Hello again. It's that special time where I write about our monthly travel. This time we went to Charleston, South Carolina. Edo has never been there but I have been several times. I have always loved Charleston and I was eager to share this wonderful city with my boyfriend.
Unfortunately, it was mid-July and one of the hottest weekends on record for much of the United States, so our romantic walks around the Battery and through the Market weren't exactly the textbook passeggiate that I had imagined (complete with the cool breeze blowing through our hair, looking out over the sea arm-in-arm, giggling at the crazy items for sale by the Gullah vendors, and sitting on the park benches talking about how happy we were and how we hoped this moment would never end)
and more like the reality that is always Charleston in the middle of July (a hot breeze blowing over the Battery providing no relief whatsoever, looking out over the sea but not standing too close because damn it was really hot, complaining about all the crap for sale in the market and squeezing past the other sweaty tourists, and sitting on the park benches sweating and sharing a bottle of water... not drinking so much as to be rude and not leave enough for the other, but just enough to not shrivel up like a dried prune, desperately waiting for the moment to end). Good times.
Actually, it was good times. My parents lent us their new rental car (a Hyundai Sonata with all the bells and whistles... we could even see how many miles we had left to drive on each tank of gas and we could set the temperature in the car to a particular degree and it would automatically engage). We went down for my birthday, and we arrived on Saturday afternoon after a trip that involved a failed attempt to eat lunch at a Cracker Barrel -- really, we should've known better, those places are always packed -- and finally settling for a Bojangles near Lumberton where we ate the sort of food you can get at a Bojangles, prompting Edo to look around the restaurant and say "sometimes your people make me feel sad". I know Edo, I know.
Once we arrived in Charleston, we checked into our hotel, and we went into town to eat dinner at 82 Queen which my Uncle David introduced me to a year ago and got me hooked! On the way to the restaurant, we walked through the Charleston Place shops and saw a woman with a black dress walking past. Sometimes I think Edo forgets that I'm not one of his male friends (only sometimes... other times he's keenly aware that I'm all woman, but this is a PG blog so we'll leave it at that) and he looked at me as if to say "wow, check her out!". I stomped my foot, Tiffani-style, and said "I'm wearing a pretty black dress too!" and then laughed. He said "Tiffani, you know you're my favorite" and I said "I'd better be your only". Then we walked on to the restaurant.
82 Queen is famous for its She-Crab Soup, so we shared a bowl of that. Then Edo had the Grouper with tasso ham gravy over grits (it was good, but not as good as the Shrimp N Grits we had in Savannah) and I ate the stuffed tomato over tempura-fried julienne eggplant. For dessert we ate creme brulee with a glass of champagne. It was really delicious. That was Edo's birthday present to me, along with a CD from Manu Chao and a book called The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The meal was very romantic and the atmosphere was charming. I highly recommend that restaurant for a romantic date.
On Sunday, we went for lunch at a place called Sermet's Corner where we shared a plate of penne with creamy red sauce, shrimp, calamata olives and feta. The food was pretty good but the problem with feta and calamata olives is that they are such strong flavors that they pretty much drowned out the flavor of the shrimp and the pasta. And the air conditioning wasn't working very well so it was pretty hot. But it certainly wasn't a bad meal.
We then walked around the Market, bought some benne seed wafers which are my favorite thing about Charleston, and sat in the pastry shop for about a half hour drinking water and talking. Edo mentioned that he's missing pastry shops like they have in Europe, and I agree. There are two French pastry shops in the Raleigh area, but no Italian ones. He seems to be flirting with the idea of moving back home one day. I wouldn't be opposed to living in Italy.
After we cooled off, we made the trek back to the car and drove down to the Battery
where we walked around, took photos of the architecture of the homes and the sea, and then sat on the aforementioned park bench sweating like mules. Then we went back to the hotel for a swim.
When we arrived at the hotel, a storm rolled in so that nixed our plan to swim. So we watched TV for a bit and then headed back into town to have dinner at California Dreaming which Mom and Dad kindly paid for as my birthday present (along with the hotel, plus some work clothes later on in the month!). Our reservation wasn't for about an hour, so at first we stopped in O'Malley's Irish Pub to have a drink. It wasn't busy at all but it was a pretty nice atmosphere, and the bartender was very nice. He gave us directions to California Dreaming.
Once we arrived at the restaurant, we had a short wait and then we were seen to our table. This particular restaurant is known for it's fantastic view of the city, the sea, and the marshes. So we had a lovely but filling meal (we shared an appetizer of croissants with honey-butter, then Edo had the fried shrimp with french fries, and I ate the shrimp quesadilla with a stuffed baked potato), and then we walked down to the little pier where we took pictures. The one thing we didn't get was the sunset, which looked like a huge red ball in the sky. But when we tried to take a picture of it, it didn't take properly. So we'll just have to remember that moment. We watched it move behind the horizon like you see in films. It was so beautiful.
After dinner we drove around Mount Pleasant for a bit and then headed back to the hotel. The next morning, we headed back up to North Carolina but instead of taking the interstate, we decided to take Highway 17 up to Wilmington and then take I-40 back to the Triangle. The drive was a bit slower but it was much nicer, and as we drove through the 17 Bypass at Myrtle Beach (which is still amazingly bad for traffic even though it's a bypass), we stopped in for lunch at a little restaurant called Anthony's Pizza and Pan Pasta.
We ate there mainly because we were really curious about what "Pan Pasta" actually was so we decided to check it out. What we found was, according to my Italian boyfriend, "the best pizza in America". So if you're ever in the Middle of Nowhere, South Carolina, definitely check out Anthony's Pizza and Pan Pasta because you will not be disappointed (the cannoli were really good as well).
When we got home we ate a light dinner and collapsed. It was a good weekend but it was nice to be back in the house and rest a while.
In August, we don't have plans yet but lots of options, so you'll find out when we do :)
Ciao!
Tiffani
