Charleston - Day 1 and 2

I have to warn you, this a photo HEAVY post! Please don't feel obligated to read to the end. This is just as much for me as anyone. ;)

For my birthday, my husband (incredible man that he is) gave me a trip to Charleston, South Carolina. This trip was significant on several levels. One, we haven't been on a vacation without children since our honeymoon, 14 years ago. Two, I have not flown on an airplane since high school (that was many moons ago) and have not ever dealt with post 9/11 security. I will be flying by myself this fall and my love didn't want me to not know how to get through everything by myself, so he arranged a trip so that we could do it together. (One of the many reasons that I love him dearly.) Three, he had been to this area a couple of years ago and was deeply impressed and had always wanted to take me back with him.

We had a wonderfully full trip and I would highly recommend the Carolinas to anyone. It's beautiful, I have never met friendlier people, the food is unlike any Southern food that I've ever had, I could go on and on...

We flew into Charlotte (It took us a little while to get there. Bad weather had us sitting on the runway for two hours.) and rented this little car. We felt like the Flintstones. :)

We hopped in the car and checked out this wonderful little place in Charlotte called, Dish. This may well have been our favorite place on the whole trip. Simple, good food. 

I love to see food traditions in various areas of the country. In the Carolinas, deviled eggs are a very popular dish and are served at most restaurants. We started off with some deviled eggs (the best we had on the trip) and some potato poppers served with peppercorn parmesan dressing. Both of these were little gems! The poppers were seasoned balls of mashed potatoes, coated and fried. Please... 

On to dinner. I have never seen so much pimento cheese in all my life and I was in heaven. I didn't like pimento cheese until I was an adult and now I can't get enough of it. I had a grilled pimento cheese sandwich with a side of Greek broccoli soup. The soup was good, but the sandwich stole the show. 

Shane ordered the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and mac and cheese. Can't go wrong there. Their biscuits were fluffy and tall and brushed with honey butter. It was heaven. 

After that meal, we slept well and were up early and ready to get on the road. Shane had eaten at a little diner downtown, the Midnight Diner, before. We hit them up as we were headed out of town. Hashbrowns - covered, chicken biscuit, eggs, sausage. We were ready for the day! 

Charlotte has a beautiful downtown themselves and we saw the Panthers stadium on our way out. We didn't spend too much time there, because we will be back in the fall for one of Shane's conferences.

Next up we passed through Columbia on our way south. Keeping in the tradition of visiting as many college campuses as possible, we visited the University of South Carolina. Their recreation center is top notch (per our tour), the quad is beautiful, this is their library with a huge fountain and plaza area, and of course we found their bookstore. 

After picking up a couple of shirts for the kids, we stopped for lunch at a little place that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives - Pawley's Front Porch. It was ok. Nothing spectacular. Still good, but out of our whole week, we could have lived without it. Shane got a burger and I ordered a BLT with pimento cheese. (I had pimento cheese a couple of times.) 

Next stop, Charleston!!! We hopped back in the car and didn't look back. We pulled into town, dropped our bags at the hotel and away we went. It was so nice to be able to go as much as we wanted.

Our hotel was located just up the street from the College of Charleston. We found Grace's college campus. I, almost, want to go back to school just so that I could go here.

This is a lecture hall. 

This is the communications building. 

We actually met one of the faculty outside of the building and she told us some of the history of the campus. Loved the lightposts everywhere. Andrew Jackson went to school here as well as it being the first public university in the United States. 

This monstrous spider was hanging out in the garden. I don't know what kind he is, but I saw this same kind several more times on our trip. They are HUGE!

She also directed us to this building. Amazing. One of the scenes from The Patriot was filmed here. 

Can you imagine walking through here for classes?!  

We worked up an appetite with all of that walking.;) 

We ate dinner at The Hominy Grill. This little restaurant has been featured everywhere from Southern Living to Food Network. No wonder. Good food and authentically Southern.

They bring boiled peanuts to the table just like a Mexican restaurant brings chips and salsa. I tried. They taste like little beans when they are boiled. Everyone around us loved them. I had a few to say that I did. I'm not converting just yet.

We started with fried green tomatoes. They were deliciously crunchy and tart.

I ordered the fried fish, collard greens, and red peas and rice. Red peas are a special pea to the area, much like black eyed peas. We saw them several other places as well.

Shane ordered the Charleston Nasty Biscuit. A fried chicken breast on a biscuit with cheese and covered with sausage gravy. Very tasty.

The best thing that we had was the chocolate pudding. I got so excited when they brought the little bowl of goodness topped with whipped cream that I dug right in and licked the bowl clean before I realized that I didn't take a picture. Thankfully, I bought their cookbook, so guess what I will be attempting to make very soon!

After dinner, we took off down King Street. The downtown area is beautifully historic with all of the houses having some kind of historical significance. I haven't ever been to a place that has that much history and we both walked around gaping and in awe of the places that we saw.

I mean, seriously, Benjamin Franklin?! Someone lives in this house. 

Most residents have golf carts or mopeds that they navigate around town. 

I also started to get really inspired at all of the colorful landscaping and window boxes. My front yard is very shady, like much of the streets that we were walking. 

We made it to Rainbow Row. It is a group of 12 houses in dowtown Charleston that are the most photographed in all the area. They were nice, but I thought that we found many others that were just as, if not much more, grand.

This was just a little side street. No big deal. Original cobblestones. 

Nearly every house had a little gate leading to side gardens full of charm and mystery. 

More to come...

Chill, Take It Easy, Relax...

Part of what I love most about summer is the ability to just slow down. There is no set agenda. It doesn't matter if we eat dinner at 7, 8, or 9:30 p.m. There is not a schedule for the day. We get up, we swim, we try new recipes, we decide to do something fun. The kids have really embraced this mentality this summer and I have been very grateful. We make plans, but we also scratch plans for better ones, like staying in our pjs all day. It's been nice.

We have spent lots of time in the pool. It took several tries and I don't think that we ever did get the perfect jump picture. These make me laugh anyway.

 Because everything is so green and beautiful, we have had quite a few of these days too. No complaints. Movie, anyone?

I love to try new recipes in the summer. 

This is a potato leek pizza from the Pioneer Woman. I've eyed it several times and finally decided to make it. When I first tried it, I wasn't too sure that I liked it, but it grew on me. It is definitely not Italian in any way, shape, or form (except for the pizza crust.) It's olive oil, bacon, thinly sliced potatoes (I nearly sliced off my finger with my vegetable mandolin. Read the safety precautions!), leeks, and several different cheeses. It's pretty tasty.

Potato-Leek Pizza

Yield: 1 pizza

Ingredients

1/2 recipe for Pizza Crust (recipe to follow)
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
6 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 leeks, rinsed well to remove grit and thinly sliced
5 small red or Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced paper thin
1 lb fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced thin
4 oz goat cheese, crumbled
grated Parmesan cheese
freshly ground black pepper

Prepare the pizza crust by drizzling lightly with olive oil and sprinkling lightly with salt.

In a skillet over medium heat, fry the bacon until cooked but not crisp, then remove and set aside. Pour off most of the grease, but do not clean the skillet. Return it to the stove and, over medium-low heat, saute the leeks until soft, about 3 minutes. Remove the leeks from the heat and set aside.

Using a sharp knife or mandoline, slice the potatoes very thin. Be careful not to allow them enough time to oxidize. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer all over the crust, slightly overlapping the edges. Sprinkle the potatoes lightly with salt, then lay the mozzarella slices in a single layer on top of the potatoes. Place the leeks on top of the cheese, then sprinkle the fried bacon pieces over the top. Add a generous dose of crumbled goat cheese, grated Parmesan, and a sprinkle of pepper.

In an oven preheated to 500 degrees F, bake the pie for 8-11 minutes, until the edges of the crust are golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly. Slice it into wedges or squares and serve immediately.

Pizza Crust

1-1/2 cups warm water

2-1/2 tsp. yeast

1 tsp. salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cups flour (approx.)

Pour the warm water into a mixing bowl. (I use my KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook attachment.) Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add salt, oil, and flour. Mix until the dough begins to pull from the sides of the bowl into a ball. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour until it reaches the desired consistency. Once mixed, leave it in the bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise until doubled in size. Then punch down, and put out on floured surface, knead, and divide into 3 equal balls. Take one ball and roll a circle using a rolling pin.  Makes 3 pizza crusts.

I'm enjoying every last bit of summer!

Bucket List - Museums

In my opinion, one of the best things about living in an urban area is enjoying the museums. My kids had museums listed on all of their bucket lists. At the beginning of the summer, I always renew our passes and then we enjoy quite a few treks to see various things. The best part about a pass is the chance to see things at our own pace. We don't feel as though we have to stay for hours because we can always come back later.

First up is the Houston Museum of Natural Science. I have enjoyed my kids getting older and beginning to appreciate actual exhibits and not just play areas. One of our favorites at the Natural Science museum is the butterfly exhibit. I have never seen so many tropical varieties of not only butterflies and moths, but plants! There are tons and tons of orchids, pitcher plants, fruits, and many other plants that I have no idea what they are, but they are beautiful!

We spent nearly an hour in here one day. Every kid finally had a butterfly land on them. Landry didn't kill any of them and Hayden didn't cry. Check. 

Landry still does love a good play area. This is the only one in this whole museum. We always stop. 

Along with the butterfly exhibit, there is a very extensive bug exhibit that includes spiders, bees, and other crawly things.

I didn't take pictures of the rest because we were enjoying everything too much. They have a permanent "Egypt" exhibit complete with three real mummies, dinosaur skeletons, and lots of other stuff.

We also always get passes to the Houston Children's Museum. This place is top notch. We can, and do spend hours here. They have a kid's town area complete with a bank, newsroom, grocery store, vet office, hospital, police station, restaurant, etc. This alone takes time! 

Running the kitchen. 

At the ATM cashing his check.

Working at the vet's office. 

Outside is an entire water area. The kids are always soaked. 

And a nature area complete with a pond and hatched chicks. 

We took in a show at the auditorium.

After this, we left. Beautiful. 

We will go back to hit up the rest of the exhibits.