The Strawberry Rhubarb Soother came out of visiting a local distillery, engaged in some sampling, bought a bottle, and returned home inspired. I still had a bevy of fresh strawberries from my visit to Wabi Sabi Farm for my Strawberry Lemonade Ice Box Cake, and decided to put those little gems to great use. I...
Charleston
The River Oak Cottage Tea Room at Hopsewee Plantation
My anxiety gets the better of me when I am trying hard to plan something special and unique to anything I've planned before, especially when it comes to travel with family or friends, birthday and Christmas gifts, special occasions, and even recipes. Such was my planning for a unique Mother's Day this year. My challenges;...
Side Notes - A Late Springtime Walkabout in Charleston
Sometimes, the greatest stories ever told are in pictures. For so many of our readers, spring is just around the corner, but not quite here yet! Please know She is looking to make her grand entrance - you don't have to wait much longer. Until then, thoughts collected herein, in pictures. A late Springtime walkabout...
Visiting Charleston, South Carolina
Something I am asked about frequently since beginning this blog is how to plan a visit to Charleston, South Carolina. I have been especially surprised at just how many readers have set their sights on coming South based on the extended winter seasons they have endured this year in particular, so I guess the tourism...
The Charleston Farmers Market
The Charleston Farmers Market is open April through November, and boasts locally grown vegetables and fruits, locally sourced savory and sweet foods and concessions, and beautiful arts and crafts made right here in the Lowcountry by our friends and neighbors. So many cities around the country are under a beautiful blanket of white snow...
A Candid Dialog On Food...With Chef and Author Vivian Howard
BEST BIRTHDAY EVER – I met my favorite chef and television personality, Vivian Howard of PBS A Chef’s Life. When I learned Vivian was participating in Garden & Gun Magazine’s Made In The South Weekend, I jumped at my opportunity to attend and to meet her, as well as meet the many other celebs of...
Magnolias
Magnolias. As always, I look forward to dinner anywhere downtown. I was excited when a great friend of mine requested that her final meal as a Charleston resident (she hightailed it back to Alabama, imagine that) be dinner downtown. I began to check reviews and see what new places were out there that we had...
Swig & Swine
Who knew that growing up a Yankee would, many years down the road, lead to being corrected countless times for 'regional speech errors' upon moving to the great American South. Take barbecue for example. In New Jersey, a barbecue is the actual event that people attend. Here in the South, you head on over to...
Grace & Grit
Owner and chef Frank Kline really has something special here. On just about my tenth stop at this place for dinner, I decided to make Grace & Grit among my first write-ups on where to eat in Charleston. So many afternoons, I'll be leaving my office on East Bay Street and be approached by visiting...
A Daytime Voyeur; Glimpses Into Charleston's Hidden Gardens
I'm so excited from my walk moments ago that I feel like really sharing today! Working downtown on the peninsula has real advantages if you want to be the first to know about a new restaurant opening, or a sale at an off the beaten path boutique. My lunchtime walks...via the cobblestone streets and alleys...
The Charleston Pearls - A Harbinger
I was in the fifth grade when Mom and Dad brought David and I to Charleston, South Carolina for the first time. It was June and it was already HOT. We had visited Disney World and were heading back up the coast to our Grandparents home in Myrtle Beach via 95 to the two lane...
My Only Zucchini Bread Recipe, And My 'First' Taste of Charleston
Back in the late 1970s, my parents embarked on what would become the first of many trips over many decades to the city of Charleston in South Carolina. Little did they or any of us know then that Charleston would become their retirement destination, as well as MY permanent home further down the road. Most...
A Vibrant Mobile Farmer's Market
I have few words to describe what a thrill this was, as the images I am about to share tell at least half the story, minus the amazing smells from the abundance of FRESH upon climbing aboard! It was a rainy Tuesday and I received a text from a friend (who knows I'm a summer...
How Very Charleston of You; The Spring Tea Room at Saint Philips Episcopal Church
Among the first things I did upon moving to Charleston back in 2005 was to find a church and people to worship with. I found my family at Saint Philips, said to be the oldest European-American religious congregation in South Carolina, its establishment in the year 1681. Each Spring, Saint Philips hosts a Tea Room,...
