Charleston Farmers Market and McCrady's

We went to Charleston for the weekend to visit our daughter. Catherine had raved about the farmers market at Marion Square conveniently located to CofC, so we hit it Saturday morning. It was wonderful! I had to restrain myself from getting some of all types of the Heirloom tomatoes (I only l got 5 kinds) It’s not all farmers produce. They have various food kiosks, and home-squeezed lemonade, crafts, plants, and entertainment.

Catherine is taking a class at CofC, the Sociology of Food, and her professor had spoken of restaurant week in Charleston. We took this a great excuse to go to McCrady’s, where Chef Sean Brock’s crew did a fantastic job. It was the first time ever for us there, though Alice and I had sampled Chef Brocks faire at the SFA Bristol Field Trip. It won’t be the last!

Catherine’s dorm as a huge kitchen on her floor, so we started talking about coming down and serving brain food right before midterms and\or finals. Not sure what we’ll have, but Frogmore looks promising.

WHOOSH!! Labor Day Surpise!

Yesterday around 2 we talked to our son, at USC, to see if he was coming home, for there was left over homemade pizza to be had. He said he'd probably be home later in the afternoon, maybe pretty soon, because he hadn't had lunch yet. He said he didn't know if he'd bring anybody with him or not. . . . . hard say. . . . he'd let us know. At 7:13 pm, he calls, he's on his way, he'll be home in 20 minutes. . . with 7 others to have the pizza we'd told him about. Uh oh, we had 2 small halves left. Luckily, I was fixing to make some flat bread from a recipe I saw on Serious Eats. Alice had me make that into two pizza crusts, and we had a store bought crust in the fridge. We scrounged in the freezer, pantry and fridge to come up with these toppings: ground beef, pepperoni, chopped black olives, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, thin sliced green tomates, onions, mushrooms, Peruvian Hot Pepper Paste, Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, and Alice's Homemade Spaghetti Sauce. We blenderized the spaghetti sauce, since it is pretty chunky, and had everything set out on the kitchen table when the kids blasted in. For a bit they just kind of milled around looking at the ingredients. Then they started creating. They made one cheesy vegetarian pizza (Sunny: "No, take some of the cheddar off. It needs way more mozzarella."), one MAN PIZZA -lots of meat and the pepper paste(thanks to Jay-bird from Memphis) and one mostly normal pizza. With home-canned Lexington peaches and imported pears (from Williamston, SC) sweet tea, some peach-blackberry smoothies, and a spice cake one of the girls brought(YEA! SARAH!), I believe they were well content. At 9:09 they were pullling out of the driveway! They did say thank you and they helped bring the dirty dishes into to kitchen. WHOOSH!

A NEW DAY

OK, we’re starting over. I had all these great plans about posting often. And then life happened. And I forgot, and we all got sick and the dog ate my homework, and all kinds of other stuff. Now we’re all well, the children have now gone off to college in order to get educated so they can find a great job in order to support us in our old age. So today is a new day, and I figure it’s a good time. We’ve been inspired by a lot of folks and events in the last year, many of whom are part of the Southern Foodways Alliance. I’ll try to do them proud.

SFA Mountain Empire

We had a blast in Bristol! We had the best time! The Fabulous Food, Fellowship, & Fun and Learning made the week zoom by as fast as cars at BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY! We made a bunch of new friends and we’re looking forward to seeing you again in August at the Pot Likker Film Fest!

Special Thanks goes to SFA Staff! They did a truly incredible job! It was as high as the mountains.

And a Super Special Thanks to all the Folks from Bristol who made us feel so welcome!

This is Chef Sean Brock's Trout fused with Bacon!