Dining Room

Architect Anthony Weber studied in Italy for his master's degree in architecture. In 1988, he rented an apartment at Third and Catharine Streets, where he discovered that many of his neighbors had Italian roots. Weber, who comes from a small town on the Ohio River in Kentucky, fell in love with South Philadelphia. "At that point, the area wasn't exactly trendy," he said. "I liked the neighborhood and felt comfortable near the Italian Market. " The year and a half he spent studying in Italy might have had something to do with that.

The magic is gone. We no longer have anything in common. There are trust issues. So now, in this most impossible of real estate markets, I often wonder: Do I want a divorce from my house? My mortgage is not underwater, though these months of rain have left my spirits a bit damp. After editing all the articles for The Inquirer's recent Home Price Survey, I know that the median value in my town is down 19 percent since 2005, but I bought before the last housing bubble started to inflate.

This personal journey begins at the end. After 50 hours in New York City to get out of the neighborhood and take in a couple of plays, my wife and I returned home, where we had left our 19-year-old son Cale to his own devices. His older sister thought us crazy. And so began our second journey, an investigation, sniffing for clues about what happened during our absence. Clue No. 1: A strange car sits in the driveway. Clue No. 2: We get blasted by an overwhelming odor as we open the front door.

A 72-year-old man died in a house fire in Northwest Philadelphia Sunday night. The man was found in the dining room of his home in the 7000 block of Georgian Road in the city's West Oak Lane section. The house was fully engulfed in fire when firefighters arrived at 7:36 p.m. The fire was under control in under 20 minutes, according to police. The cause of the fire was under investigation. - Jeff Shields

When Irma and Lou Malissa decided last year that it was finally time to sell their large house in Rydal and move to smaller space and an easier life, Irma made one thing clear: "I don't want a place that makes me feel old. " Today, the Malissas - Irma is 86, Lou is 87 - have met that goal. Their airy new digs at Rydal Park, where windows reveal a panorama of trees, greenery, and even a waterfall, has refreshed them, they say, and given them a new home to cherish. "You're never sure how things will turn out," says Irma, who now knows she has gained more than she lost in the move.

In response to advice on how to clean a toaster oven, a reader in Chicago wondered how to clean the glass. The answer, from a reader in Baltimore, is "just use the cleaner designed for use on glass cooktops. I've been doing it for years - works every time. " Thank you. Question: I have a very expensive stone dining room table, imported from Italy, that has some type of finish on it. Recently, I discovered a ring stain from a glass. How can I remove this? I called the shop where I bought the table several years ago, but they were unable to help me. Answer: We have a polished-marble top on our dining room table (it took four movers to get it to this house from our last one 10 years ago)

Fifty-eight varieties of tequila fill the shelves at the bar at Kokopelli (1904 Chestnut St., 215-557-7510), a new, high-energy, Southwestern, small-plate operation named after the American Indian fertility god. Aside from the polished wood tables, not much has been done to the dining room from its previous incarnation as the lounge-y Akoya @ Pearl. Beaded curtains separate the tables along the walls, and the bar and seating are bathed in lights that change color. Chef Gina Rodriguez, an Arizona import, is cooking such dishes as tamales, garlic chili-glazed prawns, baby-back ribs, and crispy quail with cayenne honey.

Two newcomers in Conshohocken are on opposite ends of town and approach. Isabella , a polished but casual Mediterranean, opens Thursday in a former shot-and-a-beer at 382 E. Elm St. (484-532-7470) under local developer Tom Richter. He has installed restaurant veteran Peter Dissin (Henry's and Crazy Horse Saloon, to name two from many years ago) and chef Michael Cappon (whose past includes Marathon and El Vez). Isabella is a knocked-out bi-level with vaulted ceilings and huge windows.

A 33-year-old North Philadelphia woman was arrested Wednesday and charged with fatally stabbing a father of two young children with an ice pick, police said. Michael Higgins, 45, was found unresponsive in his home by his sister, Tamika Nalley, early Wednesday morning on the 3100 block of North 26th Street. Nalley, who said she found Higgins in the dining room with a chest wound, called 911. Medics pronounced him dead at 1:27, police said. "He was stabbed once with an ice pick to the heart," Nalley said.

It is unlikely that William Penn would recognize a thing about Square 1682, the snazzy new hotel restaurant lounge at 17th and Sansom Streets named in his honor. Then again, I doubt many modern-day Philadelphians have seen anything quite like it in this city - a bilevel restaurant space with such a hyperkinetic sense of contemporary style, it would make most designer showrooms blush. Devotees of the Kimpton chain, which created the new Palomar Hotel where Square 1682 resides, are familiar with the aesthetic, an über-fashionable hodge-podge of high-tech lights and funky modern art, living room-plush furniture in the dining room, glitzy balloon shades for window treatments, and eco-friendly cork on the ceiling.