our first columbia experiance [part one]

Thank you for all your support, encouragement, and readership yesterday. We appreciate your kind words!

One day, we might not lose all inhibition on road trips when it comes to what we eat. But we'll just file that away as a maybe.

From what we've seen/tasted so far, I'm certainly a fan of low country eats. Will it replace Cajun cooking and Southern classics in my food heart? Absolutely not. Good thing there's always room for more. In my food heart - not my stomach. Do you have a food heart? Should I be worried about myself?

We'll have to go back to Cantina 76 to negate our bad memories of my super stressed out self since this was a mid-search stop. And I certainly don't mind going back for more tacos. I might even get the exact same thing - chicken pesto, BBQ brisket, and Peruvian shrimp. All handmade and fresh ingredients. Yum-O!

After the rent-house-finding adventure, we celebrated over dinner at Mr. Friendly's in the heart of Five Points. It is a perfectly picturesque restaurant whose menu dons wonderfully creative dishes made from local ingredients. No, it could not have been more charming. And it was cool and crowded and dim which means I couldn't bring myself to haul out the camera. You'll have to imagine Dustin's blackened chicken over grits with tasso gravy. Aaand my pork loin with blackberry ketchup, roasted garlic potatoes, and sauteed veggies. A-maz-ing. When you come visit, we'll go here.

Because of our four o'clock wake up call the morning before, we slept and slept and slept on Saturday morning. And thanks to dinner the night before, breakfast wasn't even necessary. We found ourselves at Cafe Strudel who resides in a character-filled old house with room upon room of mix matched tables and chairs and whose menu includes a Southern Living featured dish which they call "hangover hashbrowns." Since you can get breakfast all day long, D got a full order. Me? A BLT with friend green tomatoes and pimento cheese. Yum yumm absolutely yummy yum yum. I wish I had some right now. But it's a good thing I don't. The one problem with this place is the huge case of beautiful cakes staring at you when you first walk into their buzzing entryway. Was it the biggest piece of cake I've ever seen? Yes. Was it delicious? Yes. Did we eat it all? You'll never know. When you come visit, we'll go here too.

After that, food didn't seem necessary the rest of the day. After lots of walking, we took a late night run to the Publix [!!!] nearest our future house [which is housed in a beautifully restored red brick factory] and had a little picnic on the hotel bed. But very small. Promise.

Other than that, my thoughtful hubs and the wonderful Doubletree provided road trip snacks. Sugar-free and sugar-full balances out, right?

Ok. That's it. I'm full just from writing it. Were you counting the calories? If so, don't tell me. And just consider this another reason to come visit us!