Some Rocky Love

Just cause I can't stand how cute he is. Here's a recent Rocky shot! 

Dinner Diva's Goes to Charleston

I finally remembered to snap a couple quick pictures from my phone of our dinner this month (although I missed the appetizers). Rightly fitting that I finally got around to writing about our trip to Charleston and our favorite cooking classes there that I should also write about our dinner group. Last month was my turn to host so I decided to pick the theme of Charleston, inspired by our trip of course. For our meal this month we had:

• Michele brought her version of fried green tomato to start us off 
• Watermelon, Feta & Arugula Salad
• Cornbread from SNOB (my favorite restaurant) 
• Crispy fried fish with low country pickles 
• Spring pea gold rice pirlau 
• Janet brought Strawberry Shortcakes - my favorite! 

I was running way behind this time when the girls got here. Not going to lie it turned into a bit of a team effort trying to get everything to the table in a timely manor. Everything turned out delicious, just as good as at our class. The pickles really complete the fish dish. And you'd be surprised at how well the watermelon goes with the arugula. Another really fun time, although as usual we had tons of food, if I ever make that rice or cornbread again, note to self it feeds a small army!

Next month we're doing baby themed food in honor of Janet's upcoming arrival! 

Charleston - Day 3

For our last day in Charleston we wanted to get as much of this beautiful city in as possible. We started our morning out at the Charleston Farmers Market. Let me just tell you this is the most amazing Farmers Market you've ever seen. The endless rows of amazing, vendors with all this incredible homemade and homegrown stuff was incredible, I was in heaven. I wish I could have bought it all. We did make a few small purchases. We had a delicious kale smoothie, we picked up some homemade doggie treats and some nutty goodness bars. I could have walked around there all day, it was my kind of farmers market! 

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and rent some bikes to ride around the city. We had so much fun, it was a beautiful day and a beautiful city to ride around. We covered over 14 miles on our bikes throughout the day and got to really explore the city.

After our bike ride we headed back for another Charleston Cooks demonstration class, which was equally as fabulous as the day before! We honestly didn't know which class or food we preferred they were both so good. For our second class we learned to make crispy fried fish with low country pickles, spring pea gold rice pirlau and lemonade pie with candied lemon zest. Everything was so good, such a fun experience! 

For our last meal in Charleston we headed right next door to SNOB. We were so lucky to get a table because it is quite popular! Rightly so, because it is delicious. Our cooking class chef recommended the shrimp and grits, she said it was the best in town and I can personally attest she was not lying. It was incredible, unlike anything I'd ever tried before. It was def my favorite meal of the trip and the best way to end a great vacation!

After dinner we walked around a little bit more to get our last glance of the city in, but I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of Charleston, it was such a great place to visit, I can't wait to go back again!

Charleston - Day 2

For our second day in Charleston we knew we wanted to visit a plantation. Although the weather was not perfect it still beat a tropical storm and thankfully was not really pouring, just more of a mist. We headed out to the plantation area bright and early. It was about a 20-25 minute drive from our hotel out to the plantations. We chose to visit Magnolia Plantation. We were actually one of the first people out there for the day. We walked around the grounds a bit before we took a tour of the home, which was great!

By the time we finished at the plantation, the weather had cleared up a bit and we headed back into town. Again starving we chose to go to a place called "Toast" for some brunch. It was supposed to be quite good and literally had a line outside all weekend, we didn't find it lived up to all the hype. I did decided to try grits with my ommlet which were also not the greatest, oh well can't win them all.

I can tell you one of the highlights of our trip though absolutely had to be our cooking demonstration class! We signed up to do a cooking demonstration class at Charleston cooks. We loved it start to finish. Our chef was so energetic and dynamic and we learned so many great tips. It was fun to watch her prepare a real Southern meal. Our meal consisted of honey lacquered smoked pork chops, low country red rice and a peach grits cake. All were delicious! We liked it so much we signed up for another class the next day!

By the time our fabulous class ended the weather had cleared up and it was beautiful outside. After doing some shopping through some of the Charleston markets we decided to take a famous carriage ride through the city. This was a nice way to see the city! 

Finally we wrapped up our second day with drinks at a rooftop bar overlooking the city before enjoying a more low key dinner out on the water. Another fabulous and fun day in Charleston!

Charleston - Day 1

Way back in June, two months ago now, my Mom and I took an amazing trip to Charleston. Before we left I never quite got around to posting the itinerary I had planned for the trip I took to Charleston earlier And now here it is two months later and I never got around to posting about the actual trip either. So I will now attempt a brief recap of our fantastic trip!

We arrived in Charleston early Thursday morning. Our first item to take care of was getting some lunch we were starving. We stumbled upon Magnolia's, I did have this on my list of restaurants that I had researched before our trip. Let me tell you Magnolia's did not disappoint. Our lunch was absolutely incredible! We split a fried green tomato BLT which was amazing, along with a shrimp po-boy sandwich that was also equally amazing. This place was fantastic. We talked about it all weekend!

After our lunch we knew we had to get in a walking tour of the city. They were expecting remnants of a tropical storm to blow through Charleston for the weekend so we wanted to make sure we got a tour in before the bad weather hit. We did not think we were going to be able to make the original tour I had booked so on a whim we tried a different tour  company I quickly looked up on my phone. This also did not disappoint. Our tour guide Brian was fabulous. He knew so much information, he was wonderful. He walked us around some of the historic parts of Charleston giving us all kinds of great information and luckily we made it just before the rain hit!

For dinner we headed over to Blossom, which was equally as fabulous as our lunch. Let me tell you we had some excellent meals in Charleston during our weekend. This one did not disappoint us either! 

A great start to our little vacation, great food, great walking tour and an adorable town!