Quote of the Week 12/9/13

How’s everyone doing? I just got back from an AMAZING weekend in NYC with one of my very bestest friends, Christine. I ate some delicious pizza and possibly the best Italian food I’ve ever had in my life. Plus, we got to see Big Fish on Broadway with Naomi, which was spectacular AND get drunch (and then drunk) with Tommy. And did I mention that we did all of that in basically 36 hours? Yeah. It was an unforgettable experience.

This week’s quote is about pizza because I’m a fattie and still dreaming of that thin crust NY pizza I had this weekend. Enjoy!

“There’s no better feeling in the world than a warm pizza box on your lap.”
–Kevin James

Especially when it’s 42 degrees outside.

Quote of the Week 12/2/13

Holy crap, it’s December already. How did that happen so fast? I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I know I did!

This week’s quote comes from Robert Brault and is perfect for our post-Thanksgiving food hangover. Enjoy!

“I suppose I will die never knowing what pumpkin pie tastes like when you have room for it.”
–Robert Brault

But I’m kind of okay with that.

Taste of Charleston

This year, I was fortunate enough to be asked to be a blogger correspondent for the Southern Living Taste of Charleston on behalf of Delta Faucet. In exchange for them paying for my ticket, the cost of transportation, and giving me 2 Delta Touch2o faucets, all I had to do was show up, eat a bunch of delicious food, and then tell you guys all about it. So, here goes.

Pre-Event: Welcome Dinner at Circa 1886

Saturday night before the event, I was invited to a welcome dinner at Circa 1886. This was great because I got to meet the other blogger correspondents, people from Delta and Southern Living (including Southern Living Test Kitchen Editor Norman King), and I got a free dinner at an amazing restaurant. Here are some pictures:

Candied Bacon Slider

Crab spring roll

Prix fixe menu at Circa 1886.

Rice flour plantation roll with orange-infused butter

Shot of Shrimp and Grits soup with organic white truffle oil.

Rice paper-wrapped romaine heart salad with spicy pecan dressing & mini cornbread muffin…have I mentioned how much I hate rice paper? It freaks me out.

Pan-seared organic chicken with hoppin’ John risotto, grilled asparagus, and a truffle and chive demi glace.

Pineapple upside down cake with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream

The Main Event: The Southern Living Taste of Charleston 2013

Lily and I arrived hungry and only a little hungover bright and early Saturday afternoon. We were prepared to feast, and feast we did. Enjoy!

Such a beautiful drive into Boone Hall Plantation.

Taste of Charleston!

So Many People

Gouda macaroni and cheese with Cheerwine glazed short ribs from Mosaic.

Cornmeal and maple bacon waffle and crispy fried chicken slider from Mosaic.

Ground filet and pork belly sliders with herb whipped goat cheese and pickled red onions on sweet yeast roll from Graze

Pulled pork and collared green mac and cheese from Graze, aka my favorite thing ever.

Chicken pot pie fritter from The Sanctuary at Kiawah.

Tomato Pie from Carpentier’s Wine & Dine. Probably my least favorite thing we got.

BBQ Pork Sundae with cole slaw, baked beans, and BBQ pork. from the Culinary Institute. Not the best, but also not the worst.

Norman King “The Way To Fry” Fried Green Tomato Demo

Norman frying up some green tomatoes

The finished product: Fried Green Tomato Po’boys with pepper jelly sauce and citrus-ginger aioli.

Selfies, because we’re narcissists.

The waiter’s race

Ice carving

Lobster, applewood smoked cheddar cheese, and creamed corn chowder with a buttermilk biscuit from Halls Chophouse (actually the best thing we had at Taste of Charleston).

Basically, it was so much fun, I ate way too much (Seriously, Halls, you should definitely put that chowder on the menu if it isn’t already), and I’m so fortunate to have had Delta Faucet as a sponsor for this event. I can’t wait to go back next year! Thanks so much!

Once Upon A Time I Made A Wedding Cake

My schedule is all off-kilter recently due to being sick and out of the country for the past couple of days, so in lieu of a quote this week, I’m going to give you some cake eye-candy to salivate over.

As you guys may have gathered, I baked the wedding cake for my best friends’ wedding 2 weeks ago. It was one of the scariest undertakings I’ve ever foolishly volunteered for, but despite the constant montage playing in my head of things that could go wrong, it actually turned out pretty perfectly. I just wish I’d taken more pictures of the baking / decorating process.

Cake: Southern pecan spice cake
Frosting: Butter pecan cream cheese frosting

I’m not going to give away my secret recipe, but I will say that it had lots of butter in it (so you know it was delicious).

Just finished, basking in the morning sun

Eat your heart out, Pinterest.

A cell phone close-up

Night shot with flash

About to cut the cake!

When the photographer posts her professional shots, I’ll be sure to share those with you as well. I hope she got a picture of the inside of the cake, because I definitely forgot.

Sean & Christine Are Getting Married

Sorry guys, no review this week. I’m taking some time off to prepare for the wedding of some of my very best friends in the whole wide universe! I can’t believe that it’s finally here! The moment we’ve been waiting for since 2011. How did that happen so fast?!

You guys are awesome and I’m so glad I have you in my life. Despite life’s obstacles and the distance between us, we’ve still managed to stay close and always be there for each other. You guys are my favoritest goobers in the whole world!

This is our first picture together! Halloween 2009. That feels like a lifetime ago.

And this is from July 2013 (which somehow still seems like a lifetime ago). Oh, how times have changed. We’re getting old you guys. Also, alcohol.

I’ll be back next week with more food-related goodness! Ta-ta for now!

 

Happy Birthday To Me!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME. I am awesome.

And so are you for reading my blog. So many things have changed since last year, and I really appreciate you guys sticking with me. You’re the best!

As a token of my appreciation I will be giving out free hugs to the first 15 people that accost me on the street, no matter what they smell like.

I’m off to enjoy my birthday, but I PROMISE I will be back with more restaurant reviews next week. I ate at 3 new restaurants just in the past week alone, so I have a lot of stuff to share with everyone.

Enjoy this picture of the birthday queen (that’s me, for those of you just joining us).

#narcissist

Cru Cafe

Before Ben left to go back to Auburn, he took me to a nice, fancy dinner at Cru Cafe downtown. Cru is in a little historic house off of Market Street downtown Charleston. The house is really cute, but when you come in the front door, they only have one room for seating, so they have as many tables and chairs shoved in there as possible. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to eat when crammed into a tiny space with a bunch of strangers, sitting so close that you can’t help but overhear everything that everyone is saying in the whole restaurant, then Cru is definitely the place for you.

Basically this. Minus the dog.

But enough about the atmosphere, let’s move on to the food. We got some bread before our appetizers, which was very good. I would’ve liked it a if they’d toasted it a bit, but it was still good.

Yup. Looks like bread.

We started with the fried green tomatoes with smoked pork belly and feta cheese ($10.50). Phenomenal. Seriously, probably the best FGT I’ve ever had. And the smoked pork belly was out of this world. Seriously, I’d go back just for these puppies.

That smoked pork belly might actually be ambrosia.

We also got the pecan fried brie with fig compote and local honey ($10.25). I managed to get one bite of it before Ben demolished it all. That one bite was quite tasty, and judging from the way Ben “forgot” to share, he really enjoyed it as well.

Ben ate it so fast I didn’t get a picture. Picture courtesy of Loo on Urbanspoon.

For my entree, I got the center cut Tuna steak, medium rare ($28). I thought it was good (not great), but that was probably my own fault. Everyone says you should get it rare, but I’m one of those weird people who like it more on the “well-done” side. I got it medium rare because Ben insisted that any higher is blasphemy. I think I would’ve loved it had I gotten it cooked the way I wanted it to. The lady at the table next to us loved hers though, so I guess it’s just a matter of personal preference.

It looks so good, though.

Ben got the BBQ Berkshire Pork Osso Bucco with Mepkin Oyster Mushrooms and Haricot Vert, Mash Potato, Smoked Tomato Demi ($23.95). It was really delicious. The pork literally fell off the bone and the mashed potato tasted homemade. Ben loved it and he had enough to take home extras.

Pork shoulder never looked so good.

We also ordered some sides to split. The first was Cru’s famous four cheese macaroni ($8.50). Made with orecchiette, cheddar, pepper jack, fontina, and mozzarella. It was killer. Really, really good.

Cheesy goodness.

The only thing we were disappointed with during the whole meal was the truffle parmesan fries ($6). Shoestring fries with truffle and parmesan were just not on par with the rest of the meal. Something about the shoestring fries felt cheap, definitely not worth $6.

They neglect to tell you that they bring you a mountain-sized portion of fries.

If you haven’t been to Cru Cafe yet, I highly recommend you go. I for one, can’t wait to go back.

Photo courtesy of Dilwyne Designs

Cru Cafe
18 Pinckney St
Charleston, SC 29401
(843) 534-2434

 

The Liebster Award and Some Stuff About Me

I was totally (and pleasantly!) surprised to find that my colleague (and someone I admire greatly and aspire to be like one day) Jenny Badman nominated me for the Liebster Award!  Yay, awards!

Basically, the Liebster Award is a way for bloggers to share the blogs they read and love with others, which I think is super awesome. So when you get the award, you have to do 2 (technically 3) things. 1. You nominate other blogs for the award. 2. You answer a bunch of random, quirky questions and 3. You share 11 random things about yourself. So sit back and relax, and let’s do this thing.

Get excited.

What is your favorite book?

I’m so bad with picking favorites. I’m so indecisive, and my moods change so fast. Here are a couple books that I love. The entire Harry Potter series (Order of the Phoenix is my favorite); To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee; Bossypants, Tina Fey; Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Seth Grahame-Smith; The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood; My Father’s Dragon, Ruth Stiles Gannett; Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Douglas Adams;  Water For Elephants, Sara Gruen …ok, I’ll stop there.

What is your greatest fear?

Well I’m afraid of 3 things. Two of them are pretty normal, the 3rd is a bit “out there.” 1. Clowns. 2. Tornados 3. Being in a car/train/airplane, falling asleep and then the car/train/plane crashes or something and I die and I don’t know that I’m dead. I realize how weird and morbid the 3rd one is, but I can’t help it. That’s why I rarely fall asleep while travelling.

If you could have one superpower what would it be?

Floo powder. I want to have floo powder. Which I guess is technically not a power, and more of an element, but I don’t care.

Ok, on second thought, fire scares me. Let’s just go with apparition.

What is the quality you are most proud of?

I really hate qualitative (no pun intended) questions like this. I guess that I’m proud of thoughtfulness? I like being able to help people out and pleasantly surprise them. Like Leslie Knope.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

When people refuse to try new food. I can’t stand picky people. It’s one thing if it came from a restaurant and you don’t want to try it, but if someone spent their time making something from scratch and you refuse to try it because you “don’t like avocado” or something equally lame, I’m pretty sure they’re reserving a special place for you in hell with all the other rude, selfish people. There are lots of foods that I thought I didn’t like until I actually tried them (see: tomatoes, beans, avocados, and sushi). One little bite to placate someone’s feelings isn’t going to kill you. Unless you’re allergic to shellfish and they’re serving shrimp, in which case you get a pass.

Who is your idol?

I’ll go ahead and be cliché here and say my mother. Tina Gallimore is a force to be reckoned with.

You don’t mess with Tina Gallimorski… she will CUT YOU.

What is your most embarrassing moment?

Oh God, where do I even begin. My brother would probably say it was the time my pants fell down in the middle of Ruby Tuesday’s. He tells that story pretty much anytime I introduce him to new people, which is annoying because it happened when I was in 5th grade or something like that.

Where do you draw inspiration for how you live your life?

My parents, my friends, fictional characters I admire, and Jennifer Lawrence.

If you could live in any era, which era would you choose?

I want to be 16 in 1980 and live through the 80’s. I love the 80’s. What a great time for music. And fashion

I really think I would’ve flourished in the 80’s.

If you could have lunch with ANYONE – living or dead – who would you choose?

Why do all of these questions have to be superlatives?! My catchphrase is like that old Lay’s slogan, only mine reads “Betcha can’t pick just one.” I want to pick one person from like 10 of eras and then have one amazing lunch where I learn all about the history of the world from people who were actually there to see it. Here’s my lunchtime Super Group lineup: Eve (the one from the Bible, not the rapper… although to be honest, I’d be fine with either), Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Queen Elizabeth I, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Freddie Mercury, Princess Diana, Will Smith, Tina Fey, and all of the Spice Girls.

What is your ultimate life goal?

I want to be a good friend, to make people laugh, to love and to be loved, and to see and do as much as I can before I die.

11 random things about me:

1. I can wiggle my eyeballs.
2. My favorite movie is the Princess Bride.
3. My go-to karaoke song is Don’t Stop Believing by Journey.
4. I have a scar on my forehead in basically the same spot as Harry Potter (but it’s not a lightning bolt).
5. I hate mushrooms.
6. I hoard board games. I own probably 50 different ones, and I’m constantly buying more.
7. I love gossip, but I’m terrible at keeping secrets.
8. Mario Batali tweeted at me once.
9. I’ve been to Dubai.
10. My favorite planet is Neptune. Don’t ask me why, because I have no reason for it.
11. Batman is my favorite superhero (and if you even try to argue that he’s not technically a superhero because he doesn’t have any super powers, I will light you on fire).

The final bit of this thing is to share the love with some other bloggers I love, so here you go. Please go check out these awesome blogs: Table Scraps, Greenville Bites, Paul Coffin Photography, and Foodmancing The Girl.

Best of Charleston 2013

So, the Charleston City Paper’s annual “Best of Charleston” is out today! I’m so excited! Obviously the only section I care about is the Best Charleston Food section (especially since I wasn’t voted “Best Local Blog” … way to drop the ball, guys). In honor of this, I’m going to do my own “Best of Charleston: Eating and Drinking Out.” Here it is!

Sydney’s Picks

Either you agree with me, or you get the eff out.

Best French Restaurant
Gaulart & Maliclet (Fast & French)

Best Restaurant Theme
Poe’s Tavern

Best Vegetarian Restaurant & Black Bean Hummus
Dell’z Deli

Best Karaoke
Chucktown Tavern

Best Pizza South of Boston
Crust Wood Fired Pizza

Best Hot Dog
Jack’s Cosmic Dog

Best Biscuits and Gravy Ever
Lost Dog Cafe

Best Use of Pancetta
Chicken, Pancetta & Avocado Sandwich at Ted’s Butcher Block

Best Meat & Three
Martha Lou’s Kitchen

Best Italian Restaurant
Wild Olive

Best Chinese
Red Orchid’s China Bistro

Best Sushi
Zen Asian Fusion

Best Indian Buffet
Bombay Bazaar Indian Cuisine

Best Waterfront Dining
Fleet Landing

Best Local Brewery
Westbrook

Best Local Beer
Holy City Pluff Mud Porter

Best Mediterranean Food
Ali Baba Mediterranean Cuisine

Best Barbecue Made By A Canadian
JB’s Smokeshack

My Dad’s Favorite Bar in Avondale
Gene’s Haufbrau

Best Tacos
Taco Boy

Best Taco Shell
Taco Spot

Best Life Changing Mac and Cheese Experience
Graze’s Pulled Pork & Collard Green Mac and Cheese

Best Cupcakes, Iced Coffee, and Cookies
Sugar Bakeshop

Best Food Festival Ever Invented
Charleston Mac Off

Best Snack Ever When You’re Drinking
Tater Tachos at Recovery Room

Cocktail Tastes Like Juice, But Packs a Serious Punch
434 Cocktail at Halls Chophouse

Best Restaurant If You Like Disappointment
The Macintosh

Best Pork Fat Butter
Husk

Best French Fries Smothered in Garlic and Bleu Cheese
Tattooed Moose

Best Curry This Side of Thailand
Fire Street Food

My New Favorite Lunch Spot Now That I’m On A Diet
Verde

Best Bar According To Laura
Cocktail Club

Best Bar According To Sean
Big John’s Tavern

Best Drunk Food After The Bars Close
Giovanni’s Pizza

 

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day everybody! I’m traditionally not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day, but I AM a huge fan of Valentine’s Day candy and chocolate. So, whether you’re in a relationship or single, I hope you all enjoy the sweets and spoils this weird, Hallmark holiday!

Yes. This.

 

Enjoy this collection of Valentine’s Day Pictures and Meme’s collected from around the internet. Oh, and don’t forget to check out the Google Doodle today!

Mmmmm…. Chocolate

Nothing says “Romance” like dead communist dictators.

For Ben. Pay very close attention to the bear.

This one just makes me laugh

I love intellectual jokes

It’s still hard for me to afford things

OMG YES I’LL BE YOUR CORGI VALENTINE

[sobs into ice cream]

Poor Wayne Brady

Sorry, I don’t have that kind of patience.

Somebody’s drunk at the bakery again…

…and here they are!

Also makes more sense on Reddit

Best part about being a chick on Valentine’s day

Stop being so socially awkward, you penguin!

2 Sean Bean Memes?! AND THEY SAID IT COULDN’T BE DONE. (I don’t know who “they” are but they were wrong)

Still not a fan of Valentine’s Day.

Or Hallmark to sell cards. Or Hershey’s to sell chocolate…

Poor Brian just can’t catch a break.

Technically, I do have one, he’s just 7 hours away.

Seriously. I’m quite busy.

Why not, indeed!

I just think it’s funny

The question of the century

This one makes more sense on reddit