Charleston, SC: The Food

Oh my goodness y'all... I won't even tell you how much money we spent of food in Charleston, but I will tell you that it was worth every penny. I truly don't know if I have ever been to a city that has such an amazing restaurant market! I'll break it down by meal for you all... get ready this post is not short!

Dinner:

I'm starting here because this was the most important meal of most of our days. We splurged on our dinners, as you will see if you go look at these restaurants websites. But food is important to us and I believe in spending money on experiences! We did dinner at Husk, McCrady's, and Charleston Grill. Here's the scoop on each:

Husk: We were on a bit of a Sean Brock tour during this trip to Charleston, and Husk was out first stop on the tour. If you don't know who Sean Brock is- don't worry I didn't either- he is an award winning chef who has appeared on the TV Show Mind of a Chef. You can find it on Netflix.

We started off at the whiskey bar, next door to the actual restaurant, for a drink. We can be snobs occasionally when it comes to a good whiskey/bourbon based cocktail. We've been spoiled by our visits to Taste- an amazing bar in St. Louis. Because of that, I've got to say I didn't love my first drink The CBWS’s Punch but I was quite enthralled by my second drink the Keeneland. A's Barrel-Aged Manhattan was good too, though not the best of the trip.

Dinner was a whole different story! We started off with the Pig's Ear Lettuce Wraps- these were wonderful. A could not get enough of them (in fact he just brought them up again yesterday)! Next I had the Pork- Slow Cooked VA Heritage Pork, Charred Sweet Potato and Mustard Greens with VA Apple Cider Jus, Toasted Pecans- and Adrian had what is my new favorite fish, the Triggerfish- Atlantic Triggerfish, Mustard Spaetzle, Cauliflower and Spinach, Country Ham, Manchego Broth. We also got a side of the cornbread, which we totally didn't need because the dishes were so amazing. We finished up with the Sweet Vanilla Doughnut Holes for dessert. YUM.

Trigger Fish & Pork at Husk

McCrady's: McCrady's is Sean Brock's original restaurant in Charleston. We went here on Valentine's day for a special, very romantic dinner. We were seated in a quiet little table in an alcove near the bar which provided a fantastic atmosphere for our meal. We chose to do the tasting menu with the wine pairings. Let me tell you, this was not a meal... this was an experience! The staff was incredible- our waiter especially so. The food was unreal. And the wine pairings just put everything over the top. I wish this were something I could afford to do every weekend- but it's probably more of a once in a long while activity. I'm pushing for once a year on what is sure to become a Charleston vacation tradition for us =) If you've got the cash to do it, I HIGHLY recommend McCrady's.

Charleston Grill: We went to Charleston Grill on our last night in town. Originally we just planned to have a drink and listen to the father/son jazz duo who play contemporary and classical covers. We sat down at the bar and realized we were hungry. After ordering our drinks- Manhattan for A (best of the trip) and something else for me... I honestly can't remember- we decided on the crab cake appetizer. This thing was amazing. After that, we couldn't stop there. I got the scallops and A got the pork shank. Both were delicious, but I definitely won this one. By the end we were too stuffed for dessert, but our bartenders did give us some little treats anyway. This was out semi-unintentional dinner over-spend. But again, it was totally worth it.

Lunch:

We found three very worthwhile lunch spots and one to avoid. I'll start with the one to avoid- Hyman's Seafood. It's right on Market street and boast itself as one of the best seafood spots in town. We ate there right when we got in to town on Thursday and we were starving. It wasn't bad but it pales in comparison to everything else we had that weekend. Skip it.

Now for the one's we liked: Brasserie Gigi, The Tattooed Moose, and Minero.

Brasserie Gigi: We actually ended up here after looking around for some where to eat on Friday and having no luck at Cru (which had been recommended to us). Oddly enough, this place had been recommended to us as well (however we had not taken this person seriously at the time). Turns out, it's pretty good. Although we did split a bottle of wine with this lunch so I'm sure that influenced our thoughts on the food. Truly, I could take it or leave it. But it was fun for us to sit at the bar and share the trout dish that we ordered.

Tattooed Moose

The Tattooed Moose: This is my kind of place y'all. Totally dive-y with delicious food. They are famous for their Duck Club (and for good reason, I got it and it was amazing). But A got the cuban sandwich and that was delightful as well. This one gets another HIGH recommendation from me. (Sidenote- I've given the highest recommendations to the most expensive and cheapest places on my list... go figure that one out.)

Minero: This was our last stop on the Sean Brock tour- his new taco joint. A flipped when we found out this existed! We had it for lunch on our last day, and it did not disappoint. I got the burrito (which is massive) and A got the al pastor and  the carnitas tacos. All of it was delicious.

Breakfast/Brunch:

We skimped on this meal, most of the time choosing to sleep in and wait until lunch, however we did hit one of the famous brunch places in Charleston- Hominy Grill. We also got donuts at Glazed Gourmet Doughnuts. We may or may not have done these things on the same day....

Hominy Grill: We had heard mixed reviews of Hominy and we weren't sure if it was going to be worth the hype... But I would put it on my list of recommendations- ONLY IF you order The Nasty Biscuit. I made the mistake of ordering banana pancakes, which were good but you can get pancakes anywhere. A got The Nasty Biscuit- friend chicken biscuit sandwich covered in delicious gravy- and it was amazing. The wait was long, about an hour. It got a little frustrating when they kept calling names of people who had chosen to leave (but hey, at least that made our wait time shorter), and the hostesses seemed a bit unorganized. But once inside, that nasty biscuit made up for it.

Photo Credit

Glazed Gourmet Doughnuts- get there early if you really want to try their special flavors (we didn't) but if their specialty's are anything like their plain glazed, chocolate with sprinkles, and raspberry glazed doughnuts, then this place is awesome. The raspberry glazed was incredible- the glaze was fresh, and the doughnut was soft and yummy. I'm making myself hungry just thinking about it.
There are still so many restaurants in Charleston that are left on our list for next time. The food in this town in just unreal. Our favorite activity was asking any of our waiters/uber drivers etc where we should eat... We got so many recommendations that we started a list for next time!

Next week I'll tell you about the stuff we did while we were there!

Charleston, SC: The Lodging

First up- I am going to share where A and I stayed during our trip to Charleston, SC.

When A and I finally decided on a location for our anniversary/Valentine's day trip, I got right to work finding us a place to stay. As you might expect, I started with hotels. Charleston has some gorgeous hotels with some not-so-gorgeous prices to go along with them (especially over Valentine's/Presidents day weekend) so I took to AirBnB to see if I could find something that would be more worth the money.

Our first attempt at booking a place didn't work out- which was a bummer- but it worked out in the end because we found an even better spot! We stayed in the Mod Suite at City Centre Inn. It could not have been a more perfect location. We were right near the intersection of Meeting/George St.

For those who haven't been to Charleston, Meeting St. and King St. are two of the streets you want to check out. King St. was one block up from our location so we walked nearly everywhere we went. We also walked to East Bay St- another street in Charleston that contains lots of yummy restaurants- the harbor, Rainbow Row, and Battery Park/White Forest Gardens. We uber'd once out of necessity and a few times out of laziness/time of night but we truly were walking distance from anything you could want to do in the historic downtown district of Charleston.

The suite itself was amazing. It's furnished with a number of original Mid-Century modern pieces, but also contains an updated kitchen and bathroom (seriously this bathroom- I want it in my future house). Sadly, I did not take any pictures but here are a few from the AirBnB posting that I feel most accurately represent the suite.

I was a little nervous about using AirBnB as I had never done it before, but it turned out to be a wonderful experience. We had a code to our door sent to us prior to our arrival, so we didn't even need to check in with anybody. We did meet the hosts (who live onsite) towards the end of our stay and they were wonderful. Rick and his wife Glenda were incredibly hospitable, and were nice enough to hold our luggage for us after we checked out of the suite but before we were ready to leave for the airport.

Overall, it was an awesome experience- and I would absolutely stay there again. The cost of the suite was less than many of the hotel options and it was bigger and so much more comfortable than what we might have gotten at a hotel. I would highly recommend checking this place out if you ever go to Charleston!

Next up- I'll tell you all about the food!

Long Distance Love

By now you are all fully aware that my boyfriend, A, and I are in a long distance relationship. And it is not an easy thing. Now that I am back in Dallas and won't be seeing A until after Christmas... Today I thought I would talk a little bit about a few of the basic things that we do to make it just a little bit easier:

1. FaceTime: Thank goodness for FaceTime y'all! It makes a world of difference to be able to come home from a long day of work and see A's face while I am talking to him. Long distance love relies heavily on our ability to communicate with one another; and talking on the phone is great but when you can see the person's face it is much easier to interpret and understand what they are telling you. Many a miscommunication is avoided with the help of FaceTime.

2. Snapchat: This goes along the same lines of everything said above, but I love to send and receive little snapshots throughout the day.

3. Watching Movies/TV Shows Together: Again- thank you to FaceTime for allowing us to do this but... just because we live 1500 miles apart, doesn't mean we can't have shared experiences. We have a number of TV shows that we both watch and we will often make an effort to watch them together. These mini-date nights allow us a break from normal conversation and let us veg out while watching the same show/movie. Only bummer about this--- cuddling not included =(

4. VISIT: We see each other as much as possible, of course. For us, it has been averaging out to about once a month. We are diligent about spacing out our visits to make the most of both our time and money. But we can talk more about these visits in another post. And best of all, I get to see him for Thanksgiving in just two short days!

Long distance love takes patience (something I do not have much of) and trust. It is a challenge every day, but when you've got the right person on the other end of the phone each day, it is a challenge that is MORE THAN worth it.

Intermediate Gratification

A and I were talking the other day- trying to figure out our visiting-each other-schedule for the next few months... and I said it is depressing to look at a calendar and see how little I am able to see him in a given year. His comment was, "well I am a big fan of delayed gratification." I immediately responded, "I like instant gratification."

His response... "I guess we will just have to find some intermediate gratification."

First of all, that's not a thing. But it definitely made me laugh. So I guess that has now become a thing- at least it will be for our current situation.

We are constantly having to find ways to balance his patience with my impatience, his desire to work with my desire to play. He pulls me back from making impulsive decisions and I push him to go with the flow a bit more.

Rather than creating tension, our differences in opinion allow us to both become more balanced individuals. Of course getting to that balancing point requires listening and respect, the ability to abandon judgement and embrace understanding, and a very healthy dose of open communication- all skills we continue to strengthen daily.

Through all that, somewhere in the middle we find the right decisions for both of us.

The intermediate gratification.

Change Of Plans

Soooo.... remember on Friday when I said that I would be seeing my boyfriend on Wednesday... Welllllllllll I got a little impatient.

After looking at my work calendar and realizing I didn't have a lot going on (because many of my coworkers are out this week) I decided to buy myself a one way ticket to WV.

I also decided to scare some friends and family by telling them only this part of the story. ***cue evil laugh***

No... I haven't up and moved to West Virginia... yet... ;)

The new plan is to work from here (thank you flexible work environment!) until Wednesday when we will head back to Missouri for Thanksgiving with his fam; at that point we will be back on the original plan and I'll fly home to Dallas on Sunday.

Patience is not, and has never been, one of my strengths. I lost the battle this time....

And I couldn't be happier about it =)