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...

Come to Mama...

Isn't it always the case that you want what you can't have? There were two things I missed from over a year of being pregnant in 2011-12. Red wine and sushi. In moderation, of course. Let's just say I have gotten to make up for lost time...


Remind me that I am trying to get back into shape when you see me in person...













Seriously, my mouth is watering just thinking about sushi. This was from celebrating a friend's birthday at Wild Ginger in Nashville.

What would you miss the most if you were pregnant for close to a year? Wine? Food from food trucks? Sushi?

Chime in!

Summer Sangria (Back by Popular Demand)

I had mentioned the crazy hot weather we have had in Nashville recently. I think we are going on three weeks without rain and daily temps in the upper 90's. But I love summer. I always have, and probably always will. Here's what I love:

• Screened-in porches (mine has become a hangout for several of my friends)
• The smell of sunscreen and late afternoons at the pool
• Grilling for dinner, especially grilled corn or teriyaki anything
• Fresh fruits and vegetables that actually taste good
• An icy cold beverage like fruit tea (my friend's great recipe here) or sangria

I am generally a red wine drinker when I partake. But it in the summer, I love my whites, especially in my summer sangria. My favorite varietals to use for this recipe are Pinot Grigio, Gewürztraminer or Riesling, which are all on the more fruity end of the white wine spectrum.

And this is not a hard and fast recipe. If you have only berries, go with that. If you only have peaches and apricots, by all means - you are allowed.

Summer sangria

• 750 mL bottle of white wine - I like Pinot Grigio
• 2 cups of white grape juice or white cranberry juice or white grape-peach or whatever
• A couple shots of peach schnapps (optional)
• Sliced summer fruit of your choice - really good summer peaches, blackberries and raspberries are really pretty with this
• Club soda to taste
• 3 cups of ice

Mix in a pitcher with lots of ice and garnish glasses with a peach.

***

The beauty of sangria is that it is a very forgiving sort of drink. If you want to make it stronger, you can toss in a 1/2 cup of brandy, Cointreau or triple sec without messing it up. Also, for entertaining purposes (if you have the self control) you can let it sit in the fridge for a few hours up to overnight so that all of the flavors can really blend together. Of course, in our house this would be gone in no time. Just saying.

What is your favorite thing to drink to cool off in the summer? Are you a sangria fan? Chime in!

Biltmore Wine Tasting

#typeamom
One of the most educational things at the conference I went to was actually the wine tasting sponsored by Biltmore Estates, who has their own winery. Not sure what that says about me, but let's not analyze that, shall we?

They brought four wines: a Riesling, a Chardonnay, a Pinot Noir and and a Cabernet Sauvignon. We did a tasting of the wines to learn how to pair them with sweet, salty, bitter, sour and savory foods. It was surprising how what the food was paired with would make such a remarkable difference in how the wine tasted afterwards. For the sake of ease, we tasted each wine before and after tasting salt, table sugar, a walnut, lemon and cheese. For example, a sweeter wine like a Riesling was cloyingly sweet after biting into a lemon, but was more palatable after a taste of the table sugar.

Pretty much everything tasted better with cheese (the fat in cheese coats the taste buds), which apparently is why wine and cheese go so well together. 

If you are ever in Asheville, swing by Biltmore and do a wine tasting!

Labor Day 2010 Food Rundown

There was a lot of good food to be had this weekend, but at least the running commentary in my head left me entertained...

Best Buns: Not the prize you get after a killer Zumba class, but a great bakery...

With double chocolate chip and toffee chip cookies...

Beer can chicken (aka, "Chicken being violated by Budweiser")...

Prepping the asparagus for grilling...

 Broad Branch Market (we walked there on Sunday morning)...

 Fresh produce selection...

 Vintage "Penny Candy" aisle (aka, how to ensure a meltdown in your child within 4.7 seconds)...

Flashback to my childhood!

Two Buck Chuck. We may have gotten a case of it.

Any good food to be had this past weekend? Drinks? Desserts?

Homemade Ginger Ale

Don't know how I never thought of this before, but for our little grill out last weekend, I made the best non-alcoholic beverage I have tasted in a while.  Homemade ginger ale.  It has a little more of the spicy bite than the store bought stuff, but man it was good! To the point where I kept sneaking sips of my husband's glass when he wasn't looking.

Homemade Ginger Ale (from Simply Recipes)

Ginger water
1 cup peeled, finely chopped ginger
2 cups water

Simple Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Club soda
Lime juice
Lime wedges

• Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add ginger. Reduce heat to medium low and let ginger sit in the simmering water for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 20 minutes. Strain liquid through a fine mesh strainer. Discard ginger pieces.

 Why yes, it is supposed to look like the color of dirty pond water, don't worry.

• In a separate saucepan, make the simple syrup by dissolving 1 cup granulated sugar into 1 cup of boiling water. Set aside.
• Make individual (tall) glasses of ginger ale by mixing 1/2 cup of ginger water with 1/3 cup of Simple Syrup and 1/2 cup of club soda. Pour mix over plenty of ice. Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a lime wedge to each glass.

Makes four servings.

NOTE: This would be great for all those pregnant people out there suffering from morning sickness or anyone with a stomach bug. You could also spike this with bourbon to make a Jack and Ginger or with dark rum to make an equally delicious cocktail.

Afternoon at Arrington Vineyards

Pretty sure Arrington Vineyards is going to turn into my "hey-it's-nice-outside-we-have-nothing-to-do" place to go on the weekends. That and the Nashville zoo (which inexplicably has no lions, but that is another post for another day). It was a little cooler and windier at Arrington than last time, but awesome still. This time we drank the Viognier. Two thumbs up.

Picnic menu: Smoked Gouda, English cheddar, roast chicken, prosciutto, Area 51 blackberries, raspberries and strawberries (from Costco and so freakishly large, you know there is something otherworldly going on), rosemary olive bread with balsamic dipping oil, Arrington's Viognier.

Trying to teach her how to say Viognier...

Seriously. How can you not love this face?

Mocha Rose May Day Grand Re-Opening

While Nashville was being deluged this weekend, I was watching from afar in Pittsburgh, PA. One of my friends (we met via the Knot, remember that?) from pre-wedding days was having a grand re-opening of her floral design studio back in the 'Burgh and I was able to meet up with some friends at the cocktail party.

Stop by her website if you know a Pittsburgh bride or planning a fancy party. She rocks.

I love me some hydrangeas somethin' fierce. Mmmmhmmm...

More hydrangeas and orchids.

These silver chargers sort of look like the cross-section of a tree.

Ranunculus, sweet peas, roses...

I love this as a dramatic centerpiece.

The Ghost chairs are such a big trend right now.

 Two thumbs up on the outfit to my friend Mae, who is one tall drink of water (I've always wanted to say that). And she ran the Pittsburgh Marathon the next day! She is so friggin' gorgeous you just want to kick her (I promised I would embarrass her).

Part of my lovely Pittsburgh crew. I am wearing the now ubiquitous J.Crew woven belt, Gap Merino cardigan and one of those embossed cotton J.Crew beach dresses and a ridiculous grin. That was second glass of wine talking.

Mmmhmm...