Jay came to visit me in Charleston and left a trail of smiles everywhere he went.

Everywhere I walk, I see the most beautiful flowers and I have to pull my camera out and take a picture.

Kiwi

A group of us went to Red's, a great bar on Shem Creek, and apparently very animal friendly. A parrot named Kiwi (aka Lady's Man), flew over and hit on every one of us! We couldn't resist! Kiwi took a particular liking to Renee though....

This is just another beautiful random fountain in Charleston

I visited the Aiken-Rhett house, located on Elizabeth Street, this Saturday. It's one of the best preserved homes in the historic district. The rooms are untouched, almost as if they've been frozen in time. The tour is a self-paced walking tour and you are provided with an mp3 player to walk you through this grande home. My favorite rooms were the Art Gallery, Dining room, Dressing room, and warming Kitchen. This is a treasure.

One of my favorite things about Charleston is the distinct landscaping. When walking around downtown, I started noticing the beautiful bushels of flowers decorating the majestic Palmetto trees that line the sidewalks of Charleston.

An Experienced Food and Wine Festival Attendee

I now have the inside scoop on the Charleston Food and Wine Festival because I had the chance to attend twice! First of all, definitely worth it! The food inside the two culinary tents was amazing! My favorites: Key Lime Pie...blanking out on who made it...the blue crab macaroni and cheese...the BBQ Cuban by S.N.O.B. (Slightly North of Broad), The cheese grits and craw fish by the Culinary Institute, the warm crab dip by Rue de Jean, and the carrot cake by...blanking out...why can't I remember those bakers??? Anyway, the wine was plentiful, I had a great Cabernet, some nice Rieslings (my favorite), a Savignon Blanc with a strong grape fruit flavor, and some nice Pinot Noirs. My lips and teeth were quite purple by the end of the day..a very good sign! In one of the tents there was a beer brewery and we lined up to try different beers paired with different cheeses. I LOVE cheese, I can tell you the cheeses we tried...Parmesan, Bleu cheese, Gouda and even chocolate was paired with a dark cherry beer...that was strange!
All in all the experience was great, I even met a wine expert who taught me about "tannens" which has to do with the tartness or bitterness of a wine. Apparently if the skin of the grape was fermented with the juice, there will be more tannen in the wine. He showed me how to actually taste wine, you supposed to first smell the wine, detecting any fruits, then you blow into the wine to give it oxygen, next you take a sip and swish the wine around in your mouth. I felt a little silly doing this, but it really made a difference! I am officially attending the Charleston Food and Wine Festival again next year! So much fun!

Charleston Food and Wine Festival

The Charleston Food and Wine Festival is going on this weekend in Marion Square. The square has big white tents creating the culinary village and inside each tent there are food demonstrations, wine tastings, book signings and much much more...I'll be investigating the festival in more detail tomorrow!