Vacation Recap

We're already into the second week of January, so I fell like I've missed the window to do a Christmas vacation recap, but, heck, I'm just going to do it anyway. I'm just not ready to write any serious post about a restaurant or recipe.

I had fun going home over the holidays, visited family and friends in two states and four cities, ate some great food, and drank way, way too much.

After twelve hours on the road, we pulled into my Dad's house in South Carolina the day before Christmas Eve, where two kinds of pimento cheese are kept in the fridge. Pimento cheese sandwiches all around!Our Christmas Eve tradition is to eat an assortment of cheese, cured meats, and crackers with chutneys, jams, and honey, and other bits and bobs like marinated Brussels sprouts. We also drink lots of champagne.
My favorite gift I gave was an original drawing from Philly's own Hawk Krall. I've been admiring his artwork on sites like Serious Eats and Hawk's own site for some time, and wanted to get his print of a pimento cheese hot dog from Sandy's, a small chain from my hometown.

Well, Hawk's a super nice dude, and after a few back and forths over email I ended up getting two original Sandy's drawings. Hawk's also so super nice that he agreed to do a custom drawing for me to give my Dad for Christmas, and he did it with only a short notice. I couldn't be happier with his artwork, and my Dad was just thrilled with it, as well.

The story behind the Banana Dog is this: the Banana Dog is similar to the popular (well, it's not unheard of) mayo, peanut butter and banana sandwich, but my Dad claims to have invented the Banana Dog one day when there was no sandwich bread in the house, and he ingeniously improvised with a hot dog bun. His claim to fame is now memorialized thanks to Hawk.
After all the gifts were opened we did a moonshine tasting. What, that's not what every family does for Christmas?

I've tasted some pretty bad moonshine (usually brought to the party by that guy no one really knows), but these two bottles that my Dad got from a friend were absolutely the best I've ever had. The one called Favorite Child was aged in an oak barrel, making it essentially bourbon. The other was called Apple Pie, and it tasted exactly like fresh apple cider with nary a hint of alcohol taste. Apple Pie is dangerous!
Then it's the divorced kid shuffle off to my Mom's house for Christmas Day where the champagne flowed, as well.
Anson Mills is not the only story in South Carolina when it comes to milled grains. It seems that everyone is growing heirloom corn and milling nowadays. We packed our car with grits to bring back home from those who've been milling for over a century (Adluh), and grits from a new kid on the block (Keisler's Mill).
Anyone from Columbia remember back in the late 90's when Ital Island, this crazy, African art-filled, soul food and Caribbean vegan restaurant popped up for about a year or so, then disappeared to leave all us vegans and vegetarians crying? Well, after more than a decade it has reappeared at a new location, and with a new name. Lamb's Bread Vegan Cafe is Ital Island. Same African masks, same incense, same owners, same cook, same food. So glad to have you back!
With all the truly good food I ate, I'm ashamed to say the most memorable and delicious thing I ate was this can of Hapi Spicy Sriracha Peas. Ate the whole can! The combo of sweet, spicy, salty, garlic-y, and crunchy is unstoppable.
This sweet old dog lives at a house near a mountain trail in Hot Springs, NC. She was our guide for the day, expertly walking us to the overlook, then back down. I imagine she does this many times a day, every day, with all the mountain visitors. Not a bad life!Then it was time for a wine and cheese picnic in the hot spring-fed hot tubs in Hot Springs. These outdoor tubs seated at the edge of a river are stupidly cheap. Your skin is so soft afterwards. I was upset that I didn't get any banana pudding from Glass Onion in Charleston (sold out one day, and didn't make the next day), but I did get a pimento cheese omelet and creamed greens for New Year's Eve brunch.
This gorgeous live oak and treehouse is in my brother's Charleston backyard! That picture is pretty much my childhood fantasy.
After an explosive New Year's Eve celebration in Charleston, we awoke a few hours later to get in the car for a long and miserable, hungover car ride back to Philly. I actually thought ahead and bought black eyed peas and collards down South to save myself a trip to the grocery store in Philly when we got back. Ignoring the reveling Mummer's outside my door (remind me to never come back to Philly on New Year's Day), and in a weird hungover/long-car-ride haze, I somehow managed to make collards and hoppin' John for a late dinner before crashing into bed.

Good to be back!