Monday, October 28, 2013

Sermet's and Improv and Culture

It has been such a lovely October in Charleston.  The sunsets have been amazing and the weather has been perfectly warm with a cool breeze.  I am crazy over the fact that I can still wear my dresses and short sleeves out at night.


Lilly Pulitzer Dress

On our way out to dinner at Sermet's, a restaurant located on King Street, we stopped by a shop called Moon and Lola (also located on King Street).  This shop is full of accessories and goodies, check it out here.  

I was curious what these two men were up to in this store.  It turns out they were just trying out the couch.  I took a look around the store for their wives/girlfriends that may have dragged them in, but there wasn't any sign of them.  When I asked, they said they were just tired and liked the couch.  Funny!

I, myself, am liking the pillow that says, "Go To The Gym."  I think it may be a nice reminder when I get home from a long day and need a push.    






Just some men hanging out in a cute accessories store.


King Street is always bustling and it's the place to go shopping downtown.


On to Sermet's...





We missed the window for Saturday night reservations, so the bar was just fine.  



Parmesan Encrusted Salmon...



Their Burger...


Graham Beck Brut Rose...




Upstairs is Sermet's jazz bar, The Mezz, where you may call ahead of time to get reservations and dine with great live jazz.  Check out more on their website.  Sounds like a new blog post coming soon...





The Improvables are a Charleston improv troupe that performed at the Threshold Rep Theater, located on Society Street.  This was basically an episode of "Whose Line Is It Anyway."  Very funny and entertaining, I recommend looking them up to see when they perform next.  







At the beginning of the show they asked the audience to write on a piece of paper a quote.  In one skit, the Improvables acted out a fight between two lovers and had to pull a random quote from the pile to use as their dialog.  

My husband thought it would be funny to write one word instead of a quote, a word that he finds to be hilarious.  He wrote studininah, this is the name of his grandmother's Ukrainian dish of pickled pig's feet.  Well of course one of the lovers in the skit chose studininah and it had a big laugh.  

At intermission a Russian woman came up from the audience to talk and laugh with us.  Mark was speaking with her about his heritage and last name, which she then told him meant "little pig."  This is his reaction...  


J.Crew Factory


Mark was told as a little boy that "fegus macum" (spelling?) was some other type of Ukranian food and the Russian friend corrected him again, she said it was a nice way of saying "f&$# you!" This thumb in the fist is his new hand motion while he says fegus macum.

On one of our first dates, Mark popped out from the side of the car to scare me and shouted,
 " FEGUS MACOM!" 
 I am so glad to know that he thought it's meaning was a random food and he thought it was the scariest word he knew.  


Dinner, improv, and some culture.  What a great night!













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Monday, October 21, 2013

Boone Hall Farms

Boone Hall Farms is a local farmers' market located across from Boone Hall Plantation.  Read about the plantation's history here.  There is a cafe inside the store and the market specializes in locally grown South Carolina produce.  






Check out the cafe's menu.




Not hungry for a full meal?  Grab a homeade ice cream cone while you shop.
















You can even find raw milk here and apparently it is difficult to keep on the shelves. 
I don't find the flavor to be different from pasteurized milk but my husband definitely thinks it differs.


If you want to get your men to help out more with the groceries, send them here.  The cafe is located inside the store, so you may have a beer while you shop for your local foods.  








While we were headed out the door, this warm homemade goodness rolled by.  That is one big advertisement, fresh out of the oven tomato pie.  Southern tomato pie is not the same as Northern pizza pie without cheese, this has tons of yummy cheese.  The tomato pie ingredients include tomatoes, mayonnaise, peppers, onion, and cheese all on top of a pie crust.  It's pretty amazing. 






Meet Savannah and Morgan, two lovely girls who helped check us out.



I asked Mark to take a few more pictures of the outside of Boone Hall Farms.  This was what he took...



We headed to Boone Hall Plantation to take a walk around.  The plantation closes at 5 PM and so we arrived a little too late at 4PM for a tour.  We turned around and will save it for another day.  Boone Hall is known for their live oak tree lined driveway, the trees were planted in 1743.  The entrance becomes more and more enchanting as you continue through.  I only have a picture at the very beginning so we will save you a little to see for yourself.  Here is the entrance...




So instead of a tour at Boone Hall Plantation we headed to Magnolia Cemetery in North Charleston.  It is free to all visitors and it is quite the historic cemetery.  There was a ghost walk in the cemetery recently, check out their events here.




Ann Taylor Loft


There was a little surprise left over after I childishly played around on the bridge rails.  A little bird may have taken a seat on the same rail earlier that day...






























Magnolia Cemetery is such a beautiful place to visit here in Charleston.  Once I returned home and spoke with my mother, I quickly learned my great-aunt, my grandfather's sister, is buried here.  I can't wait to go back and locate her headstone.