Charleston Day For Mom

What gift can you give to a women who has everything, wants nothing, and only wishes to give her everything to others.  If you listen carefully you may find your answer precisely.  

We gave the gift of Charleston to my mother this year, a day we'll never forget in our favorite town.  

Planning this day for my mother has taken some time and I have carefully listened with probing questions.  When she would talk about the blog, she mentioned she would like to see some of the new restaurants we've found around downtown Charleston.  I asked her some specific questions and it always came down to this.  Every trip she makes is to the City Market area and she wanted a new experience.  Don't misunderstand, the market is awesome and especially around Christmas time.  My mother just wanted to see a different scene, something new to her.

She didn't know what was in store for her for the day, not what we were doing nor where we were headed.  The only thing my mother was aware of was that I had the day planned and we would go from place to place in downtown Charleston by golf cart. 

We started out at the Palmer Home B&B on the Battery.  The home overlooks the Charleston harbor and it is the perfect place to stay if you are headed to Charleston.  Free breakfast on the porch and a wine and cheese at 4PM.  Plus, there is a pool!

This is a hidden gem and it is affordable.  The views from that porch while sipping something (be it coffee, lemonade, or a glass of wine) will never let you forget your visit to Charleston.  

If you are nice and you missed out on the Palmer Home B&B for this Charleston visit, go ahead and knock at the front door.  They may offer you a drink and let you look around.  We did...

How gorgeous is their tree and couldn't you see enjoying breakfast on the porch with this view? 

A 75 degree day in December...

Look at all of those boats out there!

These two are of the most amazing, interesting, and good-hearted people I know.  They are my life.  Hardworking, talented, honest, kind, loving, funny, and I could go on but words won't describe my mother nor my husband.

As these two look off at the view, I am staring in awe of my view of them.  Wondering how I got so lucky to have these two great people in my life?

A perfect beginning to a perfect day...

Next stop, Burbages!  Burbages is a local grocer located on Broad Street and known for their pimento cheese sandwiches.  I have read about their sandwiches and thought this would be a fun place to share a sandwich to see how good they actually are.  

They have snacks, wine and beer, and cooked food in the back.

Plus, they sell their famous sandwiches.  We had a couple of fresh pimento cheese sandwiches made at the counter.

They even sell some fresh produce.

The carriage tour rides past the store like clockwork.  

Wow!  Now I realize why the press is commenting about Burbage's pimento cheese!  It is incredible!  The perfect "caviar of The South," as they call it!  

Here is a recipe to give anyone outside of The Southern States and idea of what pimento cheese is.

We ate away on the golf cart and watched as the carriage tours passed by.

Next stop...

...sorry, this isn't Charleston.  This is the Palace of Versailles in France.  Why is this on the blog?  

A few years ago my mother, my husband (fiancé at the time), and I rented a golf cart to tour the grounds of the Palace.  Once Mark drove off of the path into forbidden territory, the golf cart stopped and started speaking to us.  The golf cart voice forced us to reverse and basically said you have reached a forbidden area.  

I recreated this moment by prerecording a little voice prompting us to reverse.  It was in my best little French accent.  

We drove off onto the grass at the Battery park, secretly placed the cart in neutral, and pretended I couldn't drive.  The recording went off saying, "reverse!" "Beep beep beep!"  "You have reached forbidden territory!", etc.  I would play it for you but my accent is pretty embarrassing, it sounds more German then French.

It made for a good laugh.  The best part was that she fell for it completely, even with my bad French or a bad German accent.  

From the Battery, or Versaille grounds, we headed to a wine tasting...

Where?  Goat. Sheep. Cow. of course...

I have written about Goat. Sheep. Cow. before.  It is a cheese, charcuterie, wine, and gourmet grocery store.  

Contact the store to be placed on their email list if you would like to know when their next wine tasting is.   But you may always try their cheese and charcuterie!

You may ask the store to prepare a platter for you or you can make one for yourself.

Meet Molly Colson.  She is a Wine Consultant for Sour Grapes and she helped us with the tasting at Goat. Sheep. Cow.  

Try some Pinot Noir...

How about some Rioja...

Molly was the first stranger to recognize my blog!  How cool is that!  Once I explained the reason for taking all of the pictures, Charlesmopolitan.com, she mentioned she had just read the blog the other day.

You'll want to head over to a wine tasting just to see the beautiful courtyard in back.  Then head inside to taste some cheese and meat!

We enjoyed another sandwich on the golf cart.  This one from Goat. Sheep. Cow. was sold to us with  a single description:  "Prosciutto ham with arugula, roasted tomato, and an addictive marinated feta cheese all on a baguette."

You HAVE to try this sandwich!!!!!!!!!!!

What is a day in Charleston without a little rooftop visit!  Back to the Market Pavillion.  

There was a little magic at the Market Pavilion that day.  Look who we stumbled upon...

Okay, it wasn't really snowing on this 75 degree day in Charleston, but this photo adds to the magic of the day.

We grabbed some more to eat.  The food at the Pavilion Bar was actually really tasty.  We ordered flatbread, a filet mignon kabob, and jumbo shrimp satays.  The restaurant downstairs, Grill 225, is a steakhouse, so the filet mignon kabob was outstanding. 

These cute pups put everyone in the holiday spirit...

So onto the Grand Finale, the Piece de Resistance...

Mom was prying as to what was next.  I only told her that it was dessert and then read off a list of the press reviews online:

Bobby Flay – “All time favorite dessert”
Martha Stewart – “The richest filling, and the best ingredients...”
The New York Times – “A little slice of heaven...”
Bon Appetit – “skyscraper high...light as a cloud”
Southern Living – “One of the South’s Grand Desserts”
Delta Sky – “...a thing of tearful beauty”
Charleston City Paper Editors’ Picks – “Best Slice of Heaven”
The Food Network – Featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay and Food Finds The Fine Living Network – Featured on The Martha Stewart Show
Turner South Original Programs Blue Ribbon – “Best Dessert Cake in the South” 

Well this peaked her interest.  

We arrived at the last stop and I asked her if she had heard of the coconut cake from Peninsula Grill (as it is featured on the food network and in many magazines).  

She looked at me and said, "Coconut?"  "I don't like coconut!"  

Well, she caught me off guard and stopped me in my tracks.  

Thinking, "I could have sworn her favorite was coconut but maybe..."

She laughed and laughed...  She got me back from the golf cart shenanigans.  

Her favorite is coconut and she was super excited!

 Penninsula Grill's Coconut Cake is twelve layers of coconut and fresh vanilla. The pound cake layer is topped with an icing of cream and butter, coated with coconut and simple syrup.  

These cakes can be delivered to family and friends for the holidays and brides love this cake too. 

Find it here:

Peninsula Grill is set in beautiful Planter's Inn with indoor and outdoor seating.  The restaurant has velvet walls.  Go have a feel but don't tell them I told you to! :)

We enjoyed our cake at the bar...

And the Grand Finale...

Count them, 12 layers...

I just want to point out that crumb wasted there on the bar, that is in the path of my husband's reach...

One was definitely enough for the 3 of us.  Delicious!

Hope you enjoyed our day.  We sure did!

Please don't forget to enter to win 5 bottles at your doorstep from WineAwesomeness.com.  

Worth $75 in wine, all you have to do is enter!  Enter here by January 1st:

http://www.charlesmopolitan.com/2013/12/wine-awesomeness-wine-crash.html

She Signed Her Letters Kate

  













I have this friend I want to introduce you to, her name is Katie.  I spent this morning reading emails and letters from my beautiful friend.  To everyone she's Katie, but in some letters she signed Kate. 

Katie is one of those people who you cannot describe to anyone who has not met her.  Even those who have, cannot believe she is human.  She is talented, kind, loving, she is quick-witted, and again words are not enough.

I met Katie at college in Savannah, GA.  We hit it off right away and our friendship is nothing short of hysterically fun and truly cherished memories.  Randomly, one day she asked to be called Kate and started signing letters to me and maybe to others as Kate.  This was funny to me because I didn't believe her.  I didn't think she was being serious.  She always was and is to everyone who knows her, Katie.  I couldn't do it, call her Kate.  I believe she kept signing Kate to emails and letters for as long as she could to continue making me laugh.

In one of her letters I read this morning she wrote these sweet words to me, " I can't wait to grow old together my little firecracker of a friend!" 

"Love you to the moon and back,

Kate"





 My favorite accessory of hers were a pair of old lady cataract sunglasses she picked up from a gas station and wore while she drove.  These literally covered from mid-forehead to her upper lip.  She wore them straight - faced an entire 6 hour road trip as I cracked up laughing.  They looked a little like this:





Katie purposely did not buy a cell phone when we were younger because she didn't want to be bothered by one.   On one particular road trip with friends, she found an old calculator in the back of my car, placed it to her ear as if it were a phone,  and pretended to have a conversation with someone for a good 15 minutes.  Everyone in the car believed her including me.  I finally realized she was on a calculator and talking to herself when I remembered she doesn't have a cell phone.  

Katie is so good at making everyone laugh.  I found some emails and thought I would share :



This was one of those "fill this out emails" she sent for her sister, Annie: 

(I have only omitted some to keep this short)

Katie writes:

"This is for Annie.  I have never humored her before (by filling one of these out) so now I have.

Answer all the questions yourself.  Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know *INCLUDING* the person who sent it to you!   Add a question of your own at the end!

1. What is your full name?     Katherine Rosemary Hammontree



2. What are you wearing right now?     blue jeans, black turtleneck, eyelet suede jacket.



4. What was the last thing you ate?     A fruit and cream starburst that I found in the bottom of my bag.



5. Do you wish on stars?     negative



6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?     white



8. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?     little Annie 



9. Do you like the person who sent you this?     so much, 10 trips accross the Milky Way and on to forever. 



21. What was your favorite toy as a child?     Fisher Price telescope (Do you remember that Annie?  Mama caught a scorpion and we looked at it under the telescope).



22. Best vacation ever?      Spring Break 1999 with Whit, Ash, Jill, Britt, Griff & Mel 



26. Who is most likely to respond?      Annie.  I am just doing this to prove her wrong since she said I was least likely to respond.



30. Who is your favorite actor?      Don't have one.  But Paul Newman was so great.   



33. Favorite smells?      Caleb (her brother) and Christmas



44. If there is one person you could meet who would it be?      Oswald Chambers (but he is dead)    



45. Are you happy in life right now?     insanely happy



46. If you had to chop off one of your fingers, which one would it be?     left pinky 



53. Diamonds or pearls?      pearls 



56. What is your favorite cuisine?     Mama's (smile) 



57. What foods do you dislike?     cheap meat (?), onions 



562. If you could go  anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?      Antarctica



63. Favorite time of day?      anytime except driving home from work time 



64. What was your most memorable birthday?     I do not know but I have always had the most fun at Annie's parties...hay ride (when Rachel played football), spring house (when Kim and J.R. were kissing and Annie had just made cheerleading), first party in the big room when we didn't have furniture yet, surprise party (when the Murray County boys came in with their letterman jackets on and Ben was mad).  



70. Most adventurous thing you've ever done?      Tumbled down the wrong side of the mountain and then hitch hiked with man named Charles, some kids smoking" (something) "and two boys with a big dog named Olef...in order to get back to the right side of the mountain. "

We were so blessed to have Merriwether, her daughter,  in our wedding.

Here is a brief snippet of one email questionaire she filled out for me.  It made me smile today:

"Your name:    Katie Hammontree 

Where did we meet:      Speech & Public Speaking class, Savannah College of Art & Design 

How long have you known me:      6 years in September 

What's your favorite memory of me:      oh good grief, I have loved every single solitary moment that I have spent with you.  I liked running around the dorms at 5 in the morning, holding our noses when we ran by the dumpsters.  All our roadtrips were great too. 

Any special talents:     doing the dolphin and clicking your heels like a leprechaun"

We lost Katie to Adult Myeloid Leukemia 6 years ago today. The world lost such a beautiful soul. She was only 26 years old and she was pregnant with a son, Bascom.  Bascom and Katie were survived by her husband Jacob and their sweet daughter Merriwether. 

Below are Katie and her daughter, Merriwether:  At this moment she was in recovery and her hair had started to grow back from chemotherapy.  

I could go on and on about my dear, sweet, talented friend. She is truly missed and loved. 

And we all miss you to the moon and back, "Kate!"

Please check out this website to read more about her story: www.khwfund.org