Clowning around

Saturday night I attended the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus at the Spectrum in Philly with my favorite 4-year-old.

Extremely entertaining. Seriously. Elephants, zebras, high-wire acts, acrobats, people shot out of cannons. Go. Even if you don't have a kid to take along. It's at the Spectrum through Saturday. Shows are roughly 2 hours with a 15-min. intermission.

The 4-year-old was all about Bello, the acrobatic clown with a high top hairstyle that resembles Kid from Kid 'N Play. (Bello was just in Wilmington last week.) Bello, Bello, Bello. That's been the main topic of conversation lately.

But my favorite part was the Big Cat act. This wacky guy, um, I mean, a trainer, gets in a ring with at least 10 big tigers, including a few white ones - and has them performing all kinds of tricks that you just know that tigers don't want to be doing. I've got my own 19-pound white cat - nicknamed Big Boy - who has been known to bite without any warning, so I can't imagine facing 10 500-pound tigers and trying to get them to roll over.

For a few scary, edge-of-the-seat minutes, I thought we were going to witness a Siegfried & Roy moment. But the big cats are always held with a restraint and perform behind a barrier.

OK, so why is this tale on my dining blog? By all means, eat before you go. Or take your own bottles of water and snacks inside. Circus eats ain't cheap. We bought a box of popcorn and it cost $7. Seven beans! For popcorn!

Don't let the kids see the lighted wands, swords and gizmos that vendors are hawking in the stands. They'll take you for $22!

We were suckers. The 4-year-old got a lighted elephant gizmo. Good thing the circus comes once a year.