Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Charlottesville is ready for spring. The season there comes a little earlier than ours — cherry blossoms popping, birds trilling — so those planning a March getaway should consider the Virginian city, where the weather is often mild enough to spend serious time outside. Rails and walking paths wind like shoelaces through downtown and into the surrounding countryside. As a university town, C’ville is also packed with arts, music, shopping, and dining, and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello estate sits just on the outskirts of town, high on a hill.
The first stop in town, Oakhurst Cafe, announces you’ve arrived in the South with a house-baked buttermilk biscuits layered with country ham, apple butter and mustard. There’s also strawberry shortcake French toast, sweet potato hash with chorizo and fresh-fried beignets, served in a sunny room whose generous windows make the tangerine walls and hardwood floors gleam.
📍 1616 Jefferson Park Ave, Charlottesville, Va. 22903
Stay: Graduate Charlottesville
Charlottesville is a college town, with the University of Virginia’s idyllic and historic campus right downtown. Lean into it and stay at the Graduate, a newer property from the collegiate-themed brand under the Hilton umbrella. Opened in 2015, the hotel is still super fresh, with a game room, scenic rooftop, and rooms dressed in soothing blue walls, Cavalier-print curtains, and bolster pillows embroidered with “Wah-hoo-wa,” the university’s sports cheer.
A short walk from the Graduate, Charlottesville’s pedestrian Downtown Mall offers a solid orientation to the city’s commercial core. Visit shops like C’Ville Arts, a co-op gallery representing over 50 Virginia artists, or catch a show at the historic Paramount Theater, which opened in 1931, closed in 1974, and reopened after a $17-million restoration in 2004. When the biscuit craving returns, hit Miller’s Downtown for lunch. It’s famous for the Charlottesville Nasty chicken biscuit, but the pimento-cheese BLT is the actual move.
📍 East Main Street, between Second Street NW and Ninth Street NE, Charlottesville, Va.
Whether you think history is a snooze or can quote Hamilton from memory — “Thomas Jefferson’s coming home!”— Monticello is must-visit. Set on 2,500 bucolic acres, the estate features multiple exhibits inside, outside, and even beneath the mansion, with thoughtful attention paid to the enslaved people who worked Jefferson’s plantation, including Sally Hemings, with whom he fathered six children.
Beyond the landscaped gardens of Monticello proper, the fairytale woods and meadows of the estate beg for exploring. The Saunders-Monticello Trail is an easy lift for all activity levels, with a maximum 5% incline and two miles of wheelchair-accessible paved paths and boardwalks winding through forest and over ravines. Stop at Carter Overlook for panoramic views of Charlottesville and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
📍 Parking: 503 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy., Charlottesville, Va. 22902
Drink: Blenheim Vineyards
Dave Matthews Band got its start in Charlottesville, gigging at Miller’s on the mall and other stages around town. Though the singer now lives in Seattle, he maintains a strong connection to Virginia. One touchpoint is his winery, Blenheim Vineyards, situated on 32 acres of rolling chartreuse hills stitched with sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, and albarino vines. Giant windows in the wood-clad A-frame frame the landscape during guided tastings of five wines (just $25). Consider this your predinner drinks.
Back downtown, Smyrna’s oysters with ramp mignonette, hamachi crudo with anise-compressed melon, and manti dumplings dabbed with garlic yogurt earned chef Tarik Sengul a semifinalist nod from the James Beard Foundation this year. You’ll have to wait till April to find out if he advances to the finalist round of the awards — making right now an ideal time to check this sharp Aegean restaurant out for yourself.
Wawa customers have been able to order roasted chicken on sandwiches, salads, burritos, and more since summer 2024. Hoagie-loving Philadelphians may scroll past the high-protein option on Wawa’s trademarked built-to-order screens, while others tap its icon instinctively in their rush to order lunch.
Wawa CEO Chris Gheysens said he sees the chicken breast differently.
From idea to inception, “that was a labor of love for quite a long time,” Gheysens said in a recent interview. “It’s 37 grams of protein, something consumers are really looking for today.”
And, he added, “it’s still highly customizable, which our customers love doing at Wawa.”
To Gheysens, the menu addition shows how the Delaware County-based company responds to consumer demand. Just as it did decades ago when Philly-area store managers began brewing coffee for customers on the go, and in 1996, when Wawa executives decided to start selling gasoline.
Even now, with nearly 1,200 stores in 13 states and Washington, D.C., Wawa is still listening to consumer feedback, Gheysens said. And despite expanding as far away as Florida and Kentucky, the CEO said, the convenience-store giant remains especially in tune with its hometown fans.
“For a lot of people, it’s their daily routine,” said Gheysens, a South Jersey native. “It becomes a part of their neighborhood. It’s a relationship that’s built on consistency, on trust” — and on getting customers out the door in five minutes or less, depending on the time of day.
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Customers say they are drawn to the homegrown chain for its convenience, consistency, quality, and wide-ranging menu of grab-and-go and made-to-order items (even though some miss the old Wawa delis where lunch meat was sliced on the spot).
In Runnemede, 78-year-old Barbara MacCahery said she goes to her local Wawa at least a couple of times a week — “sometimes for breakfast, sometimes for a sandwich, a lot of times for coffee.”
In MacCahery’s mind, she said, the chain has proven itself time and time again for decades: “It’s very rare that you’ll have a bad experience.”
Wawa’s ‘secret sauce’ for success
More than 100 years ago, Wawa started out as a dairy, delivering milk to Philadelphia-area households.
Wawa has set a national standard for success in the convenience-store industry, said Z. John Zhang, a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
“It really is some kind of a secret sauce,” said Zhang, who studies retail management. “For many people, Wawa has become a destination store,” one that combines “speed, customization, and perceived high quality” with near-constant availability — many Wawa stores are open 24/7.
The company got its start as a dairy, delivering milk to Philly-area households. In 1964, it opened its first store in Folsom. Soon, the family-owned company expanded into New Jersey and Delaware, and established a reputation for quality and speed, with slogans like “People on the Go — Go to Wawa Food Markets.”
Wawa’s first convenience store opened in Folsom, Delaware County in 1964.
Wawa is privately held, owned in part by workers who get a percentage of their earnings contributed to an employee stock-ownership plan. Zhang said this program likely leads to more-invested employees who provide better customer service.
Because Wawa is not public, it is not required to disclose its finances, and company executives declined to discuss them.
But by many appearances, Wawa seems to be doing well: Over the last decade, the company has increased its store count by about 65% and doubled its workforce to about 50,000 associates.
Philly-area Wawas are often crowded, too, which is key to making money in the convenience-store industry.
A gas attendant fills up a customer’s tank at a Wawa in Pennsauken in 2020.
“We think it’s high-impulse, but 80% of all people who walk into a convenience store pretty much know what they want,” said Zelinski, who consults with retailers. (He declined to discuss specific companies and said he has never worked for Wawa.)
Successful operators have encouraged customers to spend more by adding seating and improving their food service, Zelinski said. And stores with better food see higher profit margins.
“Once you have somebody that’s addicted to your food service program, they’re more likely to come back to your store vs. a competing store,” he said.
In 2020, Wawa debuted new menu offerings, including hamburgers, pot roast, rotisserie chicken, pasta alfredo, and kids meals, at a tasting in Media.
Wawa has certainly gotten people hooked on their coffee, hoagies, and ever-expanding menu, Zhang said. Options added in recent years include pizza, wraps, protein-packed “power meals,” limited-edition coffee flavors, and smoothies “boosted” with protein, vitamins, and minerals.
This older Wawa in Cherry Hill closed in 2024. The township has six remaining Wawas.
Despite Wawa’s best efforts, not all stores thrive, Gheysens said. But “luckily for us, we’re still in growth mode, and don’t have to worry about closures in a broad way.”
Gheysens said he sees room for more Wawas in the Philadelphia market — even as convenience-store competitors like Maryland-based Royal Farms and Altoona-based Sheetz have opened new stores in the region.
Wawa executives want “to make sure that we are the number-one convenience store in the area, that’s important to us,” Gheysens said. “These are our hometown counties.”
What keeps Philly-area consumers going to Wawa
A Wawa customer eats a breakfast Sizzli during the 2024 grand opening of the company’s first central Pennsylvania store.
Many Philly-area consumers grew up alongside Wawa.
In interviews with nearly a dozen of them, some were quick to reminisce about early memories of their local stores, such as the distinct smell of coffee and deli meat or the excitement of a Wawa run with high school friends. Others bemoan what has changed with the company’s expansion, including more congested parking lots.
Most have a quick answer when asked what their Wawa order is.
Rick Gunter, 45, of Royersford, misses the Wawa of his youth. Back in the day, he said, the Wawa hoagies “hit different,” with lunch meat fresh off the slicer.
Contrary to some customers’ beliefs, most stores still bake Amoroso rolls — a custom recipe made exclusively for Wawa — fresh in store multiple times a day, Gheysens said. As for the deli meat, the CEO said that was another decision rooted in customer preference.
When customers have participated in blind tests of the pre-sliced meat Wawa uses today against a fresh-sliced alternative, “they can’t tell the difference,” Gheysens said. “They would choose our pre-sliced meats, because of what we’ve done in terms of quality and the supply chain and the ability to deliver them at such a pace.”
A sandwich maker at Wawa wraps a hoagie with turkey, provolone, tomato, and lettuce in this 2020 file photo.
Some customers disagree.
“It was way better when it was kind of also a deli. Now they try to make everything for everybody,” said Bill Morgan, 79, of East Coventry Township. “I’m within five miles of three Wawas, but I rarely eat their food. Only under extreme duress.”
Morgan acknowledged he must be in the minority, given how crowded Wawas are at lunchtime. And despite his distaste for much of their food, he said he still gets gas there and loves their coffee. And he can’t help but admire their business model.
Mike Nardi turned 41 a few weeks ago, and considering he arrived on Villanova‘s campus as an 18-year-old freshman in 2003, played under Jay Wright for four seasons, then joined Wright’s staff in 2015 after seven years playing professionally overseas and remained on the bench through the end of last season, Villanova basketball was basically all Nardi knew for most of his adult life.
He was there in the nascent days of Wright’s dynasty as a player and was back on the bench in time to enjoy the two national championships he laid the groundwork for.
Xfinity Mobile Arena has been the site of many memories. Villanova fans still recite Sean McDonough’s “Nardi for three and the lead” call during an ESPN Big Monday broadcast on Feb. 13, 2006, with reverence. Nardi, who had missed the previous two games with tonsillitis, drilled a transition three-pointer from the right wing in front of the Villanova bench during a 22-4 run that erased a 12-point deficit and gave fourth-ranked Villanova its first win over No. 1 UConn in three years.
A year earlier, the building was where Villanova, during a freshman season that saw Nardi make the All-Big East rookie team, announced its arrival on the national stage with a blowout victory over second-ranked Kansas.
Nardi is returning to that building Saturday night. It’s the latest installment of the Villanova-UConn rivalry (5:30 p.m., FOX). But Nardi will be on the visitor’s bench, and he’d like nothing more than to prevent Villanova from getting its best win of the season over his fifth-ranked Huskies.
Mike Nardi joined Jay Wright’s staff in 2015.
“I had a great experience, but the emotions for me now are, ‘Hey, it’s competition,’” said Nardi, who was hired by Dan Hurley to be an assistant coach after Villanova brought in Kevin Willard last year. “I’m competing and I’m at a place where we want to win. The emotions and all of that, I’ve never been a guy to get caught up in that kind of stuff. There’s a task at hand and we want to go there and get a win and that’s the most important thing.”
Nardi already got some of those feelings, if there were any to begin with, out of the way during Villanova’s trip to Connecticut in January. He caught up with Ashley Howard, JayVaughn Pinkston, and Nick DePersia, the only holdovers from Kyle Neptune’s staff; longtime radio voice Whitey Rigsby; athletic director Eric Roedl; and longtime sports information director Mike Sheridan. Then it was all business. Villanova was Nardi’s scouting assignment for each of the matchups this season. He exchanged his pleasantries, said his hellos, and then he helped coach a UConn overtime victory.
“I was sad to see it end, but I landed in a place where, again, it’s like the standard of college basketball,” Nardi said. “I’m working for another Hall of Fame coach, a guy who has won at every level. For me, it’s a great learning experience because I played at Villanova, I coached at Villanova, and besides going overseas and seeing different systems and playing for other coaches, I really haven’t had a chance to branch out and see a different system and learn the game a different way.”
If it were up to Nardi, this story probably wouldn’t be written. He returned a reporter’s call Friday in part, he said, out of respect for Villanova. He doesn’t want Saturday night to be about anything more than UConn trying to go on the road against a good team in a tough environment and get a win in its pursuit of a Big East regular season title.
“I don’t want to make this about me,” he said. “It’s really not Mike Nardi and coming back to Villanova. This is about UConn and Villanova. That’s what’s most important to me.”
Former Villanova coach Kyle Neptune (left) and assistant coach Mike Nardi shown during the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden last March.
It didn’t take very long to get over being on the other side of the rivalry despite all his history with it. The good and the bad. He made that crucial three to earn his first win over UConn in 2006, then watched the meaningful portion of the 2024-25 season end at the hands of Hurley in the Big East tournament, only to have his friend, Neptune, fired a few days later.
Nardi respects winning, he said, and respects excellence. He always viewed Connecticut in that light, from Jim Calhoun’s teams to Hurley’s. It was a good landing spot for him for basketball reasons and because Hurley, he said, respected everything Nardi was about, from playing for St. Patrick High School in New Jersey against Hurley’s father’s St. Anthony, to playing and coaching in the rivalry.
Nardi wasn’t asked to stay by Willard, he said, and never expected to be.
“I never felt slighted. I never felt a certain way,” Nardi said. “I kind of knew there was a slim chance of me being asked to stay. And that was OK. I didn’t take that the wrong way. I think I’m good at what I do. I think I could’ve been an asset, but I never ever looked at it like this is messed up, why aren’t you keeping me? That’s not how this works.”
Hurley, meanwhile, thought Nardi could be an asset in Connecticut. The Huskies are 24-3 after a Wednesday night home loss to Creighton, and they’re pursuing a third national title in four seasons. Villanova, meanwhile, is 21-5, 12-3 in the Big East, and in line to snap a three-season NCAA Tournament drought.
Nardi was happy, he said, that Willard got the job. He wanted the school to hire someone who cared about the program, and Willard fits that description. Part of him is happy to see Villanova back in the mix, but he’s not watching Villanova games in his free time with his old No. 12 jersey draped over his shoulders.
“It’s good to see them doing well,” Nardi said. “It’s obviously good for the league. I think that’s a big piece of it. But I’d be lying to you if I said I was rooting for them. I don’t root for anybody else in the league. I’m rooting for UConn and that’s it.”
Big Tech is taking on record levels of debt, marking a new chapter in the artificial intelligence boom as names such as Oracle, Alphabet, and Meta pour big money into massive data centers and the energy systems needed to run them.
Technology companies issued a record $108.7 billion in corporate bonds in the last three months of 2025, according to data from Moody’s Analytics. That’s the largest total for any quarter and roughly double that of the previous three months.And the trend is extending into 2026:Some $15.5 billion in bonds were issued in the first two weeks of the year alone.
For now, investors are assuaged by the eye-popping cash flow numbers from major tech companies. In the past 20 years, Big Tech companies including Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Apple have built what are arguably the most profitable business models in history. In the third quarter, Google brought in just over $100 billion, with a margin of over 30%. All five are trillion-dollar companies, as are such AI darlings as Nvidia, Broadcom, and TSMC.
But some economists and business analysts say the massive new bonds are spreading risk throughout the economy, with hundreds of billions being spent on a technology whose profit-making potential is not yet clear.
“It’s a lot of debt, and a lot of it all of a sudden,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s. When companies are funding risky ventures with debt “it does put the broader financial system at risk. If the financial system is at risk, then the broader economy is.”
A bond is a form of debt that companies or governments can use to raise large sums of money, typically from investment banks or private-equity firms, to be paid back with interest. They historically have been used to fund major infrastructure projects such as power plants, natural gas drilling operations, or offshore wind farms — projects with large up-front costs that are expected to generate revenue for many years. Once issued, a bond can be bought, sold, or packaged into other debt products, which can end up in the portfolios of unrelated investments such as pension funds.
Automakers, utilities, and other mainstays of heavy industry have historically been the biggest issuers of corporate bonds, Moody’s data shows. Analysts note that in past technology build-outs, such as the rise and rapid investment in internet-based companies in the 1990s, companies didn’t have to spend nearly as much on infrastructure.
That hasnow changed, given the unprecedented energy demands of running and training AI algorithms. While tech companies took on more debt, adjusting for inflation, in 2021 than in 2025 — with a total of $296.6 billion in 2025 dollars issued that year — interest rates were significantly lower at the time. That made financing debt cheaper.
“The technology industry has gone from being an also-ran in terms of corporate debt, to becoming the largest player of investment-grade corporate debt, out of nowhere, compared to two years ago,” said venture capitalist Paul Kedrosky.
Because training and running AI algorithms take up much more computing power and energy than previous forms of technology, staying ahead in the AI race costs billions. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta indicated in company announcements that they planned to collectively spendwell over $300billion on AI data centers in 2025 alone.
If they continue to spend at that rate, they may have to take on even more debt.
“If these companies are so profitable, why are they using debt?” Kedrosky said. “It gives you a sense of the scale of what’s going on.”
Amazon spokesperson Amy Diaz said the proceeds from Amazon’s bond issuance in November are being used to support business investments, capital expenditures, and repayment of earlier debt, adding that the company regularly evaluates its operating plan to make financing decisions. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post.)
Representatives from Alphabet, Meta, andOracle either declined to comment or did not answer questions. An Apple spokesperson referred to the company’s SEC filing, which states that proceeds from the bond issuance would be used for “general corporate purposes” including stock buybacks and unspecified capital expenditure, among other uses.
Among large tech companies, Meta used the most debt to fund its data center build-out in 2025, according to Moody’s. The social media company has invested deeply in AI in a race to become the leading AI assistant for companies and everyday people, putting it in a tight race with Microsoft, Apple, and Alphabet.
Mark Mahaney, who has covered tech companies for more than two decades and is now managing director at the investment bank Evercore ISI, views the bonds as part of a strategy by tech firms to raise money without degrading their stock price. Bond offerings are a sign that management is “confident or cocky” about their future, as they’ve taken on debt that requires steady cash flow to pay down, Mahaney said.
Also loading up on debt is Oracle, which issued some $25.75 billion in bonds last year as it seeks to become the AI computing power provider of choice. In September it disclosed a $300 billion deal with OpenAI, prompting an immediate 36% spike in its stock price that briefly made founder Larry Ellison the richest man in the world. (The Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.)
But in the ensuing weeks investors became uncomfortable with Oracle’s debt.Citi analyst Daniel Sorid told CNBC in December that there was something “inherently uncomfortable” about the “enormous” amount of capital Oracle will require.
The stock has declined about half from its Sept. 10 peak. Bondholder Ohio Carpenters’ Pension Plan recently sued Oracle and several investment banks, alleging that Oracle failed to disclose how much debt it needs.
“The sheer scale of new debt issuance has forced investors to reassess whether the economics of relentless AI [spending] are truly sustainable,” said Thomas Urano, chief investment officer at Sage Advisory in Austin.
Urano added that many of the companies getting AI-driven investment are part of the infrastructure that enables today’s AI chatbots and other applications, which cannot be immediately monetized.
“This creates a paradox: The strategic case for AI is compelling, but the revenue model is still evolving,” Urano said.
At least one firm has raised the prospect of getting government support to build out more data centers. OpenAI’s chief financial officer, Sarah Friar,said in November that it will require “innovation” on the finance side, with government providing a “backstop” or “guarantee.” Her comments triggered backlash from politicians and tech critics, who questioned whether taxpayers should take on some of these private companies’ risk. Friar and CEO Sam Altman both later clarified that they weren’t seeking federal guarantees for OpenAI data centers specifically, although Altman did say in a lengthy social media post that a government-funded “strategic national reserve of computing power” would make sense.
The Trump administration has gone all in on AI, pushing aside concerns within the MAGA movement and seeking to sweep away regulations that it says hamper innovation. But neighbors of the vast warehouses of computer chips that form the technology’s backbone — including in conservative states — have objected to how the facilities sap power from the grid, guzzle water to stay cool, and secure tax breaks from local governments. President Donald Trump has recalibrated his approach, pushing tech companies to fund their own power.
“Historically, when we’ve had major bubbles they’ve tended to be about real estate, or technology, or government policy,” Kedrosky said. “This is the first bubble in history that combines all of these things.”
Country-style spinach pie at Madis Coffee Roasters
I’ve been devoted to spanakopita since growing up in Metro Detroit, where Greektown was among my favorite downtown haunts. Philadelphia has great spinach pies, too, from Zorba’s Tavern in Fairmount to Stina near West Passyunk. But lately, I’ve become obsessed with the big round pans of spanikopita served at Madis Coffee Roasters, the fast growing local trio of modern cafes owned by the Navorsidis family. Their coffee is also excellent, by the way, including a well-balanced “Four Seasons” blend that’s become a regular in my house rotation of morning brews, as well as quality pour-overs of single-origin beans.
But the spanakopita the cafes import from Greece is one of the main reasons I frequently stop at Madis’ spacious Curtis Center location beside Independence Hall for breakfast before heading into The Inquirer newsroom nearby. Unlike the vast majority of spinach pies made in the U.S., which feature ultra-flaky and delicate phyllo, these big round pies made by Rodoula in Athens are encased in crispy waves of thicker phyllo sheets that are typical of the more rustic country style, especially when shaped into rounds.
An imported round spinach pie made by Rodoula in Athens, this one stuffed with extra feta, is warmed to a crisp and served at Madis Coffee Roasters locations across Philadelphia.
I give credit to Madis for warming it correctly, since I’ve had other versions of the same pie elsewhere (at a local gyro chain) where the same pastry was hastily underbaked and chewy. At its toasty, tawny prime, a crusty wedge of this pie shatters beneath fork and knife around a luxuriously soft filling of spinach, leeks, and extra cheese — a particularly creamy blend of tangy sheep and goat’s milk feta. Straight from Athens to the cradle of Liberty, it’s the spanakopita breakfast of champs. Madis Coffee Roasters, 601 Walnut St., 3527 Lancaster Ave., 1441 Chestnut St.; madiscoffee.com
— Craig LaBan
The sea scallop crudo and burrata served at Emilia, the Italian restaurant from Greg Vernick, in Kensington on Friday, January 23, 2026.
Scallops and burrata at Emilia
When Greg Vernick and Meredith Medoway were previewing the menu at Emilia, their new Italian restaurant in Kensington, they seemed proud of a dish pairing scallops and burrata in a caper vinaigrette. “That surprises people at first because of the similar textures,” Vernick said. Oh, it’s a surprise, all right. What it lacks in crunch it more than makes up for in lusciousness. The kitchen thinly slices day-boat sea scallops from Viking Village in Barnegat Light, N.J., and fans them over a puddle of burrata cheese and a vinaigrette made of capers and Calabrian chili oil. Sea salt goes on top. And here’s a tip to get the most of it: Your Emilia meal will start with house-made focaccia, Italian breadsticks, and a slice of Mighty Bread’s sesame ciabatta. Put aside some ciabatta. After you finish the scallop, you’ll use it for mop-up duty. Emilia, 2406 Frankford Ave., 267-541-2360, emiliaphilly.com
— Michael Klein
The Clam Posillipo pizza from Wilder.
Clam Posillipo pizza at Wilder
To me, Valentine’s Day has always been about celebrating the things I already love about my life — my partner, my cat, and all the restaurants I depend on for date-night specialness — so I rarely want to go some place I’ve never tried before for the holiday. That changed this year when my partner and I went to Wilder for the first time and tried a pizza so good it has converted us to wannabe regulars.
Wilder’s clam Posillipo pizza is a take on the classic Italian American dish (and Frank Sinatra favorite) wherein littleneck clams are steamed in a light, garlicky tomato sauce. For the pizza version, Wilder sprinkles briny Taggiasca olives, breadcrumbs, and parsley atop a vibrant tomato sauce. The clams’ contribution wasn’t fishy — they created an experience more like eating a pie by the beach in the summer: fresh and a little salty, with a delectably doughy crust. Wilder, 2009 Sansom St., 215-309-2149, wilderphilly.com
— Beatrice Forman
A mango calamansi danish from the Sir/Mom Tour pop-up at Small Oven Pastry Shop.
Mango calamansi danish from the Sir/Mom Tour pop-up at Small Oven Pastry Shop
It’s still gray and cold out, but a limited-time pastry offering helped me briefly forget. As part of their “Sir/Mom Tour,” chef Mike Strauss of Sidecar Bar & Grille (and formerly Mike’s BBQ) and his wife, Eylonah Mae Strauss, staged a Point Breeze kitchen takeover last week, sharing their love of Filipino cuisine with a slate of specials served at chef Chad Durkin’s Porco’s Porchetteria/Small Oven Pastry Shop and Breezy’s Deli. I went specifically for the mango and calamansi danish — a burst of citrus and sunshine that sold out both days. The silky yellow custard encrusted in golden flaky pastry with small bites of fruit laced throughout made for a gorgeous pick-me-up. I hope we see another collab soon, but given the Strausses live in the Philippines — where they run Sugaree Gelato Bakery Cafe in Bacolod — I expect a long wait. Small Oven Pastry Shop, 2204 Washington Ave., 215-545-2939, smallovenpastryshop.com.
MILAN, Italy — A popular stop for Winter Olympics spectators when they’re not at a sporting venue is an opera house.
Teatro alla Scala, better known as La Scala, is one of the most famous ones in the world. Maria Callas rose to fame there; Franz Liszt’s piano is in its museum. The opera house, which opened in 1778, is the heart of Italian opera.
And it may feel especially familiar to visitors from Philadelphia: La Scala was the inspiration for the city’s Academy of Music.
The Great Stages Gala reception honoring Marian Anderson was held on the Academy of Music stage in Philadelphia on Saturday, June 8, 2024.
In 1854, a building committee invited architects to submit plans for an opera house in Philadelphia, John Francis Marion wrote in his book, Within These Walls: A History of the Academy of Music. The next year, the committee chose Napoleon LeBrun and Gustav Rungé to design what would become the Academy. LeBrun was sent to Milan to sketch La Scala just four months before ground would be broken on Broad Street.
From the outside, the two buildings look very different.
La Scala is somewhat modest because there were originally homes across the street that a grander building would overwhelm. The Academy of Music was also designed humbly, in the Rundbogenstil (round arch style), inspired by Runge’s German roots, reserving most of the budget for the interior.
Inside both buildings, a red-and-gold-tiered jewel box of an auditorium awaits.
“It’s kind of like an event to go to La Scala,” said Philadelphia Ballet artistic director Angel Corella, who famously danced Romeo and Juliet with Alessandra Ferri in that opera house in 2000. (Their performance was filmed for TV and is available on YouTube.)
“People would go just to see anything, pretty much [at La Scala] because it’s not only the event to go to see ballet or hear opera and see opera,” Corella said, “but it’s also the fact that you’re going to an opera house that has so much history in it.”
Francine Garino, a La Scala tour guide who coaches opera singers in French pronunciation, agrees.
“Some people don’t know anything about opera or ballet. They don’t mind. They want to live this experience.” Sometimes they will leave after the first intermission, saying they feel fulfilled just having experienced the theater.
Philly’s version, which opened in 1857, is equally beautiful but less imposing.
“The great thing about the Academy of Music is that it’s still a big opera house,” Corella said, “but it feels very intimate and close to you when you’re on stage. So it’s a perfect theater.”
The outside of La Scala, the world-famous opera house in Milan, Italy, is fairly humble. But the inside reveals a red-and-gold tiered jewel box. The Academy of Music was designed after La Scala.
Horseshoe shapes and other similarities
The similarities between the two theaters lie “in the position of the theater, the position of the seats, the acoustics,” Corella said.
LeBrun and Rungé replicated La Scala’s horseshoe-shaped seating areas, but they closed it up more for better sight lines.
Like the Academy, La Scala has a huge central chandelier. But the Italian theater is a neoclassical design and somewhat grander than the Philly version. It has six levels above the orchestra to the Academy’s four.
The Academy has more seats (2,800 in Philadelphia and 2,030 in Milan), thanks to its full mezzanine and balconies with boxes on the sides.
The outside of the Academy of Music was designed to look like a marketplace.
At La Scala, the first four levels above the orchestra are made up of lots of small individual boxes that were originally purchased by members of the aristocracy.
They were said to be more expensive than buying an apartment and owners would decorate the boxes as they wished. They’d bring in servants and could come any time they wanted. Here, they’d take business meetings, eat dinner, and go down to where the orchestra seats are now and dance to the music.
“If you owned a box,” Garino said, “it was home for you.”
Today all seats are individually sold as in any theater, with prices going from €10 to €300. Fans stalk the website to buy tickets as soon as they go on sale. They sell out extremely quickly.
La Scala was damaged when it was bombed during World War II.
Paul Miers lowers the chandelier to clean it and replace light bulbs on May 29, 2024, at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. The large crystal chandelier measures 16 feet in diameter and weighs 5,000 pounds.
Rake vs. no rake
At the time the Academy of Music was built, there were similar academies in other American cities.
“There was an Academy of Music in New York that predated the Metropolitan Opera. The Brooklyn Academy of Music was something that was founded in 1859, inspired by what we had done,” said Ryan Fleur, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts, which runsthe Academy of Music.
Brooklyn Academy of Music’s original building burned down and was replaced by a Broadway-style theater.
Because of that, “the Academy of Music is truly unique,” Fleur said. “As far as I know, it not only is an oldest continuously operating Opera House [in the country], but it’s the only opera house that still has this configuration of spaces.”
For American dancers, La Scala, and most European opera houses, are a challenge, because they have raked stages. The stage slopes downhill from back to the front, improving the view for audiences.
The Academy is “a perfect venue” for Philadelphia Ballet, said Corella. “Because all the ballets, especially the [older full-length ballets], fit incredibly well, because it’s almost like a continuation from the house into the stage.”
In the United States, he said, the rakes have been fixed and made flat.
“In Europe, there’s a lot of theaters that are still in rake. For the dancers, it’s great for jumping, because when you going down the hill, you feel like you’re flying … but it’s much harder for turning.”
La Scala Ballet étoile Nicoletta Manni thinks the opera house she regularly performs on is the best of both worlds.
“In La Scala, we have a good rake,” Manni said. “It’s not too much. It’s very good for jumps, because it’s helping us to jump even higher. You have to be careful with turns, because you might lose your balance, but you just need to get used to it.”
This month, Manni, 34,
was chosen to be an Olympic torch bearer. Then, she was told she would be the last one and would light the cauldron.
“It’s history, and so being there and have the privilege of doing that was very [much] something to remember. I will have it in my memory forever.”
Another thing she’d like to do is dance on our side of the Atlantic.
To explain his journey from Ukraine to Huntingdon Valley in Montgomery County, Ukraine army veteran Illia Haiduk first must explain one of the worst days of his life.
On Nov. 3, 2023, Haiduk and about 70 other Ukrainian soldiers were at an outdoor awards ceremony in Zaporizhzhia, near the war’s front line. After an enemy drone spotted the gathering, the Russians launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile.
“You hear nothing,” Haiduk said. “It just hits immediately.”
Haiduk awoke on the ground. To his left, people were moving. To his right was “a mess, fire, and smoke.”
He tried to get up. That was when he realized shrapnel had mangled his lower right leg.
Haiduk belted a tourniquet around his thigh and tried to crawl to another soldier from his unit, the 128th Mountain Division. “I wanted to get to him. And there was this hole in his chest. Nothing could save him. He was the same age as me,” the 35-year-old said.
The attack killed at least 19 soldiers and wounded dozens more, according to news reports.
Haiduk’s injury sent him on a long path of healing that ultimately brought him to the Philadelphia area. But more than two years later, the attack is just one incident in a war that has claimed an estimated 2 million lives.
Vladislaw Romanenko (left) and Ilia Haiduk in a community-living home where veterans of the war in Ukraine support each other through their medical journeys, in Philadelphia, Feb. 13, 2026.
Four years after Russia invaded Ukraine, the war’s effects can be found throughout the region, among refugees and veterans seeking support services and the advocates helping them. Many are concerned about the future.
“In 2022, support and donations poured, but every year they become smaller and smaller,” said Roman Vengrenyuk of Philadelphia, who helps run the Revived Soldiers Ukraine program that brought Haiduk to the U.S. “A lot of nonprofits closed.”
Vengrenyuk said he has no expectation that the war will end this year. The Trump administration has failed to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to win, he said. Meanwhile, the bloodshed has left 60,000 Ukrainians in need of amputations, overwhelming hospitals in Ukraine and Europe.
Though it has gotten harder to get attention for their cause, an alliance of healthcare providers, nonprofits, and advocates across Philadelphia has continued to help wounded veterans and refugees. And for that, Vengrenyuk said, he is grateful.
“The Philadelphia community of doctors really stepped in,” Vengrenyuk said.
Life after war
After recovering from his injury, Haiduk went home and attempted to return to civilian life, but he felt depressed. That changed, however, in 2025, when he traveled to Canada to compete in the Invictus Winter Games, a multisport event for disabled veterans. He won a bronze medal in the skeleton race, and he found purpose and fellowship with others who had similar experiences.
“We can talk really freely, because we know that this man will understand me,” Haiduk said of his fellow veterans.
Vladyslaw Romanenko at a community-living home where veterans of the war in Ukraine support each other through their medical journeys, in Philadelphia, Feb. 13, 2026.
Later that year,Revived Soldiers Ukraine sent Haiduk to Orlando , where he received a prosthetic lower leg.
Haiduk got more involved with the Florida-based nonprofit. He has since helped numerous disabled veterans who were routed to the Philadelphia region for medical care.
One is 30-year-old Vladyslav Romanenko, a former engineering student from Kharkiv who joined the army in 2022 and lost his lower arms in a drone strike last May. Romanenko is one of six Ukrainian war veterans living together at two homes in Huntingdon Valley.
Revived Soldiers Ukraine flew Romanenko and his partner to Philadelphia. At Wills Eye Hospital, a Ukrainian-speaking doctor, Michael Klufas, helped to restore vision in his right eye. Then, Prosthetic Innovations in Eddystone, Delaware County, outfitted him with bionic arms. “I’m very grateful to the Ukrainian and American doctors,” Romanenko said in Ukrainian, as Haiduk translated.
Oleksii Kondratenko at a community-living home where veterans of the war in Ukraine support each other through their medical journeys, in Philadelphia, Feb. 13, 2026.
Haiduk said Romanenko’s story is typical of the soldiers he works with: men from a wide range of professions and ages, who signed up to save their people. “I would never have joined the army, but because the war started, it was my responsibility to join, for my country,” Romanenko said.
Haiduk said people in the U.S., and most of the world, support the Ukrainian cause of “democracy and humanity.” However, more pressure needs to be put on Russia, he said.
“There is support, but it isn’t enough support to end this war,” Haiduk said.
Paying to stay in the U.S.
As an American-born Ukrainian whose parents were displaced after World War II, 71-year-old Mary Kalyna said, she considers it her mission to help those in “the Ukrainian diaspora.” The fluent Ukrainian speaker from Mount Airy said the situation has gotten worse for Ukrainian refugees since last year.
“Even though Ukraine is not in the news as much, I believe people still support Ukraine,” Kalyna said. “The problem is our government has changed. Now we have a government that is less supportive of Ukraine.”
The Konoshchuk family has lunch Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. The family, from Ukraine, lives in Delaware County.
She criticized President Donald Trump for welcoming Russian President Vladimir Putin and holding peace talks where Ukraine was expected to cede land to Russia.
To her, Trump administration policy is working against local efforts from churches and communities that have embraced Ukrainians.
“There are many, many screws being tightened,” Kalyna said.
She provided an example: Due to one provision in Trump’s “OneBig Beautiful Bill,” thousands of Ukrainians who previously had been invited to the U.S. through the federal United for Ukraine program have to pay $1,000 per family member to maintain their humanitarian parole status.
On a Sunday afternoon at an apartment in Norwood, Delaware County, Kalyna met with one family who received such a notice at the end of December. Yurii Konoshchuk, 43, explained that he and his wife and four children came to the U.S. in May 2023. His 9-year-old daughter, Milana, has leukemia and is receiving treatment at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“We don’t have any safe place in Ukraine,” Konoshchuk said. “It is so important for us to be here. We thank God that we’re in Philadelphia.”
Though Konoshchuk works full-time at the Barry Callebaut chocolate factory in Eddystone, and has a supportive community at the nearby Living Hope Ukrainian Baptist Church, money has been tight. Then, he got a bill from the federal government to pay $6,000 or risk his familybeing deported.
As Kalyna prayed with the family and shared in the Sunday dinner they had prepared, she was brought to tears when asked about the money. Kalyna said that after people in the Northwest Regional Refugee and Immigrant Network sent out emails, they raised $6,000 within a few hours.
“People really want to give,” she said. “They understand.”
Milana Konoshchuk smiles for a portrait between her parents, Yurii (left) and Anna on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. Refugees from Ukraine, the Konoshchuks are living in Delaware County while their daughter receives medical treatment for leukemia at CHOP.
At the dinner table, the Konoshchuk family recounted their journey. Katie Konoshchuk, 14, remembered going weeks without school, and having to evacuate to the schoolbasement during air raids. Each child had to carry a flashlight. Her 13-year-old sister, Ohli, said they used to hope that if the bombs came, they would come on a day they had to take a test.
“People adjust to the situation that they’re in,” their mother, Anna Konoshchuk, said.
Yurii Konoshchuk said he saw missiles flying so low overhead that he could read the words written on them. “It’s good then, because you think it will not fall on you, but you don’t know about next time, and you don’t know who it did fall on.”
One of the missiles struck an electric power station less than a mile away, he said, and over the winter of 2022-23, it was a regular occurrence to rush from their home to the air-raid shelter in a city without light.
“We never in the city saw such bright stars,” he said. “It was beautiful on the heaven, but not on the earth.”
Yurii Konoshchuk struggled to predict what will happen next. “We are thankful, first to God, and to American nation, to give us the possibility of treatment here,” he said.
When they came to the U.S., Anna Konoshchuk said, she told her children life would be better, more peaceful. “But we’re treating it as an experience,” she said. “We don’t know how long America will allow us to stay. We’re being flexible.”
ARIES (March 21-April 19). If what they’re doing doesn’t sound fun to you, you don’t have to force it. Being intentional about your free time might mean trying something new or meeting different people. What were you doing the last time you had a blast?
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). An interesting question: Who am I around this person? Let the answer factor into your decisions about where to take this relationship, if you should take it anywhere at all. Liking a person is far less important than liking yourself when you’re around them.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Sometimes you wonder if you’re getting enough joy in life, and if you have to wonder, the answer is no. No, you’re not. Pleasure, relaxation, attention, novelty and the like are not luxurious or optional; they are essential to your health and vitality.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). You’re not always the exquisitely protected crab. Today you’re the snail, only half-protected by shell, at home while exploring, touching and touched, feeling and felt, sticky, not stuck. Steady, even while falling in love.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Though you’re as empathetic as they come, today you won’t be able to judge others’ emotional experience by their immediate reaction. People won’t express their feelings in typical ways. Being aware of that allows you to respond with understanding instead of frustration.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). New locations open to you and you aim to go as a traveler and not a tourist, experiencing what is, not the front that’s presented to newcomers in exchange for top dollar. Take the same approach to new relationships, and you’re golden.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Today’s work is very important. There are rewards for doing it and consequences for not doing it. But you still always put people first and you’ll never be sorry for that order of prioritization.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). What seems convenient could be a trap instead of a solution. Poke around. What other options are there? The well-known route might be the slowest way to get there, as too many travelers created traffic jams.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Your body moves in rhythm with your moods and mirrors your personality. Today, it speaks louder than words, revealing what you wish to express — or hide. What surprising self-knowledge!
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You and the stranger next to you have something in common. Say hello, and you’ll discover it fast. Don’t? You’ll still feel that mysterious, unspoken connection, like you’re part of the same secret club.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You’re popular today, but you’re made well aware that you can’t always choose who wants your attention. You can, however, choose who gets it. Go where it’s peaceful and people aren’t trying to demand, steal or hoard your focus.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You’re not just going to succeed. You’re going to succeed like YOU. You’ll make it look so good and fun that others will imitate, trying to capture your style, which of course is impossible and flattering, too. Expect and enjoy your copycats.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Feb. 21). Step into your Year of Feathered Friends, when connections and companionship send your spirit flying, flocked by kindred, and headed toward shared good fortune. Relationships, ideas, and collaborations soar to heights previously unimaginable. More highlights: You celebrate and bank on a personal achievement, family thrives in your support, and there are spontaneous entertainments and luxuries. Capricorn and Gemini adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 13, 5, 20, 12 and 33.
DEAR ABBY: My late husband was ill for six years. He experienced some dementia. He wasn’t able to work, and our life together changed a lot. I focused on supporting him through his decline until he eventually ended his own life.
After his death, I discovered several secrets. He hadn’t been honest about his medical condition, possibly out of shame or because he wanted to protect us from the seriousness. There were also secrets about his family he may have been ashamed about. He also changed his estate plan without telling me. These secrets and betrayals show he wasn’t thinking about the impact of his death upon me, and they have made me question my beliefs about our marriage.
I know his decisions weren’t about my worth — they were about his fear, shame, illness and preoccupation with other family issues. But I can’t tell any of this to people because I want to preserve our adult children’s love and respect for their father. Also, I don’t want to deal with other people trying to understand this crazy situation. This feels so unfair, and I may never be able to trust again. Do you have any advice?
— KEEPING SECRETS IN NEW ENGLAND
DEAR KEEPING: Please accept my sympathy for the loss of your husband. From what you have written, it seems the problems in your marriage started with the family secrets in addition to your husband’s increasing dementia. My advice is to put an end to all of those secrets now. Telling your children the truth should not make them lose respect for their late father. Whether the people in whom you choose to confide will understand is beside the point.
What’s most important is that you free yourself from the prison of lies in which you find yourself and talk with a mental health professional if it will help you better understand how to move forward.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: My family is American, through and through. We had some European ancestors back in the Ellis Island days, but we’ve been here for generations and identify only loosely with our European heritage. That being said, my husband and I were discussing names for our future children, and I mentioned that I would love to have a son named after my great-grandfather. His name was Jacques, but it was always pronounced like “Jack.”
If I used the name, I would want to spell it the same way to honor him, but I’d feel weird pronouncing it with a French accent when I don’t identify as French, nor do I have an accent. Is it OK to use the French spelling of a name and then pronounce it in an Americanized way?
— PLANNING AHEAD IN SOUTH CAROLINA
DEAR PLANNING: You are the parent, and you can call your son whatever you wish. Jacques will be his formal name if you choose to use it on his birth certificate, but he can use “Jack” if he wishes. When he starts school, don’t forget to communicate to his teachers and the administrators how his name is pronounced.
WASHINGTON — U.S. economic growth slowed in the final three months of last year, dragged down by the six-week shutdown of the federal government and a pullback in consumer spending.
The nation’s gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services — increased at a 1.4% annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday, down from 4.4% in the July-September quarter and 3.8% in the quarter before that.
The figures point to what could be a more modest pace of growth in the coming quarters, as consumers have taken on more debt and saved less to maintain their spending, a process that may be difficult to sustain. Business investment, other than data centers and equipment dedicated to artificial intelligence, grew at only a moderate pace.
Still, a measure of underlying growth that focuses on consumer and business spending was mostly healthy at 2.4%, economists said. The sharp slowdown in government outlays because of the shutdown shaved a full percentage point from growth.
Consumers and companies spent at a “reasonably solid” pace, said Martha Gimbel, executive director of the Budget Lab at Yale and former economist in the Biden White House. “This is not a disastrous report.”
Also Friday, the Supreme Court struck down many of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which have lifted inflation slightly and likely discouraged many companies from hiring by raising their costs. At a news conference, Trump quickly promised to reimpose the tariffs under different laws than the one the court invalidated.
Consumer spending also rose 2.4% in the fourth quarter, a solid increase but notably below the third quarter’s healthy 3.5% gain. Federal government outlays plunged nearly 17% amid the shutdown. That decline should mostly reverse in the coming quarters, however.
The outsize growth last summer and fall — when the economy expanded at about a 4% annual pace — partly reflected sharply lower imports. Companies ramped up imports in the first quarter of last year to get ahead of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. After boosting growth in the second and third quarters, trade had little impact at the end of last year.
Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG, said the report reflected a “one-legged” economy boosted mostly by artificial intelligence, which is fueling business spending and has also lifted wealth for those households that own stocks and have benefited from rising share prices.
Many households, however, have had to take on more debt to fuel their spending. The saving rate dropped to just 3.6% in the fourth quarter, the second-lowest figure since August 2008, when the economy was mired in the Great Recession.
“The economy looks golden on paper, but beneath the surface is lead,” Swonk said.
Early Friday, before the figures were released, Trump attacked congressional Democrats for shutting down the government last fall. He also reiterated his criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates more quickly.
“The Democrat Shutdown cost the U.S.A. at least two points in GDP,” Trump posted on his social media site. “That’s why they are doing it, in mini form, again. No Shutdowns! Also, LOWER INTEREST RATES. “Two Late” Powell is the WORST!!!”
A separate report Friday showed that inflation, according to the Fed’s preferred measure, accelerated in December, as the cost of goods such as furniture, clothes, and groceries picked up. That makes it less likely the Fed will reduce its key interest rate in the coming months.
Earlier this month, Trump predicted a blowout gain in GDP of more than 5% even if the government shutdown was factored into the figures. Trump has been trying to claim that the economy is at its strongest point in history, even though the new data shows that growth slowed, compared with 2024, following his return to the White House.
The data arrives before Trump delivers the State of the Union address on Tuesday, where he is expected to say that the economy is booming.
The report also underscores an odd aspect of the U.S. economy: It is growing steadily, but without creating many jobs. Growth was a solid 2.2% in 2025, yet a government report last week showed that employers added less than 200,000 jobs last year — the fewest since COVID struck in 2020.
Economists point to several possible reasons for the gap: The Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration has sharply slowed population growth, reducing the number of people available to take jobs. It’s one reason that the unemployment rate rose only slightly — to 4.3% from 4% — last year, even with the nearly non-existent hiring.
Some businesses may also be holding back on adding jobs out of uncertainty about whether artificial intelligence will enable them to produce more without finding new employees. And the cost of tariffs has reduced many companies’ profits, possibly leading them to cut back on hiring.
The economy is also unusual right now because growth is solid, inflation has slowed a bit, and unemployment is low, but surveys show that Americans are generally gloomy about the economy. In January, a measure of consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since 2014, yet consumers have kept spending, propelling growth.
Some of that spending may be disproportionately driven by upper-income consumers, in a phenomenon known as the “K-shaped” economy. Yet data from many large banks suggests lower-income consumers are still raising their spending, even if by not as much.
