Culinary Observations from Our Trip

We are back from our trip. We went to Florida to see Patrick's grandparents with a quick stop to Charleston, SC.  We had debated going to either Savannah or Charleston but decided on the latter after realizing it was a better halfway point to FL.  Charleston was a very "Southern" city and that is the best way I can describe it (this drove Patrick crazy when all I could say about the city was "it feels so Southern"). It reminded us very much of Key West (another city we won't be going back to anytime soon).  We were only going to spend the day in Charleston and with it being near the ocean, all I wanted was seafood. We checked out this place called Toast (www.toastofcharleston.com) because I had read their menu and wanted to check out their catfish and greens.  However, when we got there at lunchtime, we couldn't order from their dinner menu. So I ordered the meatloaf special with a side of greens, Patrick ordered the shrimp salad sandwich and we got the crab cakes appetizer.  The crab cakes were AMAZING!  We each liked our own entrees, but didn't like each others.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the city, however it was rainy so it kind of soured the experience for us. Maybe we would go back if someone invited us.  However, I do recommend the hotel we  stayed at: The Restoration on King(www.restorationonking.com). We might just go back for the hotel.  For dinner, we stopped at Chucktown Tavern just because it was close to our hotel and it would've cost us money to take the car back out again.  Patrick ordered a burger and I got the broiled seafood platter with a crab cake, scallops and shrimp. The crab cake was nothing like Toasts!!  It was blah and I bit into some crunchy parts. The next day before we left for Florida I stopped at River Street Sweets (www.riverstreetsweets.com/) with their "World Famous Pralines".  I discovered I don't like pralines. But I picked up some peanut brittle and pralines for my parents and mother in law. 

Florida was next and pretty uneventful as far as food goes. I asked Patrick's uncle if this particular area was known for anything (food wise) and he said "not really, seafood?".  We went to a place called Pincher's Crab Shack (www.pincherscrabshack.com), which was good. I think that was the only seafood we ate while we were in Florida. We discovered this sandwich place (which turned out to be a national chain) called Jason's Deli.  Patrick, who LOVES sandwiches, LOVED the California Club sandwich.  I think he had 3 or 4 sandwiches while we were visiting. I would describe it as a Corner Bakery with a salad bar and better food. 

Spending so much time in the car and trying to eat healthy is very hard when there are McDonalds and Burger Kings at every stop and it is time consuming to stop and sit down somewhere. However I had salads at Subway (I love the double chicken chopped salad) and found that I really like Chick-fil-a.  They offered grilled nuggets which are pretty pretty good.  Patrick liked their grilled chicken salad and some of their other more unhealthy offerings (waffle fries!).  They are very friendly (we have been to the one in Erie, PA 2x and went to one in Fort Myers).

Tomorrow I will make my first recipe from The Daily Cookie.  Some kind of corn chip/pretzel/chocolate chip cookie.