Delaware's War Memorials

Delaware Memorial Bridge

Happy Memorial Day. In honor of this day, I scoured the length and breadth of Delaware looking for all the war memorials I could find. Here they are in order of the wars they memorialize. I am sure that I missed some, so please comment below and tell me where they are so I can make this list complete.

Restaurant Review: DE.CO

DE.CO is a fantastic idea. Take space in the old DuPont building and turn it into a food hall. When I first heard about it, I thought it was going to be a bit like the food court in the mall. It is not.

For one thing, the space is really well imagined. The vendors are arranged around a central space with tables both large and small. There is plenty of distance between the tables and the sound level is kept to a minimum due to the lower ceilings. For a place that has people coming in and out all the time, it is scrupulously clean. There are also some tables outside.

Restaurant Review: Le Cavalier

The Green Room at the Hotel DuPont was a special place. It was old school; it was beautiful; it had an air of ceremony and pomp. It was the perfect place to celebrate truly important events like graduations, divorces, and birthdays. Their Sunday brunch was the best around.

A few years ago, I heard that the Hotel had decided to close the Green Room and revamp the space. Oh no! Change is hard enough; I was afraid this was going to be a step too far.

The Empire State Building

The model in the lobby.

When I was a little girl, the Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world. Never too young for a bucket list, I always wanted to travel to New York and stand on the top of it. Alas, it never happened and I still have not stood at the top of the tallest building in the world.

I lived in New York for over a decade and, believe it or not, never made it to the top. I needed to check that item off my bucket list and I can now say that I have been to the top of the Empire State Building. It was everything that little girl inside of me wanted it to be.

Restaurant Review: Klondike Kate's

Klondike Kate's has been a part of Newark's Main Street since the late 1970s. It has been a part of my life just as long.

Newark historians have determined that an inn called Three Hearts Tavern stood on this same spot in 1738. As it was approximately halfway between Philadelphia and Baltimore, it was in an excellent location. Some form of inn stood here until 1880 when the original building was demolished and the three floor structure that still stands today was built.

The building was used for a variety of uses, including a garage for those new fangled horseless carriages, until 1977 when it was sold and turned into Klondike Kate's.

Restaurant Review: Ciro Food and Wine

"As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans."

-- Quote by Ernest Hemingway that is painted on the wall as you walk into Ciro Food and Wine

Mother's Day was coming and I was looking for ideas. Both my mom's love good food and good wine, so I settled on taking them to a new restaurant to celebrate the event. Our friends Larry and Steve had told us about a new restaurant down on the Wilmington Riverfront that they had loved. We decided to give it a try and see what happened.

The three of unanimously agreed that it is the best restaurant in Wilmington right now.

Port Penn State Park/Town of Port Penn

For such a tiny town in such a tiny state, Port Penn has an enormous amount of history. As I explored the area, I was surprised by how rich this town's past is. Even better, the town is doing everything it can to preserve it.

The Dutch had a settlement here as far back as 1640. They managed to hold onto it even after the English took over the Dutch colonies. In 1682, William Penn stopped here for some water and the settlers were so honored that they named their settlement Port Penn.

By the 1760s, the town had been taken over by David Stewart who decided he was going to build a port city to rival Philadelphia. Unfortunately, the railway bypassed the town as did the subsequent canal. By the 1830s, this town had become a farm community as well as a fishing village.

Over the years, the inhabitants survived by living off the land, hunting, fishing, and trapping. It wasn't until the 1960s that the people who live here started looking outside the town for jobs. Now, it is a community that prides itself on its past and will proudly show you why.

Restaurant Review: Columbus Inn

"First we eat, then we do everything else."

--M.F.K. Fisher 

The Columbus Inn is a storied part of my history. Way back in the day, when my grandmother was just a lass, she and her sister (my indomitable Aunt Martha) would be sent there by their mother to drag their father off his barstool and home to his family.

Fast forward nearly a century. My husband and I were in the process of breaking up and he was trying to convince me that it was a bad idea. He brought me here for my birthday dinner. It would end up being the last meal we ever ate together.