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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Vacation Eats: Charleston Part II and Asheville

Picking up where I left off, we enjoyed plenty more foods in Charleston and then again in Asheville...

Charleston Part II




Josephs: Kara suggested we check this place out, after raving about the sweet potato pancakes she recently enjoyed on her honeymoon. An extreme pancake-lover, I was not about to miss these! Though I could never manage such a dessert-like breakfast on a daily basis (yes, even me), these were perfect for vacation. Thick and topped with honey pecan butter, these babies didn’t even need syrup! Ryan, Mike, and Maggie all stuck to savory dishes, all very satisfying at this local, non-touristy breakfast stop.

Kaminsky’s Desserts: Vacation isn’t vacation unless you eat ice cream one day in place of a regular meal. After three hours of kayaking, we treated ourselves to some decadence…I’m still salivating over the memories! All of their desserts looked to die for, but we stuck to a caramel Bailey’s shake (me), apple pie a la mode (Ryan), Tollhouse cookie pie (Maggie), and a Bailey’s mint Oreo shake (Mike). Gold stars all-around!

Asheville

Tupelo Honey Café: Wow, just wow. There’s a reason this restaurant serving three daily meals is constantly bustling. We lucked out, scoring a table on the patio, where we were all blown away by everything we tasted. Though Southern-style food would never be my first pick, their creative twist on the cuisine using almost all local foods, was outstanding. I would return to Asheville just to enjoy Tupelo’s homemade biscuits and selection of farm fresh sides! This meal definitely left us all the most stuffed!

Laughing Seed Café: I think Ryan summed this meal up best when he said “my meal was so good you didn’t even notice it was meatless!”. This vegetarian restaurant is truly vegetarian food done right—so flavorful and unique, the meat won’t be missed. From Indian to Thai to Mexican, they offer a variety of dishes bursting with fresh flavor. My salad was one of the specials of the day, so I can’t find the description online, but I know it contained arugula, avocado, oranges, fennel, pumpkin seeds, and fried oyster mushrooms. In a word: amazing.

Hill House Bed and Breakfast: Mike and Maggie are pros when it comes to B&Bs, but this was a first for Ryan and I. We couldn’t have been more pleased with the rooms, the service, or, of course, the food! Many hours were spend sipping wine and rocking on their front porch, scarfing down the homemade oatmeal raisin bars (recipe obtained!), and making new friends over the breakfast table (crème brulee French toast anyone?!). Asheville visitors should definitely check this place out!



This is just an excerpt of our vacation, which hopefully hasn’t bored you too much! Amazingly, we did more than just eat…including lots of live music (in both Nashville and Charleston), a haunted dungeon tour, hiking in the swamps of Charleston and the mountains of Asheville, kayaking, shopping, and best of all, relaxing! I’ve returned home refreshed, renewed, and inspired…get ready to see some of that inspiration popping up here on the blog!