Welcome to Paris!

I am finally here after two connections and almost 24 hours of constant travel.
My tiny apartment, translated as the Cherry Orchard, is located in the Marais.

The airport shuttle driver and I must have chatted for almost two hours as we drove around town dropping off the other passengers. I was so proud of myself for chatting entirely in French.

Of course, I had to unpack and settle in first since this is home for the next 30 days. Then, it was off to the boulangerie and supermarché. Both of which are less than 20 metres from the front gate of the apartment. I had to go back to the boulangerie twice when I realized that I had grabbed a sandwich and pain au chocolat, but had forgotten the baguette. I'm so excited that I'm finally staying in a neighborhood and not in a tourist mecca.

After taking a quick shower and nap, I met the landlord and got the official tour of my probably less than 300 square feet of living space. I had pretty much had the lay of the land already. :)

Nino and I talked on Skype for the first time while I was here. He got the tour via webcam. Mom and I talked on Skype too. Andrea was offered a substantial scholarship to Berkeley!!

Last night, I was so tired that I just stayed in. It must have been divine providence because Alias, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and X Files were all on television en français. Whatever universe this is, it has my name on it.

I spent my first night in the giant bunk bed, lofted above my main floor. Surprisingly, it was comfortable and I slept well. Except for waking up at 2am after falling asleep at 8pm. Oh well, at least I stayed up until 8pm.

Nino and I talked this morning and he showed me Hope and Niki on webcam. Hope was a little freaked out. She jumped off the couch to get away from the computer. Niki just farted. Boy was I glad to be thousands of miles away at that moment.

I ate my pain au chocolat this morning along with coffee, a banana, and Yoplait mango yogurt. Now, if I can tear myself away from Saturday morning music videos (both American and French pop songs), I will shower and head to the Marché Bastille.

What is Lowcountry Dining?

So, being here in Charleston and seeing all of these signs for "lowcountry food" makes me wonder - what exactly is this style of cuisine? Something you dig out of the ground?

Lowcountry cuisine, according to Wikipedia, is food that draws specifically from the "South Carolina Low Country and Georgia." It holds some ties with Southern cooking, but is influenced by a local abundance of fresh seafood, its uses of grain as part of the diet and correlations with Caribbean and Africian cuisines.

Charleston proper certainly does hold a number of restaurants claiming to cook this lowcountry specialty. While I won't list individual ones here becasue I haven't tried enough to pass judgement, I can at least point you to this short article which offers a handful of ideas to start with.

Charleston Food & Wine Festival

This is the first year we've attended the Charleston Food & Wine Festival. We could have easily planned our entire four days here around the fest. Unfortunately, we didn't know about this until we read about it in Delta Airline's magazine. Bobby Flay is the signature guest this year and (unsurprisingly) all of his events were sold out long ago.

The fest has a good mix of events with prices ranging from $50 to $750. Most of the food was supplied and cooked by local restaurants. Since South Carolina has an incredibly limited wine selection and only a few microbreweries, I wasn't surprised to see mostly California and Oregon wines and beers. It was good to see local folks like Firefly Distillery pouring at the Culinary Tent though. Firefly is becoming well known for their vodkas, like SweetTea Vodka.

Because it was our first time, we made the mistake of choosing to enter the Grand Tasting Tent on Saturday afternoon. The locals have since warned us that any other time would have been better. It was a constant stampede of pushing, drinking, jostling and then eating for a solid 90 minutes as we made our way around the two different tents.

The most memorable (and my favorite) treat came from Rio Bertolini, a fresh pasta maker from Charleston. It had a cannoli like, crunchy shell confection, a scoop of sweet fresh ricotta, and raspberry sauce. (I noticed yesterday that Etcetera in Daniel Island carried their fresh pastas.) Whoever that chef with the fantastic mac n'cheese was at the South Carolina Lottery tent: you have a solid future, my friend. Thank you Jim N Nick's BBQ for the good sized pulled pork sandwiches. The mouth watering goodness satisfied my appetite and soaked up the wine. There were entirely too many soups, bisques, etc. for this type of show. A note to future food purveyors: Stick to one dish and the line in front of your both won't explode into the aisles. Move 'em in and move 'em out so as many people as possible can sample your offerings. Otherwise, people stomp off in crowds like this or just cut the line.

Etcetera Gourmet Food Shoppe: A Daniel Island treasure

Nino and I decided to stay close to home today and try one of the establishments on Daniel Island. And we were not disappointed when we ventured into Etcetera Gourmet Food Shoppe.

The small lunch spot and grocery is located along the main road in Daniel Island. It looks like any other restaurant from the outside. Walking in the door, it struck me that this was an unusual spot for the Charleston area (and probably South Carolina as a whole). A light filled deli with a few bistro tables scattered where they could squeeze them in. The store is lined with shelves of gourmet foodstuffs from around the world, primarily from the Mediterranean.

The cheerful staff serves up sandwiches, salads, cheeses, and other gourmet delights. The menu is just long enough to give you a few options and short enough that you're convinced everything is fresh.

I had my eye on the cranberry chicken salad, but since its a Lenten Friday I chose a meatless dish instead. I opted for the smaller size Ploughman's plate. Fresh french bread slices, tangy olive oil, salty olives, dried cranberries, a nut mixture, and three cheeses of my choice. I picked an aged Manchego, brie, and idizabal. They'll pick the cheeses for you or they welcome your input. (A welcome option indeed since I know a little about cheese and most places won't let you choose.) The dish was nicely presented and tasty. There was so much on even the small plate that I couldn't finish. They offered both sweetened and unsweetened ice tea. I mention this fact because I find it's hard to get unsweetened black tea in the South.

I finished the meal with a vanilla ricotta chocolate chip cannoli. Oh baby. I like cannolis. And I'm pretty picky. Etcetera filled the fresh, crispy shell with the cream AFTER I ordered. The difference is immediate since the cream doesn't make the shell soft from sitting around waiting to be eaten. The vanilla definitely added an extra layer of sweetness that enticed my tastebuds.

Lunch isn't the only reason to stop here. Their gourmet shop stocked things even I hadn't seen before. Watermelon peach preserves from Greece anyone? The wide selection of Italian gourmet products, teas, fresh cheeses, deli meats, and delectable chocolates was pretty impressive for any area, but especially here.

Nino's lovely Italian aunt who we are has often bemoaned the lack of good Italian food stuffs in the Charleston area. (Aunt Joan was raised in New York by 100% Italian parents.) She's the one who recommended we check our Etcetera. And maybe that's about the best compliment you can get.

Charleston's Southend Brewery and Smokehouse

Nino dragged me to Southend Brewery and Smokehouse in Charleston for lunch today. As you can tell already, brewpubs aren't my favorite. I don't drink microbrews, macrobrews, or anything that smells or tastes like beer.

So, I judge these watering holes on their food and other drinks. The bar is pretty high considering we currently live in Portland, Oregon.

I ordered she-crab soup, a woodfired pizza, and french doughnut bread pudding.

First though, I started with a cosmopolitan. (I'm a freelance writer so I can drink at lunch without getting in trouble). Their cosmo was better than average. It was fruity, if a little weak. They actually got it right though. A good first step.

The she-crab soup, a lowcountry specialty, was decidedly below average. Not creamy enough for my taste. I can tell you that the crab was fresh because I found a few shells in my soup.

I ordered my woodfired pizza with smoked red onions, mushrooms, and smoked chicken. This is one of their specialties, so I was especially hopeful. Unfortunately, the server left the pizza waiting on the counter for almost ten minutes under a heat lamp. (We could see it from our booth.) She was busy or waiting for Nino's pulled pork sandwich to be finished, not sure which. This made the cheese plastic-like. I ate 2 pieces of six. I did take the rest back to our rental home though and am hoping that it warms up in the oven better tomorrow.

The french doughnut bread pudding was the highlight of the meal. Slightly soft vanilla ice cream topped a buttery, flaky pastry delight; golden raisins were nestled inside. We fought over the last couple of bites. :)