Fun in Charleston

Visiting MoonPie store

I think the Turk and I walked every street in the historical areas of Charleston...would that be all of Charleston?  We peered in any window we could, wandered down any alley wide enough and ate in as many locations as we could 'stomach'.   Some highlights in photos:

the end of our street, Vendue Range, the waterfront park behind

Joseph Manigault House

Amazing detail plastering

Grand stairway from front hall

 

Mark checks out old fire door

Notice the earthquake bolts

one of many alleys

pineapple fountain

Creative house number signage

St. Phillips church

gravestone at St Phillips

art deco building on King Street

HUGE chandelier lights train set

more detail. 3 working trains and a trolley

reproduction of the Hunley, found in 2000

BBQ's seen on I-95 on way home -pigs and steers

Food, Drink, Architecture in Charleston

The Turk and I stayed on Queen Street and were in the heart of things at the south end of Charleston.  Reservations were difficult to get at the best restaurants, so we had a plan!  We headed for the bar where we tasted their signature cocktails and snacked on a spectacular dish – typically an appetizer size.  Then, we’d head out for another restaurant bar and do it over again! It is easy to talk to people around a bar and we met folks from all over.  Where did we go?

Fleet Landing – we had coupons for free drinks, so we started here at this former Navy debarkation building on the water. We ordered fried green tomatoes that came with layers of seafood salad, and we got a bowl of gumbo.  Thumbs up for the gumbo but everything else was just ok.

Gin Joint – amazing cocktails in this small bar.  We snacked on fresh baked pretzels and duck meatball sliders. While the duck meatballs were good, the bread was doughy.  The clever thing about cocktail choices was the option of a drink created by the bartended based on 2 words that you choose (from a list). 

Eli’s Table – we found out that Charleston makes any excuse to serve brunch with unlimited mimosa’s and bloody mary’s.  Saturday was a good excuse and we found Eli’s serving. I required grits, biscuit and applewood bacon with an egg for legitimacy so the breakfast biscuit was perfect.  The Turk chose a mushroom and cheese omelet, but thought it was dry.  While he doesn’t like grits, I noticed that the half I left on my plate disappeared when I wasn’t looking.  We tried the oyster soup to see what it was and we weren’t excited. In fact, we found 1 oyster.  Our fearless waitress took it back and returned with more oysters, but it still wasn’t that tasty. Overall, we really liked Eli’s for the location, the staff and overall food.  

Slightly North of Broad (SNOB) – the cocktail menu was basic so the big delight here was the food.  We tried the stuffed quail breast accompanied by 2 fried quail legs.  Delicious with moist breast meat stuffed with a slightly sweet and flavorful combination of seafood. The Turk wolfed down the legs so I can only assume they were scrumptious. We had a side order of roasted okra that I liked, despite not being an okra fan. The Turk is now going to roast his okra to entice me to eat it.

Magnolia – average cocktail menu but nice bar.  We ordered the low country bouillabaisse and plate of mussels.  We could have ordered these again – they were delicious.  The bouillabaisse was chock full of white fish chunks, okra, some clams and shrimp, all in a well seasoned tomato base.  The mussels were cooked in white wine and garlic.  The Turk loved dunking his bread in both sauces.

The Grocery – I did manage to get a reservation here, so we didn’t do the bar scene.  The cocktail menu was interesting as the bar tender created a selection of cocktails for the restaurant.  Since we were investing our night’s meal in a single restaurant, we ordered appetizers, main dish and dessert.  Mark’s Wagyu beef was perfectly cooked to his medium rare level and seasoned to bring out the clean beef flavor.  I had duck breast (seems duck was a sub theme of the weekend) which was good, but paled when compared with the beef.   

Duck

Scallops

Appetizers were interesting. The Turk chose burrata cheese stuffed with pesto. We both thought it was a bit salty. Burrata is one of my favorite cheeses, but I thought its flavor and texture weren’t highlighted in this preparation.  My choice was scallops – raw and thinly sliced – accompanied by sliced radishes and some tangerine and grapefruit sections. It was light and refreshing.  Although we were pretty full after all of this, we had to try their desserts so we ordered their unique desserts of the night: churros with dipping sauces and a layered peanut butter mousse atop a chocolate crunch layer.  Both were rich and tasty, but probably too rich.

Pig diagram at The Grocery

Husk – We were full, but when we walked past Husk, my number one choice for dinner but also for everyone else in Charleston this weekend, the Turk said – let’s go to the bar!  The bar is actually a separate small building.  Remember, this is Charleston so every restaurant is in an interesting, old building.  The bar was equally old and even had a trap door next to our table.  We got the waitress to open it and we saw steps leading down to boxes and jars of provisions.   Husk bar had an exceptional cocktail menu (second only to the Gin Joint).  The Turk found a bourbon aged stout from a local brewery and I tasted the Teachers Lounge gin cocktail that was refreshing and tangy.

Glazed – while walking around one day, we passed Glazed on King Street and stepped back. A gourmet donut bakery!  We must try!  Sure enough, we found creative donuts ranging from sweet potato flavored to goat cheese and raspberry filled donuts.  We ended up with a bear claw filled with apples and bacon and a donut filled with peanut butter pie filling and topped with dark chocolate ganache.    We escaped before succumbing to mass quantity donut-eating. But it was a close call.

Christmas Time in Charleston

The Turk needed more immersion into the history and culture of the south.  So, between Christmas and New Years we hightailed it up to Charleston, with a quick, fun stop in Atlanta to visit Judy, Dave, Kati.

We wanted to see Charleston in all of its holiday  low country splendor, and wanted to try some of the outstanding foods.  Charleston is considered a food town and we didn’t want to miss anything!  Oh, and of course we wanted to just wander the town to discover beautiful homes, gardens, secret alleys and interesting shops.  Check, check, check – all accomplished!

Here are examples of some of the holiday decorations - all using fresh fruit, flowers, leaves and branches. We even saw nests and peacock feathers!

Magnolia leaves and berries

birds in evergreen bough at  Joseph Manigault House

stairway garland at JM house

Pheasant feathers at JM house

cardinals at JM house

burlap wreath at Slave Museum

entrance hall fireplace at JM house, with eggs!

Lots of feathers at JM house mantel

Nathanial Russel house front door with fruit

celebrating their palms

To Key Largo We Go!

Time for a trip!  Off to the keys - a long weekend in Key Largo.  I always consider the drive into south Florida akin to driving to another country.  We move from our Florida to TROPICAL Florida - that means there are no oak or leafy trees, lots of scrub palms and pine trees, and lots of swampland.  And we found ancient, giant cypress trees growing in the river called the Everglades, that seem to be Florida's answer to California's giant redwoods. 

Driving across the state, through the Everglades, is always interesting.  You pass Indian settlements - after all, this was their land first.  There are parks where you can escape civilization and hike, kayak and camp in the deep Florida wilderness.  I thought the number of alligators, pythons and mosquitoes would dissuade many takers, but I am wrong.   And then there are the airboat rides that increase in numbers the closer you get to Miami.             

Ancient cypress with a 'strangler fig' wrapping around it. The fig started as an air plant.

Saw many of these on the roads heading south on the west coast.

Since we live in west Florida, we drove down the west coast.  The population has been growing in southwest Florida, which sadly means less nature and more golf courses. (But still not as busy as the east coast of Florida around Miami). When I saw the signs warning about panthers crossing the road, across the street from a shopping center, I thought that perhaps people were moving in a bit fast.   

local resident - about 3 1/2 feet long

 We crossed the Everglades to get to the east coast and made our way south from Miami.  Once you pass Homestead, everything opens up and you start to experience the Keys.  Beautiful water with scattered islands surrounding the bit of land and bridge that is your path to Key West.
We didnt travel that far south though because we stayed at a nice condo complex in Tavernier (actually just south of Key Largo).  With lots of sea oats and mangroves, the wildlife was mainly iguanas and birds. And there was a resident herd of cats that were fun to watch run around and play.

First sunset in Key Largo @ Key Largo Fisheries cafe

 Our first dinner was at Key Largo Fisheries where we sat dockside with our lobster wraps and seafood gumbo.  The Turk and I agreed that the food was average, but very convenient and we enjoyed sitting out with the fishing boats watching the sunset.

What to do in the key's?  Kayak the mangroves of course!  We headed to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.  This is the first undersea park in the US that is 70 nautical square miles.  Most of the park is under water!  But we found a 2.5 mile canoe trail through the mangroves to try out.

the Turk in the mangroves

 What fun! Much of the trail is actually marked, just like a hiking trail. It is a lot like a maze since you can't see above the mangroves to see where you are relative to where the marina (and civilization) is.  The Turk was concerned that we would be lost forever and would have to survive on whatever we could catch, and the lunch we packed.  Needless to say, we made it back. And after some swimming in the huge pool at the condo, we were hungry for dinner!

I picked  Tasters Grille  for our big night out.  The wine selection and chef choices convinced me this could be good.  We sat on the deck outside, over the water which held some surprises when night fell.  We got attentive waitstaff and the opportunity to taste wines to decide on what we wanted. The dishes we chose were more tapas sized so we got to try several things.  My fave was the shrimp and grits that were cooked with goat cheese.  As the evening progressed, we were joined by a musician who played his own and others' guitar compositions. He had many stories to tell as it seems he has played with 'everyone'.  And, as the sun set, we notice that the water beside us was lit from below. Soon we were joined by a few tarpon. And it didnt take long for those few to be joined by all of their buddies including the largest tarpons I've seen!

Crazy tarpon

 The Turk was excited. Thank goodness you cant eat tarpon or else he'd be in the water grabbing them and throwing them up to me to take home.!


The next day, we needed to do some touristy things, so headed out  to see what we could see.  We found Chocolate!

Yep - went there

The funny thing about the chocolate shop was that the American looking guy at the cash register - his wife ran the shop and made the chocolate - saw the Turk's name on his credit card and started speaking Arabic. The Turk said, 'Not Arabic, Turkish.'   And the guy spoke Turkish!   Come to find out, his dad was in the military and they were stationed in Istanbul when this guy was a kid. Small world.

Next on our adventure, we found the actual boat used in the movie The African Queen.  There is quite a story behind this boat's life, before and after the movie.  But it has been refurbished and is sitting in Key Largo, ready to take you out on a boat ride.  We have some friends who took the boat ride a couple of weeks later and said it sounded just like it did in the movie.  Of course, the steam engine is the same.

We seemed to be missing a full fledged keys sunset - so our objective was to hit the west coast and scout out the sunset.  Marker 88 was recommended as THE place to do sunset.  So, off we went. And this became our instant favorite.  We sat at the beach and had the choice of tasty drinks.  Sunset was spectacular and we decided it warranted a slice of key lime pie. 

sunset drink

Our final keys sunset

toasting to the keys!

 Alas, it was already time to leave.  But the trip back was still interesting. Driving through Homestead, we found miles of beautiful gardens and farms where you could buy landscaping plants and fruits and veggies.  This is where we saw dragonfruit for the first time. And, we found several greenhouses for orchids.  Of course some had to come home with us.