356...Sushi Special

I don't like change. When I came to Clemson in 2001, I thought downtown was the picture of college perfection. A large sampling of Clemson products, a rustic coffee shop, a lovely bookstore, a fashion shack, and a variety of restaurants all coexisted in downtown. As a freshman, I didn't have a car, and spent hours downtown Clemson due to its proximity to my dorm room.

Slowly, and much to my begrudging, things begin to change. The coffee shop closed, and changed into a bar. Fashion shack closed and also became a bar. Local rumor mill claimed that the coffee shop owners got into a fight and broke off into two businesses. One reopened the coffee shop a year later in a corner of downtown (Moe Joe's). The other took over that downtown fashion shack after several failed attempts at a sushi place. (Mainly bad luck, like flooding, not bad food, kept the business from being a huge success). Finally, the right place gave the owner a chance to open one of the first unique eating experiences in Clemson. 356 is a nice mixture of an artsy, big-city bar with a few added college touches (pool tables in the back) and great food. With such a great place, I do have to admit, that even sometimes, change is good, and 356 is much better than a fashion shack!

I have always associated 356 with literary readings. I saw Ron Rash read for the first time at 356. Eventually the literature crowd moved over to the Blue Heron, but I was already hooked on the veggie sushi by that point. Therefore 356 evolved from literary highbrow to fancy date. Time passed, and honestly, 356 fell of my radar of places to go.

When I started dating Trae, we taught each other about food. I think one night he suggested sushi in an attempt to impress me with his food daring-ness. In truth, the idea of sushi didn't seem daring, but fish did! I hated fish, but with coaxing from Trae, I tried...and really liked...all the sushi 356 had to offer. We soon learned that 356 offered an all you can eat sushi special on Monday nights for 12 dollars a person as well as 2 dollar martinis. You do not get to pick the sushi, but you get three different kinds of sushi on each plate you are delivered.

Since we were broke when we started dating, 356 was a special treat. We only ate there maybe once every two to three months, but each time provided a cozy atmosphere with no blaring music to talk over. The bartenders and waitress have always been nice, and even remember us despite our spotty attendance at 356. Also, Trae is allergic to shell fish, and technically on all you can eat sushi night, you are not allowed to pick your sushi, but the staff has always been extremely accommodating on Trae's allergy, which also is another reason I love 356. (Last time, the waitress went as far to make sure that the sushi rollers didn't need to change knives to make sure not cross-contamination of shellfish and non-shellfish would occur.)

 Last Monday, Trae came in from work saying we needed to go to 356, with his reason being, "we have to enjoy it while we can!" That impromptu sushi craving and date is what gave birth to the bucket list. We decided over delicious rolls and rolls of sushi that we couldn't miss a single culinary creation that the area had to offer while we were still here to enjoy it. And 356 was a perfect way to start our bucket list culinary adventure!

A picture from 356 date night in 2009!

Food Bucket List

My husband and I are moving. I am truly scared, excited, and nervous about this. I came to this area in 2001 for college; two degrees and eleven years later, I am finally moving. Trae has pretty much grown up around this area, and this summer will be his first summer not spent at the near by lake. Instead, we will spending our one year anniversary trying to find plates to eat off amongst all the boxes. In order to give this move a little more buffoonery, we have come up with a Food Bucket List. We have listed all the places we can to eat in the last two months we have left at home. I am posting our huge list here by area, as well as including links that I could find for each place. After we eat there, I will cross if off the list and blog about it (what we ate there, why it is on the list, etc).

Ok...on to the list:


Clemson:
Brioso
356 (Monday Night Sushi Special)
Blue Heron (Burger Night)
Nick's Bar
Daawat Indian Buffett
Backstreet Pub & Deli
Peppino's Pizza
Todaro's Pizza
Super Taco
Calhoun Corner's 
Tony's Pizza
House of Leung Chinese 




(Any loyal Clemson fan will notice the lack of certain staples, such as Tiger Town Tavern; however, we know we will get out fill those those delicious foods when we come into town for Clemson home games!)


Central:
Fiesta Mexican Grill
Sidetracked Cafe
Central Main Street Deli 
Monk's Coner


Pendleton: 
Smoking Pig BBQ
Waffle King
Islander
Mac's Drive In
Village Bakery

Seneca:
Palm Gas Station Slushie 
Paesano's Italian Restaurant


Anderson: 
BBQ on the Run
McGee's Irish Pub


Greenville: 
Coffee Underground
Sweet Basil Thai Cuisine
Rainer's Cafe
Melting Pot...Girl's Monday Night Out
O-cha Tea Bar
Barley's Tap Room


Total: 31 Places (four of which are pizza places...you know you are in a college town when....)

I can't promise we will get to all these places, because I sadly don't have a summer job and Dave Ramsey's budget is already frowning on our food map of the area. (We see fun...Dave sees dollars!) Yet, we are going to try, by nifty budgeting, selling of things on craigslist, and a yard sale. It is the summer of fine eats on a college kid budget!

That wasn't much of a kiss!

Dear William and Kate,

I am not a morning person, yet I still woke up for your glorious wedding on Friday. Being a Yank, as all you Brits call us, I couldn't feel more removed from the Royals; however, after watching your wedding from couch with a plate of British inspired 5 am breakfast, I truly feel connect with you two. Cliche? Cheesy? Yes, but true.

I feel connected to you because I too suffered from the first kiss jitters. My future husband and I talked, practiced, and debated the merits of length, passion, tongue. Pressure from parents dedicated that we keep it a simple, quick, yet loving kiss. Lucky for us, no one timed us, the press did not put up headlines, declaring the kiss too short and thank goodness there was a second one to satisfy the gluttonous crowd. No, none of that. There was just one kiss.....and his grandmother sitting on the front row of the small, aptly echoing chapel.

"Well, that wasn't much of a kiss!"
 

Now, Will and Kate, you don't have to read the newspapers; you can ignore the press, especially when regrading your day. However, I cannot avoid hearing an elderly Southern Belle nicknamed Peaches hotly and humorously  declaring her displeasure in the kiss. (FYI, you can even hear her say it on the wedding video. Press reports aren't heard on wedding videos!)

Therefore, I want you to know that I understand the pressure you felt on the balcony. Just be glad the Queen didn't give you a lecture on "how you are suppose to take her and SHOW you that you LOVE her! Suppose to have put some passion in it!"

(I promise to you both, that after the wedding, while waiting in a secluded area of the church, my husband swooped me up into his arms and SHOWED me that he loved me with a huge wonderful kiss...a caliber of kiss that I am sure you two shared away from the public eye on your wedding day!)

Sincerely,
Lack Luster Wedding Kisser

AND NOW....


A Letter to All My Non-Royal Readers

Dear Royally-awesome Readers,

Yes, you did read my letter to Will and Kate correctly; I was in fact up at 5 am watching the royal wedding. What that letter does not tell you is that I woke up at 3am, because I have BBC America, and they started their coverage of the wedding at 3am. Lucky for me, my husband was on a fishing trip with his father, so he wasn't around to call me psycho royal stalker between snores. I also had to finish my prep work for my royal wedding breakfast in case my mom felt well enough to come. (Sadly, she did not.) I even pulled out the wedding dishes, champagne glasses, and a table cloth! My wedding breakfast feast for one was:

• Fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)
• British short bread (recipe to follow)
• Chocolate chip hot cross buns
• Eggy Cheesy Yummy casserole (recipe to follow) 
• Sparkling cider mocktail (description to follow) 

And please pardon me, but I am going to brag on my spread with the following photos:

As you can see, I had a princess tea party for myself! I do wish my mother had been well enough to join, but I did enjoy my one person party. I loved putting on a pretty nightgown and setting up a beautiful table. I felt like I was a VIP to a fancy party! Sometimes treating yourself at home is better to a wonderful meal is more uplifting than a bubble bath, new pair of shoes, or even a massage. Grant, dishes have to be cleaned afterward, but something special exists when you sit down in front of a snazzy meal knowing that it sits there to be consumed by you and you only...that you are the special recipient of such a meal.

Anyways, I would love to hear how you spent the Royal wedding day!!

Sincerely,
The Hopeless Romantic

Recipes coming ASAP!

Cheeseburger in Paradise

I just saw JIMMY BUFFETT in concert! I don't go see a lot of concerts, but I LOVE Buffett and have seen him four times in concert. Now, Buffett is a lot like a football game; a bunch of fans who know all the stats (aka latest songs) as well as the classic plays (the oldies). Now, all good football fans tailgate, and Buffett fans are no different.

And my family are the reigning monarch of wonderful tailgates. The Buffett concert tailgate has to be one of the best so far. We have tons of food, and great friends to eat the food. We had pork roast, chicken salad, clams, fruit kabobs, veggies, hummus, cheese. The food menu was endless.

One of Buffett's most famous songs is "Cheeseburger in Paradise." The song's chorus says:

I like mine with lettuce and tomato
Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes
Big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer
Well good god almighty which way do I steer for my cheeseburger in paradise!

I used that song as inspiration for one of my two desserts for the tailgate. My first dessert was a margarita cake, and I used a box mix. Instead of water, I added margarita mix to the funetti cake mix. The cake has a nice lime taste that went great with butter cream frosting. It also had a Margaritaville vibe!

The second dessert were Dessert Burgers complete with lettuce, ketchup, and cheese.

Aren't they cute?? Everyone LOVED them; even random people came up to steal one or two! hehe. They were super easy to make too. I used white cake box mix and regular brownie mix to make the bun and burger. The bun is a cupcake cut in half and the burger is brownie shaped with a circle cookiecutter. I followed the box directions and didn't do anything fancy or added to them. The only "special" thing I did was not fill up the cupcake compartments to the max. I wanted to make sure they stayed relatively flat to give them a more burger effect.

The cheese is yellow colored marzipan, which was rolled out very thin and then cut into a square that overlapped the edges of the brownie to make it look like it had melted. The lettuce is shredded coconut mixed with a touch of icing to make it clump; the the mixture was dyed green. A s-curve of red-dyed icing mimicking ketchup completed the burger illusion.  

Even with very full bellies, we rolled over the concert where we danced the night away as we sang along with good ol' Jimmy, who didn't fall off the stage! He did not disappoint. Great songs were sang, moves were busted, and happiness was boundless.

I have been to other Buffett concerts before, but not with godparents, god-brothers, best childhood friend, parents, and husband. I did not know one night could contain so much hilarity.  My god-brothers busted out stick on mustaches for everyone, along with glow and the dark leis. We danced, sang along, determined I was the woman to blame! (Heck my shirt even said its, I couldn't deny it!) My father and godfather danced around with glow sticks. My godmother was her joyous, care-free self, and had the best smile all night. (Hard to believe those boys have grown up; I can tell some pretty embarrassing stories about them!) The whole concert ended with tried, happy Parrotheads playing ring around the shark and quoting Monty Python (Your mother smells of elderberries!) Enjoy some of the concert pictures!!

Duck led the way to the concert!!

We have pencil thin mustaches so we can solve some mysteries too!

We finned to the right, finned to the left

I've known her for 16 years and we are growing older but not up!

My hubby dancing with his other woman!

God-brothers! They are all grown up, but they are the people my parents warned me about!

TWINS!

My wonderful parents

I don't know, I don't know where I"m gonna go when the volcano blows!

My fantastic godparents!

I made that! I can cook and craft!

We are the knights who say.....

Second Class Menu with First Class Taste

Last night, Trae and I went to a Titanic Memorial Dinner at a local Irish pub. This Irish pub is great at having a special themed dinner that is  pre-priced with a pre-set menu once a month. (And the price is great for the amount of food you get. You could go to a chain restaurant and not get the same quality or same quantity for the same price!) So far Trae and I have participated in three of these dinners: A Murder Mystery, Shakespeare Abridged, and the Titanic Dinner. Each time we have met new people and have enlightening conversation to go with a great meal.

The Titanic dinner replicated the second class menu shown below. Each course on the menu was served, and was paired with a wonderful wine. I honestlly don't think I even ate that much in one sitting on our cruise honeymoon!!

 

The pub encouraged period dress, and I took that as a chance to see if I could still fit into my prom dress from junior year. Now, to date myself, my junior year was around the time that blockbuster movie Titanic came out. Prom dresses that year were modeled after Kate Winslet's costumes from the movie, and my dress looked just like one the from the dramatic scene were Kate/Rose almost thrusts herself over-board but is convinced by a handsome Leo/ Jack not to.

 

A miracle occurred and the dress fit! I then made an awesome hair piece to go with the dress with the help of my trusty glue-gun.

 The complete picture:

Trae didn't dress up, but he was excited to escort his fancy lady to dinner. We were some of the first to arrive, and the staff at the pub was very excited that someone had dressed up. Overall out of the 50 dinner guests, only three people dressed up, and I have to brag...my outfit was the best!

The meal was amazing, and everything was cooked from scratch at the pub. I never would have put tapioca in a beef broth soup. I only think of it as something sweet for pudding or bubble tea. The sweetness added a whole new level to an ordinary broth soup. The cranberry sauce was divine, not the average Turkey Day stuff. I also never expect an Irish pub to make a curry chicken that rivaled any that I had at an Indian restaurant. Wine jelly with the coconut cookie topped with ice cream is a triple-flavor combination is astounding. The smoothness of the wine jelly mixed perfectly with crunch of the cookie, and made a fruity topping for the ice cream.  Each course was served with a tasting of a different wine that had been carefully paired to compliment its course's flavor. Overall, this dinner was a foodie's delight.

The owner of the restaurant got all of the recipes from this book: Last Dinner on the Titanic: Menus and Recipes. He told me about how he and his wife tested all of the recipes out before making them for the dinner. (Apparently it took his wife three tries to get the wine jelly right! I hope I have luck when I make it!)
I know that once the cookbook arrives at our apartment, I will be writing a lot about  my Titanic trails and errors! I love when a dinner not only makes a great memory, but also leads to memories to be made. Now Amazon, hurry up and bring me my book!! :)

Romantical Me

I love romance. Anyone born  and breed on Disney loves romance, and I love Disney. I might be an English major but some equations are simple. Disney + Fanatical= Hopeless Romantic.

However, I do not need dancing candlesticks or jazz playing alligators to have romance, but I do require a bowl of pasta and candles!

Around April the weather started to warm up, and it made me eager to get outside. (I also have retained the Disney child-like glee and have been known to run happy circles in warm weather!) My desire to be outside mixed with my craving for Chinese food (lo mien noodles, yum!) made for an impromptu romantic setting.

I picked up the food before Trae got home from work, and went to work on sweeping the porch. I  put together our two mismatched TV trays on the porch, and then threw a black table cloth over them. I put out my black and white Chinese inspired tea cups on the porch railing and inserted tea lights into the cups.

Trae knew I was picking up Chinese food, but he was very surprised that our porch has been turned into an outdoor Chinese bistro!

Romance doesn't have to be time extensive and even expensive; it can be creative and fun! I hate the fact that people automatically associate romance with money. Romance comes from the heart, and not the wallet. And I love romancing my husband, especially at the spur of the moment!

Even the kitties got in on the outdoor action:

See the tongue? It is ready for some whisker licking good food!

Where's the Colonel?

Apparently, the Colonel is in Corbin, Kentucky after you turn at light number seven.

The first weekend of April was a wonderful mini-vacation in Louisville, Kentucky for a friend's 30th birthday. The weekend was stupendous! We saw Churchill Downs, played with an interactive art instillation, heard Glee renditions, and debated Dante/ Carson McCullers on the street at 2am.

Louisville is a quaint little place with snazzy shops. I loved seeing where my friend was getting her PhD at the University of Louisville. Trying on hats at the Kentucky Derby gift shop was great. (I am going to try make a cuff from my "Lucky Penny" smashed penny I got at the gift shop using tips from Epbot's blog!)  The birthday girl took us to the best places to eat, and to a great show. I even through my first White Castle drive-through. When we went out for girl's night, the birthday girl had on a rockin' hot pink leather dress with fabulous gold sparkling shoes! As a whole, we were all an odd pairing of people, from Goth, Prep, Vintage, and Unique.

Well, the drive down was very long; however, with only four hours of sleep, the drive back was even longer. Around two pm, my tummy and my travel companion's tummy started to rumble. We had already decided that for some reason, greasy food just sounded wonderful.The call of grease appeared to be answered when a huge billboard said ORIGINAL KFC THIS EXIT.  Upon exiting, we say sign that said "Turn right at light number seven" plastered with the Colonel's smiling face and black tie.

We started counting. 1.2.3.4.5.6. Seventh red light we turn. Bumpy roads took us into the abandoned town of Corbin, where more side streets led to trailers and small mill homes. People looked at us from their porches with smirks. They knew what these two out-of-towners had done. They had counted. After many more wrong turns and asking a native female with a faded Looney Tones t-shirt driving a yellow hotrod for directions, we too realized our mistake. We had counted.

Apparently small rectangular green signs hang from Corbin's stop lights. The sings have numbers adorned on them. So, if you ever go in search of the original KFC, do not count. Read the signs. Within minutes of following the nice lady's directions, we were turning at sign-identified light number seven. Moments after turning, the Colonel's smiling face was seen in the sky, guiding us to our destination. After over thirty minutes of rambling, we had found our way.

(I could easily make a Biblical spin off about finding our way...
The Colonel is my chicken; I shall not want.
He maketh me to drive to light seven;
He leadeth me down the still streets;
He fillith my belly;
He leadeth me into the consumption of calories for His name sake.)

Sorry! This little parody came into my head and since the husband laughed, I felt I should share!

Anyways, back on track...In this blog, I talk about how memories and relationships are built around food. Hardly ever when you bite into something do you think to yourself, "I will remember this moment every time I eat blank." Well, biting into that KFC, I knew that whenever I ate KFC in the future, I would be tasting Victory! That's right....VICTORY, and let me tell, Victory never tasted more like chicken....delicious delicious chicken.

Please ignore the messy hair...It is lack of sleep, long car ride hair.

Overall, my Kentucky mini-vacation was a wonderful time! It was great to show how even though we scattered after graduating, we value friendship so much that we are willing to drive to random locations to spend time together.