I could not have planned a better way to spend my Labor Day weekend than a long weekend in Charleston and Isle of Palms. Charleston has to be my favorite city in America; great food, shopping and architecture.
Evan and I head down Friday morning to spend a day and night in Charleston, before meeting his family in Isle of Palms. We stayed in a funky, old hotel right in the heart of downtown.
We walked, we drank, we I shopped, we ate.
It was the perfect night out in Charleston. We lived it up.
We decided on Southend Brewery and Smokehouse for an aperitif, fried green tomatoes, and a few rounds of darts.
Evan made dinner reservations at Blossom, and we got a seat on their patio. I had a fabulous glass of Riesling and we split the corn cakes topped with homemade chorizo.
For dinner, I ordered their homemade ricotta gnocchi that was to die for. It had minced apple, bacon and zucchini in with the gnocchi and brown butter sage sauce. I couldn't stop raving about it. I've never had something so light and fluffy.
From there, we head to the top of the Market Pavilion Hotel then to The Peninsula Grill for the most delicious Sauvignon Blanc - Mohua from New Zealand. It smelled exactly like fresh pineapple!
Day two we were picked up by Evan's mother and taken to the beach house in Wild Dunes. It was a gorgeous house with a pool and a path straight to the beach. There were about 15 of us all under one roof, so it was no tiny bungalow.
There was a lot of beach laying, home movie watching, pool playing, baby holding and eating... Did I mention eating?
Snacks lined the counters, making it easy to graze all day long. Evan's mom brought down cheesy homemade lasagnas for dinner, and of course ocean themed cupcakes.
We got lucky with perfect beach weather, except for a brief but powerful storm on the last day.
The Charleston beach trip is one of my favorite summer traditions.
I guess this really means we're closing the book on summer. As excited as I am for butternut squash and pumpkin spice lattes (had one this morning, yes!), I'm not giving up on my summer veggies yet.
Bulgur with Roasted Vegetables & Feta
1 cup bulgur wheat
1/2 red onion, sliced
zucchini, sliced
cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cloves garlic, smashed
olive oil
salt and pepper
feta
kalamata olives, halved
parsley, chopped
basil, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
teaspoon Dijon mustard
juice from 1 lemon
salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 425. Boil 2 1/2 cups of water then pour into bowl with bulgur. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes. Meantime, arrange vegetables on foil covered pan and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast for 10-12 minutes, or until tender.
Wisk together ingredients for dressing. Combine vegetables, cheese, olives, herbs and dressing in a large bowl and serve.
Served with an easy salad of mixed greens, goat cheese and nectarines.
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