Vacation Photo Roundup

Was down in Charleston, SC last week with some great friends visiting some great family. We had a blast. We actually ran out of days as we tried to hit all the great food joints we know about down there. Next time for The Tattooed Moose and The Wreck of the Richard & Charlene. Next time.

Here's how the trip went in photo form. If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you may have already seen a few of these. All photos were taken by me or our friends.

A delicious spread of noshes prepared by our lovely hostess

Layla with a single Hulk hand. HULK HANDS!!!

Donnie drinking the water. Check out that tongue!

A view of the Folly Beach Pier from my barstool

A flight of pineapple tequila at Taco Boy in Folly Beach

Me and my drinking buddy in downtown Chuck

Very cool house down an alley South of Broad

St. Phillips via my wet dog buddy

Yours truly with a water to beat the heat

It was a hair-raising trip

The new courtyard at the Hominy Grill

A canal running through I'On Village in Mt. Pleasant

Live oak with Spanish moss

The duality that is Richard's Bar & Grill

Me

You know, in all this time, I don't think I've ever posted a real photo of me.  I've posted pictures with my hand or a Lebowski action figure in front of my face, but never an actual photo.  Let's remedy that, shall we.

What are you looking at?

Disgusted yet?  Yeah, me too.  That's my most recent favorite hat, by the way.  A straw porkpie job that is perfect on a hot summer day.

We were at the Bar at Husk in Charleston, SC.  A really great joint that I am going to review for y'all sometime in the near future.  In the meantime, enjoy my review of The Tattooed Moose in Charleston while you gaze longingly into my bright blue eyes.  You know you want to.

Chucktown

I'm in Charleston today and for the rest of the week with Gia. And here are a few things I'm looking forward to while we are down here:

• Seeing Gia's family, all of whom have moved down here in the past two years.
• Spending a couple of days and a night over at Folly Beach.  It's one of the coolest little surf towns I've ever visited.
• Alternating between the Chicago-style dogs at Skoogies and the eclectic hot dog fare at Jack's Cosmic Dogs.  Because I'm not sure which one is my favorite.
• Eating at Momma Brown's later today before they close up shop for good.  Gia is gonna be more upset than I over that one.  She dreams about their fried chicken.
• Trick 'r Treating with Gia's nephew tomorrow night.  Her sister's neighborhood pretty much closes down for car traffic and lets the kids run wild.  The parents tag along with coolers full of beer, wine and cocktails.  Who says the kids should have all the fun?
• Hanging out in downtown Charleston at least one or two nights.  There is a beer bar down there called The Griffon that is a combination English pub from the outside and Key West dive bar on the inside with yummy, yummy craft beers served from a knowledgeable staff.  Great joint!
• Gia's sister, who is an incredible chef, and I will probably do a bunch of cooking as well.  I'll get back to you on the menus we come up with.
• Walking with my woman on the beach.  Or reading by the pool.  Or doing whatever.  

See ya when I get back!

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Note: Remember to play the Badgerdaddy Trivia Challenge every day. Don't worry...I'll still be posting every day.

Earl v. Food: Charleston

Got to check off another grub joint that I'd been drooling over since I saw it on Man v. Food on The Travel Channel.

We went to Hominy Grill (starting at 1:40 on the video) back in October for breakfast and it was incredible. I had some eggs and the sausage gravy over biscuits. I have to say that while it was great, it wasn't my favorite breakfast that I've had down there. I had breakfast at a place called Charleston's Cafe (in Mt. Pleasant, actually) that served fried eggs over fried green tomatoes smothered in sausage gravy with grits and biscuits. Holy crap! I need to have that once a week.

But for this trip we went to Bowen's Island Restaurant for the oysters that are shown starting at the 6:20 mark of the video above.  I loved the whole experience, but I was in the minority.  No one else in my party was overly thrilled with the joint.  They are in the process of remodeling and the place is kind of a wreck.  Crappy tables, crappy chairs, didn't look very clean and the band wasn't very good either.  And it's not overly clear what the ordering process is to a newcomer.  You head into one shack to order, another shack to eat (remembering to tell the oyster guy what you had ordered) and back into that first shack to pay once you are finished.  Same thing if you wanted another beer or two while eating dinner.  The joint was packed and there was no way for them to know whether or not we paid, but we did anyway.  I don't get it.

But the oysters were delicious!  I'm not a fan of oysters generally.  Gia loves them raw and I can have a few if they are small, but these steamed oysters were delicious.  They were very similar to steamed mussels in texture and taste.  Very clean, no sand at all in them.  And the whole process of eating them in clusters was unique and fun.  They served them with a watery cocktail sauce, but I just ate them right out of the shell.  They didn't need anything at all to fancy them up, although the rest of the gang thought some lemon or hot sauce would have been nice.  I finished up dinner with the frogmore stew, a batch of peel and eat shrimp with some steamed potatoes, corn and sausage.  Very good, but way too much food.

I would definitely go back, now knowing a little something about the joint.  Maybe bring some of our own lemons, hot sauce and oyster knives.  I would skip all the rest of the food and do all-you-can eat oysters.  A few cold beers to go along with them and I'd be just fine.  Yes, sir.

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Good gravy, that's good gravy!

Back from the Low Country

Because you obviously care what I’ve been up to, I’m going to grace you with a quick recap of my past week in Charleston, SC. Make sure that you pay rapt attention to my itinerary. There will be a quiz.

So I decided to travel to Charleston via train. Sure, flying is quicker and easier. But I really hate it. Not the actual flying, mind you. Once the plane is on the runway and 1st in line to depart, I’m fine. It’s everything leading up to that moment that I hate. Getting to the airport, waiting on line at security, waiting to board the plane, and waiting on the runway…especially waiting on the runway. I don’t know if you’ve ever flown out of LaGuardia Airport, but it’s one of those really awful circles of Hell that Dante wrote about. The whole process drives me bananas. B, A, N, A, N, A, S.

Even the measly 2-hour flight down to Chucktown winds up wasting an entire day of travel, or so it seems. So I figured why not travel in comfort on the train even if it takes 12 hours? I was able to get some work done, watch two movies and catch around 3 hours of decent snooze time. Win, win and big fucking win.

Once down in Charleston, we did the usual. Eat, drink and be merry. Went to a Charleston Riverdogs game (they are a NY Yankee minor-league baseball team), lounged by the pool, fried on the beach, searched for the perfect hot dog (found it!) and worked on that life-long vendetta I have against my liver. I think I’m gaining ground on that sucker.

I’m writing this on the train ride back. Business Class is the way to go. Outlets to charge my laptop and phone, steps away from the café car and more than enough room for my large body to stretch out and relax. I don’t have any movies to watch on the way home. Perhaps I should have thought of that. But I did bring one of the books from my Hugo list, if I feel like accomplishing something. Right now, vegging away with my headphones on seems to be the order of the day. But it’s gonna be a long ride, so who knows?

Oooh…I had a little squabble on the ride down with one of the other train passengers. Old crazy lady sitting across the aisle from me. She pretty much annoyed everyone on the train, so I tried leaving my headphones on to drown her out. Then she attempted to fall asleep just when I got a business call. She started yelling at me almost immediately. “Excuse me! I can hear every word you are saying! Some of us are trying to sleep!” Shit like that.

I ignored her even though she was being incredibly rude the entire time I was on the phone. Then I gave it to her. Rude? How about squawking at me while I’m trying to get some work done? I told her if she wanted to sleep she should have arranged for a sleeper car, but since we were in Business Class, I was going to have to occasionally use my phone for fucking business reasons. I got a high-five from the porter who was working our car for that one. She had been annoying him since Philadelphia with her inane requests.

My conversation with her didn’t seem to help. She spent the rest of the ride yelling at the lady behind me who was also working and on the phone. She even tried to get some sympathy from me, claiming that she hadn’t had any sleep the night before. I told her that wasn’t my problem, asked her to never speak to me again and I put my headphones back on. Crazy old bitty.

So what’s been going on with you?

UPDATE - The ride home wasn't nearly as pleasant as the ride out.  More on that another time if I have the energy.

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Love the choo-choo...mostly.

Jiggedy Jig

Sunset at the Wreck of the Richard and Charlene - photo by Gia

Back from our vacation in the South last night. Gia's sister and brother-in-law were fantastic hosts, naturally. And we had plenty of time to look around the area for the not-so-faraway future as we are thinking of re-locating. The low country region is right up our alley, lifestyle-wise. It'll just come down to when and how, I guess.  More on that as it becomes available.

But here is a brief list of things I did on my vacation. Because it's all about me.

• Had grits with just about every meal I ate.  I love me some grits.  I don't know why they aren't as readily available here in the Northeast, but I'm lookin' to change that. 
  
• I stayed sober...mostly.  Past vacations have generally been spent in bars until the wee hours.  But since we were exploring a great deal and eating a great deal something had to give.  And that something was alcohol.  Oh sure, I had a few beers while I was watching the Yankees games.  But always in moderation.  The bonus?  No vacation hangovers!  
• I read the "Shadow" series of books from Orson Scott Card.  Well, I re-read two of them and read the other two for the first time. More on Orson Scott Card later this week.
• Took a bunch of pictures, and you can see a handful of them here on this Flickr set.  But only if you are really bored, okay?  And try not to make fun of the fat old guy in the hammock.
  
• I finished a 5-year business plan for one of my clients.  Hey...it can't all be fun and games.
• Tried all kinds of funky food like fatback, Hoppin' John and boiled peanuts.  
  
• I slept an awful lot.  I'm talking 9-10 hours a night.  I don't know about you, but that's a lot for me.  I usually am at my best after around 6 hours of sleep.  Any more than that and I'm actually more tired during the day.  Weird.
• I got to spend just about every minute of every day with my best friend in the world.  And what could be better than that?
  

So what did you do on your last vacation?

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. I'm not kidding about grits.  I mean to make it my mission in the next few months.

Gullah

Had gullah cuisine at a place that was, appropriately enough, called Gullah Cuisine.

Fresh cornbead, gullah-spiced boiled shrimp, tender porkchops smothered in gravy with Hoppin' John and macaroni and cheese.

My soul and my heart may belong to NYC. But my belly belongs to the South!

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. The smothered pork chops were sooooo good!

Naked Fish

So we ate at this joint called Fish last night and I dabbled in some naked fish.

They prepared some red grouper with a little salt, a little pepper, a little butter and a little citrus.  Served with some coconut rice and peas.  Very, very simple.  And very, very delicious!  Enjoyed it with a nice crisp bottle of chenin blanc/viognier blend.

Had some steamed clams in a kaffir lime broth with shallots and parsley to start with alongside a crazy cocktail with bourbon and cider that tasted like Autumn should taste.

I'm getting hungry and thirsty just thinking about it all again.

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Poor nekkid fish :(

Fatback

A (slightly edited to protect the Gia) text conversation between my friend who smells like a wet dog and I:

Me: Holy crap! We just had an all-you-can-eat BBQ dinner and I tried fatback for the first time. Jim Gaffigan would be proud!
WLC: BACON!
Me: The craziest fucking bacon ever!  Took two years off my life.
WLC: Worth it?
Me: They were gonna be the "shit in my pants" years anyway, so yeah!  Totally worth it.

The fatback in question was served at a local Mt. Pleasant joint called Momma Brown's.  It was just a couple of small pieces, but I ain't kidding about its' effect on my life-span.  Way too much salt and fat to be consumed in large quantities.

This followed an awesome breakfast earlier in the day at The Hominy Grill.  Beef creole over hominy grits with a couple of scrambled eggs and some fresh rye toast.   Mmmm....I love rye toast.  I believe that I've mentioned that before.

Gonna do an oyster roast at Bowen's Island Restaurant either later today or tomorrow.

Can't.
Fucking.
Wait.

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. I can feel my heart beating.

A Fed Gator...

...is a dead gator!

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Haven't seen one yet.

Low Country pictures - vol 1

Gia's nephew in a hammock.  At a restaurant.  On the beach.  AWESOME!!!  He had to switch places with me when our food arrived because he was too low.  But it was perfect for me.

The pier at Folly Beach.  Folly Beach just might be one of the most chill places on Earth.  A cool little surfer village just minutes from downtown Charleston.  I dig.

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. All the funky fish are doing it.