Thursday, August 9, 2007

Savannah: Part Deux 5: Charlotte Airport. Eew.

Welp, the Savannah trip has come to an end.
And the Sitting in the Airport in Charlotte trip is getting extremely, extremely old.
But rather than jump around too much, I'll start with a recap of last night and eventually work my way to the gray faux-leather airport chair my caboose is going numb in.

The Crab Shack:
Reason enough to go back to Savannah. The platter for two was enough to feed three, at least. It would kill Uncle Tom fourteen times over.
Two kinds of crab, crawfish, shrimp, mussels, sausage, potatoes, corn and a slice of key lime pie for dessert. All of it was fantastic.
Everything was outdoors, with big fans and mist machines all over. Our table overlooked the marsh/river area and we could watch fish jump while we ate their brethren.
Right when we sat down, the waitress came over and congratulate us on our engagement. News travels fast.
(Actually, a family who had been at the lighthouse when Joey proposed was at a table a few feet away. They bought us beer.)

After dinner Joey and I headed back to Tybee beach for a sweet sunset walk. As we were walking back towards the car, all the little sand crabs started breaking out of their holes around us. Not an ideal time to be barefoot, but generally fun to watch.

Watching the setting sun and scurrying crabs left Joey and I in the mood for mojitos.
Actually, I'm not sure the sun and crabs had much to do with that. I think we just really like mojitos. Anyway. We headed to Jazz'd to imbibe. I'm pretty sure the bartenders there make the best mojitos this side of Dixie. They use giant chunks of fresh lime instead of lime juice and the effect is incredible. Mmmmmmojitos.

We got up this morning, packed up our belongings and headed out. I miss Savannah already.

At the airport, the nice folks at Northwest Air informed us that our flight had been overbooked. There was a US Air flight leaving shortly after our scheduled flight, though, and we were told that the US Air flight could get us to Indy at the same time as the NWA one. If we switched, NWA would provide Joey and me with vouchers, good for a round-trip ticket anywhere NWA flies, plus $30 in airport food coupons.

We took the deal.

We ate at the Dewar's restaurant, where I had a marinated portabella sandwich (yum!) with cottage fries (also yum!) and Joey had a BBQ sandwich. For free. Thank you, NWA.

And that's pretty much where the good times stopped rolling.

Our US Air flight had a small scheduled layover in Charlotte.
When we got to the gate, we were told we had a delay due to basic maintenance, but we should depart for Indy no later than 4:15.
Then the not-so-nice US Air folks told us we had a second delay because of weather, but that the plane was in the air and we should depart for Indy no later than 5:40.
THEN the flight was canceled, just as a previously canceled flight in the gate next to us was reinstated. Curious.

So amid about 38798478937498327897598370384 other US Air customers who had canceled flights, Joey and I had to go in and out of security checkpoints for a good couple hours this afternoon. We're on the standby list for the 9:20 flight to Indy...but odds are not looking so hot right now. I think there's about elevendy billion other, similarly disgruntled, customers on the standby list as well.

We are, however, booked on the 7:15 a.m. flight tomorrow if nothing pans out tonight.
Worst case scenario: Airport bar, followed by a night of uncomfortable sleeping on the airport floor. I refuse to sleep on the chair I'm currently sitting in. I think it's intentionally designed to force the buttox into a sort of numb submission after a certain amount of time. It's like it's yelling at me, wondering angrily why I haven't gone away yet to bother its third cousin, the coach seat in row 10B.

xo!

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Savannah: Part Deux 4: Barbecue, baby

Vacationing is amazing. Amazing.

Last night after lounging, Joey and I took a ride on the Savannah River Queen and saw some river life and landmarks.

The Waving Girl statue was pretty nifty. The boat captain/tour guide gave us the whole spiel behind the statue. Including the Waving Girl's abnormally large feet.
It's quite a story, so I'll tell y'all when I get back.

One half of the river, past the downtown district, is part of an island and still looks like there's a good amount of grasslands around. The other side is full of industries: ship builders, import/export businesses, etc...
I think my favorite was the exotic wood importer that also happened to export scrap metal.
I feel like it's going to end up on a House episode featuring Typhoid fever combined with tetanus.

For dinner we headed up to Vic's on the River for some (more) delicious Southern Cookin'.
I had shrimp & grits with andouille sausage and a ham gravy.
Best. Grits. Ever.
And I usually don't really like ham, but the ham gravy was surprisingly delicious. Really, really light with just a slight kick to the aftertaste. The shrimp were fresh-caught and were completely, utterly fantastic and have probably ruined me for shrimp for at least the next 3 months.

I will learn to make grits.

Joey had grouper with a Parmesan risotto and succotash. I had a bite...which was good, but not quite as good as his duck from the night before.

Dessert: Sweet potato creme brulee.
Oh sweet southern god of desserts!
Melt-in-yo'-mouth perfection. (And our Mint Juleps were pretty smashing too.)

We were going to try to go on a "haunted" carriage ride around town, but by the time we got to the take-off point the area had been commandeered by a four-foot, three-inch, crazed, middle-aged gestapo lady with "lists" of her "party members" that she was trying to subdivide into "groups."
The poor "haunted tour" attendant looked like he was ready to throw off his ye-olden-day cap and grab a scotch. He took the time to tell us they were all booked for the night, though. Oops.
Maybe tonight? Or next time?

We decided to head to Stogies, a cigar bar, for some drinks and such. After our first drink, both Joey and I confessed to gurgling, unhappy stomaches, so we came back to the hotel and watched the Discovery channel. We're totally hip.

We went to bed kind of early (the heat wears us out and Man Vs. Wild wasn't on...) and got up by 8:30, even though we said we were going to sleep in.

After shopping around for some stuff and peeking in the windows of the Savannah College of Art and Design's windows, we headed back to Sweet Leaf for lunch.

You know, I don't think I have ever liked a restaurant as much as I like Sweet Leaf. The atmosphere is incredible, the customers are always all over the board and the servers are really friendly.

And then there's the food.
Ohhhh, ohhh, the food.

Joey ordered the sampler platter, which had smoked ribs, pulled pork, chipped beef, and smoked chicken breast. On the side, he got the devil's eggs and the smokey baked beans. I took lots of bites.
Everything. Rocked. Hard.

I had the chipped beef plate with potato salad and the collared greens. I can't get enough of their collards. The beef just fell apart the second my fork touched it and melted away in my mouth. I want to ship a giant barrel of their food home. I even like the potato salad, and I rarely like potato salad. Mmmm.....

So after lunch we went back to meandering and sightseeing and galavanting and such.
After coming back to the hotel, taking a quick dip in the pool and showering off, we're ready to head back out for dinner at The Crab Shack.

Rachael Ray went there on $40 a Day, and Captain Ron and the Mrs. Wilkes' crew all recommend it, so it has to be incredible.

I think we're planning on heading back out to Tybee Island to watch the sun set over the ocean... mmm, romantic evening!

I love y'all, and I can't wait to see you!

We'll be flying back tomorrow at noon and spending the night in Indy, retrieving our pups early Friday morning. I miss the boys! I hope Porter doesn't think he's been re-abandoned...

Friday afternoon and all day Saturday will be spent mooooving. Ugh! There's so much to pack! So much to unpack! So much to clean! Eek! But then Sunday we'll be back up in NWI for a few days.

I can't believe it's already August.

xo!

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Savannah: Part Deux 3: Fried Chicken Accomplished

2:14 p.m. and I've already eaten until I was ready to burst.

Joey and I got up early to stand in line at Mrs. Wilkes' Boarding house...we were the 3rd party in line, so it was a 30 minute wait worth every second.

Mrs. Wilkes sure knows her stuff. Spiritual, soul food at its finest.
Everything was family style: we were at a huge kitchen table with about 10 complete strangers, including 3 women from Alabama, a couple with their newborn daughter from Denver, and a handful of actual Savannah-inians.

When we sat down, the table was already loaded with biscuits, corn bread, collared greens, snap beans, cucumbers, mashed candied yams, squash casserole, butter beans, black eyed peas, okra and tomatoes, rice and gravy, grits, red rice, beets, barbecue pork, mashed potatoes, beef stew, and sweet tea.

And then they brought out the fried chicken.

Oh sweet lawd, chiltens. I ate a little bit of everything. And a little more of some things.
And as the Mrs. Wilkes' crew says, "If the colonel made fried chicken this good, he'd be a general!"

As we waited for the food coma to wear off, Joey and I headed to the local art museum where we played with blocks and markers. I'm sure the parents in the kids' section wanted to kick us in the shins.

The museum is cool, though. Small, but well-designed and holding a slew of modern-ish paintings and sculptures. We rocked it out there for a while, before finding a post office to get stamps. The stamp machine gave Joey all his change in nickels, which I can't quite figure out. Apparently the USPS has an abundance of five-cent pieces that they're actively trying to push off on people too lazy to stand in line.

And now we're off to lounge by the (empty) pool.
"It's like swimming in soup!" (Overheard last night by a pool occupant.)

Love y'all!
xo!

Monday, August 6, 2007

Savannah: Part Deux 2

Wheeeee!
Day two in Savannah is about to come to a close.

Joey and I got up (sorta) early and headed out to Tybee island for some surf, sand and sun.
And bruises, but those were unintended. :)

Even though most of you already know, I'll repeat the great news one more time. I love saying it:

JOEY AND I ARE ENGAGED!!! WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!! AHHHHHHH! :)

He proposed at the top of the Tybee Lighthouse. And it was the most romantic proposal I ever could imagine.

Here's the lighthouse...now imagine the view from waaaaaaay at the top.
Yep. Romantic. Amazing. Incredible.

My ring is gorgeous. I keep catching myself staring intently at it, as if I expect it to sprout legs and try to dance. I keep dancing. I'm ecstatic!


On another note...

Keeping with the spirit of food, which is why I started this blog, we had a wonderful lunch on the beach, post perfect proposal.

We had a beach grille shack suggested to us by a couple at the top of the lighthouse (who had no idea what had just happened), and sauntered over to see what they had.

In classic beach grille fashion, they had a slew of bugs, sand, busted-down furniture, and a menu that seemed, at first, pretty basic: burgers, salads, sandwiches...

Joey ordered a grilled fish sandwich (which he put a ton of different "house" hot sauces on, all of which were amazing, especially the mango habanero sauce) and I got a grilled vegetable sandwich.
I expected it to be beach basic, but it had fresh zucchini, squash, eggplant and a few slices of fresh baby mozzerella with a balsalmic glaze, served on toasted ciabatta.
It was amazing! The baby moz really made the sandwich

Both of us had the pasta salad side dish, which also had a balsalmic glaze and was completely scrumptious. I devoured my entire plate, and stared enviously at a couple of kids' plates a few tables down...the fried chicken strips looked and smelled like heaven.

My goal for the trip is to find awesome southern-fried chicken.

After lunch we did the beach thing...and less than ten minutes into beach fromping I got stung by a jellyfish. Ick.

In all honesty, I wasn't initially sure that's what it was...all the hype, I figured it would be a LOT worse.
Instead, it was a little irritating and a dull stinging sensation, but after a quick spray of ammonia/salt water spray from a lifeguard (who confirmed the jellyfish diagnosis) I was back to being on top of the world. And waves. (I have a nice welt to show. It isn't too bad, and it no longer hurts.)

I watched Joey frolic for about 20 minutes while the ammonia spray sank in and worked on my tan, and then I learned the finer points of body-boarding. I love it all. I love the water in general.

Joey's got an impressive bruise from having a body-board scrape all up his midsection.
We look like we had an intense afternoon...but we were both laughing the entire afternoon. I'm sure there are more than a few people who assumed we were either deranged, drunk or fundamentally stupid. :) It's incredible!

...Dinner. Oooooh, dinner.
I don't know where, exactly, to start.

It was a romantic engagement dinner, for sure.

We split a bottle of wine and made googly eyes at each other the entire meal. We're nerds.

The bread at (Insert name of restaurant here....) was perfect. Light golden brown and crispy on the outside, cushy and warm on the inside. "Perfect French bread" according to Joey.

Appetizer: raw oysters on the half shell, served with a lemon pesto sauce, a horseradish sauce and a cocktail sauce. Incredible. Really, absurdly fresh.

Entrees: Joey had the duck. It was fantastic. Light soy glaze, crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. Served with a mushroom risotto and fresh green beans. All of which were phenomenal, and one of the "best meals ever," according to Joey.
I had one of the daily specials...a trout served with a lobster sauce, fresh steamed okra and scalloped potatoes. It was, by far, one of the best meals I have had...ever.

Dessert: Fresh blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries served over cinnamon and vanilla ice cream in a homemade almond bowl. It was mmm-mmmm-mmmmmazing.
The kitchen even wrote "congratulations" in chocolate across the side of the plate. :)

And now, we're just about to relax after a swim in the hotel pool and are ready for a new episode of "No Reservations" on the travel channel with Anthony Bourdain....my food hero.

I love you all!
Goodnight! xoxo

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Savannah: Part Deux 1

Snap! I adore the South.

Joey and I had two safe flights (Indy to Detroit, Detroit to Savannah) and are now back in "our" town. It's sticky humid outside, but we've kept lethargy at bay.

We've already had a trip to Sweet Leaf, our favorite barbecue spot, and a quick nighttime ferry boat ride where we met Captain Ron, who planned the next few days for us:

Lots and lots of down-home Southern cookin'.

Sweet Leaf was just as good as we remembered. I had the daily special: smoked pork tenderloin with collared greens and the granny-smith apple coleslaw. Deeeeelish! Joey had pulled pork with smokey baked beans and the coleslaw. By the end of the week we're going to try to cajole them into letting us tour their kitchen.

For dinner we decided to give Corleone's a whirl. They've got Godfather pictures all over and Tuscan/Southern infused food. I had muscles and linguini in a light garlic white wine sauce and Joey got the shrimp scampi. I feel huge. It was delicious and extremely filling, and immediately after setting down our forks we decided to go get ice cream and take the ferry ride.

The ferry was awesome, if a little short. But in the 20 minutes we were on board, we ended up in the captain's cabin talking about family-style fried pork chops and Christmas tours. Amazing.

I currently stink, so I think I'm going to jump in the shower before bed. We're planning an early day tomorrow, with a breakfast at (according to Cap'n Ron) the Best breakfast joint in Georgia, followed by an all-day excursion to Tybee Island.
I think we're planning on kayaking or fishing, and I'm hoping for another visit to the top of the Tybee lighthouse so we can take silly photos...

Love you all!
xo!