Fatz Cafe

After a very hot day at the Piccolo Finale at Hampton Park, we ate at the Fatz Cafe at the Tangier Outlet Mall. I had the Edisto Shrimp and Grits and my daughter had the Calabash Chicken. This is my dinner and then my daughters chicken.

My dish was spicier than I thought it would be, but it was still very good. My daughter was most pleased with two containers of honey mustard! We had great service given by a nice server named Caroline. Our food was delivered quick and hot!

My daughter and I both loved the rolls or are they really some sort of doughnut roll hybrid? They remind me of Krispy Kreme doughnuts with butter. Can I say heavenly? They are worth fighting over! I thought that California Dreaming had the best rolls/croissants. They now have some competition in the roll department. That is the only thing I have tried on their menu as it was my first time there. I had tried to eat there once before on a Thursday afternoon for lunch when the wait 45 minutes long. I could not wait that long...my entire lunch hour would be used up. This evening there was not any wait. We were seated right away.

I think I will have to trek it on back to Fatz a time or two again to try some other things on the menu. So far so good. Two thumbs up and a dab of pluff mud!

It is not the paper mill! It is pluff mud!

Piccolo Spoleto Early Music Series

After church today I went to the Piccolo Spoleto Early Music Series held at First Scot Presbyterian Church on Meeting Street. The performance today was The Baltimore Consort performing Adew Dundee, Early and Traditional Music of Scotland. It began at 3:00. I took my daughter today and we had a wonderful afternoon. The performance was just fantastic. We arrived at 2:10 and the performers were still rehearsing so it was almost like getting 2 performances in one. They allowed us to come in early and we sat and listened to them rehearse.

The Piccolo Spoleto Early Music Series performance today was played on a lot of old world instruments that I had not seen in person before. I had heard of most of them but had not seen them played. Treble viols and tenor viols and rebecs and citterns were the ones that I was not familiar with. I was familiar with the other instruments used.

Cittern


Rebec

The music was lovely and they were actually recording the performance for a Spoleto Early Music CD that will be released in a few months. I will be sure to get that as I was there for the live recording!

More information on the performers can be found here at the Baltimore Consort website. They will be performing for most of the remaining days of this week except for the day that Vivaldi Four Seasons will be performed. The Baltimore Consort will be performing a different early music concert each day. My daughter was pleasantly surprised that it was so good. Now that is all that a mother could ask for!

After the concert we went to Poogans Porch for a fantastic dinner. I had the duck. It was fantastic! My daughter had the low country pasta. She loved it. We both loved the appetizer that we selected....the pimento cheese on toast points. I have never had pimento cheese that was so good. It was homemade, cheesy and hot! Hot pimento cheese takes on an entirely new dimensions.

They say Poogan's Porch is haunted by its former owners, and the dog Poogan himself. That is what I got from my Haunted Ghost Tour that I took last halloween night. I went there looking for something ghostly to happen. Just as I was about to write it off a tourist ghost hype, I saw a strange, grey cloud like figure/shape fall or float down past the window outside. I could just see it out of the corner of my eye. I got up and looked outside. There was nothing on the ground, yet I saw someting fall. Haunted? I think so.

Both Poogans and the Piccolo Spoleto Early Music Series, get two thumbs up and a dab of pluff mud!

My duck


My daughter's pasta

It is not the paper mill! It is pluff mud!

Joe Pasta

Today after Spoletoing my mother and I ate at Joe Pasta. It is good casual Italian food. I had never been there before. Well, as soon as I walked in the door I was greeted by one of my former classmates from Bishop England from the late 1970's. I do not think that I have seen him since high school. That was a good sign. The place was packed and I think that the kitchen was on Spoleto overload. Our food was a bit slow in coming but when it did it was worth the wait. My mother actually had her pasta about 10 minutes before my Greek wrap came out. And we were actually served before a table of 6 got there food who were there waiting long before we must have arrived.

My mother ordered the build your own pasta: spinach noodles with Alfredo sauce and chicken. Muy bien! I had the Greek chicken wrap. It was marvelous! Would I eat there again. Yes. I give Joe Pasta two thumbs up and a big dab of pluff mud!

Joe Pasta : 428 King St, Charleston, SC

Cuisines: Italian

Average price*: $8

Tel: 843-965-5252

It is not the paper mill! It is pluff mud!

Piccolo Spoleto 23rd Annual Juried Art Exhibition

We went to the Piccolo Spoleto 23rd Annual Juried Art Exhibition on Sunday. It was a day of art, dessert and walking the Charleston Market. Luckily there is parking at the Visitor Center. We were unable to get into the front short term parking as it was full. I did not waste time driving around looking for a meter there. We went straight into the parking garage.

The exhibit was lovely and I did find a few favorites. One of the best was a piece called Wisteria. You know I am all about wisteria! I just love it! As I walked around I saw that there was a little bit of everything. Even some very odd pieces. (I wrote the names down on a little slip of paper and put it in a safe place....who knows where that safe place is now) I guess I will just have to describe the pieces if I can't recall the name. I do remember Southern Pear. It was almost disturbing. They were pears with breasts. Very odd that one.

The piece called Sistersreally was a contrast between ways of life and really brings home that it takes all types to make up this world. There were some mixed media collage pieces that were very pretty. I really like the one that had some bible verses worked into it. That was lovely. The detail was incredible. Some of the photography was excellent. There was only one piece that seemed really odd. It had the quality of a third grader drawing. No definition of fingers and toes. It was a person from the rear rendered like a school child would draw. That was the only one that did not seem to fit.

Others were just a little scary--or so my daughter thought. These I do not recall names. I might have to go back there to get them. There was a painting on a back wall of a man on the stairs in a sort of greenish/blue glow. His eyes seemed to be on you no matter where you stood. He was always watching. Then there were some face closeups. One was a woman who had an eye and then 1/2 of a pair of glasses on the other. Odd. The other scary one was of a girls face with one distorted eye. I explained to my daughter that it was all art. Even the ones she thought looked a little scary. I explained the art forms out there were varied as well and this was all a part of exposing her and broadening her horizons. She actually went back to some of those and really looked at them again. (My job as mother was done)

After that we decided to go to the Charleston Market and walk around. Can we say Spoleto Parking from HELL! We spent at least 45 minutes looking for a parking space at a meter or a parking garage that was not FULL that was close by. Finally I decided to just park at the garage near the bank. They charge more than anyone else I have seen but I just wanted to park at that point. They charge $1.00 for every 20 minutes. Crooks! I ended up paying them $8.00 for parking.

We parked and went to Black Market Minerals and at first just window shopped. Who can do that in there. We ended up buying mood rings and other gemmed items. It was girly fun! We walked the entire market from end to end marveling at all the items on display. They before going home we had dessert at one of my favorite places Kaminsky's. It is a Charleston Must Go To Place when you visit here. Kaminsky's is a dessert and coffee cafe. They have a vast array of coffees that would rival Starbucks, as well as a full beer, wine and liquor selection. The desserts are made fresh each day.

Most people go there for dessert. I had the Italian Creme Cake and my daughter had the Pound of Chocolate, chocolate cake. They were both out of this world! I had the house blend coffee. We had excellent service by the server who helped us. It is my place to go if I was having a bad day. Chocolate always makes things better. Chocolate and a tiara. After that we headed home all sugared and caffeined up! It was a great Spoleto day!

It is not the paper mill! It is pluff mud!

Benne Candy and Wafers

While I have not had any benne candy in years...may be even more than 5 years. I love the candy and the wafers. They are good and also good for you. The best place to buy it is down in the Market in Charleston. Good to the last bite!

Benne cakes are a food from West Africa introduced to this area by slaves. "Benne" means sesame seeds. The sesame seeds are eaten for good luck. Wafers and cookies made from benne are now a part of Kwanzaa ("first fruit" in Swahili), the African-American family festival that lasts from December 26 through January 1.

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ cups flour
½ cup sesame seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
(OPTIONAL: Add just a "jot" of sesame oil to the butter and sugar while creaming the mixture.)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cream butter and sugar together and mix with other ingredients in the order given. Drop with a teaspoon onto a well-greased cookie pan, far enough apart to allow spreading while baking. Bake in a 325 degree F oven for 7-10 minutes. (Yield: 7 dozen.)

It is not the paper mill! It is pluff mud!

Grits for Breakfast

Who doesn't start the day with grits? I like to and I will have you to know that grits have become food that is served in fine restaurants now. Shrimp and Grits are on most menus everywhere and not just in the south.

I like grits cooked with milk. The texture is creamy and when you go to most restaurants it is made with grits. I grew up with grits made with water. Once you have it made with milk you never go back. The first time I had grits in a restaurant that was made with milk instead of water was at a wonderful restaurant called Red Bone Alley in florence. They make a wonderful dish called Low Country Shrimp and Grits.

Now you can make this dish at home. Gone are my days of just plain grits and butter. If it does not have the onions, cheese and all that other stuff it is not grits. And I make it like that for breakfast. Plain grits just won't do.

What are grits? Some of you out in the blogosphere may never have tried them. It is basically ground corn with the consistency of oatmeal. For the detailed process of what are grits ? check here. Grits are found everywhere. Just check your local supermarket. I like Quaker the best.

Yep...the day just has to start with grits. It just won't be right without grits.

Some people have taken grits to a new and possible low level. Can we say Grits Festival. It is a day of fun and a lot of southern cities have them but craziness goes on there. Rolling around in huge vats full fo grits to see who can get the most grits on them is crazy! the local Grits Festival here in South Carolina is coming up. The World Grits Festival will be held April 15-17 in St. George, S.C.

Good gawd, ya'll, grits have gone Up Town.That's right!

Americans eat about 100 million pounds of grits each year. And that' s not all consumed south of the Mason-Dixon line. In fact, grits are eaten in every state of the Union, usually by Southerners who have been transplanted there.

Anything as popular as grits deserves its own annual festival. So each April the good folks of St. George, S.C., stage their annual World Grits Festival which draws tens of thousands of grits lovers, and some of the curious, to their town about an hour west of Charleston.

The highlight of the festival has to the Rolling in the Grits competition. A kiddie pool is filled with cooked grits and contestants dive in and coat themselves with as much grits as possible in 10 seconds. Contestants wear big hats and loose pants with lots of pockets because the person with the most pounds of grits on his or her body wins the $75 first prize.

It is not the paper mill! It is pluff mud!

Charleston She Crab Soup

1 small onion, minced
4 tablespoons butter
1 pound crabmeat (about 12 crabs)
1 quart milk
2 cups light cream
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup orange crab roe
Rind of 1 lemon, grated

Sautee onion gently in the butter, add crabmeat, and set aside. Heat milk and cream in the top of a double boiler, add crab meat and onion, seasonings, and sherry. Cover, and let steep over very low heat for 30 to 45 minutes.

Beat the egg yolks, pour a little of the hot liquid into them, and then stir the yolk mixture slowly into the soup. Put a spoonful of roe in each soup bowl, ladle in the soup, and sprinkle the top with grated lemon rind.

Serves 4 to 6.

It is not the paper mill! It is pluff mud!

Oyster Love

There is nothing like oysters or nothing I like more than oysters. I like them any way they are cooked. Raw, fried, you name it, I will eat the oyster . I think my favorite way to eat them is right out of the shell. Lightly steamed but not overcooked. I like good, juicy , slimy oysters.

I remember when I was in college at the College of Charleston, there was an oyster roast at one of the fraternity houses on Wentworth Street. I went and at so many oysters it was ridiculous. I actually think that I ate so many, I was peeing sea water. That was no joke. Those were the best oysters I ever had. Free and all you can eat.

Now I usually eat them out of the shell about once or twice a winter. I will go to Captain Don's Seafood and buy a bushel. Recently I had an oyster pie for the very first time and it was out of this world. Can't wait to have it again. Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Oyster Pie

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 thick slices bacon
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• 18 shucked oysters, drained with liquid reserved
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked 9 inch pie crusts

---

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain bacon, reserving 1 tablespoon bacon grease. Crumble bacon and set aside.
2. Heat bacon grease and vegetable oil over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook until flour is light brown. Slowly whisk in milk and 1 cup reserved oyster liquid. Stir until a thick gravy has formed.
3. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, Cajun seasoning and oysters. Pour mixture into a 9 inch pie shell and cover with top crust.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until crust is golden.

Food is not the only ting in Charleston that oysters are famous for. If you are visiting please visit White Point Gardens named for all the white oyster shells bleaching in the sun.

The high Battery wall on East Bay Street is virtually unchanged since the Civil War. You may stand at White Point Gardens as Charlestonians did then and look out toward Fort Sumter, imagining what they must have seen, as Confederate and Federal troops exchanged the first shots of the war.

White Point Gardens, also known simply as the Battery, is a place for remembering -- a bridge to the past. An evening stroll to the park, along cobblestone streets, past historic homes aglow with life, allows you to feel as though you're alive in antebellum Charleston. You may sit on a battery bench, gaze over the harbor and believe, for a few minutes, that you've stepped back into the past.

The first Carolinians sailed past this place, where the Ashley and the Cooper rivers meet to form the Atlantic Ocean. Imagine the masted ship as it rounded the southernmost tip of the peninsula in search of a protected landing. The ship's inhabitants would have seen a low, marshy area strewn with oyster shells bleached white from the southern sun. When the Charles Towne settlement moved onto the peninsula, this point was considered uninhabitable and remained outside the walled city.

In the early 1720s, infamous "gentleman" pirate Stede Bonnet was hung here with about 50 others like him. Townspeople filled the gallows area and jeered as the outlaw was brought to his rightful end. Bonnet was buried in the nearby marsh. His epitaph has been memorialized and stands today in the park.

It is not the paper mill! It is pluff mud!