Charleston Babymoon

 Hyde and I left for Charleston this morning for our "Babymoon".  Jane is spending the weekend with P and Totty. Philip called when we arrived in Charleston to tell us a funny story about Jane. Totty had picked her up from school and taken her to the Carby office. She had Woody with her and told P that she needed to change his diaper. Jane placed Woody on the floor and lifted his legs like she was going to change the imaginary diaper and said, "Holy Moly! That's poo poo! Where are the wipes?" HA!!! Think she's heard that before?! The only thing she missed was "ooo, that is stinky!"

   We had the best time in Charleston! We pretty much ate our way through the city! Good thing we walked all over the peninsula. Thursday we had a drink and appetizer at The Library Rooftop Bar and walked down to the Battery then back to our hotel on Meeting Street, The Mills House. Dinner was at Husk across the street. It had been voted best restaurant in Charleston and been written up in Garden & Gun magazine. It uses all southern, mostly local, ingredients. It was delicious! I had crispy pig ear lettuce wraps (couldn't believe I ordered that, but it was just like bacon and yummy) and then waygu steak for my entree and shared amazing brussel sprouts with sweet potatoes. We sat in the bar for a little while and Hyde enjoyed an Old Fashion while we soaked up the neat atmosphere. We were too full to order dessert.
 Crispy Pig Ear Lettuce Wraps

   Friday, we slept in! It was almost 10 before we woke! We walked up King Street and popped in some shops but made our way up to Basil for lunch. Hyde and I have eaten here before but love it so much we crave it all the time. We had the chicken and coconut soup first. I had the cashew and tofu dish and Hyde had the basil chicken. Amazing! When we walked in, I ran into an Mt. Pleasant roommate of mine, Gregg Swanson! It was so great to see her! We have vaguely kept up with each other on Facebook so we knew about marriage, kids, and her dog's championship jump in the dock dog's competition, which was written up in the City Paper. During our walk back, Hyde was able to explore a bike shop and find some new shoes. We hit up Earthling Day Spa for the afternoon since the rain was to move in. We each had a 1.5 hour massage! Ahh! Apparently, Hyde's masseuse could bend quarters with her fingers. For dinner we went to Fig, also voted Best Restaurant in Charleston in 2010. I ordered the Ricotta Gnocci and Border Springs Farm Lamb Bolognese for my appetizer and the lamb with cheese grits for my entree. We shared a side of Roasted Sunchokes with Pickled Garlic and it was a nice surprise. They are from sunflowers and have that artichoke heart feel but with the taste of a sunflower. They were delicious. It rained while we ate so we were able to take a rickshaw to The Belmont on upper King Street. Lisa Burnett and her friends Leah and Lewis from Brooklyn met us for a drink. Lisa and I went to high school together and Hyde met her at LSU. She just moved from NYC to Charleston 4 weeks ago. We walked back to Queen Street and Hyde had another beer at the bar at Husk. I'll admit I kept sneaking a few sips of his Mexican Wedding Cake Beer. It was so good and I am craving one now.

 Pork Confit

   We slept in again on Saturday then walked to Whisk, a new bakery, then took a carriage tour. We actually went past 23 King Street where Annie Kate and I lived. A things Hyde and I learned that we thought was especially interesting: 1. Charleston's ironwork is wrought iron and New Orleans' ironwork is cast iron. 2. Dark wooded crepe myrtles produce light colored flowers and light wooded trees produce the darker colored flowers. 3. The Market area did not sell slaves 4. Houses were not taxed on the amount of sidewalk it occupied. The porches are on the side of the house to not be directly in the sunlight and they call them porticos not porches.  The windows on the front and back of single row house (one room wide for the length of the house) could be opened for air circulation throughout the house.
   We cruised around East Bay Street and made our way to Broad street, walked in the Exchange Building then found The Blind Tiger for lunch.
 Fried Green Tomato BLT and Sweet Potato Waffle Fries
 Pot Roast Sandwich with Fried Okra (Version of a Rueben: Pot Roast, Tomatoes and Horseradish Sauce)
   You can only imagine we needed a short nap after that lunch so we missed the last ferry to Fort Sumpter. We shopped King Street again and even had a pistachio gelato waffle cone for a snack, I'll blame this one on the baby. Dinner was at 8:15 at Lucca.
The pasta is made fresh and the menu constantly changes. It is a tiny restaurant in an up and coming area, Elliotsborough. We were sent one block away to Enotecca, an even smaller wine bar that was in its first week of opening. Anna was a delight and told up all about the direction she would like to take the bar and where the different refurbished pieces/walls, etc came from. The wait was well worth it because dinner was amazing. I hate I couldn't partake in all the yummy soft cheeses or wine. To start, we had verdicchio braised summer mushrooms, braised artichokes, and golden beets with white balsamic, pickled garlic, tangerine, chili flakes and walnuts. I don't like beets and this was very good! I had Verrigni Spaghettoro, Grilled East Coast White Shrimp,Preserved Local Sun Gold Tomatoes, Calabrese Chilies (capers, olives and tomatoes with a lemon infused olive oil). It was amazing!!

 Grilled Painted Hills Beef Flat Iron Steak over Chard with Gorgonzola Mac and Cheese
   For dessert, we ordered the pear sherbet and a trio of chocolates: ganache', hazelnut gelato, and I don't know what it is called or exactly what it's called but it was awesome! It looked like ganache in a bar, but had a crispy crunch like a Kit Kat bar. Ahhh! Needless to say, after that yummy meal, we went straight home and slept-very well!

   Sunday morning, Hyde ran around the peninsula then we packed up to go. Lisa picked us up and drove us to Sullivan's Island for lunch at Poe's for burgers. I got the Tell Tale Heart with bacon and a fried egg.

   I was sad to leave Charleston, but couldn't wait to see little Jane and give her a big squeeze. Our flights went well and we were home by 7:30.