Friday, April 24, 2015

And then we got lost in St George, SC



It’s been awhile since I blogged. We had a good, though strange, trip home. First, we got lost in the back roads of St. George, SC.  I wish I had taken pictures. This is the road (SC-15) I take to avoid I-95, which I hate with a passion. Got to St George about 10:30 am, a sleepy little town, pop. 2144, give or take. But today they were having a Festival and the main road (there is only one) was blocked off. It took a couple of tries to find a way around, but the important thing was that it led us wa-a-y into the innards of a small Southern town.


Eventually, with the help of several locals pointing us the right way, we made it back to SC-15.


It turns out, this was no ordinary (?) festival – it was the World Grits Festival! Apparently, this county (of which St. George is the County Seat) has the highest per capita consumption of grits in the world, so where else would you have the Festival?

It was complete with a Grits Queen and a warm grits bath (the Southern version of a spa). I wish I had stopped, parked the car and taken pictures, but didn’t because my Passenger (name withheld to protect the innocent) was completely freaked out by the time we got back to the main road.



Given current events, I should mention that most of the population of St. George is African-American - plus a smattering of what used to be called "poor white trash." We passed a lot of trailers, more in fact, than single family homes. But everyone we encountered was friendly and gracious, and if not for them, we would still be in St. George. I never felt nervous for a moment, and neither did the Passenger, who was only freaked out because  he thought I was going to stop and take pictures of him taking a grits bath.


The rest of the way was uneventful by modern travel standards, which means bumper-to-bumper traffic in Columbia and trying to check in for the night into the wrong hotel in Asheville.


It is so-o-o-o good to be home. If you have to leave East Tennessee, do it just before a late freeze at the end of March, and return the second week of April.  Ah-h-h-h…


Friday, April 10, 2015

The Joy of Cooking [Seafood]

Wednesday was the second of the two cooking classes I’ve taken at Michael Anthony’s this trip. The Focus was on “Spring Seafood,” and I was excited (and as usual a little apprehensive) because I am not very experienced at cooking seafood.



The menu was as follows:

Warm Shrimp and Cannelini Bean Salad
Crab Cakes with a Lemon and Caper Remoulade
Pistachio-encrusted Scottish Salmon with a Dijon Aioli

My partner this time was Marie, a Quebecois who now resides in Vancouver. Fascinating woman, very tall, who was a professional volleyball player in her younger days. She spoke English with a decided French accent. Well, technically a Quebecois accent, though it sounded very French to me. We were a good team, and the nice thing about working with a partner instead of doing all the prep and cooking yourself is that you have time for pictures.

Lessons in slicing onions
Mixing the shrimp in the marinade

Searing the salmon, Marie in the foreground


We were generously supplied with wine, a nice Alverde Pinot Grigio. The wine did not appear until after the heavy slicing and dicing was done, good planning on their part.

After everything was prepared, we sat and feasted on the results of our lesson, along with more wine, of course. The crab cakes, in particular, were unique (and I am somewhat obsessed with crab cakes). Chris uses jumbo lump crab baked in a soufflĂ©-like matrix  rather than ground up crab in a fried cake. It’s wonderful! Both the salad and crab will become part of my repertoire for sure.

Toasting at lunch, the warm shrimp salad on the table.

One thing they have added to the classes given this year is a talk on wine parings given by PJ, the head sommelier at Michael Anthony’s. Excellent, with some surprising (to me) recommendations, like pairing savory Salmon dishes with a light red wine, like a Willamette Valley (Oregon) Pinot Noir, or with a Sicilian Nero d’Avola

He also recommended the “perfect” wine for the shrimp salad (which was amazing): a Grillo, also from Sicily. They sell a Furedo Maccari Grillo in the Italian food shop in the restaurant, so I bought two bottles of that plus a jar of taggiasche olives from the Ligurian region of Italy, that Chris used in the warm shrimp salad. .


So, another informative and enjoyable cooking class. Learned a lot. Highly recommend it if you are every on the Island with time on your hands.









Thursday, April 9, 2015

More Vacation Tangles and the Story of a Friend

Here are just some miscellaneous tangles I’ve done on the Island. There’s no story to them, just hours of completely absorbing work. 

That’s the other thing about being here on vacation – so much time to tangle, guilt-free.










"Redfish"
The last one actually does have a story. Many years ago we met a young sous-chef at Alexander's Restaurant. The head chef there offered to make us a special dinner, but decided to turn it over to the sous-chef. It was a wonderful, creative meal, and when the sous-chef came out to say hello afterwards, we discovered that he was born and raised on the Big Island. His name was Chaun Bescos.

So the three of us became instant friends, and he cooked for us whenever we came down here. Flash forward several years. Chaun's career advanced, first to Head Chef at Alexander's, then eventually to Executive Chef at Redfish, an upscale seafood restaurant that at the time featured mostly Cuban food. Chaun has given the place a broader menu, introducing his own Pacific Island flair to the original focus.

Chaun has continued to cook for us, at least once while we're here. We even became good friends with his Sister-in-Law, Whitney, who is now "our" server at Redfish.

So this Tuesday when we went for our special meal (which was truly special, by the way), I spent some time making him a small Thank You gift. It's called "Redfish."








Monday, April 6, 2015

Hilton Head, Part 2


Day 11

So what’s the deal with Hilton Head? Beats me…
Beautiful? Yes.
View from the porch

Landscape at Villamare




Even on a cloudy day, it's gorgeous.




We spend most of our time walking, porch-sitting, shopping, and eating. And oh, boy, do we eat.




One of the two owners, Michael Cirafesi, is the former Executive Chef at Michael Anthony’s, and the author of the Michael Anthony’s cookbook, which is one of my cooking bibles.

Michael's cookbook and recipe handout from first class

 In fact, he taught the first two cooking classes I took there, several years ago. He opened his own restaurant (Ombra) two or three years ago, and it was quickly added to our favorites list.

Me and Michael


The first year we went to Ombra, we met Ned, who was to become “our” waiter. The problem is – sometime during that first year, my brain changed Ned to Ken, and I can’t seem to change it back. 
So we went to dinner there the other night, and sure enough, I asked for "Ken."

They said there was no one working there named Ken. If I had asked them to line up all the servers, I could have picked him out!

They seated us at a quiet table in the bar, and sure enough it was mere seconds before Ned came out to say hello. 

It’s very embarrassing, and has never happened before; in fact, I pride myself on my ability to remember all our servers from year to year.. Ned/Ken doesn’t seem to be insulted, but I’m sure he’s a little hurt. So I determined this year I would get his correct name into a safe spot in my brain.

First I tried adding his name to my journal, in the page where I wrote the menu from the first night we were there:



But I wasn’t sure this was enough, so I tangled his name. If this doesn’t work, I’ll just have to take him home with us.

Ned, playing with Cadent, Fife, Verdigogh, and Puf




Sunday, April 5, 2015

The Mystery tangle


The other day I watched Suzanne McNeill’s video which includes the instructions for her tangle “Lace Curtain.” Liked it, practiced it.

Then yesterday morning I went to Starbuck’s (another tradition – I’m awash with tradition) to get my trip journal up to date, and tangle a little.


 I decided to try Lace Curtain, and of course, without the instructions, I drew something totally different. It could possibly be a unique tangle – we’ll see. Here’s the mystery tangle:




I kept going with the tile; decided it needed some kind of border along the curve that bisects the square and edges the new tangle.

So here's the finished tile (rotated a quarter):

Unnamed tangle, with Knightsbridge, Tipple, Huggins, and  Keeko

Not certain if I like it. But as I've said before, liking is not the point.. 




Cooking Classes




One of our favorite restaurants on the Island, Michael Anthony’s, offers hands-on cooking classes. I try to take one or two whenever we are here. This year Executive Chef Chris Johnson is teaching two classes, and I signed up for both. Thursday was “Scaloppine! Scaloppine!”  

Chef Chris started by showing us how to trim out a top round of veal, a pork tenderloin, and a whole chicken. I love these classes not because of the recipes, but because of the techniques. And this one was really helpful, or at least will be if I can ever find a whole top round of Veal!
Executive Chef Chris Johnson with a whole pork tenderloin

A top round of veal, aka The Holy Grail
Three scaloppini - veal, pork, chicken, all pounded, ready to cook


We started with Pork Marsala. I've fixed the Chicken version before, but not pork. The best thing that came out of this for me was that you could cook the dish in about 5 minutes, once you have your mise en place done. When I fix scaloppine at home (and I do that about once a week), it takes me about 15 minutes, with hungry husband chomping at the bit the whole time.




The kitchen, donated by Thermidor. 


My Veal a la Voldestana

 

Next Wednesday is the Spring Seafood class, with Warm Shrimp salad with Canellini beans , Crab cakes with Red Onion and Caper sauce, and Pistachio-Encrusted Salmon. I’m excited.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Hilton Head, Pt. 1

Arrived on the Island on Saturday. It was cold the first few days, although the skies were clear and the ocean calm. There was plenty of time for tangling. I’m looking forward to a good warm up so I can move the drawing and knitting and computer work outside to the lanai.

On the way down, we stayed overnight in Columbia, SC, where I did my traditional Hello, South Carolina tangle:


First morning:


On the first Sunday and last Friday, we  go to a wonderful restaurant called Alexander’s.

Alexander's 

Alexander's back dock - on the lagoon

I’ve been going there for dinner for over 20 years now, first by myself when I came down here for Jinny Beyer’s annual Quilting Seminar (alas, no longer held), and more recently, with my husband.  One of the things I really like about the good restaurants on the Island is that the servers are well-paid, so are quite professional and stay for years and years. As a result, I’ve known a few of the servers for over 20 years. You get the feeling that they are really glad to see you again, and that they miss you when you are gone.

To be honest, we overtip like crazy.

So in honor of Alexander’s, here's an “A.”

XYP, Fracas, Mak-rah-mee, Zinger, Cruffle, Festune