Staycation-ers

 What a lovely weekend in Charleston.  We started our Saturday afternoon with some lunch at the Brown Dog Deli on Broad Street.  There is a beautiful outdoor dining space and I have been wanting to try their food on their vegan/vegetarian menu.  

There are plenty of hotdog concoctions on their original menu to choose from, this one is a pimento cheese dog.

Vegetarian Sloppy Joe with gluten free bread and slaw....

Sante Fe vegetarian black bean wrap with sweet potato salad...

One of our favorite places to stay in town is at the Mills House Hotel on Meeting Street.  The prices are usually pretty reasonable and the location couldn't be better.  You'll be staying right across the street from restaurants like Husk, Poogan's Porch, and 82 Queen.  Plus, our favorite wine bar, Bin 152, is right down the street.  You could grab an aperitif at Bin 152 before a fabulous dinner at any of the 3 restaurants.  

The hotel boasts a beautiful, enormous rooftop with a wonderful pool.  Grab a pool friendly drink in a plastic cup from the hotel's bar/restaurant, The Barbadoes Room, and head up to the pool on the 2nd floor.  Don't feel like heading to the bar?  Call and have your drinks and food delivered to you at the pool. 

Dress: Trina Turk.  You can find a similar swim suit coverup here or at the Palm Avenue store on King Street and a similar bag at Nordstrom.

Trina Turk

Nordstrom

Quiksilver Shorts

Victoria's Secret bikini, now 2 for $35.  More color options...

Victoria's Secret Bandeau Top

Ask for a room near the pool and you'll have your very own patio with easy access to the pool.

There is a rumor the new GM may make this rooftop pool a day spot for locals and tourist to enjoy.  Oh please, oh please GM!  Do it!

+Brown Dog Deli +Mills House Hotel +Nordstrom +Trina Turk +Quiksilver

La Fourchette

The Fork.  Welcome to Charleston Restaurant Week!  This week restaurants offer a special menu with great prices.  La Fourchette on upper King Street offered an appetizer, an entree, and dessert for only $30.  There are three options for each course on the menu.  The food was amazing!  The ambiance is just too sweet, the French music in the background makes you feel as though you have made the trek over the big pond and are sitting in a little Parisian restaurant.  

We started the evening with a bottle of their Cotes-du-Rhone.

First course; we both chose the tomato rosemary soup.  However, the soup is served two ways, hot or cold.  Mark chose hot tomato soup, I dove into the cold, and we shared a little.  Both were seriously delicious!

Second course; Boeuf Bourguignon and mussels with pomme frite (fries).

I want to go back and do this all over again, amazing!

And the damage is done!  I can't even claim that Mark helped me with these fries. It was all me, but in my defense, the mussel white wine broth paired perfectly with these salty, tasty little devils.

Finally, for the dessert we enjoyed some vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.  We opted for only one of our dessert options and had another glass of wine instead.

Similar bag online at BCBG, this one is navy and was purchased at the store.  The shoes were also purchased at the store but here is a similar shoe from Nine West.

+Nine West  +BCBGMAXAZRIA 

Raw, Vegan, Key Lime Cheesecake

Stop feeling guilty about having dessert once in a while with this great recipe.  The recipe can be modified from the key lime cheesecake to different flavors such as turtle cheesecake. 

Ingredients:

-1 cup raw cashews

-1/4 cup pecans

-1/4 cup agave (I used honey since I am not vegan)

-1/4 cup raisins

-6 Tbsp. coconut oil

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-2 limes or you may use lemons

-1 cup water

For the crust:

Simply place 1/4 cup of raisins in a food processor with 1 cup raw pecans.

Pat down the mixed ingredients into a pie dish.

I only had lemons so I used them instead of key limes.

To your Vitamix Blender add:

-2 squeezed lemons

-6 Tbsp. coconut oil

-1 cup water

-1tsp vanilla extract

-1/4 cup honey

-1 cup of raw cashews that have sat in water for an hour to soften.

Use agave if you are vegan instead of honey.  I am not vegan and had honey in my kitchen.  You may also use maple syrup in place of agave.

The consistency should look like this when it has all been blended.

Pour the cashew filling over the pie crust and place the pie in the freezer for 1-2 hours until you serve your dessert.  Otherwise, store in the freezer.  

Different fruit toppings can change the flavor of this cheesecake as well.  Instead of using lime or lemon in the filling take some berries and warm them on the stove in a 1/2 cup of water.   Maybe add some honey to taste but you shouldn't need to.  Once the berries have cooked down, pour the berry topping over the pie when it is ready to serve.

Enjoy, guilt free!