2014 Charleston Trip – Towne Center & Okra Grill Again

While not everyone grew up in a small town, like I did, nearly everyone has been through one.  Back in the 50’s, Fairmont WV was a bustling small city of 30,000 and the downtown streets were nearly always crowded with shoppers and business people.  Both sides of the two four-block-long main streets and cross streets were lined with thriving businesses most of which were local, but also contained a G.C. Murphy and F.W. Woolworth.

This was all before shopping centers, then malls, then Walmart that drove the final nail in the coffin of most towns like ours, however, Mt. Pleasant, SC has created a new one.  Rather than a mall or shopping center, their Towne Center looks like an updated version of a 50’s small city downtown area but has the stores typically found in malls and outlet centers.  Bev wanted to stop at a store she had seen so the pups and I drove around and snapped a few shots.

Prior to this stop, we ate breakfast on the patio at our favorite area restaurant (so far) – Pages Okra Grill.  

We began with a Bloody Mary ($5.99) and an appetizer of Pimento Cheese (it’s very popular in this area), served with a salsa and what looked to be homemade crackers. $4.99.

Bev ordered the Southern Fried Chicken & Eggs which contained two boneless breasts that were pressure fried, topped with white pepper gravy and served with two eggs, potatoes, and a biscuit. $8.99

I had Ashleigh’s (Executive Chef and co-owner) Shrimp & Grits which contained pan-seared shrimp, over lightly fried cheese grit cakes and topped with andouille sausage cream sauce. $9.99.

As you can see, both meals were huge, especially Bev’s, and we each ate about half of ours and a third of the pimento cheese – we'll have traveling food for the trip home.  What you can’t see is how good the food was and, surprisingly, it comes completely seasoned – no salt required.  By pressure frying, Bev’s chicken was crispy on the outside but moist and tender on the inside and I liked the crunch that came with the grit cakes vs. just a bowl of grits. 

I don’t much like eating out at home due to traveling distance and the likelihood of spending my money for mediocre food, but if I lived in the Charleston area, I think I would have to re-evaluate my position.  We’ve had a couple of so-so meals, but have also found places serving up food we really enjoyed.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

5/19/14 event date

2014 Charleston Trip – Rally Days 4 & 5 - Angel Oak Tree & Tea Plantation

For day-four of our FMCA Rally, we headed south of Charleston for three stops on John’s and Wadmalaw Islands hoping we could accomplish a few things on a very rainy day.  The first stop was the Angel Oak Tree which is a huge Live Oak and believed to be more than 500 years old, some think maybe even 1500 years.  It shades an area of 17,000 square feet and measures 187 feet across - note the people on the right side.

From there we headed down to the Charleston Tea Company which is the only place in the USA growing and processing tea from their 127 acres of tea plants.  It rained hard while we were there and I got no usable shots but we enjoyed our tea tasting and the tour of the factory, where the pretty simple process was happening.  The tea plants look like nicely sheared shrubs because that is what they are - between May and October they are machine sheared 6-7 times, harvesting just the new top leaves each time.  Photo from the web.

They are then slowly processed to wilt, cut into small pieces, dry, and sieve to remove stems prior to packaging.

From the tea plantation, we headed over to the Irvin House Vineyards and Firefly Distillery, at the same location - part of the group passed on this stop.  We did a tasting of their muscadine wines and Louie tried their spirits and none of really cared for any of their offerings, so we headed for lunch.

After a brief discussion and a special request for raw oysters, we opted for the Charleston Crab House and this is a shot of anticipation – everyone was hungry.

I just had a dozen oysters on the half shell ($16) and shared Bev’s fish tacos – my dozen oysters went down real easy.  It was just an okay place but not a real good value compared to some of the places we’d eaten – sitting right on the water, it did have a nice view.  I consider this a tourist food restaurant serving mediocre food at inflated prices and would not recommend it.

The rally ended Friday and by noon everyone but us had hit the road, but we sent then on their way with a light breakfast of sausage egg McLarry's, tomato pie, and cantaloupe.  I didn’t get any shots but here is the recipe for the tomato pies.

Individual Tomato Pies

Ingredients:

10 count inexpensive buttermilk biscuit (We used half an English muffin this time)

1 ½ cups of grated Monterey Jack/Colby grated cheese

1 cup Real Mayonnaise

Sliced tomatoes for 10 Biscuits

Grated Parmesan cheese (in shaker)

Salad Supreme by McCormick

Butter Pam

Dried Basil or Italian Seasoning

Directions:

1. Spray foil lined cookie sheet with Butter Pam.  Space biscuits and flatten.  Spray biscuits with Pam and sprinkle with basil.  

2. Peel and slice tomatoes and place a slice on each biscuit.  Sprinkle tomatoes with Salad Supreme.  Do not be skimpy with spices.

3. Mix Monterey Jack/Colby cheese with mayonnaise.  Put 1 tsp. on top of tomato and sprinkle heavily with parmesan cheese.

3. Bake at 350 degrees until biscuits are done (about 12 minutes).  Do not let the biscuit get too brown.  (we just used one medium toast cycle in the toaster oven using the English muffins).

Other Variations:

1. Place 6 raw shrimp on top of tomato before baking

2. Place 2 precooked slices of bacon on top of tomato

3. Place 2 asparagus spears on top of tomato

4. all of the above can be combined for a special tomato pie

In spite of some pretty warm temperatures and the one rainy day our Low Country Food Rally ( as it turned out to be) seemed to be a success and Bev and I had a fun time hosting our first event for the group and getting to know the attendees better.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them. 

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

5/16/14 event date

2014 Charleston Trip – Rally day 3 - Low Country Boil

For day three of our FMCA Rally, I laid out of the days activities due do swollen feet but the rest of the group went off in two directions – the guys went to Patriot Point Naval and Marine Museum to see the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown and other ships and the ladies went shopping in Mt. Pleasant City Center.  While they did that I got everything ready for the evenings meal of Low Country Boil (Frogmore Stew).

This dish, plus a few others, seem to be a requirement when visiting the Carolina Low Country and we decided it would be a nice group activity to have at the campground.  I had brought my big pot, with basket, and turkey fryer burner from home so it was an easy one pot meal to cook for the group.

Ingredients:

6 quarts water (it will take more if you use a pot with a basket)

3/4 cup Old Bay Seasoning 

2 garlic cloves, minced

1½ T salt

2 pounds new red potatoes

2 pounds hot smoked sausage links, cut into 2 inch pieces - see note

12 ears corn - husked, cleaned and cut into halves or thirds

4 pounds large fresh shrimp, unpeeled (I prefer jumbos for peel and eat)

Directions:

1. Bring water and Old Bay Seasoning to boil in a large stockpot. (I use a turkey fryer with a basket)

2. Add potatoes and cook for 15 minutes. 

3. Add sausage and cook for 5 minutes more. 

4. Add corn and cook for another 5 minutes. 

5. Stir in the shrimp, put the lid on, turn off the fire and wait 5 more minutes until shrimp are pink. 6. Drain immediately and serve.

Note:  At the suggestion of one of our group, I sauteed the sausage first just to get a little color, then added it along with the juices to the boil pot for some extra flavor - even swirled a little water around in the skillet to be sure we got all of the meat drippings.

We got some butcher paper from the Boone Hall Farm Market where we bought the other ingredients, topped the tables with it and, after draining, poured the food directly onto the tables.  We served it up with some of Bev’s good slaw and ate it all but a couple of small to-go bags.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

5/14/14 event date

2014 Charleston Trip – Rally Day 2 - Downtown Charleston

Day two was a busy day in downtown Charleston, beginning with about two hours in the City Market– about 15 minutes gave me all I wanted.  The market is a three block long collection on eclectic stuff and the only thing I bought was a glass of lemonade.  Here is most of the group hard at it. 

Bill, one of the rally attendees had worked a lot in Charleston, and he knew the good places to go to so we walked the couple of blocks to Magnolia’s for lunch at a fine dining restaurant and it was outstanding. 

Here are some of the meals.

Shellfish over Grits - sautéed shrimp, sea scallops & lobster, creamy white grits, lobster butter sauce, fried spinach....16

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Breast - cracked pepper biscuits, mashed potatoes, collard greens, creamed corn, sausage-herb gravy....19

Blackened Catfish - dirty rice, fried green tomatoes, habanero chutney, tomato butter....14

Pan Fried Grouper Special

We’d gotten recommendations for other restaurants but I can’t imagine food could be much better than this.  And we had very good service provided by this young man from NJ.

When I read the rally hosting guidelines, one of the suggestions was to put your own spin on things so I advised that Bev and I liked to cook and eat and we were in Charleston, SC so this rally would be about food.

After lunch, we loaded up for a carriage tour of the old city and had a great driver to get us around and give us the scoop on what we were seeing.  Some of the homes date back to the late 1600’s and many facing the water are very high dollar but they were just the owners winter homes back in the day.

The guy providing the horsepower for the trip was Bud and I believe they said he was a Percheron - French draft horse, which they buy from the Amish in Holmes County, OH.  The tour ended at their barn and this was one of Bud's co-workers and he must have been six feet at the top of his rump.

According to the guide, the Amish use them as farm animals for about 6 years then they are purchased for this duty which is like semi-retirement for them as pulling a wagon full of tourists is just a walk in the park for them.  And since the business depends on the horses and they cost $5000+, they are well cared for by the carriage company.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

5/13/14 event date