Charleston, South Carolina - The Food

So anyone who knows me well will know that I pick U.S. vacation destinations based on the quality of food in the location. Hence some of my favorite trips...


...Napa Valley
...Chicago
...New Orleans

I can now add Charleston to that list.

I had put out a Facebook plea right before my trip and got an unbelievably comprehensive list of places to go for culinary delights. I was also lucky that my friend (who was having the bachelorette weekend) had a sister who took care of most of our reservations. I love not having to do work... Note that most restaurants in Charleston will DEFINITELY need reservations for dinner, but probably not for lunch. Also note that most places are closed for food between 2 and 5 pm. We found that out the hard way. Heh.

I started off my food journey by scoping out the Wall Street Journal article that I had held onto...

My first meal (I was on my own the first day - I love traveling and exploring places on my own!) was at Husk, where I had the shrimp and grits and a midday cocktail of the Milan Mulberry (I think). I loved the touch of basil in the shrimp and grits, as well as the fresh taste of the tomatoes and okra. Low country cooking at its finest.

I walked around King Street a little and found the Savannah Bee Company store and sampled some different  flavors of honey. Couldn't bring any home because of the liquid restrictions in carry-ons, but mmmmm...

On Friday night we went to a restaurant on the beach on Folly Beach (about 20 minutes away from downtown Charleston), where I proceeded to enjoy several of my favorite food groups...

Pre-dinner apertifs...

Deconstructed Caesar salad...

And top sirloin with potatoes... (probably not the smartest food choice to eat with all of my friends who were vegetarian/Indian, but oh well). Sure was good ;-)

The next morning we walked across the street from our hotel (we stayed at the Francis Marion) to Marion Square where the Spoleto festival was happening. I had a yummy crepe for breakfast.

Walked through the farmers' market...

After walking around, we had a snack of flatbread pizza with cheese from Grill 225...

After an afternoon at the spa getting massages and our nails done, we went to the Peninsula Grill, which was possibly the best meal I have ever had. Ever. Also not the place to take incessant food pictures, so not much eye candy from here. Impeccable service. The waiters materialized out of nowhere like those guys from the Matrix movie. Service so good, it was scary. 

I will recommend their famous coconut cake to share amongst several people. Worth every calorie. It helped that one of the other girls was celebrating her birthday at the same time...

Before we left town, we stopped by Hominy Grill for breakfast...

I thought about getting a morning mimosa, but I got a cup of coffee instead...

Where I got a "Big Nasty Biscuit" for breakfast...

With a requisite cup of grits on the side...

My final Charleston meal was from High Cotton on East Bay Street...

Where I had a fried oyster Caesar salad...

I only made it to about 1/3 of the places on my list of restaurants to tackle in Charleston, which means I am going to have to suffer the hardship going back again. Poor me. :-)

Here is the list of places that were recommended to me, in case you ever get a chance to go yourself!

High Cotton 
Bessingers BBQ
Cypress
Magnolia
S.N.O.B.
Fig
Gin
Grill 225
Fish pearls
Hominy grill
Hanks
Venue inn rooftop bar
Poogan's porch
The Landing
Mccrady's
Husk
Poe's Tavern in Sullivan island
Rosebank Farms Cafe on Seabrook island
Jestine's
hyman's seafood 
Taco mamacita's on Sullivan island
Virginia's 

I can't wait to go back to Charleston again...

Charleston, South Carolina - Or the City Where Preppy Casual Came to Live

There comes a point in your 30's after you have had kids and been married for a while where you find yourself visiting the same cities over and over again whenever you have some time off. It may be the city where you grew up. It may be where you went to college or grad school. Or perhaps the town you always go for business trips or where your family always takes a summer vacation the second week of July.

While familiarity is great, every once in a while you get to explore a city for the first time and experience the rush of getting lost in a town, maybe accidentally wandering into a sketchy neighborhood or even stumbling across a great local dive bar with awesome live music. I got the chance to get lost in a city for the first time in FOERVER by myself (sans kids and sans husband) when I went to Charleston, South Carolina for a bachelorette weekend. Although it seems silly to call it a bachelorette weekend when we were all in our thirties, well established in our careers for years now, but whatever. It was a beautiful weekend.

Charleston is the perfect city for a grown-up girls' weekend or a couple's getaway. In the summer, the heat can be oppressive, but the proximity to beaches, amazing food and Southern hospitality go a long way into making this a city I will want to visit again.

To start with, you must dress the part in Charleston. People seemed to dress super preppy, from young to old. I loved seeing older couples in seersucker shorts and gingham dresses. I ran into a girl in a grocery store in the historic district who was dresed like page 26 of the most recent J.Crew catalog. Head to toe.

We had a J.Crew moment.

Here are some of my fashion moments...

An orange Kate Spade (a present to myself from last year) with my orange for breakfast.

J.Crew brown seersucker dress from 2009

Banana Republic necklace

Target leopard print flats

Note: Charleston women tend to be dressy from what I observed. Cute, preppy dresses with sandals or espadrilles seemed to be the dress code. Men would do well in seersucker or brightly colored shorts and short sleeved cotton button-down shirts or casually rolled up sleeves of a dress shirt. And almost every guy had sunglasses on a strap around their neck. Seriously like J.Crew and Vineyard Vines had an illegitimate love child. 

A breezy print dress that I bought from a local Charleston boutique (Scout and Molly's). So comfortable.

Besides J.Crew, another popular retailer here was Lilly Pulitzer. I saw these cute LP paper dolls for girls in a store located on King Street.

Of course we had a spa day while we were there, which meant that I had to try out some fun/trendy pastel summer shades.

Tomorrow, tune in for some of my food recommendations. The food in Charleston is unbelievable.

If you've been to Charleston, what was your impression of the city? Or do you have any other travel recommendations for an great city to visit?

B's Baby Shower

Continuing with the party theme this week, I recently helped throw a baby shower for a good friend from church (we'll call her "B") who has had a long road to motherhood. It was a pretty emotional gathering, with people from many different parts of B's life gathering to celebrate her new baby who should be making an appearance later this fall. B was a very dear friend to me during my miscarriage and she is due right about the same time that I would have been with the previous pregnancy. I am so, so thankful that she is getting to see one of her deepest desires come true.

We kept things very simple, just socializing with friends, a few rounds of baby Scattegories and Bingo, but stayed away from any games involving drinking from a bottle, eating baby food or pretending anything was poop. Ummm, no...

Since their nursery colors are pink and brown, we went with those colors for decorations.

We did the decor in pink and white with those ubiquitous Martha Stewart poms as a garland. Still have no chairs for the dining room yet. Too busy throwing up my lunch on a daily basis...

 We started with everyone leaving prayers for the new baby.

I made favors of mini jars of peach jam (very Martha of me) for guests to take on their way out. The Kid helped me assemble these with a casual covering of pink gingham and brown grosgrain ribbon.

The brunch buffet included a fresh fruit tray with chocolate fondue and chicken salad in phyllo cups...

A flower arrangement was done by my friend Melissa from Vintage Florals (thanks!). Mini ham and Gruyere cheese croissants as well as an assortment of quiches and blueberry muffins started off the savory portion of the morning...

The Kid and I made a bunch of quick breads earlier in the week (from the top: lemon poppyseed, pumpkin and banana breads)...

A Southern classic, sausage cheese balls (we call them Scooby snacks in our house)...

I had my stash of homemade apple and plum jellies as well as homemade cinnamon honey butter (pretty sure my daughter could eat this by the spoonful if I let her)...

A new item for me was the pink punch made very quickly out of cranberry flavored soda and raspberry sherbert. I may have finished an inappropriate amount of this drink...

One of the co-hostesses made these yummy chocolate cupcakes with pink and white cream cheese frosting. I am obsessed with this pink pedestal that I cound in a boutique store in Franklin, Tennessee...

More pom-pom action...

Baby Evelyn got a lot of fun stuff. I spy at least one Boppy...

I especially adore the pennant banner that one of the other co-hostesses made as a surprise to match their nursery bedding...

Chime in, what do you think? Been to any fun baby showers recently?

Superhero Party

Many moons ago, I promised to post about a superhero party that I helped throw for a friend's son. His dad had recently passed away and it was a very bittersweet 4th birthday party held a few weeks afterwards. Thanks to some amazing friends who donated their time and services and energy, we were able to pull off a very special party for Quinn.

First off all, much thanks to Sherry from Babypop Designs. She was able to make the amazing masks and capes for the party. You could definitely use this idea for a princess and knights themed party as well. I met Sherry at a social media conference last summer and she was delighted to help make Quinn's party a success. Her products are quality and the turnaround time was perfect.

Another blogging connection I made earlier this spring was Megan McGee from Megan McGee Photography. I had met her at a bloggers' meet up and was delighted to find out that she does family portraits (anyone need to get pictures for their Christmas cards?) as well as weddings and other events. She was an absolute joy to work with and was even helping us out with party set-up before guests arrived. She was great with the kids and took awesome shots.

I wish I could take credit, but my friend Emilie made this poster... super talented!

Publix makes the best cakes! Emilie also made the cartoon cutouts.

We kept it low key with some of the dads grilling burgers and hot dogs for the party.

 I made a classic red photo booth out of an old washer box, so that the kids to change into their BabyPop masks and capes as well as take pictures.

For me, the best part was how involved the grown-ups got in the Batman/superhero theme.

We had Robin...

CatWoman...

The Joker (seriously, I still get a little creeped out...)

The Riddler and a mini-sized CatWoman stopped by...

And of course, Batman himself and his BatGirl (aka, mom)

Activities included a pop-art coloring book, a super hero obstacle course and an X-ray vision game. I was channeling my inner camp counselor for the entire party. It was an emotional but much needed birthday party for our little superhero, Batman Quinn!

Chime in... what do you think?

(all photography reprinted with permission of Megan McGee Photography).