Food for Thought: Las Margaritas

By Donna Ward

Las Margaritas is a fantastic Mexican restaurant located at 2538 Welsh Rd. near Roosevelt Boulevard.  You have probably seen the jalapeño van driving around the NEast and other neighboring areas, but if you haven’t eaten at Las Margaritas you are missing some of the best Mexican cuisine in the NEast.  It may be true that some Mexican food requires an acquired taste, but at Las Margaritas there is something for everyone, even the mild-palated patrons.

The restaurant is very crowded most nights, but don’t be discouraged because the staff is very speedy in their turnaround.  The tables are wiped down after each party leaves, as are the chairs and booths, and the dinnerware is kept clean. My server was very friendly but at the end of the meal was very anxious for me to pay and depart.  The food arrives at your table very quickly and is always warm.

Real NEastate: Adding a bath adds value

Q: I am planning on selling my three-bedroom, one-bath home in Holmesburg next year, and I am thinking of either putting in a new kitchen or adding a powder room. Which will bring me more value?

A: Unless your kitchen is a total nightmare, adding the extra bathroom is probably the way to go. If you can spruce up the kitchen with some paint and hardware, then your best bet to add value would be adding the powder room.

A Woman’s View: ecological awareness

Go Green!  You may see the signs, you may hear the concepts and you may even be doing your part to help.  But just how big is the real issue and how does it affect us?  Take the quiz offered on My Footprint and see how you and your family rate in terms of being ecologically conscience.

I have always thought of myself as an earth-friendly person, but upon my taking the ecological footprint quiz, I was shocked to learn the results.  I answered my questions honestly and tried to not go with the average or below average choices, but rather to choose the honest responses that suite my lifestyle.  I was appalled to learn that if everyone on earth lived as I do, it would take 4.31 earths in order for our civilization to survive.  My footprints in global acres by consumption results were high, even though they were less than the national average.  While I do my part in recycling and attempt to be energy efficient, there are still careless wastes that all of us produce and discard without concern.

We can all do our part in helping to make the economy and Earth a safe clean place that will hopefully be preserved for generations to come.  I think that the current state of the economy may help alleviate the fast decay of the earth’s resources.  When people find themselves on a strict budget in order to save money, they inevitably start to look for ways in which they can eliminate any unnecessary waste in all aspects of their daily lives.

Real NEastate: On vacation!

Our Real NEastate columnist, Stacey McCarthy, is on vacation with her famliy this week. Check back next week for an all new Q&A with Stacey to get the latest on house hunting in The NEast.

Stacey McCarthy is a real estate agent with the McCarthy Group of Keller Williams. Her Real NEastate column appears every Wednesday on NEastPhilly.com. See others here. Read other NEast Philly columns here.

The Parent Trap: Happy Camp/Sad Camp

The yellow bus arrives at 8:30 a.m. I am not ashamed to admit that I am glad to welcome its arrival. My children greet the bus with very different reactions. My daughter is always happy when it pulls up to the curb, while my son looks upon the vehicle as a convict must when the dingy prison bus arrives, carrying him to his incarceration.

Hey, it’s only camp. You know about camp – that summer place where millions of kids across the country get to play games, swim and otherwise have a good time. The camp my kids attend is similar. They have trips to places like the zoo and the movies every Monday. Swimming (thankfully at a pool that hasn’t rejected them) is enjoyed every other day. Since it is a camp for kids with special needs, they do some different things, like concentrating on journal writing and socialization skills.

Food for Thought: Three Monkeys Cafe

By Donna Ward

This quaint café is located at 9645 James Street right off Grant Avenue across from the Torresdale train station. Founded in 2005, Three Monkeys has polished hardwood floors and tabletops. With Internet access available, many college students in the area seek out Three Monkeys as a great place to have wonderful food, light conversation and accomplish their network needs. Parking can be a little interesting for dinnertime diners, but at lunch there is usually plenty of space outside the café on the street.

The café is small and offers a casual, homey atmosphere. The service is very friendly and prompt, as well as helpful in making your selections. The tables are kept clean and wiped down after each patron departs. Glasses and silverware are provided with each table, wrapped in napkins.

Keep reading below for a photo of Three Monkeys Cafe and details from the savory menu.

Real NEastate: Seller requires pre-approval

Q: I wanted to see this house for sale in Rhawnhurst so I called the realty sign but the agent told me that the seller ”required” all visitors be pre-approved. Does this guy want to sell this house or what? If I want to see it, why should I have to go through the hassle of getting approved, especially if I might not even buy it? The agent told me lots of sellers require pre-approval. Are they crazy? Why would you do that if you’re trying to sell your house?

A: Why wouldn’t the seller prefer to have only qualified buyers see the home? Traffic is good, but a seller wants to limit the traffic through the house to only the buyers who may actually submit a purchase offer. This doesn’t not mean that you personally are not qualified, but the only way for the seller to find that out is to see your pre-approval letter from a qualified lender.

The Parent Trap: With moon landing, the future was then

Tom Swift and the Race to the Moon was a book given to me by my parents, back when kids received such low-tech presents for Christmas. Even back then I was a voracious reader, and the mission of Tom and his spaceship was bunched along with my yearly quota of Hardy Boys books. I thought about Tom’s adventure on June 20, 1969 as I watched a real man – an American – walk across the moon.

The clock was inching toward 10 p.m. when the first step was taken. By this time, even on a Sunday in the middle of summer, I was usually in bed. But not on this night. Not on the night when a man stepped for the first time on ground not of this earth.

I sat on the living room floor in my pajamas, at my parents’ feet. My sister and brother were close by, and all of us watched the television screen, transfixed. Most of the time, we sat around the TV to watch entertainment, sports or soap operas. But on this evening, we saw history – as a family.

A Woman’s View: illness prevention

Swine flu is the latest pandemic scare in the world today. Before swine flu, there was small pox, tuberculosis, measles and many other harmful contagious diseases. Suffice to say that illnesses of all kinds will affect our lives no matter what kind or what era we may live in.

Rather than run for the hills and board up the house though, there are a few basic precautionary methods that one can take to help avoid getting sick or spreading a virus that you may already have. Common courtesies like covering your cough, washing your hands, staying home from work or school when you are sick and basically having a healthy respect for those around you can go a long way in preventing the spread of a virus. These common practices may seem obvious, but there are still some adults that do not adhere to the prevention tactics mentioned.

The Parent Trap: Lawncrest sees end to celebration

It was July 4th and the street was quiet – too quiet. It’s been four years since we left our little home in Lawncrest, and we are still not used to the serenity of the Far Northeast, after living just a couple of blocks away from Independence Day central for Northeast Philadelphia.

“Everything changes,” I call out to my wife, as I finish placing our American flag in its holder. Even though we are now miles away, we still mourned the news that after 93 years, the Lawncrest July 4th parade and fireworks display were cancelled, probably never to return.