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I accidently deleted the photo I took of the outside of the Pretzel Co. Oops.

Last Saturday I took a trip out to Shoppes at Kissel Village in Lititz, Pennsylvania. When I go out on Saturday or Sunday afternoons to work on my novel, I eat at the cafes I’m working in. However, the cafe I’d planned to visit doesn’t serve food (probably because it’s in a grocery store and that would compete with their deli), so I stopped at The Philly Pretzel Company first, which is just across the parking lot from the cafe.

When I walked in, I had a quick look over the menu and then ordered the Pretzel Dog, since it was the closest thing to a meal I saw. There were stacks and stacks of dipping sauces, such as mustard, cinnamon, and other things I didn’t recognize by sight. I was sorely tempted to try one (or several), but having not eaten yet, I thought I should stick to the dog.

I asked if I could take a photo, and the man in charge (who I think was the owner) said I can take a picture of anything I want so long as I don’t put it on the internet. However, he was picking on me for several minutes before hand, so I’m working on the assumption that I won’t be banned from the premises for posting this.

I thought the decor was really quite nice! I didn’t really know what to expect, having never been to a place like that before, but the whole place felt open, clean, and… well, nice. The girl working the counter was very friendly, and as I said, the guy making the pretzels was picking on me!

Before I left, the man asked if I’d had a pretzel yet. I said that I hadn’t yet, and he gave me a fresh, hot pretzel. How nice!

Since the Pretzel Co has no indoor seating, and it was in excess of 90 degrees outside, I chose to eat in my van.

I was halfway through both the pretzel and the pretzel dog before I remembered to actually take a photo!

They were both very good. The pretzel dough was heavy and soft with a nice crust on the outside. A co-worker used to bring pretzels back from Philly for my husband and myself, and the overall weight and flavor were very similar, which makes me think that the water used in the dough was actually imported from Philly.

The dog was big! Not a foot long or anything, but it was thick, and it felt like a meal. There’s also a bit of cheese that drips out when you bite in. I’m not a huge fan of cheese dogs, so this didn’t do much for me, but I’m sure others will love it.

All in all, I’d say The Philly Pretzel Co in Lititz is a great place to stop off for a snack. I hate to admit it, but I don’t remember what the price was. I think my dog was $1.75, and the pretzel was free, so I think you’ll find everything quite reasonable. And when you’re done, just walk across the parking lot where you’ll find the best coffee in Lancaster County (and I don’t mean Starbucks!).

This post has been brought to you by Travis Erwin’s My Town Monday series. For more of My Town Monday, scroll to the bottom of his post for links to everyone participating, or click my My Town Monday tag for more of my posts on Lancaster Pennsylvania.

My very first My Town Monday post was on the Stauffer Mansion here in Lancaster. That post ranks #3 in Google for the search term Stauffer Mansion (just below my Squidoo lens on it).

Those pictures were all about the mansion itself, and were taken just before dark at the end of winter. Now, we’re in summer, and what a difference a bit of green makes in Stauffer Park.

My last MTM post was on Cibo’s, and those pictures were taken the same day as these.

As soon as hubby and I approached the mansion, I noticed a difference between the seasons. Of course, the big construction areas where they’re working on the mansion was part of it, but the other part was all the flowers!

Hubby and I walked around the back of the mansion and towards the formerly creepy tree, which was now lush and green.

As you can see just to the left of the tree, there’s a fence. We’d never noticed this before, and were very pleased to find a new area of the mansion/park to explore. So, we walked through the now-open fence into a courtyard of sorts.

How cool was this? And I fell madly in love with that tree in the background. I never managed to get a good picture of it, but I thought this photo turned out rather nice.

While I was drooling over the tree, my husband was flipping out over “is that a beaver? No, it’s an eagle! Wow!”. I, of course, had no idea what he was talking about and couldn’t figure out how he could mistake an eagle for a beaver, and what the heck was an eagle doing in Stauffer Park anyway?

Until I stepped around a particularly bushy tree and saw that awesome carving. Totally in love. And it’s in the middle of no where! A garden-y area that I think Jane Austen would have referred to as a small wilderness.

Nearly right across from the eagle was this great little sitting area. Isn’t it charming?

If you’re facing the benches, just turn to your right and look straight on to see the top of the mansion through the trees. While I ran around taking pictures of everything I saw, hubby was standing stock still and simply staring at this scene.

After we’d looked at everything in the wilderness, we followed the walking trails as is our usual. Since they’ve been clearing up the shrubbery, and we’ve had decent sun and rain, this spot looked particularly picturesque.

This is actually part of the wilderness area, where it opens up into a small meadow area. I just thought it ended the pictures nicely.

This weekend, hubby and I went walking around Stauffer Mansion/Stauffer park again. The lovely thing about the trails through the park is that they end at Cibo’s parking lot. Cibo is pronounced “chee-boh”, and, according to their menu, means “food”.

What I like best about Cibo’s, is that they make a rockin’ white pizza. They always seem puzzled when I order it, usually asking if I want the garden white pizza which has broccoli and tomato on it, and still sound puzzled when I say that I don’t want the garden white pizza, I want the white pizza.

What makes their white pizza better than the competition? Well, instead of big dollops of ricotta, which does not melt and spread out like other cheese, Cibo spreads the ricotta evenly over the crust. Then comes the mozzarella (or blend- I don’t ask, just eat), and then it’s topped with- not garlic and oil like other places- but garlic oil. The result? Full flavor with each bite.

White pizza isn’t all they do well here. My husband swears by their calzone’s. In fact, while we have a different favorite pizza place for regular pizza, hubby will often tell me that he’s in the mood for a calzone, and why don’t we go to Cibo’s?

I don’t eat calzones, so I can’t say anything about them. However, I have tried their turkey club panini, and it’s lovely. I didn’t order it on this trip, so I can’t show you a picture of it, but it’s quite large and gooey (oh yes, they melt that cheese!). It’s a shame that they don’t offer half sandwiches since they don’t reheat well, and I hate to waste half of a good sandwich.

The one thing that I don’t recommend, however, are the subs. It was quite a long time since I ordered a sub at Cibo’s, so I can’t say whether they make them the same way now. But, when I ordered a sub there, it was made with a single, large, chunk of cheese rather than slices. At first, I thought it was brilliant. Unfortunately, the cheese had such a strong flavor that I couldn’t taste anything else in the sub except the vinegar, which I had asked to not be put on. I couldn’t finish it and haven’t ordered them again since.

The staff inside tends to be split between very friendly and very unfriendly. Luckily, the unfriendly ones tend to be in the back working on the food, leaving the friendly ones to work with the customers. There’s one in particular, who I think is the owner, who has this very gruff, growly bear type appearance. I say appearance, because he’s actually quite nice and a bit of a jokester.

This picture didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked since I was trying to keep people out of the photo (I don’t like posting people online without their permission), and took the picture too quickly. I really wanted a picture of the floor since it’s just really cool looking, but they thought I was weird enough already, and taking pictures of the floor would surely label me as a nutso.

So after walking through the park for an hour or so and working up an appetite, we got home with this.

Not a bad end to a Saturday, huh?

This post has been brought to you by Travis Erwin’s My Town Monday series. For more of My Town Monday, scroll to the bottom of his post for links to everyone participating, or click my My Town Monday tag for more of my posts on Lancaster Pennsylvania.