheese

Tropical Citrus Punch Burst

Energelati Plus

Garlic WhyKnot

Franklin's Mint Choco Chip

Relaxing Blend of Herbs and Spices

Okay

Local Mint Whitening

"Cheese" "Steak"

Lessons from Italy

2012-01-18T16:16:00.002-05:00

So, last week, Steph brought up a really great concept that I personally had never heard before. More of a lifestyle really, is the Italian notion of "fare bella figura", which basically translates into "making a good figure" or making a good impression. This is a great motto to live by, it pretty much means that you don't eat or drink to excess, don't act like a rowdy fool, and basically just try to be classy. Maybe this is why you hardly ever see Italians posting their zany stunts on YouTube, and why it's so rare to catch them mid keg-stand. It just isn't their thing.

Another cool thing Italians do is "fare una passeggiata", or to take a walk. Every evening in Italy, folks take a leisurely stroll down the street, dressed well and feeling groovy. This is a chance to stretch their legs, talk with friends, get a lovely gelato, show off their kids, and just chill. Basically, Italians care about being and acting civilized. Sound pretty nice, doesn't it? I think we could all stand to care more about civility and not be racing around like crazy people all the time. That's why I'm so glad that Capogiro is bringing this notion to the States. When was the last time you took a nice walk to get gelato?

Stroll on down.

Flu Season is here!

2012-01-17T16:32:00.004-05:00

Hooray!! Everyone loves that scratchy, feverish time of year when it seems everyone is sneezing and coughing, aching, and just uncomfortable.

Don't worry we've got your back. We've got all kinds of food and snacks that are healthy and will help you get through the dreaded flu season.

Every morning we have Granola Coppa's with fresh cut fruit and plain yogurt loaded with probiotics. And we always have fresh fruit in our kitchen so if you feel like just having a banana or and orange we can make it happen for you, just ask!

We have homemade soups each day like Creamy Tomato, and Tuscan White Bean (with chicken stock), Red or Yellow Lentil, and a whole bunch of others made with real food ingredients and lots of love!

Even our Gelati and Sorbetti are made with whole, nutritious ingredients too. Try the citrus flavors for some Vitamin C with your dessert. Coconut milk has been found to have anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-microbial properties to it so add a scoop of our Thai Coconut Milk for a little extra boost. If your feeling congested and brave maybe try some Mexican Chocolate or Hot Pepper to help clear you right up!

Last but not least we have lots of Tea. Try some green or white tea with honey and lemon for those sore throats. At 13th we keep sliced lemon and lime behind the counter all you have to do is ask for it. (Oh and the trick with the honey spoon is to turn it like your twirling spaghetti on a fork and it won't drip everywhere!)

Best wishes everyone!
Sean

"Everyone deserves a palm tree once in a while," says Sarah.

2012-01-13T10:45:00.002-05:00

Wise words, those. And it's true. Myself, I'm looking forward to a pretty good 2012 when it comes to vacation time. (Have I already started pestering the powers-that-be about my plans for June and July? You better believe it.) My best friend's getting married, mom and dad are both (separately) celebrating major milestones...though to tell the truth, the only palm trees I'll likely see will be of the Los Angeles variety, but I can dig it. I'm starting to really like LA, which is a pleasant surprise. GREAT restaurant town, though I was seriously disappointed by the movie-going experience when I was last there. I know, I know. It's LA, and the real problem might have been that "Cowboys & Aliens" might not have been a...good...movie. Which is to say that it sucked. Kind of a lot. And for a long time. Anyway. Different blog post, that. The takeaway is this, though: keep your vacation (hypothetical as it may be) in the back of your head. It'll help you keep on keepin' on.

So what's going on at Capogiro? Enh, you know. We're sort of in a hunkered-down, behind-the-scenes moment. There's definitely some awesome new stuff on the horizon, but we're not really ready to lift the curtain yet. Soon, though. Soon. Good things for those who wait, and all that. I'll say this much: you may have a new favorite brunch habit by Super Bowl Sunday. (SUPER BOWL. The competition to get the day off has already started among my staff. Of COURSE I was the first to ask off. I'm the oldest here, and thus the smartest.)

Anyway. I swear my regular blog sessions aren't simply an excuse to cruise youtube and look at goofy dog videos. But c'mon:

That's pretty good. As always: have a good weekend. Stop in and say hi!

Pretty things

2012-01-11T13:54:00.007-05:00

It was a lovely weekend here at 20th Street. Thanks to all of the new folks who came in on Saturday, it was great to meet you. Whilst we absolutely adore our regulars, it's always rad to see so many fresh faces coming in to check out our gelato and panini. Thanks for all of your questions too, we love talking about what we do. I think the most popular comments/questions this weekend we're along the lines of "Number one in the world, eh? Awesome!" and "what on earth is a quince?" (For those of you who don't know, a quince is a magical little pome fruit that tastes like the lovechild of pear and apple). Creative wunderkind Kamala came in today to give our menu boards a fresh coat of paint. Thanks, K! They look great, and so do you!

Melograno...Granada....Pomegranate

2012-01-11T12:04:00.007-05:00

Such a majestic fruit. My childhood referred to this contraption as the "Chinese Apple". Anyone remember that? I remember the rare, and it was oh so rare, occasion that my mother would cave to my pleading and purchase one, and only one, at Foodtown. Foodtown.....hee.

Way back in the 16th century when Katherine of Aragon crossed the sea to the "Island" and married Hank (well, first his brother, but that tale is for another time), she brought with her badge (seen here). The pomegranate was to represent the persistence of life, fertility and regeneration. Which happened to be extremely important to a monarch.

Tis the season for pomegranates. Sometimes we are lucky to keep them into March. Right now, we are donning our garbage bags and wacking out the seeds with the backs of ladles. Seed by glorious seed. It is worth it. I love how our sorbetto is filled with small red flecks. I do get calls from puree people telling me how much money we would save buying juice. The POM people can sell me just the seeds released from their prison. Yes, yes I know. I will save money and labor and time! But....it just does not taste as good. No one can tell...they say. I say...You can! You can tell the difference.

Get them while they are here because not unlike Queen Katherine, another young fruit is waiting to replace you...

It's just one of those restaurant things.

2012-01-06T14:33:00.002-05:00

If you see one of your CapoManagers walking around the cafe muttering numerical incantations with a clipboard in their hands and stubby pencils stuck behind both ears, don't worry. We'll all be okay in a couple of days. Promise.

Resolutions, schmezolutions

2012-01-06T11:17:00.001-05:00

New Year's has come and gone, and I'm sure we've all made promises to ourselves to better our lives for 2012. Typically, these things revolve around fitness, finance, and good will toward others. Problem is, most of us will fail miserably at keeping these promises to ourselves. Why not save yourself from the disappointment? Here are some...

New Year's Resolutions You Can Actually Keep.
1. Eat More Gelato. Gelato is good for you. Gelato makes you happy. Gelato has loads of calcium, and Sorbetto is full of Vitamin C, so you can avoid getting that pesky scurvy again. Yar! Also, please refrain from saying that Rosemary Honey Goat's Milk tastes like "chicken and cake". This actually just happened.

2. Tie Shoes Every Day. You don't even need to tie them in the morning, you can just tie and untie at will. No pressure here at all. You can even tie a friends' shoes, this still counts.

3. Don't Go To Tijuana. By not going to this place you will save yourself from being kidnapped, getting stabbed by drug cartels, buying shady pharmaceuticals, or seeing a monkey riding a burro. Well done!

4. Don't Drink Cyanide. Who would want to do that? See how easy it is to keep these resolutions?!

5. Vote. At least in 2012, for the love of GOD! Unless you live in Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Alaska, either Carolina, or Georgia. If that's the case, I hope you got the memo that elections have been pushed back to December.

6. Don't Punch a Kitten. Kittens are adorable life companions. Save the punching for unwanted creatures like opossums, small lizards, and Zach.

7. Eat More Soup. It's cold outside, and hot soup is delicious. Especially at Capogiro, where we are currently serving Yellow Lentil and Cream of Tomato, with a side of yummy Metropolitan bread. The best thing about soup is that it's sort of like it's already chewed for you, so there's no extra work!

8. Breathe More. Breathing is sooooo easy to do. In fact, I'm doing it right now! Try to take the time out of your busy day to sit on a bench and breathe. Unless that bench happens to be under water. Or in Newark.

9. Get A Haircut. Seriously. You've had the same hair for years now. And your neckline is just out of control. Have that trimmed up, you look like a werewolf.

10. Get Back Into Something You Used To Be Good At. Did you used to be super rad at a certain sport, or maybe an instrument? Do it again! You know you like it already so there's no chance of disappointment. It can only boost your ego. Win!

So there you go, kids. I've given you ten easy ways to have a happier and more fulfilling New Year. Have fun!

By Tandy

Everyone Loves Capo!

2012-01-05T17:32:00.001-05:00

SINBAD!!!

A New Year....

2012-01-03T15:34:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year everybody!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year! I know my house is still covered in a thick layer of silly string marking how much fun the Mummers Parade was.

For us at 13th St. the new year was bitter sweet. Dawne has moved on to prepare for her upcoming and incredible trip around the world and we all wish her the best and can't wait to hear about her future experiences. She will be greatly missed around here but we are happy that she is doing something awesome.

We love you Dawne!!

Luckily for us we have been joined by two bright lovely new ladies. Whitney started with us during the holidays and is super fun and awesome behind the bar and she has a dog (we love people with awesome pets here). Meagan started her first shift today and is off to a great start.

So if you stop by and see a new face in the store make sure to give them your brightest smile and help us welcome them to the Capo13 crew. And if you happen to catch Dawne before she departs be sure to wish her well on her epic journey!

Happy New Year everybody!!

Sean

So Long, Farewell!

2011-12-31T14:33:00.000-05:00

Dearest of the dearest to my heart,

It is with a solidly mixed up mix of emotions that I find myself writing to you on my very last day at 13th street Capogiro.

Am I sad? Am I happy? Will I miss it? Will I miss YOU? Am I crazy? Excited? Confused? Jubilant? YES. Yes to everything. I don't know how to find the words to describe it.

Leaving this wonderful group of people (co-workers and customers alike) may very well bring me to tears when it truly hits me. Over three and a half years of my life have revolved around an amazing store; full of life, love, food, and incredible people - ones we see daily, and ones we only have the pleasure of speaking to once. So why am I leaving a store that holds such a place in my heart? The world calls, simply put. I'm set to embark on a journey that will remain a dream to me until I find that am actually within it. I am off to travel the world!

Travel is: Thrilling. Risky. Adventurous. Expensive. Amazing. Stressful. Educational. Addicting. Worth it.

Telling someone you're leaving your job - permanently - to go travel, incites an impressive array of reactions. I expected a bit more opposition than I've ultimately encountered, which helps me reassure myself when I slip back into worrying about finances, language barriers, or understanding the proper attire and conduct for my gender and age. The general response, from friends, family, acquaintances, and flat out strangers has been purely support and encouragement, and I could not be more grateful for it.

When we first considered a long trip, it seemed spur-of-the moment, a notion that came on a whim. It felt as if we were dreaming, and figuring out the logistics of something that would never actually happen, like when you envision your dream kitchen or house, or "allot" potential Mega Millions winnings. We were in the midst of signing a lease on a beautiful house, and had reached the point where we were beginning to consider buying one. We were feeling all grown up... excited and prepared and ready to establish a home of our own in the city.

In the middle of a very loud concert, Colleen turned to me out of the blue and said (shouted, rather) "We can't sign that lease! And we can't buy a house yet!". I didn't have a clue where it came from or how to respond, so I shouted "What?! OK.". We waited until a pause between songs, and she explained in an eagerly rushed sentence, that if we were to take any period of time to travel, it should be now or never. Now while we're in a decent financial position, free of many future obligations. Now while we're in good health and can survive jet-lags. Now while we're dreaming of it! Who's to say no? And what in the world is really stopping us other than fear? Nothing in me was saying no to the proposition, so... I agreed.

After two or three weeks of weighing pros and cons, and our options with our jobs against the projected cost of a trip, we gracefully backed out of the lease and laid out a serious trip budget. We researched hostels and guesthouses, cheapest travel times and paths with regard to our ideal list of destinations, and after a good month of rearranging our itinerary on AirTreks (the most awesome, helpful, and comprehensive travel site we've come across) we came up with a trip that was within our price range, and only sacrificed a few stops from our lengthy original wish list.

In two weeks' time, we'll be packed and headed to the airport. We will have created our blog (a link to which will be added to this post) so anyone interested can check out where we're at and what we're up to.
And WHERE in the world will we be? We have three long stays, in Italy, India, and Indonesia, during which we'll be Wwoofing, and volunteering. On the front, tail, and in-betweens, we'll have shorter stops in the UK, Athens, Cairo, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Hong Kong. We'll return to the states in mid-April, to run the Big Sur Marathon. From there, we'll clear and open our minds, and see where the world takes us. We haven't really planned it, and we don't really want to just yet. Regardless of what happens, we're anticipating a wonderful journey. We don't expect it to be easy, or relaxing, but we do expect to be doing a whole lot of learning, growing, and taking chances. I am of the opinion that we spend our entire lives "growing up". There is no tangible degree of maturity or knowledge we can achieve that grants us the title of being grown. We are here to live and to love and to learn, and a great deal of that involves our very own selves and those we come to love.

I fear I'll ruin the keyboard with salty tears if I begin to thank every single person who has touched my life here, so I'll leave you with a simple and sincere thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Capogiro 13th, I love you, and everything and everyone that is a part of you.

Dawne

Auld Lang Syne

2011-12-30T11:46:00.002-05:00

One of my most favorite songs of all time, as New Years is my most favorite holiday. There's nothing like celebrating the year with people you love, embarking on the new and having a completely clean slate from which to build. Just writing to say, Happy New Year to all. It's been a pretty amazing year with Capogiro, as Tandy said, but I wanted to reiterate. So here's my favorite version, and I hope you love it as much as I do.

And here's a gratuitous image of a bulldog, just to keep the theme going.

See ya next year!

2011-12-28T17:03:00.005-05:00

Wow, it's amazing that another year is coming to a close. 2011 was a big one; Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died, as well as North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. Supposedly we killed Osama Bin Laden, but I'd still like to see a body. Protesters Occupied err'ywhere, and were met with resistance from the police. Prince William and Kate Middleton tied the royal knot, and the Queen's corgies got to drink champagne from golden goblets. The US pulled troops out of Iraq (for now), and New Zealand beat France in the final of the Rugby World Cup.

In Capo news, 2011 was also a big year. We were given the esteemed title of "Best Ice Cream in the World" by National Geographic. That was awesome! We also introduced new sandwiches and teamed up with some really rad new vendors for candy and baked goods. At 20th Street, we hired Andy this year, which is probably the best thing ever (see previous post), and I managed to still not kill Zach. WooHoo!!

Here's hoping that 2012 will be a winner. Love all you guys!

Every party is better with a pint of gelato.

2011-12-24T10:23:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone! Out and about today? Finishing up some last minute shopping downtown? Strolling around West Philly? Doing whatever it is people do on Passyunk Ave that doesn't involve cheesesteaks or dive bars? We're here for you! Grab a pint, gas up with a quick cappuccino, pick up some last minute Love Bars for that inevitable chocomergency...or just come in and say hi! All the Capogiros are open until 5:00 or so tonight, though obviously closed tomorrow.

Anyway. Happy ChristmaKwanzaKah or however you're celebrating the season, from your Capogiro Crews. Be warm, be safe, be merry.

Christmas movies that aren't really about Christmas

2011-12-21T16:52:00.005-05:00

More dogs in Santa hats!! More!

Christmas movies are typically centered around themes such as family, togetherness, the joy of giving, and selflessness. However, some movies are about things that don't suck, like monsters and shipwrecks! Just because the Christmas holiday makes an appearance in certain films, doesn't mean the movie is all about Christmas. Here's a list of...

Tandy's Top 10 Christmas Movies That Have Very Little To Do With Christmas!

Gremlins (1984). Billy gets a mogwai for Christmas. Billy doesn't listen to the rules, gets it wet, and feeds the spawn after midnight. Melee ensues. Also, as I've blogged before, Phoebe Cates delivers the most gruesome and amazing Christmas monologue ever.

Home Alone (1990). With a forgotten child, Wet Bandits, and an ever adorable aftershave scene, who can forget this timeless classic? And why did Macaulay Culkin have to grow up to be such a pasty, gangly trouty-mouth?

Grumpy Old Men (1993) This is a classic winter tale staring the always cheeky Walter Mathau and Jack Lemmon. True story, when I was a kid my father and I went to the video store to rent this movie, and my dad asked the teenaged clerk if they had "Dirty Old Men" in stock. The clerk got really red and told my father that they "didn't carry those kinds of films, sir". My father never went there again.

Better Off Dead (1985). Fraunch fries? Fraunch toast? This classic Cusack movie tells the tale of a teen dealing with breakups, a new exchange student, a homicidal paper boy, and a ski competition against a total tool. I want my two dollars!

Die Hard (1988). Terrorists try to seize control of an office building during the Christmas holiday. Oddly enough, for Die Hard 2, terrorists try to seize control of an airport during the Christmas holiday. Apparently terrorists reeeeally like Christmas.

While You Were Sleeping (1995). This movie is about a stalker. Sandra Bullock plays an insane woman who falls in love with a guy in a coma. In. A. Coma. Like totally unconscious. Really, it's creepy.

The Holiday (2006). I actually watched this romantic comedy whilst dog sitting for Sarah. Her bulldog and I wept giant squishy tears over the charming plot. This movie will actually make you not hate Cameron Diaz. As much.

Cast Away (2000). One fateful Christmas Eve, Tom Hanks' FedEx plane crash lands on a deserted island. Somehow, there is still dialogue in this film, thanks to the inclusion of a bloody volleyball. Who else cried when Wilson floated away?

Mean Girls (2004). Although this movie has very little to do with Christmas, who can forget the tender rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock" that the girls perform? BTW, congrats on the recent Playboy spread, Lindsay, those pictures looked absolutely nothing like you!

Love Actually (2003). THIS IS THE SINGLE GREATEST MOVIE EVER MADE!!!!! It's funny, it's tear jerking, it's Chrismas-y, it's British! If you do not adore Love Actually, then you have no soul or are just a scumbag.

Letter to Santa

2011-12-20T15:50:00.000-05:00

Deeeeeeeeear Santa,
Here is our wish list! We here at 13th street have been very very nice this year. The only naughty incidents were a few months when Sarah bumped a tray of cones and they fall down the stairs... and then a few weeks later Dawne did the same exact thing. But Rudolph forgave them, so they're good to go.

We don't have too many wishes, but we know you're busy, so whatever you can handle would be great.

Thank you!
Looooooooooooooooove,
Capo13th <3

1. Endless pints of Strawberry gelato and sorbetto
2. A new puppy.
3. Enough of that delicious Capo bacon for at least 1 serving (aka 6 pieces) a day for a whole year.
4. Cool new bike helmets for everyone.
5. A hammock for napping in.
6. Candied Chestnuts on the daily.
7. Teleportation capabilities.
8. A doggie spa visit for Toro the Dog
9. Some snow so we can have a snowball fight please!

Various dispatches from the West Side.

2011-12-16T15:17:00.003-05:00

Hi! Is anyone going to St. Albans, West Virginia soon? Could you take a couple of things for me? Shockingly behind on my holiday shopping and starting to worry that my gifts may not make the last reindeer out of town. Anyone? St. Albans? Charleston, even?

So Sarah's been on this enormous old-fashioned hand crafted candy kick lately, and gratifyingly a lot of you seem to be on her wavelength (we love when that sort of thing happens). The latest goodies in are from Brooklyn Hard Candy, and they're predictably amazing. Just look at 'em:

Candy with a cork: srs bznz.

Give 'em to people you like. Or stash a jar in your desk drawer to sneak into when the boss is gone for the afternoon and you're noodling around the internet reading various blogs.

Everyone got the memo that we're staying open through the holidays at this year at CapoPenn, yeah? Super excited. Because we want to be here for you! You need espresso and gelato, and at the risk of sounding a little smug, sometimes we feel like we're one of the few outposts of genuine good taste in West Philly. Not that West Philly isn't up and coming in a lot of ways! But for now, consider us your refuge for real, good food. Come on by! Soup and candy and gelato and booze and jalapeno chips and...

OH YEAH THE JALAPENO CHIPS! These are new, too! Deano's Jalapenos from my old stomping grounds in Vermont. Tasty! They are just little bite-sized noms of jalapeno and they go really well with a beer. And seriously, Stowe's a great little town! Lamoille County generally, but I'm maybe getting a little nostalgic now. I always start missing it this time of year because it's one of those places where you can place a pretty solid bet on a white Christmas.

Speaking of white Christmas and the lack thereof... seriously, if a symptom of global climate change is going to be that I have to adjust to 60 and humid on Christmas, I dunno what I'm going to do. It's just...WEIRD. Y'know? Like...what's Christmas Eve without snowballs? Sleigh bells jingling? Do you even WANT an open fire over which to roast chestnuts when it's...muggy?

Blatant appropriation of someone else's awkward family holiday portrait. I don't think they posed for it, do you? It looks totally spontaneous. (Dad's trying to hide that he's panting from running back to the shot after setting the self-timer on the camera.)

Yeah. We've all got those embarrassing hand-made Christmas tree ornaments that Mom (erm...Grandmom, more like.) won't let anyone get rid of because she remembers when your sister made that Elmer's Glue and glitter...thing...in third grade Sunday school. Christmas. Family and memories. And shopping. Seriously...anyone going to Huntington, West Virginia? I could make that work. HAVE to get to the post office tomorrow...

This song will never fail to make me happy. Happy Holidays everyone! Come see us soon!

Capogiro World Domination.... Phase Z

2011-12-13T08:35:00.000-05:00

Our pants are SOOOOOO friggin' fancy.

Thanks, Zagat!

xoxo,

Capogiro

2011-12-12T10:00:00.001-05:00

Its HERE its HERE its HERE!!! We're as excited as a kid that can't take their eyes off the window waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve. And YOU'RE about to be that excited to see your delivery driver! We've put together a package of our classic Holiday offerings to get you in the seasonal spirit! These holiday flavors come but once a year! Order six perfectly packed pints to share with your family over the holidays.

CLASSIC HOLIDAY PACKAGE

______________________________________

PURE KING LEO STRACCIATELLA - Local mint gelato with crushed candy canes and bitter sweet chocolate!

HEIRLOOM APPLE MASCARPONE - Made from Lancaster County Heirloom Apples and the richest creamiest Mascarpone cheese.

CLEMENTINE - Tiny fruit with a BIG citrus taste!

POMEGRANATE - We painstakingly separate about a bazillion fresh pomegranate seeds so you can enjoy this seasonal sorbetto!

CHESTNUT - In case you don't have an open fire to roast them on, we've got ya' covered.

NEW ORLEANS NOG - What holiday package would be complete without it? Spiked with Southern Comfort!

Click HERE to order!

Meet Andy Phillips

2011-12-09T16:31:00.004-05:00

This is Andy. He is, to put it simply, perfect. Andy is the most well meaning, hard-working, kindhearted people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. He makes everyone else look bad by how awesome he is. I wish I could clone him and put one of him at every Capo, just so all of the other managers could experience what an absolute joy he is to have on shift.

Andy is from Effort, PA, which I'm fairly sure is a quaint Christmas village located in the Poconos. His parents are magic elves, and he was brought to them on the wings of a golden stork. Andy has been with the same girl all of his adult life, and spends all of his time trying to think of ways to make her happy. Andy rides a unicorn to work and he bleeds liquid silver. Andy is straight-edge, which we all agree will probably only last until his 21st birthday. His favorite drink is milk and he can frequently be found enjoying a tall cold glass with a chocolate chip cookie. If you all get a chance to meet this gem of a man at the Holiday Party, please go up and awkwardly gaze upon him, for you should all use him as an example of how to be a decent human being.

HAPPY HOLIDAY TIME YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-12-09T13:51:00.003-05:00

Do the holidays leaving you feeling slightly...unenthused? Droopy, listless? Scratching at the walls to find a safe haven from visiting relatives? How many times have you found yourself wandering West Philly, desperately wishing CapoPenn was open during the holidays so that you could sate yourself with a libation, gelato goodness, and bacon?

We heard you. We're here for you! So this year, we'll be here, all the times, for you and yours during the pre and post holiday crazy.

So there's a happy. You know what else is a happy? Spiked hot chocolate. You know what's even happier than that?! The mind reels. This:

We're Baaack: A CapoYunk Story

2011-12-08T18:53:00.005-05:00

Tis the Season™ is the reason! We've braved the Autumn with it's dewy 70 degree days and are now steadfast to slaughtering Winter's slightly brisk horde.

Our hours have changed to suit (2pm-10pm) East Passyunk Ave.'s late-night bustling.

We even got some new duds to match! Check it! «

You can catch the House Ghosts casting their Jolly Spells now! »

Watch Out for Santas!

2011-12-06T15:19:00.001-05:00

I like to run.
I don't necessarily like the actual running so much as I like the sense of completion I get from finishing a run. One of my favorite things about the winter are 5K's. I know it sounds loony. Give me a moment to defend myself..
It is COLD in these parts in December, January, February, March, and often April... but that doesn't mean you can't go enjoy working up a sweat outside, it just means that you (and race directors) have to get a little creative. The first awesome thing about races (besides staying healthy): most, if not all races support a great cause. Secondly: obviously, you've got to keep your body warm! Wear a hat, and some gloves (fingerless is fine). A scarf might make you overheat if you get above a jog but it's certainly allowed. If you're someone who tends to get cold and stay cold, a one-piece costume is never a bad idea. The lack of seams/holes between layers will keep all that body heat in! The closer you get to the holidays, the more likely you are to see Santa Hats, Elves, reindeer antlers and the like showing up on race participants.
There's a decent chance you've even heard of a Santa Run (where everyone dresses up like Santa or Mrs.Claus... Philly certainly has a version or two, but this pic from New Zealand is pretty darn awesome :)

I suppose I do like running a little bit. Especially on really beautiful sunny days, spring, summer, fall, or winter.
If you're a runner, an occasional runner, or a brave/curious first-timer, there are plenty of local runs coming up this month. Jump in one! Grab a friend. You can walk, jog, run, skip, or combine any of those options. See the short list below, and just google any of 'em for more info or more runs! Remember, it doesn't EVER hurt to dress up in something silly to make a run more fun.
We all wore ridiculously bright colors to this West Chester race (pictured below), but we forgot to actually document it so you get a picture of us post-race in our sparkly clean shirts instead.

Happy running!

Jingle Bell 5K's on December 10th and 11th in Philadelphia support the Arthritis Foundation
Kris Kringle 5 Miler December 18th in Reading
Northeast Roadrunner's Christmas Is For Giving 5K December 18th
Patriots' Run 5K on December 31st
New Year's Eve 5K on December 31st

Our special is specialer than their special.

2011-12-02T14:23:00.003-05:00

So. A Citywide Special. Sort of a hallowed Philadelphia institution, particularly if you're looking to get tight on the cheap: a can of cheap lager and a shot of cheap liquor. It's humble, it's serviceable, it's...kinda meh. Humble and serviceable? Is that really what we think of ourselves as a city? ESPECIALLY since the two components are so frequently imported from, I dunno, Milwaukee or somewhere out there in the flyover states.

We thought to our selves, "Selves, we can do better." So we're really excited to open the curtain on our own, strictly Philadelphian, let's-class-up-this-jawn-a-bit Citywide: Yard's ESA from the draft and a shot of Philadephia Distilling's Shine Whiskey.

Yard's Extra Special Ale is one of the truly few ambers available that ISN'T like The Eagles (the band, not the team. Though, dammit, increasingly the team)--bland, innocuous, middle-of-the-road pablum. ESA has character. It's got complexity. It has...flavor. A lot of it, and in all the right places. This beer's taste is positively curvy, if you see what I'm getting at. Everybody should have a go-to beer and if you live in Philly, this should be it.

We're matching it up with Philadelphia Distilling's Shine Whiskey, a total throwback. You'll sip it (I do recommend sipping it, but knock that sucker back if you're feeling kinky) and gather immediately that yeah, this is a corn whiskey for sure. It's sweet, it's hot, and it's definitely got some bite--just what everyone's looking for, right? Know what I'm saying? For sure it'll make a tasty cocktail, and you can bet we'll have them for you, too. But just in a glass, with a ESA back? Good.

This is Capogiro's Citywide: All Philly, all the time. Because honestly--we have this conversation more often than you'd think, though now you might be wondering who "we" is, exactly--we love our town, and we love local people like Yard's and Philly Distilling that make seriously good things right here at home. Like us, not for nothing. So come see us, especially if you're visiting from out of town. You'll leave with a glow.

As always...have a good weekend everyone. Time to start snuggling into that holiday sweater.

We're so Metro

2011-11-30T13:35:00.007-05:00

Just when you thought our panini couldn't get any better, we introduce to you... new bread! That's right, folks, we have switched bread companies and are now in cahoots with Metropolitan Bakery. As of this week, we've begun stacking our prime panini ingredients on their lovely foccacia, ciabatta, baguette, country white, and whole grain bread. They. Are. Amazing. Don't believe me? Come on down and try one for yourself. Enjoy one of our many Grab and Go sandwiches as well (a great idea for those on the go, especially if you're coming in for a morning cup of coffee). I just had the pleasure of gobbling up one of our Smoked Turkey panini, which for those who don't know, is a masterful combination of turkey, local thick-cut bacon, provolone cheese, onion, and Russian dressing, on Metropolitan's rosemary foccacia. HOMAGAWD good. Make it a combo by adding a hearty cup of peasant-style soup on the side.

QUINCE!

2011-11-29T14:23:00.001-05:00

Fruit of the GODS (well, fruit of the Ancient Romans... which
basically means of the gods...).

The quince is actually pretty rad. It has a taste that I simply can't get enough of, that is most easily described as a cross between apple and pear. Most quince consumption is of the cooked fruit, as the raw one is quite astringent and tart. These fruits look quite similar to a pear but they're a bit lumpier and green, changing to a bright yellow as they approach maturity.

Cool facts? Tons!

1. Quince is native to warmer regions of Asia and it grows on a deciduous tree.
2. Quince is the sole member of the genus Cydonia. The ONLY one! How cool is that?!?
3. Both the ripened fruit and its flower smell crazy good, and can be used in perfume, honey, jams, preserves, etc...
4. Turkey ranks first in quince production at a quarter (despite the roots in Asia). Go turkey go! Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay are big quince growers as well.
5. Quince was considered to be a symbol of love in years past. We're working on bringing it back. You should too. Give a quince to your better half - or your intended better half - as a symbol of commitment. If they don't quite understand your wildly generous gesture, just direct them to this post.
6. The word "marmalade" originally came from quince jam, derived from the Portuguese word for quince, "marmelo". Yum.

Quince is typically available in our neck of the woods from October through December, so you've got a month or so left to get your rump in here and enjoy it! I am more than happy to provide flavor pairing suggestions, but you can trust that quince is delicious on it's own. For the palate that desires more than one flavor, I suggest trying quince with cinnamon gelato, cranberry apple sorbetto, fior di latte, or perhaps macadamia. Let's eat!

I'm thankful for these guys

2011-11-23T17:50:00.003-05:00

...because whenever I'm having a bad day, these two are always there to make some juvenile and usually inappropriate joke to brighten me up. Their whimsical attitudes remind me to take things with a grain of salt and to never let the small stuff get me down. Thank you, Zach and Kami, for never being serious for more than five minutes at a time. You make me realize that maturity is underrated, and that I'm really glad to be almost 30.

Love you two!

Soggy Yet Delightful

2011-11-22T23:39:00.001-05:00

Rainy days are the BEST at 13th street. Find solid reasons below.

A cozy perch by the window combined with a bowl of piping hot oatmeal or soup is the perfect remedy for chilly fingers and toes. You know the contented feeling you have when you've finally warmed up from being caught in the wintry elements? At 13th, it's even more heavenly.

Gelato tastes good no matter what the weather is like outside. Especially if you consider an affogato, or a gelato con brioche, my new favorite thing in the whole wide world. A toasted brioche is the most simple, yet delicious, thing I've re-discovered in years. I have to restrain myself from eating them on the daily!

As many of you know, people-watching is already stellar at the corner of 13th and Sansom, but the next to the most sweltering days of summer, I say rainy days bring out the best parade of characters. Rain 'gear' is clearly a personal thing, and some folks have fun with it, while others just make do with what they have - or don't have. Big tall manly men with flimsy pink umbrellas, petite women with giant black business-y ones that take up the entire sidewalk, kids with animal ears/beaks/stuff popping out of very bright umbrellas... The funny clear ones that come half way down your torso... inside-out umbrellas caught by the gusts down Sansom, or useless ones dashed to the ground after the carriers have been caught in a splash from the fateful puddle on the corner.

Lastly, the rain doesn't stop most dogs from needing to go out at some point during the day. Like Jay said last week, we LOVE dogs! Totally dry, a wee bit damp, or completely soggy, those pups' wagging tails brighten anyone's day.

*Note

You may feel as though we use a great deal of silly animal images. We think it's a fairly normal level, in fact, we encourage you to enjoy them as much as we do. Animals are goofy. And goofy things make us smile. And smiling is contagious!

It's a gorgeous Friday. Let's look at pictures of dogs!

2011-11-18T12:03:00.009-05:00

Is this anything but a shameless excuse to post a buncha pictures of my favorite dogs? WHO CARES? Off we go...

ROSIE!

My dog. Best dog ever. (Not open to debate.) Yes, she's since passed, but let's not dwell on that. Half pit bull, half lab, all love sponge. Seriously lazy whenever she could make time for it. Loved watching (read: napping in front of) football on Sundays. Fan of beer and spicy food. SO good with the nieces and nephews. Excellent co-pilot with whom to drive across the country. Had more than one girlfriend squeal, "She's so cute I'm gonna steal her!" One broke up with me pretty much immediately after I stated my confidence that Rosie would be with me a lot longer than she was. I was right, of course. I miss my dog.

WILSON!

Rosie's brother. All the same kinds of awesome. (Remember me posting some unspeakably bad poetry about dogs a few months ago? It was about these two.) Wilson was, it's gotta be said, agreeably dumb. But look how distinguished he looks with a gray beard! Like a substantially more cheerful Sean Connery.

ANGUS!

Rosie and Wilson's step-brother. Also known by a variety of other, less family friendly names. Probably the brains of the outfit when the three of them got together. To be honest, adopting dogs from the same litter with your best friends makes for many cheerful, beery, summer back yard evenings.

RUBY!

Rosie's step-sister. Have to admit, when you've got yourself, your dog, your sister, your sister's dog, your niece, your sister's best friend, and your sister's best friend's dog who also happens to be your sister's dog's brother, you've got a pretty happy household. The back yard helped. Now Ruby lives with my sister, my niece, my other sister, my nephew, my other niece, my brother-in-law, two other dogs, at least one turtle, as many koi as the local herons have left, and for quite a while a hedgehog...that's just a menagerie. Awesome familial chaos. Ruby, Aussie Shepherd that she is, herds them all.

LAYLA! And a beer good enough to drive to Delaware for.

Best boxer ever. Not spastic! If you've never seen an un-cropped tail nub twitching while you're scratching a fuzzy butt...man. It'll put a little joy in your world. Seriously, I love a spasming tail nub almost as much as I love a destructively and enthusiastically swinging tail. (Beer+coffee table+tail=inevitable alcohol abuse.)

VINNY!

Vinny's the thespian of the bunch. Also goes by a variety of lewd nicknames. You've actually seen him in a dog food commercial, though his home movies--which are a little mature for a family-friendly blog--are way cooler. He's part of my Los Angeles crew. Mellowing like a fine wine, Vinny is. Little astringent at first, if you see what I'm getting at. Much better sofa dog than some others on this list.

TORO!

Sarah's boy. Official CapoMascot. Loves to shove his face into a big bowl of Fior. (Have you given your dog gelato today?) Loves his housemate Albert more than he's willing to admit, because Albert happens to be a cat. Sharing a sofa with Toro is challenging, but at least he feels guilty about shoving you off.

DOGS! Dogs.

Sir Gordon doth approach

2011-11-17T17:14:00.006-05:00

As you, dear fans and readers, know, Gordon Ramsay flew into our
quaint South Philly neighborhood this past week on a, you guessed it, helicopter made entirely of knives! The town was in a tizzy; it was an awesome sight for sure. We managed to keep his crew and Don Gordon himself fueled for with our swift baristi special skills. ( I won bragging rights to having made Ramsay a latte and scooping him a fine cup of Pistacchio Sicciliano and Bacio [he found both to taste delicious]*) I only wish he could have stuck around a lil longer.. CapoYunk just got in veggie-friendly spicy pumpkin soup and a yellow lentil soup that I have teared up while tasting. To see a hardened chef with world renown weep over lentil soup would have been quite the sight, more incredible than a helicopter made entirely of knives.

xoJessica

*My face for the rest of the week

Missed Connections: You are a strange fruit, Cherimoya (Rittenhouse)

2011-11-16T17:12:00.008-05:00

You came into the store the other day. I called you Artopple, because you looked like the lovechild of an artichoke and an apple. You were a weirdo. I've come to find out that you are from the Andes, which makes you oh so much more exotic and appealing. They say that you grow on a shrub, which I think is adorable. Inside I hear you are like a sweet appley sherbet. Mark Twain called you "the most delicious fruit known to men."

I want to eat you with a spoon.

I was standing behind the bar wearing a grey beanie with a slightly demented and lustful look in my eye. Let's get together sometime, I'd love to get to know you better.

YUM.

2011-11-15T15:26:00.001-05:00

Hokey Smokes YUM!!

As most, if not all, of my comrades have touched upon here, business in Capo-land has been just grand as of late. What better way than to celebrate than by rekindling some flames (Steph's crazy good brownies) and introducing some brand new ones (new soup!) while you're at it?

Our suggestion for this week?

Start by sitting down, relaxing your shoulders, and warming up with a bowl of pumpkin soup. It is absolutely DELICIOUS!!! (I just had a bowl). Sip on the beverage of your choice and read something fairly educational or or fairly useless, your call. Give yourself a few minutes to let the soup settle in and then dig into a warmed peanut butter brownie (a la gelato if you so choose). Heavenly. This is a meal for champions! After this, we imagine you'll be ready to tackle just about anything... perhaps the rest of your work day, perhaps your bed. Either way, we've got your back!

Totes jelly, brah. Totes jelly.

2011-11-11T07:38:00.006-05:00

So Becca went to see Andrew Bird a couple weeks ago. Not once, but TWICE. And she didn't take me, I guess because her boyfriend wanted to go or something. Which, I mean, sure. Whatever. I'll stay here and work while you get to watch THIS happen:

It's looking like a great weekend. And we have cherimoya! Another one of those genuinely exotic fruits that Dan and Sarah get giddy over. And delicious soup! On one of these perfectly blustery fall weekends, where the temperatures have finally, truly, thankfully dropped and the leaves are blowing in gyres of fire and rustle, soup and a strong beer sounds pretty much perfect.

A brief reflection on the times in which we live:

which is really, really funny in a totally 2011 (for only a little longer! WHAT THE...) meta-sorta-way and has its basis in the awesomely funny Hyperbole and a Half, which is pretty much the best thing on the interwebs. Though the post about her dog getting lost (but coming back home!) can be a little tear-jerking for the fans-of-four-feet among us. So. We'll see you this weekend, yeah? Don't forget your hat!

Right, Simple, Rustic...Yeah?

2011-11-10T13:37:00.000-05:00

Chef Ramsay in is our hood filming! Oh please come in for a gelato!

We're the BEST

2011-11-10T08:18:00.003-05:00

As you've already heard, we've been getting some amazing press recently. Everyone keeps coming in and saying, "Wow, so you're the best, huh? Wonderful news!" We agree. In fact, we're hearing this so much, that I would like to provide you with a few other options to use when describing our gelato, just so you don't get bored. You could call it a-one, capitol, bang-up, bully, cracking, dandy, prizewinning, groovy, swell, smashing, champion, slap-up, top-quality, world-class, FIRST, primo, optimum, record-breaking, unsurpassable, or simply just delicious.

You pick ;)

2011-11-08T23:59:00.003-05:00

It's not Thanksgiving quiiite yet, but at 13th, there are just so many things to be grateful for!

Here are this week's top nine:

1. National Geographic!!!
2. Bulldog puppies.
3. Ridiculously tasty fall flavors.
4. Crowbars.
5. Lattes that warm the tum :)
6. Sunshine.
7. Our good 'ol regular gelato cups (and your
patience with the temp substitutes)!
8. BRITISH CANDY!
9. Maru

It's official.

2011-11-04T12:00:00.002-04:00

You don't even know. YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW.

WE ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD.

National Geographic: yeah, they're pretty respectable. And the think our gelato is simply the best in the world. Not much else needs to be said, I think. Ok, maybe some obligatory gloating...

(Real talk: I don't actually like Queen.)

BEST IN THE WORLD.

This just in!

2011-11-03T12:59:00.006-04:00

So CapoYunk now has AWESOME and TASTY made to order bagel sandwiches!! We have homemade Tuna & Egg Salad (as well as a whole bunch of awesome toppings!) and it's off da' chain! Oh yea, did we mention we have Homemade Soup too? Capogiro Soup has been my favorite part of winter for the last three years. If you like soup (OR INSANELY HEARTY CHILI) come on by! Yeah, winter pretty much rocks.

EDIT: I ate the sandwich in that (low-res) photo and have gained the abilities of flight and super strength.

Winter is coming.

2011-11-02T15:23:00.005-04:00

November has just arrived, and Winter is coming. We have already dealt with the first snowfall of the season. This was one of the longest Summers, which means this will be a great Winter. Some of you have only seen the Summer, the Winter is a harsh, bitter time. I have compiled a list of ways to deal with the brutal Winter that will soon fall.
1. Gather all your pelts and wools that you have put away in the tower. They have not seen the light in sometime, and they will not see it again for sometime to come.
2. Be sure to fill yourself with hot, homemade soups and stews. I have heard Capogiro has the best chili this side of Riverrun. (Don't go to Pentos, they have horrible soup.)
3. Either forge yourself a greatsword, or have a blacksmith do it for you. The White Walkers move South during Winter. You must be on guard. King's Landing has some of the best shops, but they are a bit pricey.)
4. Finally, make sure you don't lose hope for Winter to end and Summer to come again. Treat yourself with some imported Italian Hot Chocolate. It is a rich, thick, sipping chocolate. Capogiro has the finest cacao imported from Myr. Make sure you still indulge your desires for gelato while you are there. There is comfort in remembering a warmer time.
Warm wishes and great luck to you,
Jon Snow

By Caitlin Welge

This week calls for a happy dance!

2011-11-02T09:20:00.000-04:00

We're more than a little excited to tell you, we've gotten the most holy of all shout-outs from SERIOUS-MOTHER-FLIPPIN-EATS.... Or, "Serious Eats", to be a tinch less ghetto ;) Its more exciting than the time Steph accidently invented Cioccolato Scuro! Heck, this is more exciting than me rising to my pinnacle of geek-dom in 93', beating Mario 2 in less than 13 minutes. (Just use the friggin' princess...) I digress...

Okay so, we're sure you know about their fabulous, informative, community based food blog, right? Well, if ya aint heard.... you'd bettah axe somebody. Anyhoo, their new book hit Amazon and the shelves toady and we're pleased as punch to to announce that Capogiro has been deemed #1 on their list of "Top 5 Gelato Spots we Love". [Page 288!] For a baker's dozen of Termini's cannoli, we promise to sign your copy.

Thanks again for the kind words, Serious Eats. We think you're #1 too :D

Once Upon A Time...

2011-11-01T16:03:00.001-04:00

Once upon a time there was an adooooooooorable kitten who got SO worked up while figuring out which flavors of sorbetto he should pair in his piccolo cup that a walrus and a firefighter had to give him some oxygen and soothing words to calm him down. The kitten was frightened at first but the gentle firefighter calmed him and suggested he try a seasonal flavor or two since they'd be gone sooner than the rest. The walrus agreed and ordered a cup for the kitten and sat with him while he gobbled it up.

Well, little did they all know, an esteemed AWARD-giver was sitting in the cafe and saw the whole thing go down. The firefighter was called off to another emergency (involving bacon and a baby otter this time) so the walrus was the surprised recipient of the Bowl-of-Fish crown, awarded to true heroes who give straight from the heart. The Bowl-of-Fish CROWN! I know! Amazing! The walrus was incredibly humbled, and a wee bit embarrassed and hid his face as the award-giver presented the exciting crown to him. The walrus insisted that the crown be shared with the firefighter, but the award-giver assured the walrus that he would recognize the heroic actions of the firefighter with a separate award of endless skittles and pints of Bacio gelato.

The firefighter who had rushed to the bacon emergency ended up helping a little baby otter who had wandered off towards the smell of bacon cooking in the 13th street kitchen. Otters have a surprisingly good sense of smell (contrary to popular belief regarding most marine animals), so who can blame the poor little guy for exercising his brand new nose! Here's a picture of the adorable mammal, snapped minutes after the firefighter reunited him with his worried mom. Look at those paws! So dang CUTE. The momma, the baby, and the firefighter split a BLT to celebrate a great day. :)

Amen, Sister....

2011-10-28T11:44:00.014-04:00

So yeah, what really gets me? Well, let's not really go into EVERYTHING that gets me, just what makes me want to drink heavily at any point of the day. When I see things that are clearly not artisan, but industrial made OR, when someone just makes something, anything, and labels it artisan. It drives me nuts because we make everything by hand. We roast and grind nuts, we burn sugar, we melt chocolate, we candy rinds, we drive out to the farms and pick up raw milk from a single closed herd of grass fed cows. We make it by hand EVERY FREAKING MORNING! ANDDD....We do all this stuff in small batches. 1.3 gallon batches to be exact. Oh, did I mention that we stick to the seasons and refuse to buy crappy strawberries in February. Yeah. We do. So....when I see some mass produced product being called "artisan"... it pisses me off. Really? Does it take 5 people each morning to make one batch of your stuff? Do you spend days and days candying chestnuts or banging out each pomegranate seed? There is nothing artificial, no preservatives, no colorants, nothing that is not food in our products. Maybe you are just pouring crap into a machine to be pooped out? Sorry for the graphics, but I get mad. I especially hate being compared to a product that you just take some powder and milk, pour it into the top of a machine, finish and add some fruit or squirt something out of a bottle and call it foreign...yum!!! That is not artisanal... Shame.

Which leads me to a kindred spirit That is not artisan. is a brilliant blog. It is written by a funny smart snarky woman who uses the word asshat. I love that word. Sigh. She is truly entertaining and I feel her pain. "May you be buried in a coffin that's a little too small so that some of your guts stick to the lid when it is opened." Absolutely brilliant and I think I peed a little laughing so hard. This was in response to Domino's pizza spokewhore, Fabio Top Chef Viviani. I share her rage. She is spot on! I am so sick of seeing bags of Doritos being called artisan or "chef made". I am tired of other ice cream and gelato companies calling themselves artisan when they do not even make their own product. Capogiro is a dairy. I went through the entire process of state regs, fed regs and city regs so I could handle each and every step!!! I do not have someone else make my product "to my specifications" and have the balls to call it artisan!! grrrrrr....

I do not know much about my comrade, but would love to take her out for a beer!

HalloweeEEEEeen...

2011-10-26T18:32:00.006-04:00

Hello Boils and Ghouls,
It's that time of year again, where children dress as scary monsters or storybook heroes, and sorority girls everywhere find yet another excuse to dress slutty. Around Capogiro, we like to get into the spirit by including our gelati and sorbetti in on the festivities. Our kitchen staff have a grand old time carving these little guys, and their artistry is appreciated by children and adults alike.

Also, don't forget to bring the kids by 20th Street on Halloween proper, as we will be giving out candy and judging your children on the creativity of their costumes.

Pumpkins!

2011-10-25T17:00:00.001-04:00

My housemates and I got a jump start on pumpkin carving last night and youuuu get a sneak peek! Here are three beauties that we hope will withstand elements and the fat, yet ravenous U-City squirrels to make it to the big night. You are totally welcome to come trick-or-treat at our house, but plan to have a darn good costume if you're over 14 years old! :)

I kan no bolg today; I haz teh busy.

2011-10-21T14:33:00.002-04:00

Hi. Rrrrl busy day 'round CapoPenn. Bunch of new stuff from the Big Kitchen today! Praline pecan, cranberry-apple...Must be Fall.

This one's for Sarah. For you too, Gentle Reader. But mostly for Sarah. PLAY IT LOUD.

Have a great weekend, everyone. We'll see you soon!

FALL FLAVORS ARE HERE

2011-10-20T19:30:00.001-04:00

Apple Cider Clove FTW!!!!!!

The Forecast is Dark and STORMY!

2011-10-18T16:24:00.000-04:00

Earlier this afternoon two nice older ladies came in to have gelato. They perused the case for a minute or so before the hungry one chirped up:
"I'd like a small Dark and Stormy please".
"Would you like a second flavor in there with the Dark and Stormy?" I asked.
"No," she replied politely but firmly, "just that one."
"What a wonderful woman!", I though to myself. Dark and Stormy is in my top 5 flavors of all time, so I pretty much want to hug anyone who appreciates it as much as I do. Well hold your hugs, I should have told myself. Just hold 'em.
I began to shape the first lovely scoop of sorbetto when the woman started frantically waving and saying "No! No, the Dark and Stormy! The dark one!". I stopped, mildly alarmed, and gently indicated that I was indeed scooping the flavor she had asked for. She looked at me with pure consternation and then shuffled a few steps over and said
"Oh, I guess I wanted the dark one, it says Chocolate with Hazlenuts? Bacio?. That's not the Dark and Stormy?"
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!? Lady. For REAL?!
In my head: "Nope, no it's not. No, those aren't the same, dear woman."
I scooped her a piccolo Bacio while she whispered a few sentences to the friend she was with. On her way to the register, I saw that the look of consternation had returned to her face.
"Why's it so light then?!" she asked "I don't get why it's called Dark and Stormy if it's so light!"
I kindly explained that a Dark and Stormy is a deliciously mind-blowing beverage containing ginger, lemon or lime, and rum (and sometimes ginger beer), and that we've turned it into an even more delicious, toe-tingling sorbetto. She listened, but didn't seem to agree.
I gave her her change and thanked her, and on their way out the door cheerily said "Thank youuuu, it's delicious!"
Silly old ladies. Bacio is incredible, but in my book, it's just got nothing on Dark and Stormy.

Better than Brains :)

2011-10-14T12:25:00.001-04:00

You know what's scary? The thought that you might not know that it's finally Lancaster County Long Neck Pumpkin season at Capogiro!!! We're zombie crawling to our nearest Capogiro Cafes to indulge in our favorite spooky seasonal selections. What's that? Too terrified to leave the security of your candle lit, garlic clove covered home to come out for a treat? Have no fear, you can order your favorite flavors here without any danger of losing your brain in the process.

Lancaster County, Bite-you-in-your-Neck Pumpkin - Local, Longneck Pumpkin from our favorite PA farmers. Tastes like pumpkin pie in a pint and there's nothing frightening about that!

Creepy Clementine - Don't be fooled by its size, theres a whole lotta sweet citrusy flavor in this tiny package. Super seasonal.

Cioccolato Black as my Soul Scuro - She's the black widow spider of our Chocolates. A triple-threat cold hard killah... Dark, rich and serious.

Zombie Flesh Kiwi- Your favorite hairy, scary fruit... (minus the hairs and it's really not that scary, unless of course you're afraid of deliciousness.)

Shrunken Heads & Sweet Cheese (Apple Mascarpone) - You'll lose your head for this savory selection.

Bobbing for Eyeballs, Apple Cider - Our kitchen's spiced, seasonal brew of cider sorbetto! A Capo classic.

While flavors last!!!

Click HERE to to order/fend off the beastly pangs of zombie hunger...

Gelato is an all the time food

2011-10-14T10:46:00.008-04:00

So you know how a couple years back Sesame Street introduced the "cookie is a sometime food"? Ok but, have you seen the video?!

Because it cracked me up. Give me a dancing, singing, jazz-hands fig every day of the week.

The other day I was working at 13th Street and nearly got into a full-fledged argument about how NO SERIOUSLY I SWEAR THIS STUFF ISN'T BAD FOR YOU I PROMISE. And you know? She didn't believe me. Not after seeing the numbers, the facts, me sweating blood and bullets swearing on every family member I hold dear that there's no hidden calorie count that makes this stuff so delicious. She was mostly hung up on the sorbetti.

"So there's dairy?"

Me: "Nope! No dairy. Just fruit, sugar and water!"

Customer: "No, that's ridiculous, there has to be dairy. I mean it's so much more fattening than ice cream."

Me: "Nope! It's actually way better for you than ice cream! And our sorbetto is fat free! And did I mention what a pretty dress that is?!"

Customer: "Don't lie to me"

Ok it didn't actually degenerate to that degree, but it did get pretty serious. I'm not even sure I convinced her so much as wore down her defenses, then won her over in the end with pure deliciousness, in the form of our new chocolate sorbetto. This might damn me to eternal Italian hell, but seriously have you HAD the chocolate sorbetto with lemon? It almost brings me to tears! The good kind!

Sometimes life is just hard. And short and trying and tiring and RAINY OH MY GOD LIFE IS SO RAINY. And every single time I'm starting to feel the slough come on, food brings me out of it. Because life's too short for bad food. Gelato is good food. Bacon is good food. Soul food. Something that makes you warm, is encouraging, feels special, was grown or produced in a way that's unique and beautiful. It's pretty much the most important thing to Capogiro. That our customers are being treated well, with good food and happy things. I know it sounds sentimental, but I'm not sure I can break it down in any other way.

This guy can though.

So this brings me to my point (yes! I have one!) The Brain Trust behind Earth Day has concocted FOOD DAY! The actual date is October 24, so start planning now (it's my new Thanksgiving), but the Food Trust has organized two weeks of happiness to bring awareness to our new holiday. And more events to come, from what I've heard. And we're just going to do what we always do, and feed you the happiest things we can find. If you see me, I'll be wearing this hat

And even though the whole point of Food Day is to spread awareness of sustainability, obesity, hunger, and eating locally, it should also be about eating the best you can. In the happiest ways.

Oh, and listen to this song.

Gelato is so good!

2011-10-13T19:44:00.002-04:00

England and the Very Bad Hair Day at 20th Street

2011-10-12T17:27:00.014-04:00

As you are aware, everything has gotten very British at Capogiro as of late. We are carrying delicious British Candies (namely Cadbury Double Decker bars, Bounty Bars, and Kinder HappyHippos), with more to come. We are also cleverly boxing up Grab and Go Sandwiches in a very British style, and we are listening to the Cure almost nonstop. It's a British Invasion!! Today we are also experiencing lovely English weather. Crisp and balmy, with smatterings of drizzly rain. Perfect for a cuppa tea or a nice slice of our new Bundt Cakes.

Sadly, whilst I'm thrilled to bits about all of the British influence at Capo, it has done a number on our baristi's hair. Here are a few examples to highlight how tragically bad everyone's coiffures look underneath their hats...

(From top left) I look like the ghost of Justin Bieber is trying to eat my face. Andy appears to have been attacked by a flock of seagulls on his way in. Little Kami obviously had her hair cut by a blind man with a butcher knife (actually as it turns out, it was cut by her boyfriend). Assistant Manager Ryan was off today, but came by after camping all night at City Hall. As a side note, apparently none of us know how to integrate color into our wardrobes either. Oi!

World Wisdom from 13th's Very Own....

2011-10-07T19:17:00.002-04:00

Your friendly midtown village 13^th St. Capo barista (Nelson) has embarked on a major tour of the French Riviera, Italy, and Spain for a taste of what Europe has to offer. On my travels I stumbled upon an array of gelaterias that I’ve decided to write about in order to compare with what we have back at Capo. Here is what I found.

FRANCE!

Let’s talk about Cannes France.

It is one of the most popular cities in the French Riviera and for obvious reasons. It is home to France’s major film festivals, it is a major tourist attraction, and it is a host to many businesses and industries that cater to those with a taste for fine wining and dining…and gelato, right?

On my travels I came across a cute and quaint gelatoria right in the center of town.

“Crema di Gelato” offers about 15 flavors, half gelato and half sorbetto. First and foremost, the gelato doesn’t just swirl in the pan, it literally is a mountain that rises a good foot right out of its pan. I asked the guy how he was able to keep the gelato so high without spilling over and he told me, “well it’s all about keeping it very cool while constantly spinning it as you pour.” Right. Either way I was absolutely amazed at its presentation and the sheer amount of the gelato that could be hacked at.

I ordered Stracciatella (Italian Chocolate chip) and Dulce the Leche (Caramel Swirl) with a complementary waffle crisp.

It was sweet. Actually, a little too sweet. I could not eat the whole thing. Although it was still delicious, the consistency wasn’t as creamy as what I had imagined it to be. I think the fact that the owner kept the gelato at such low temperatures to hold a lot in the pans may have affected the gelato’s texture. Overall it wasn’t bad but I wasn’t enthralled, maybe Italy has something more to offer. Maybe France should stick to Crème Brule’s, Bavarois, and Crepes…bummer. Oh, well. More to come!

Fear the botany.

2011-10-07T14:22:00.002-04:00

So I chucked a cactus pear at Miles the other day--not maliciously, he saw it coming and caught it pretty deftly (for a gamer)--and somehow, unexpectedly, he got a cactus quill or something or other stuck in his palm. (Ed. note: Rest easy knowing two things: we're diligent about keeping that sort of thing out of your gelato, and Miles was fine after some delicate tweezering, just a couple of tears, and a nice mug of hot chocolate.)

But it left me wondering...shouldn't we be worried about all this fruit we have just laying around, like a botanical ninja-time bomb set to go off and muderolate us all?

I mean, look at this pineapple. This isn't setting off reptile brain threat alarms in your head? Have you ever accidentally brushed up against a pineapple spine? One of these bad chickens poked me hard enough once to draw blood. What did I ever do to YOU, pineapple?!

Yeah, dude. Yeah. A LIME. Look, I can hear you sniggering. "It's a lime, man. Just a lime. All round. No sharp corners. Nothing pointy or poky. Why are you worried about a lime?" WELL, I'LL TELL YOU. I was making a guest a cocktail the other night. Mellow, no real rush. Nothing unexpected happening. Put the lime half in our little hand juicer. Squeeze. And of course, since I'm watching what I'm doing, I can see the gout of heartless, terrifying, burnyburny lime juice making its way for my eyeball, heartlessly and terrifyingly. Direct hit. SQUISH, right in my precious, harmless little cornea, which wasn't doing anything to anybody and in NO way deserved this sort of treatment from a stupid piece of fruit. HOLY CRAP did that hurt. My eyes are, and I'm not kidding, watering right now just remembering it. STUPID LIME.

Yes. Jalapenos. Chiles generally, to be frank. (And yes, they are fruit. Wikipedia says so, and Wikipedia is never, ever wrong.) This is a family blog and I mean to keep it that way, but suffice it to say that I was chopping commercial quantities of jalapenos one day. Stepped away for a moment to visit the little cooks' room. Neglected to wash my hands prior to...well. You see where this is going. BEWARE.

Rambutan. Jeeeeezzzz I don't even know where to start. There were rumors that Dan was going to magic these into our kitchens some time this summer, but after looking at pictures I'm just as glad he didn't. This doesn't creep you out? Not even a little? Unpeeled it definitely looks like something out of a Clive Barker book. Peeled it looks distressingly like something out of a Clive Barker movie, all brainy and squishy and gelatinous and weird. Seriously, these give me the creeps.

Time for culinary eyebalm.

Know what's not scary? Bangers and mash. You could swan dive into a pool of that stuff and just ooze your way in, butterily. Pork fat salving the stings and wounds inflicted on you by all those fruits spouting fake promises about "insoluble fiber" and "nutrients." Who needs it? And is it really worth the risk? Stay safe. Eat more pork.

It's coming!

2011-10-06T14:26:00.002-04:00

Can you feel it? I can!

Oh. Well, huh..

2011-10-05T17:28:00.013-04:00

Dear Dawne,
I had haikus, sonnets, and even a few questionable limericks all prepared for this week's blog, and you maliciously stole the topic away from me. This means war. Just so you know, I fight dirty. You may not know when or how, but I'll get you for this.

Imagine in the future, when you're at the altar for your ideal wedding perhaps. Everyone will be waiting for you, and I will steal your thunder by screaming, "I DO!!!!" as loud as I can from behind a tree. When you inevitably have children, I will mail them cards every week that simply say, "There is no Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus is a lie too."

I was going to blog about Chocolate Sorbetto, but I see you have taken my fire. So, huh... Well, here are some pretty pictures that you can use for YOUR blog. Your blog that is a rip off. Of me.

Chocolate Sorbetto, Espresso Sorbetto (upper) and a view from Sorbetto Fruitsville (lower)

100% Moo Cow FREE!

2011-10-04T16:45:00.000-04:00

Cioccolate Scuro now has its very own version that is DAIRY FREE!!! Stephanie toiled away for long days and even longer nights in the kitchen working towards the perfect recipe. We are quite far past elated to share the great news that in 2011, she nailed it. The woman straight up Nailed it! What? What are you saying? There's chocolate for vegans? Dairy free scuro, food of the gods? No cows harmed whatsoever?! It obviously warrants a poem, or ode, or whatever title this sort of verse should be given.

Chocolate sorbetto is finally here!
To please your dear sweet tooth and quell any fears
That the vegans, and simple non-milk lovers may've had
That brought many a tear and made so many sad...

Must scuro sate palates only in my dreams?
But I LOVE the dark chocolate, to me it sure seems
That a kitchen so crafty, and clever and, bright,
Could bump heads and put together allllll of their might...

To create! To invent! To bring forth a delight
So scrumptiously rich, yet deliciously light
Cioccolato Scuro the SORBETTO has come.
It's amazing, and worth it and here for your tum!

Hey, do you like sandwiches?

2011-09-30T13:49:00.005-04:00

'Cuz y'know, we've got a buncha new ones! One of the suggestions we've gotten from you, loyal Capogiro regular, is that you'd really like some Capoawesome that travels a little better. So we put our head together (Trust that there are plenty of days when we collectively have one--MAYBE--head among all of us. "Dizzy good" is a lifestyle, dontcha know.) and came up with some really tasty, healthy, classic versions of sandwiches and then found these great boxes to pack them up in. (...in which to pack them up? Get off my back, I'm scramblin'!)

BAM. SAMMICH. PACKED UP AND READY TO ROLL.

So. CapoAwesomeWich. The boxes legitimately, truly keep what's packed inside fresh for a few hours. Grab one in the morning and it's ready to nom at lunch, wherever you are! And simple! Egg salad, tuna salad, BLT...you know. Lunch staples. But WE'RE making them, so you know they're delicious, with ingredients as local as we can find them. And healthy! They're all coming in at not much more than 400 calories, if you're playing along at home.

Know what else is awesome? Mulled wine. It's about that time, don't you think? Sarah's whippin' up a batch as I pound out this post. (Someone asked me once if I was mad at the keyboard. NO, I said. I JUST TYPE EMPHATICALLY.)

And all this other new stuff! Candy hippos! Candy from Britlandia or somewhere! The bundt cakes (still so good)! We've got new beer on deck at CapoPenn! Am I kinda shouting? I took some cold medicine this morning and I'm a little loopy!

Anyway. Your video for the weekend, per Sarah's request:

Tom Waits has a new album on the way! I'm as giddy as a Jockey Full of Bourbon!

We'll see you soon, yeah?

No more dropped calls.

2011-09-29T13:06:00.009-04:00

New phone at Passyunk! Call us uppppppppp!!!!

Gimme the Geloooooooooooot!

What the &%@# is a Whoopie Pie?!

2011-09-28T17:01:00.008-04:00

Photo cred: Caitlin

When I was a sophomore in college, I started dating someone who was from Eastern Pennsylvania. After a while, it became time to meet the parents, and we drove hundreds of miles to her hometown of Johnstown, PA. We stopped near Pittsburgh at a tiny roadside general store to grab some munchies and smokes. Near the register, there was an enormous pile of these things called 'Gobs', which looked like ice cream sandwiches but were not frozen. My interest was piqued, and I bought one. Let me tell you, this thing was DEEEEELicious! Two sandwiches of chocolate cake smushed together with a sweet cream filling? Count me in.

Many years and several girlfriends later, I moved to Philadelphia. I started seeing these things called 'Whoopie Pies' everywhere, and they strangely looked exactly like the tasty treat I had before. So apparently, after doing a little research, these are the same thing, but folks in Johnstown wanted a special name for them. It is also disputed whether or not the Whoopie Pie originated in Pennsylvania Amish country or in merry old New England. Whoopie Pies are the official state treat of Maine, but their history is an oft-disputed thing.

In any case, we gots 'em. Good ones. Capogiro just started carrying these sweet little sandwiches from Coco Love Homemade. We're stocking four types of Whoopie Pies; Chippie (chocolate chip cakes, cream cheese), PBM (chocolate cakes, peanut butter mousse), Red Alert (red velvet cakes, cream cheese), and Tomfoolery (snickerdoodle cakes, coconut buttercream). Whatever you want to call them. you best come down to your neighborhood Capo and grab some right now.
Do it.

When Capo Has a Crush, it's Serious

2011-09-28T12:37:00.005-04:00

When you combine true food love with true local love with one brilliant kitchen willing to try anything once, you wind up with beer gelato, concocted using Dogfish Head's best and brightest flavors. When Wendy, our local Dogfish rep, calls me breathless saying "SARAHYOUGUYSGOTTAMAKEGELATOWITHTHIS!", I know it's serious. And guys, this beer is crazy amazing. It's got a huge ABV, firstly, so at 10.5% you know it's going to be flavorful from the get, but what really shines is the mint finish. They used 100 lbs. of organic mint from Green Grocer, a local and sustainable produce distributor based out of Washington, DC. The mint flavor comes in at the end, once you've been courted by the initial stone fruit and chocolate notes. It's a serious beer to get through a glass of, but if you're into barley wines or doppelbocks (or the ever elusive trippelbock), then you'll be right at home with it.
What're we gonna do with it? Make it awesome. You know what else we're gonna do?
GET WAY MORE AWESOME.
With Punkin Ale gelato.Cause we love you. We might even have a crush on ya. They'll both be hitting the cafes this weekend, just in time for the Midtown Village Fall Festival! Hooray! Beer for everyone. Sort of.

One last thing before the weekend!

2011-09-23T15:56:00.003-04:00

So La Regina affascinante e benevola totally stole my blog idea for the day (she gets to do that, she does sorta own the joint, after all), but she also TOTALLY forgot the most important part of a Friday blog post. A groove. A beat. A little something to which you might shake your humina-humina.

So to highlight our new vegan chocolate bundt cake (which is PRETTY darn tasty and you should come get some)...A Tribe Called Quest.

If you don't already know (and I'm confident a bunch of you don't), you're just going to have to listen to the song to figure out what it has to do with chocolate bundt cakes. And c'mon! It's kid-friendly hip-hop! It's funny and beaty and doesn't have ANY questionable language at all and C'MON! Don't let your brood listen to fancy-haired Canadian teen moppets! Give 'em the good stuff!

Anyway. Stay dry, everyone. Grab your brelly and come have cake!

BakingBakingBaking...BakingBakingBaking.....

2011-09-23T12:52:00.003-04:00

That is what we have been doing here at the Capo Big Kitchen. Working on new recipes and old. Our amazing Capogirians have been asking y'all what you'd like us to carry. We have heard everything from t-shirts to large amounts of ham. All good suggestions, by the way. We are moving on them all. Sort of. One thing heard over and over was "Big Cookies" and "more things that I can grab and go.

Get yer recycle lunch bags all cleaned up! Capo is rolling out the grab and go, just what you asked for! Big cookies, brownies, magic bar type thingies, energy bars and wait for it.....sandwiches. There is a lot to be said about a simple ham and cheese sandwich done right! It's coming..

Concord Grape tastes like Jesus

2011-09-22T17:31:00.008-04:00

I didn't grow up religious. When I was kid, my parents were those kind of apathetic W.A.S.P.s who only brought up God if I was doing something that they thought was amoral but didn't have any other logical reason to back it up.

Age 6
Me: Why do I have to eat lima beans when I hate them and peas are just as good for me and we have some in the cupboard?
Mom: Because I said so
Me: That makes no sense
Mom: Because God said so
Me: Dang.

Age 10
Me: What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
Dad: Can't happen
Me: How come?
Dad: God won't let it
Me: Oh...

Age 15
Me: I don't get why I can't date girls even though I don't like boys at all and girls are way prettier and smell better and I love them sooooooo much
Mom and Dad: Because God said so
Me: That makes no sense
Mom and Dad: It's in the Bible
Me: Hrmm...

In any case, this crazy thing happened when I was about 11. Overnight I suddenly became DEATHLY AFRAID OF HELL. The kids down the street went to church regularly, so I decided to tag along.. I started going to church every Sunday, then also to youth group on Wednesday nights, and Friday mornings before school. Seeing as how I grew up in Virginia, this inevitably meant that I became a full-on Southern Baptist.

Lemme tell you something that I quickly came to learn about this church - They hated err'ybody. If you weren't a white, middle-income, blue-collar Republican with two blond children and a dog named Buck, they would find some reason to hate you.

The other thing I learned about Southern Baptists was that their youth groups are dens of debauchery. They had the "love the sinner hate the sin" thing going, so we could pretty much do whatever we wanted, as long as we knew that the sin should be hated. I smoked my first cigarette at youth group. I stayed up all night and lived off of Air-Heads for three days at a Baptist camp retreat. I drank vodka for the first time at a church lock-in. I got to second base with a boy at a Christian rock concert. There was more swearing in the youth group meetings than I ever experienced at school. Cussing was allowed as long as you didn't take the Lord's name in vain. You could yell, "I $%&*@ LOVE Jesus!" and it would only be met with encouraging smiles.

My time with the church didn't last too long. For me, science, open-mindedness, and overall religious cynicism quickly won out, but during my time there I tried everything I could to be super involved so that I would avoid the fiery depths of Hell.

At one point, I even wore a little white robe and helped with the Communion ceremony. Baptists don't care about having their bread blessed by any higher authority, you can just grab it from the gas station. One Sunday a month, they would send me up the road to the Q-Mart to bring back bread and grape juice. They preferred to use Kings Hawaiian, because it looked like actual rustic bread loaf, and all the pomp and circumstance would be lost during the ceremony if the preacher tore apart a hunk of Wonder Bread. Their drink of choice to represent the blood of the savior, Concord Grape. I loved that stuff. When the communion ceremony was over, I would snatch up the extra and gleefully chug it behind the stage before anyone noticed I was there. Yesterday, when I sampled this flavor I had a flashback to my days of sitting on uncomfortable pews, smoking cigarettes out back of the old Baptist campground, and thinking of more ways to get in trouble and still keep my soul intact. Ha-lle-lujah.

Capo DATE NIGHT!

2011-09-20T15:37:00.002-04:00

Many of you may know our beloved Anya at 13th street. A seasoned barista AND theatre big wig, she leads a double life chock full of excitement between Capogiro and Theatre Exile.

Today, we bring you a word from Anya.

Make your evening a date full of GREAT theatre and GREAT gelato!!!! Grab a latte at 13th street before the show....
The Fringe 2011 has ended, but weep not People of the Arts!
Theatre Exile has extended their run of the Philadelphia Premier of Annie Baker's "The Aliens" until September 25th at Studio X.
Set in present day Vermont, this play opens the window on two men settled into lifestyles full of ambitious thoughts and little motivation. "The Aliens" is a great story of life providing what you need, when you least expect it.
Theatre Exile is producing this piece out of their South Philadelphia location at 13th and Reed. Grab a latte at Capo 13th before the show.... and finish the perfect date with gelato at Yunk! Studio X is JUST around the CORNER from CAPOGIRO on PASSYUNK Ave!!!

Let's do this one more time!

2011-09-16T07:47:00.003-04:00

So at CapoPenn we've been doing the Sustainable Saturdays thing all summer. Sarah's been doing yeowoman's work getting us some awesome ingredients from hyper-local producers to pair up with UCity District's other events on every third Saturday. (Remember the honey from Woodlands Community Apiary? SO good.)

We've got one more special sorbetto for you to wrap up the summer--and it is time to wrap up the summer. (Didja kinda notice it was cool out this morning? Hello jeans! I have missed you, because you make me look GOOD.) So, directly from the folks at Mill Creek Urban Farm, we've got some super-sexy pears. Just a few! And they look REAL tasty. I'm hoping there'll be sorbetto left when I get in to close this jawn tomorrow night. Don't go eating all of it before I get here! And not that we'd make asparagus gelato (...I think), but I've got this intrinsic compulsion to share artistic pictures of produce in situ:

Conspicuously appropriated from the Mill Creek Website. Nice shot!

And Mill Creek really is our kind of place. Their vision statement, from the website: "We envision a world in which everyone has access to affordable, healthy, culturally appropriate food, and where local communities work collaboratively to build a food system that is socially just and environmentally and economically sustainable." To which we say, "Yeah, what they said!"

So listen, those jeans? Yeah, they're workin' for you. And the weather's definitely turning--which some of us heartily welcome. Saturday looks like a great day to take a walk, so come by and have food made where you live by people you know with ingredients you can pronounce!

AUTUMN CAKES AND SWEATERS

2011-09-15T18:41:00.004-04:00

Autumn. Seriously. Rules.

This is the season when Philly booms culturally. Here is a video explicating my favorite piece of art:

Get out there and see stuff before winter creeps among us and you're stuck inside watching Starz and Bravo.

Love,

The Capoyunkies

2011-09-15T10:24:00.002-04:00

I'll be the first to admit, I'm a pretty fickle person. Besides A few things I very frequently do a complete overhaul on my interests. I'm often the guy who 'loves' something one second, and is completely repulsed by it the next. So when I say 'my favorite band', I mean it more seriously then the power of a million suns going supernova.

Well, my favorite band 'WHY?' is playing a show at The First Unitarian Church in Philly tomorrow night. I'm freaking out, even right now I want to run out of work and get in line to pick up my will call tickets. I could probably wait a day just to be right up in the front pews

ANYWAY I don't want to go on a rant (because it will make me seem more insane than I already am) about how much this band means to me etc. etc. BUT I think all of you guys in the internetosphere should check them out. Also they are playing with one of my current favorite dudes, 'Serengeti'.

These guys are INSANE live, so I recommend to anyone who can to come on out, the show is super cheap. <3

BUNDT CAAAAAAAKE!!

2011-09-14T18:09:00.006-04:00

Wow. Delicious. Steph has done it again with her tasty treats. She's been working tirelessly, making us some delicious new goodies. Introducing.... BUNDT CAKE MADNESS!! Premiering now, Capogiro's own homemade Banana Bundt Cake and Pumpkin Bundt Cake. More flavors are in the works as we speak. They. Are. Amazing. So moist and delicious, these cakes go great with either a cappuccino or a cup of gelato. For a mere $2.95 a slice, they're going quick, so come and grab a piece at your local Capogiro today. For your viewing pleasure, here is a picture of a stunning bundt.

And for the sake of sheer ridiculousness, here is a picture of a bunny stunt.

A TRIBUTE TO CHALK MARKERS

2011-09-13T15:49:00.002-04:00


Life-altering Flavors...

One of my most favorite tasks as a Capogiro barista is to use chalk markers to write daily flavor recommendations and/or soup offerings, decorate tip jars and bagel displays, and update our signs with new treats. Something about the liquid, opaque, bright colors is just PERFECT for filling every available surface with block letters or cursive handwriting.
When Dawne came back from the store one day with a brand new orange marker, it was like Christmas!!

Check out some recent chalk-marker art at 13th street... It will brighten your day right up.

Love,
Kristin, Chalk Marker Master


Omg delicious.


Sooooo refreshing!


We love you!

Its TOTALLY Dan's Birthday.

2011-09-13T10:31:00.001-04:00

Heres to everyone's favorite Capogirian.

He's the most awesomest guy we know and today he's celebrating his birthday.

If you see him today, give him a big hug and maybe some pastries. . . a cannoli from Termini if you REALLY want to make his day. Happy birthday, Dan.... we loves ya!

Reason #2,946,501 of Why I Hate My Dogs

2011-09-12T13:05:00.007-04:00

I love animals. I am not an animal hater. I do not wear fur and I have adopted many a street cat in my life. BUT (big but), I hate my dogs. I know, I know, "hate" is a strong word. Strong, and appropriate. I don't want to hurt them or starve them, or anything like that...I just want some sweet old dog lady to take them away from me. Far away. Only a sweet old dog lady could give them what they need. You see, a few years ago the best dog in the world, Virgil, died. He died suddenly and unexpectedly. One day he was running about doing his usual "sheriff" stuff and within two weeks he was dead due to cancer. It was horrific. One of the worst days of my life. He was 14 years old. He enriched our lives and his absence was painful. I think about him on a daily basis.

Fast forward four months...."Let's just go look at some puppies." John suggested. "No buying, just look. It's too soon." Well, any idiot knows that you do not "look" at puppies. We left with not one, but TWO puppies after jumping through some imaginary hoops. There were so many signs that something was seriously wrong, but we were so traumatized that we just did not notice. When we walked into the barn, the puppies ran away and hid. She did not allow you to touch any puppies. You could only touch them once you purchased them. Who does that? Have you ever not been allowed to touch puppies? Also, why were they running and hiding against the back wall and why were some of the puppies laying flat on their bellies? This was not normal behavior. When we asked, she said that these were "therapy dogs" and they are bred not to bite or exhibit any aggressive behavior. Okay.. She needed to "screen" us to see if we could purchase a dog. Seems legit.

Of course we purchased two pups. I took them to the vet and they both had some serious parasite that was present in dogs that live in bad conditions. The vet questioned me heavily and I assured her that the property seemed clean and sanitary. We went through a thorough process to purchase these dogs. This was not a mill (I started to sweat. Did I just purchase puppies from a mill. I felt sick.) I emailed the breeder (to inform her about the parasite. If they had it, all the pups did.) and she responded, "Can't read your email. Blank." So I emailed again. Same response. I called and left a message. No reply.

Quickly, we realized that these pups were not normal. They were terrified of everything. I mean everything. If you simply stood up from a chair, they were traumatized. Yelled that dinner was ready? Pee on the floor. I don't know what happened, but these pups had to have been abused. Fast forward 5 years later...... nothing has changed, in fact, it is worse. They are terrified of cars, horns, other dogs, people, walking too fast across the floor, laughter, sneezing, dropping spoons, raising your arms, the phone ringing, the door chime, bouncing balls, sweeping the floor, popcorn, I can go on..... I cannot take them to a dog park because one will attack any dog and try to run away. The other runs away after playing for a minute.

Which brings me to Reason #2,946,501 - they steal food. If I turn away for a moment, they will snatch things off the table. It is almost impossible to train them because they are terrified of everything. They slink around like they are being punished most of the time. You know that look? I don't have to yell, they punish themselves. It is impossible to train dogs that do not respond to rewards because they are scared to death all the time. Please don't email me trainers and articles about medicating your dogs. We have tried everything. Nothing helps them be less scared. Yesterday was John's birthday. I baked him a red velvet cake and made gnocchi. While I was putting the potatoes through the ricer, I turned around and found this! NOOOOOOOOO! I looked and the dogs where no where to be found. They were hiding. I ran out to the two corner stores and Rite Aid trying to find red food coloring and cake flour. None. I was so consumed I had forgotten about the potatoes. I returned to cold and now unusable potatoes. I started crying. Yes, I cried. Like a baby.

So, we went to L'Oca for dinner (which was delicious) and had half a cake. John was a good sport. Happy Birthday, Love. Anyone interested in two terrified dogs? Please do think me horrible for wanting to give away such tortured creatures. I realize that I cannot tend to them in the way that they need. We live a chaotic life. Honestly, I don't think the kids would allow it. But if we found great homes? Together? They are sweet and if you live is a quiet house...what a match! Anyone?

Apropos of nothing more than it being Friday...

2011-09-09T09:26:00.003-04:00

Hey you know what's great on a Friday? Beats. Beats and non sequiturs. Sooooo...

--

Damn. Y'all feel that? (Would have been funnier more promptly after the earthquake. Oh, well. MOVING ON.)

--Dude, that shirt must have been REAL expensive, 'cuz it sure is ugly.

--Hands down the best bolg (sic) about the Phillies: I Want To Go To The Zoo With Roy Halladay.. Give a brother some page views and admire the MS Paint masterpieces! And the gifs. Can't forget the gifs!

--Know what this post needs? The Beastie Boys. Obviously. Let's go old school!

The bemused Mariachi band just slays me.

--So you got the memo that Steph's been lurking in the kitchen again, yeah? SOUP'S BACK! Which we're all thrilled about. BUT! She also came up with these new blackberry+almond+oat energy bars. Tasty? YOU BET! Healthy? OF COURSE! Weird stuff in 'em? DON'T YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE? COURSE NOT! Totally all natural, with ingredients you can pronounce. Come and git 'em quick, 'cuz they're flying out of here!

--Is this mostly a disjointed stream consciousness as I run up and down the stairs to my office to type ideas in as they occur to me? No WAY, dude! TOTALLY not.

--Hey, maybe we could show a little more restraint with the cologne there, huh guy?

(Real talk: I've never actually liked this song.)

--Where has my comforting gray murk gone?! There is some new yellow orb in the sky, and it's gaze is like fire on my skin! And the heavens! They are BLUE!

--You know, this whole concept was working better this morning. Let's just wrap it up with this:

BOEUF.

If it weren't for nonsense, I'd make no sense at all. Have a great weekend everyone! Come say hi!

2011-09-08T17:04:00.003-04:00

People Love our bagel bags.

Zuppa!

2011-09-07T17:16:00.004-04:00

Soup is back, everybody! Steph has already started making batches of deliciousness for us, and that means that autumn is on the horizon. So far, we have some timeless vegetarian classics like Black Lentil, Cream of Potato, Yellow Lentil, and Cream of Tomato, just to get you started, and others will appear in our stores shortly (I can't wait for Potato Corn Chowder with BACON). In the meantime, here are some fun facts about soup:

Soup was first discovered about 60,000 years ago when a chicken lost a knife fight with a llama and was subsequently tossed into a molten geyser. The llama was a strict vegan but watched with smug satisfaction as the cave people started chowing down on his enemy.

Morbidly enough, the first 'wedding soup' was the result of a cannibal who hated his in-laws so much that he served them for a ceremonial nuptial supper. When asked what his secret was, he replied, "it's all relatives."

In post-industrial Britain, 'orphan taunting' was a popular sport amongst the aristocracy. The elite would stand around eating countless bowls of soup, whereas adorable little street urchins would be mocked and publicly humiliated if they asked for more. The famous combination of soup AND sandwich was invented by these rich fancypants who sought to take their bullying to a next level.

Dr. Campbell invented the first condensed soup because he was going to ride on the Hindenburg airship and didn't want to have to pay extra for checked baggage. Luckily for him, Campbell was detained at customs for questioning in an unrelated drug smuggling operation and never ended up boarding the vessel.

It is widely rumored that cold soups such as gazpacho are just as good as hot soups. This is a vicious lie and was created by General Electric in order to sell more refrigerators.

Seasons Schmeasons!

2011-09-06T17:25:00.000-04:00

After over 2 decades in Philadelphia, I've finally come to the conclusion that I just don't have a favorite season. It's not that I don't like them, I sort of like them all, actually... for different reasons. But there's not one part of the year that I like more than all the rest. What took me 25 years to discover, is that it's the transition periods, the times between the true hearts of the seasons, that I love.
Cozy feelings of fall to winter, hopeful sunny mornings from winter into spring, gently warmer spring to summer, and summer to glorious fall. Summer to fall is just plain wonderful. If you don't let your mind wander far enough into the chilly weather mindset, fall is perfect. Absolutely nothing compares.

Evenings begin to get cooler. The smell of the air changes. Time outside can be t-shirt or cardigan time. Or both! Nights around the fire pit aren't mosquito-ridden. Leaf piles begin to appear. You can play in (most of) those leaf piles. Teenagers aren't quiiiite as scantily clad. Pleasantly brisk mornings, and the piping cup of coffee that is so satisfying on those brisk mornings. Layers of clothing - often starring flannel - start to come out. APPLES happen! Delicious, amazing, crisp, juicy, pure, fresh, APPLES.

My top three? The things that make leaving the warm days of summer behind worth it?
1. The bea-U-tiful colors of changing leaves!
2. It's appropriate to bake pies again.
3. Sweet Potato Pecan Praline Gelato.

I just can't wait.
Neither can my boyfriend, obviously. See below. What a cutie.

CapoYunk!!!!

2011-09-01T19:42:00.003-04:00

People really love us here in south Philly. If being here practically every day for the last 6 months has taught me anything it is that. Here at Yunk' we can't even classify certain people as 'regulars', to do so would be silly seeing as I see the same hundreds of faces day in and day out. Around these parts EVERYONE is a regular. Heck, right now as I type we have our weeks knitting circle chatting it up over lattes and gelato right above my head! (our office is in the basement :3)

A few months ago MANY of our customers began questioning me on what day we would be closing this year. I tried my hardest to be as informative as possible, but to be honest I had no idea! Slowly the curious questions turned to forceful demands (in the sweetest way possible), "PLEASE! We love you guys, don't close!" If I had a nickle for every time this summer a customer insisted to me that they, "Love gelato in the winter too." I would probably have a fortress made of nickels. Maybe a Bentley made of nickles too.

I promised everyone I would let them know of any developments in this matter ASAP. I mentioned this blog many times so everyone knew that they could check for updates as much as they wanted (I imagine many of them sitting up late at night, refreshing the blog over and over, bloodshot eyes, waiting....waiting) Well folks get ready, because this is the first update in our schedule for this season I have received!

AS OF RIGHT NOW: We will remain open as long as you guys keep getting pumped for gelato! That's right! You guys keep your enthusiasm as high as it has been and hey, who knows? We could be open forever! Everyone should keep this in mind especially considering how South Philly has missed out on some of our AWESOME winter flavors the past two years.

SO KEEP UP THE EXCITEMENT AND WE'LL KEEP SLINGIN' THAT CREAM!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Gelato will save the world.

2011-09-01T19:30:00.005-04:00

--When Chocolate Peanut Butter starts his guitar solo, Jimmy Page gets his lighter out.

--When you eat Chocolate Peanut Butter too fast, you don't get brain freeze. You get brain ASPLODE.

--Chooch tells Roy Halladay to pitch around Chocolate Peanut Butter. (And Ruben Amaro Jr. keeps calling us wanting to know what we'd want in trade.)

--Hurricane Irene thought about pummeling Philly, saw Chocolate Peanut Butter giving her his cool glare, and left to go beat up Ben and Jerry's instead.

--We can't make Chocolate Peanut Butter and Black Raspberry on the same day because we spend too much time shooing away unicorns and wood nymphs.

--DeSean Jackson held himself out of training camp because he'd heard a rumor we weren't going to make Chocolate Peanut Butter anymore and needed a few days to collect himself.

--Chocolate Peanut Butter is dismayed at our addiction to fossil fuels, but he's confident we'll get our act together.

--Chocolate Peanut Butter doesn't melt.

--Last week's earthquake? Too much peanut butter, not enough chocolate. Our collective shui got all unfenged.

--Chocolate Peanut Butter is always happy to change a diaper.

--In the outtakes of Anthony Bourdain's "elBulli" episode, you can just make out Tony whispering reverently to Ferran Adria, "Yeah, but have you had the Chocolate Peanut Butter?"

--Chocolate Peanut Butter doesn't have any job references on his resume because he's always been "The Boss."

--I tried to pack a pint full of only Chocolate Peanut Butter a few minutes ago. Got worried when I saw the fabric of reality warping in on itself from the sheer mass of awesome.

--Chocolate Peanut Butter thinks you should wear a bike helmet.

--The next deeper dream in Inception past the snow fort? Chocolate Peanut Butter, and no one wants to wake up.

--Chocolate Peanut butter always cleans the oatmeal pot.

--You ask Chocolate Peanut Butter, he'll tell you you're gonna be okay.

--Chocolate Peanut Butter thinks your hair looks great.

Hug a Barista

2011-08-31T17:16:00.015-04:00

Meet Zach and Joe (left and right, respectively). They have been working with Capogiro for years. They're both at 20th near full-time, so you're bound to have seen their shining faces at one time or another. Don't tell anyone, but I think they may be two of my favorite people in the whole world. Shh.. In any case, I thought to let you get to know them a little better.

Joe. Joe is an art geek, film student and pun connoisseur. He is also very politically active. When he's not slinging gelato or finger painting, Joe spends his time trying to get citizenship and job placement for Canadian geese. When he's not at Capogiro, you can often find Joe at your local mall, picketing Chik Fil-A stores to open on Sundays. He is deathly afraid of the dog with the Jerry Garcia mask in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Often referred to as the Guy with Glasses (Yelp.com), Joe would like you to know that he is not, in fact, trying actively to look like a hipster. His words of wisdom to us all are, "Don't squat in spurs."

Zach. This little bugger has been working on and off for Capogiro since the tender age of 16. A self-proclaimed ladies man, Zach occasionally attends classes at Rutgers and one day hopes to be a smarmy hotel manager in the Caribbean or somewhere equally exotic where people wear swimsuits most of the time. Zach loathes having to wear hats, but owns more pairs of shoes than Imelda Marcos. He recently returned from a road trip through several National Parks, and would like all women in Philadelphia to know that he's, "really muscular and loves to make out." While I can't post his dreams on this family-friendly blog, I can say that Zach's greatest fears include ugly children, jail, male pattern baldness, being dirty, and the wrath of John.

To Our Regulars...

2011-08-30T14:52:00.005-04:00

Lights of our lives!

We see you on the daily. In the morning, around lunchtime, after dinner, and sometimes even riiiight before bed.

If you're at Capogiro more than once a week, or better yet, more than once a day, you've earned that coveted title and you should be proud of it! We want to shout out - radio dj style - to all of the familiar faces that help make our day.

We appreciate your patience, your smiles, your quirks and your quick wits. We love that many of you know and greet us by our names. We we love meeting your kids, your spouses, your friends, and your 'special friends'.
We love being the first people you talk to in the morning, the ones who relieve you from the office with toasty panini in the afternoon, the ones who chat with you on an iced coffee break, and the ones who help you satisfy that sweet tooth (I mean, calcium and vitamin D craving obviously) before or after dinner. Or both. No shame in having dessert first OR twice. You're a rock star.

Linda, Sam, Charlie, Charlotte, Tim, Sarah, Chris, Jordan, Michael, Susan, Brian, Julie, Bob, Kiwi Lady, Elliott, John, and so many more... you're awesome! We love you! And above all else, thank you! We wouldn't be here without folks like you :)

Free Panna.

2011-08-25T20:10:00.004-04:00

If I've heard it once then I have heard it fifty-billion times, "What the heck is Panna??" Seeing as I come from a background of people who are completely ignorant of all things Italian I can understand the confusion.

All of our stores, in one fashion or another, advertise 'Free Panna'. I suppose the combined mystery of a foreign word accompanied by 'Free' will tend to make many a Gent or Lady quite the curious cat. I have spent years explaining what exactly panna is (I feel like I'm being a little dramatic since it takes about three seconds to explain)so for a change I would like to list some things that 'panna' is not:

-water

-sprinkles

-chocolate

-a candy

-any type of clothes

-a relative

-a slang word

-offensive

-a cone

-gelato

-a spaceship

-Facebook

-a drink

-me

I really needed to write that down, because I'm pretty sure on one occasion or another at least one person may have thought that 'panna' was one or more of those things. If you still are unsure of what exactly 'panna' is, take a look at this:

Stay dry and creamy this weekend!

Yesterday was nuts

2011-08-24T17:43:00.005-04:00

Right?! So crazy. Rittenhouse was teeming with people all day Tuesday, tourists mostly. By the overwhelmed looks on their faces and the brand new Drexel and Penn t-shirts, it was pretty obvious that the kiddies are arriving for their first year of college. In droves. Just imagine that you're a parent of one of these students, already scared for them to be leaving home, driving them into a big city filled with miscreants and near-do-wells, starting to unload the car when huh? An earthquake! (See Dawne's post below). Suddenly your head explodes and you turn into a zombie.

This is the only thing that I can think that led to the hordes of bewildered people in and around the Square last night. If you looked outside, you saw tons of parents slowly stumbling from one block to the next, whilst their children looked equal parts scared and annoyed by them. We welcomed the parent-tourist-zombies and their young into Capogiro, and introduced them to a wondrous new treat (I've never explained what gelato is more than I did last night), and they loved our urban chic-ness and stainless steel "spaceship" cafe. They were adorable. For a Tuesday night, we were slammed. We were slinging gelato like mad people. There were so many maps of Philadelphia strewn across our tables. We were giving directions and suggestions for people for hours. Crazy!

Then came the grad students. After the parents went back to their hotel rooms and the students went to go cry or drink it off in their new dorms, the older ones came. They were pretty awesome. It's really nice to get a new perspective of Philadelphia from folks who just moved here. Makes it seem shinier somehow. We had the grad students pouring in until just about closing time, when we finally pulled in the tables and breathed out the chaos of the day. Welcome back, y'all.

Shake Shake Shake....

2011-08-23T23:57:00.003-04:00

Nope, not a frappe... I'm talking about Philadelphia!

It's not every Tuesday that an earthquake is felt along the East Coast. Heck, it's not even every decade. While all Capogiro stores are on ground level, we were still acutely aware of our lights, tables, and computer monitors rocking, and a gentle yet sort of alarming rumbling. What caused it? A 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Virginia! How COOL?!

Social media was INcredible today. The speed at which quake-related tweets, check-in's, and Facebook posts appeared was insane. Excitement, disbelief, and a wee bit of fear sum the mood well. Sarah and I were sitting in the office for a moment when the quake was felt, and at first, we brushed the rumbling off as a big truck passing on the street above. As things continued to rumble, Sarah's eyes grew larger and she suggested (with some urgency) that we leave the office lest we be buried alive in it.

Little to no damage occurred in our area, though the folks in Virginia (such as our Dear Kristin's parents!) felt a longer, more feather-ruffling shake. Upon learning that we had just experienced an earthquake - especially one of a respectable magnitude - I must admit I was more excited than concerned. I majored in geology in college, and could only imagine and envy the excitement an East coast quake would have sparked in classes.

Anyways, we hope you're all well. Plenty of folks celebrated their work-free afternoons with us :) Aftershocks or not, we're here for ya :)

Get a load of our melons!!!

2011-08-22T11:16:00.004-04:00

Everybody loves our melons!

It's Melon Season!! Here at Capo, we hunt melons. Bumpy ones, a little off center, we like em best that way - just ladybugs and compost (channeling Joni Mitchell - "just give me the birds and the bees - PLEASE!") We relish in their diversity and their ability to make us dance. No pesticides or fertilizers - they are imperfection! Come, enjoy our melons while they last...

The Farmer's Daughters' Melons Collection:

Canary Melon Sorbetto - White flesh, slightly tangy, the Ginger on the island of melons

Cantaloupe Melon Sorbetto - Prosciutto's best friend

Sugar Baby Watermelon Sorbetto- A melon small in size only!

Honeydew Melon Sorbetto - pale green flesh, sweeter, the Mary Ann on the island

Hot Pepper Gelato - Because all that cool needs some heat!
Cactus Pear Sorbetto - Why? It taste like a melon, swear!

Click HERE to get your hands on our sweet melons!!!

Blogging about blogs

2011-08-19T17:51:00.005-04:00

So before I started working with this fabulous company, I had never written a blog before. I know, crazy right? In any case, this past year I've been a weekly blogger, and it's led me to appreciate the blog posts of others on a whole new level. Capogiro has conveniently provided a list of blogs we like as a company (see right sidebar). I'd like to share with you some of the funnier and/or wittier blogs that I've stumbled upon personally.

Regretsy You've probably heard of this one, but Regretsy takes the most obsurd postings on Etsy.com, the popular "homemade" craft and jewelry site and belittles them. It is amazing what some people consider art, and even more incredible is the amount of said art that people try to sell that is somehow made of their own hair. Gross. One of my favorites of all time is this little gem below, where an incredibly talented artist will draw you with Justin Bieber, sitting on a unicorn. Winner!

FUPenguin FuPenguin is a blog where the author takes out all of his aggression on the world by insulting it's cutest animals. He takes a picture off the web of some adorable creature than proceeds to belittle them. Actually quite entertaining if you're in a mean-spirited mood. Or if you just hate cute things.

Hyperbole and a Half This is a blog by a hilarious girl in the Midwest, who has an uncanny ability to blog about her life in a side splitting way. One of my favorites of hers is when she lambasts people who write the word 'a lot' incorrectly, so she chooses to personify it as a hairy creature.

HappyPlace This one has been on Facebook a lot recently, but it's seriously the funniest site on the web. Basically a compilation of pictures that readers have submitted, it ranges from hilarious gay marriage protest signs to clever responses to random signs. Such as this gem.

So, in any case, blogs are fun. They are not just for super nerdy gamers anymore who need a forum for their world of warcraft ranting (sorry, Caitlin). Send me suggestions for other funny ones, I need more laughter in my life!

Bzzbzzbzz.

2011-08-19T09:08:00.002-04:00

So you know how we REALLY like to pair with cool local people doing cool local things? We're up to shenanigans again! We can happily say that we're going to be making gelato with some of the mostest specialest local honey around, gifted to us by Daniel Duffy. Daniel's been maintaining a community apiary at the Woodland Cemetery with the help of some local kids, which is definitely the sort of thing we can get behind. (Here's a link! You'll have to cut and paste, because I'm less HTML savvy than your average dim-witted four year old: http://nakedphilly.com/university-city/beekeepers-guild-to-teach-bee-yard-to-farm-stand-youth-program/)

So the honey...totally raw. Murky. Funky. Got some mint going on (what are these bees eating, anyway?) In the interest of full disclosure, I'm...kinda not a honey afficionado. But Sarah's pretty agog over the stuff, so it must be good. Sarah's got reasonably good taste. And it'll be here Saturday! Like, mañana! It's part of the Sustainable Saturdays gig in West Philadelphia, which is another thing that makes West Philly FAR cooler than South Philly or Fishtown or wherever you ersatz trendsetters think is cool these days. And before you ask (I can see some of you fixing to raise your hands already), we're not going to be mucking it up with any rosemary or goat's milk. Of COURSE the rosemary/honey/goat's milk is one of the mind-blowingest gelati that we make. Everyone loves it, and rightly so. But this honey...it's got layers, man. There's some stuff going on in there. We don't want to mask any of that. It'd just be gilding the lily. So just our famous milk paired with some awesome honey.

So tomorrow! Come say hi on the west side! And Daniel, we're saving you a pint! Thanks about a mason jar-full!

And what the hey, seems like as good a reason as any to post this:

Have a good weekend everyone!

All I took pictures of were trees and food. No really.

2011-08-18T10:16:00.009-04:00

So last week I went on a roving vacation with my Mom through the South. We drove from Delaware to Hilton Head, South Carolina and it only took us a hundred and fifty hours. Ok more like fifteen. But still, it was an epic, Bataan Death March meets the Odyssey kind of drive, but we made it, relatively unscathed, to the swampish heat of the coast. Some of the best food we had the whole trip? Wilson's BBQ and Grill, in Emporia Virginia. I'm pretty sure BBQ is my number one comfort food, falling somewhere neck and neck with Vietnamese. They had some of the best pulled pork I've ever had - and their baked beans were top notch. Oh and for anyone interested, they've got one of the most sadomasochistic "how much can you eat?" throwdowns I've ever seen. All I'm going to say is it involves a pound of bacon, a pound of ribs, and that's just the first two of TEN courses. Oh and you have 23 minutes. But hey if you eat it all you don't have to pay for it! Shudder.
Once we got to Hilton Head, we were adrift in a sea of tourist trap nightmares. Capn' Jacks Crabby Crab Shack! type places (no offense to anyone who happens to have named their establishment Capn' Jacks Crabby Crab Shack - any resemblance to actual places is purely coincidental). But there were some seriously amazing tucked away spots.
I'm a raging snob. I'm the first to get in line to admit it. Combatting it and or hiding it from people is something I try to do gracefully, and let it slip in gradually once people get to know me. However when I discover a restaurant I'm interested in going to is located in a shopping center next to a Piggly Wiggly and a laundromat, I'm probably going to either try to find somewhere new, or resign myself to whatever is in store (except, I say again, Vietnamese places...they can pop up anywhere and be the best friggin thing ever). Kenny B's French Quarter Cafe was AHMAZINGOHMYGOD. Go there. Drive to Hilton Head just to EAT THEIR FOOD. That plate took me three days to work through, seriously, and pretty much left me only able to drink water for days after that without starting to whimper and cry at the site of food. I've never had jambalaya that good in my life.
Giant buspan of stone crab claws. Died. Heaven. Went to.
And a FUZZY MONSTER CRAB CLAW!
Juleps. Had to. And not a bad cocktail bar, The Gin Joint, in Charleston. Loved Charleston. Amazingly beautiful. I might have to live there one day, after I move to Savannah for a little. Fantastic cities, both.
And ok, one non-food picture. En route to Charleston we took a short detour to see the Angel Oak. I'm a sucker for trees, so I spent the majority of the trip alternately falling over things because I was so busy marveling at the Spanish moss that was everywhere, or getting misty eyed over oysters and soul food. The Angel Oak defies words.
This trip reaffirmed many things for me, namely, yes, I definitely hate "family style seating" (sorry, Mrs. Wilkes, you were a bummer), 99 degrees with a 115 degree heat index will take just about anyone down, unless you're bolstered with bourbon and lemonade, and watching Chopped reruns with your Mom while polishing off cheap bottles of wine is more fun than just about anything else in the world.

Dear Sky, We're Not Really Thirsty Anymore. Looooooove Philadelphia!

2011-08-16T15:04:00.003-04:00

Been around anytime over the last week? It's been damp. Sometimes it's misty or sprinkling, sometimes it's steadily rainy, and sometimes it's ga-zillions of 4 ounce drops of rain pelting and soaking everything in sight. Now don't get me wrong, I actually really love rain - and weather in general, but many Philadelphians harbor a ridiculous fear-related aversion to being touched by the stuff, and won't step out of their homes, offices, schools, etc during a storm lest they become a smidge... wet.

This weekend's storms brought some serious rainfall to our coast. That radar image of Sunday's storm was a littttttle scary, and some unusual spots flooded, like the Broad St ramp off I-95, with that poor cabby stuck in it. Severe thunderstorm watches and crazy flood warnings always incite a bit of alarm, however most of Philadelphia survived just fine (though the PWD had a good deal of sewer drain cleaning to do Monday morning).
Anyways, we've hit mid-August (Sorry! It's the truth.) and frankly, I'd love to enjoy as many more sweet late summer days as possible. Rain doesn't technically stop anyone from enjoying their day, but it does tend to alter plans... SO, fat cloudy rain clouds, please move out to sea, and rain on the water. Swing by anywhere that's undergoing a drought, too, they'd appreciate if you shared.
Thanks!
Philadelphia

Because I'm an Adult

2011-08-12T18:19:00.007-04:00

Joe and I just had popcorn for dinner. Really delicious popcorn from the Roxy movie theater in fact, where they still use real clarified butter. Yum. This is one of the things that makes me really glad to be an adult. While it's a shame that now we all have bills to pay, etc., there are many perks to not having to listen to anyone's rules anymore. Such as;

Dessert for breakfast! Often, we will get folks who come in around 10am and get gelato. They always seem to need to make a remark about how they know it's wrong to have dessert that early, but they also always seem to have a mischievous glint in their eye when they say so. We salute you, daytime gelato eaters, and fully support your morning indulgences.

Drinking from the milk carton. This drove my mother insane. But hey, sometimes you just want a chug of milk, and don't want to have to bother with a glass. It's a simple pleasure that this brings me now, it's my damn milk and I'm gonna drink it straight from the gallon. Take that, Mom!

Staying up all night for no good reason. When I was young, New Year's Eve was like a magical night where I was allowed to stay up until midnight to watch the ball drop and ring in the new year. It was like being given a glimpse into the dangerous darkness of night, for at least 20 minutes before I was shooed away to bed. Now I'll just stay up all night for the heck of it, but I always feel a little guilty when I see the sun coming up.

I will say, that the very best thing about being an adult is the shower beer. If you have never had a beer in the shower before, you are missing out on a magical experience. For some reason, there is nothing more rewarding that starting your weekend off with an ice cold beer in a steamy hot shower. It is for this reason more than any other that I am glad I am a grown up.

I Love Jackie Barry.

2011-08-11T17:31:00.007-04:00

Jackie Barry: woman, artist, nut enthusiast, friend and (most importantly) Capo-ite. Jackie recently wrote an article for Phrequency (a pretty nifty Philly website geared towards young urban adults aka Hipsters) about her five favorite coffee spots in the city. Well, CapoYunk made her list and I'm SUPER excited about it! She threw in some really cute paintings of all the shops too, and Yunk is my personal favorite.

It was an honor to get a personal mention in her writeup. Everyone should check this out, it's awesome! LOOK AT THIS YO!

Red Currant, I Adore You

2011-08-10T16:28:00.007-04:00

Red Currants have descended upon us! While some people approach the lovely pink sorbetto with hesitation (because of its stunning beauty of course), we seasoned Capogiro-ians approach it with open arms, hearts, mouths... etc.

A beautiful hue of red, and cute as a bunch of spherical buttons, red currants yield a delicate and surprisingly delicious flavor. The currant fruit grows on a bush, and as summer progresses, the berries mature into their tart flavor with a hint of sweetness. Not just for sorbetto, you may be familiar with currants in non-Capogiro dishes such as jams, salads, garnishes, or drinks when in season. How versatile of the currant!

Are they good for you? Yep :) Black currant is more traditionally associated with medicinal uses, but many herbalists consider red currant berries to have fever-reducing, sweat-inducing, astringent, appetite increasing, diuretic and digestive properties, and more. The added plus of high levels of vitamin C, fruit acids, and fiber make currants a solid addition to your diet, sorbet form included!

A short season (you're used to this by now, no?) means get out that door and high tail it to Capo. Red currant sorbetto will boost your health AND slap a smile on that darling face of yours ;)

I almost didn’t believe it there for a second…

2011-08-10T13:20:00.002-04:00

Did anyone else have this experience? It wasn’t until it was widely announced that everything had been put back together that I realized just how close I had been to what would have been an exceedingly unpleasant fall and winter. I mean…this is AMERICA. We have traditions, and ceremony, and history. It’s how we pace the rhythm of our lives, how we recognize our own tribe, how we spend our Sunday afternoons.

I’m talking about football, of course.

I’ll stipulate for the record that I’m a baseball guy first and foremost. Baseball is jazz, and chess, and ballet, and quite literally poetry in motion. (Though Tim Lincecum’s delivery is more awkward 14 year old than T. S. Eliot, if you see what I’m saying and I think you do. Three wins in four games in San Francisco! HA!) Baseball is becoming truly international—Japan, Cuba, Central and South America—we’ve taught the world our game, and I really hope that someday soon we’ll have a real World Series. The World Baseball Classic is a step in the right direction.

But football. No one else does football right. (And no, this is decidedly not a blog post about futbol. I’d post the obligatory Simpsons video clip, but it’s been overdone. I’ve tried to enjoy soccer. Hell, I PLAYED soccer for a long time. It’s interminable to watch. Positively stultifying. I’d rather watch golf.) I think there’s a certain amount of intrinsic American swagger, or braggadocio, or bombast, that other nationalities just can’t understand. That and the differences between a free safety and a strong safety.

And we almost LOST IT. I’ll totally stipulate that it was a tantrum-throwing contest between millionaires and billionaires, though there were some real issues in play—long-term health care for retired players and the multitude of concussions, for example. We can have that more intellectual conversation if you like, just not right now.

SERIOUSLY, WE ALMOST DIDN’T HAVE FOOTBALL. Could you imagine? No fantasy football! No Eli Manning being a whiny-pants! No Tony Romo choking away games! Troy Polamalu’s hair! OchoCinco’s weirdness! Tono Romo choking!

And the Eagles are gonna be huge this year. YOOGE. I mean, obviously the offense is going to stomp up and down on people. Michael Vick’s only going to be better. DeSean Jackson wised up and went to camp. Vince Young though…really? Yeesh. That’ll be a wait-and-see situation for sure. But the defense. The D-FENCE! Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Asante Samuel , AND Nnamdi Asomugha? You’re really going to try to throw against that, huh? Good luck, Tony. I’m predicting the team will grab 173 interceptions this season.

A small sigh: this is always the time of year when I start sorta-kinda-only-a-lil wishing I was still in Seattle. SO nice to wake up at 10:00, roll over and turn on your tv and…look! Football! In the morning! But then I’d be stuck in a town where a college team—A COLLEGE TEAM—is empirically more popular than the local pro team. That just ain’t right. I mean, when was the last time the University of Washington was good at anything other than turning out doctors, nurses, and clinical psychologists? Feh. Who needs ‘em.

So the Eagles: gonna stomp on people. A lot and all the time. The Phillies: Already stomping on people, all over the place and better than anyone else. Still owe my mom one more game this season, too. Looking like a good fall, people. I’m waiting for it to snow!

The Completely Fabricated Story of the Colt's Bolts Lady

2011-08-03T17:27:00.006-04:00

This is Mackenzie Colt. Born in Louisville, Kentucky to a wealthy Southern aristocratic family, she had an ideal upbringing. Her early childhood was spent running through cornfields on old plantations, sipping sweet lemonade and chasing fireflies. In her teen years, she attended cotillion classes and learned how to serve tea like a lady. She had a debutante ball at 16, with an elaborate coming out party. She was voted May Queen in high school, and was head cheerleader.

She went to college in order to meet the perfect husband, and while there was captain of the equestrian team (pictured). Tragically, at the all-state fence-post jumping competition, she was thrown from Mirabelle, her prized filly, and shattered three ribs. Mackenzie Colt would never ride again. Heartbroken, she returned to Louisville to the open arms and open wallets of her rich parents.

Her parents owned several successful properties throughout Kentucky, and Mackenzie decided to try her hand at being a realtor (pictured). She managed to oversee the sale of numerous homes and rental properties. A major scandal erupted in her life, however, when it was discovered that she was having a lurid affair with the mayor of Frankfurt, whom she met selling a beach house to him and his wife. Rather than face public shame and humiliation, Mackenzie again returned home to Louisville.

Upon her return home, she found that her father had squandered away the family's fortune on illegal crawdad fighting, and that her mother had left him for a used car salesmen. Mackenzie rented a cheap hotel room, and for a month she drowned her sorrows in a bottle of gin.

She was about to end it all, when suddenly she got the munchies. She figured that if she was gonna go, she was going to satiate her sweet tooth first. She picked herself up, went to the store and bought a jar of local peanut butter, some chocolate chips, and a handful of almonds. Mackenzie brought the ingredients back to her hotel room and locked the door. She heated the chocolate in an old rusty spoon, and mashed the ingredients together in the bottom of a plastic drinking glass. Just before swallowing a bottle of pills in order to end it all, she ate the peanut buttery goodness to grease the wheels, so to speak.

In that moment, Mackenzie's life was changed forever. It was the single greatest thing she had ever tasted. Mackenzie ran out of the hotel room and called her mother, who was overcome with tears of joy that her beloved daughter was still alive. Mackenzie borrowed some money from the used car salesmen (whose name was Buddy, by the way), and in two months time the Colt's Bolts Candy Company was started. Find her tasty peanut butter and almond concoctions at your local Capogiro today. Yum!

2011-08-02T15:21:00.004-04:00

Holy BERRY BUSH Melinda, I wrote you a poem!

This is a poem, which you may agree,
Is a most silly way to express to thee
My love for the flavors we've had recent weeks
If you visited Capo, you need no sneak peeks.
To top off the blackberry, mamey, and the razz,
We've ordered some fruits with even more pizzazz.
A few great surprises, are soon on the way
And I'll give you a hint that won't take you all day
A currant, a forest, and perhaps a dark berry...
Blend together to make hot summer evenings so merry!