Charleston---Day Two

On Thursday, Stephen had his first day of classes.  Our hotel was walking distance from the conference, which worked out perfectly.  In fact, our hotel, the Embassy Suites in historic downtown was pretty amazing.  It is located in the original Citadel Military College in the heart of historic downtown and adjacent to Marion Square, a large park, and is on the National Register of Historic Buildings.  Check it out: 

While Stephen was in class, I got to have a relaxing morning of doing what I wanted to do---a rare occurrence.  I enjoyed a hot breakfast, took a bath, read, and caught up on blogging.  It was a great morning!

Stephen got out a little early, and our plan was for me to walk down on King Street and order some lunch to bring back to the room.  We tried out a suggestion from the concierge, Closed for Business.  Stephen ordered the Pork Slap sandwich, and I had the Jimmy Serrano Veggie Burger.  We both were quite happy with our choices.

Next, it was time to do a little site-seeing on the walk down to pick up the ferry for Ft. Sumter.  I love all the historic buildings and churches, and it was a treat to see this part of the country, places I've never before been.       

The only problem: the weather.  It was COLD and windy.  This fountain in Marion Square is frozen!!!

 We did make the walk down to the river and waited for our boat. 

I loved going through the museum and learning all kinds of new tidbits.  For instance, did you know that rice was such a big part of the economy {Carolina Gold became the name for this reason} that they actually invented a utensil for the food?  The Rice Spoon the wealthy used for their rice is pictured in silver.  The poor had to rely on wooden spoons for the task.
 

 And then we were off.  Thank goodness the boat had a downstairs, closed in area!  We would've froze our noses off!!!!

The ride over was beautiful, educational, and full of dolphin sightings!  The houses along the shorelines are AMAZING!!!!

Here's the fort, the site of the first shots of the Civil War. 

We tried to have fun, but it was SO COLD!!!!!!  

LOAD...READY....AIM...FIRE......BOOM!!!.....RELOAD!!!!

We came, we saw, we froze our tails off, and it was time to head back.  We were on the last ferry of the day, so we watched the flag coming down as we sailed away.

 Here's the Cooper River with the Cooper River Bridge in the background.  Beautiful!!!

We made the chilly walk back to the hotel, warmed up with some hot chocolate, and relaxed for a bit.  Then, we drove around and saw a little more of the city on our way to dinner.  Stephen has a friend from CRNA school who is from Charleston.  He asked her if she could go back, what would be the one place she HAD to visit for a meal.  Her response was Bassinger's BBQ, so we tried it out.

Up until this point in our vacation, I had stuck to the low-cal and mostly veggies thing.  Sorry, Dr. Naqvi, but I'm not sorry about this choice.  AMAZING SC BBQ!!!  I loved the port and the mustard-based sauce.  It was different than the Texas BBQ we can get all the time, and I loved the sides and the onion rings!  YUM!!!!  We even got a chance to talk to the owner.  We were asking the server what to order and which sides were the best.  The owner overheard our conversation and told us one of us had to try the "hash over rice."  When we looked at both of them like they were crazy and we'd never heard of such a side, he gave us a sample and asked where we were from.  "Of course, Texas!"  He did ask US where to eat when he goes to Austin in the near future, and he even came out to our table to ask more questions and answer some of ours, including the history of his family business. 

And, as if we hadn't had enough fried food, on our way back to the hotel we passed a Krisy Kreme with the "Hot Donuts" sign on.  What's a few donuts when you've already had so much, right?  

This was a great day, and not even the cold could stop us from soaking in all the vacay we could!!!  

Charleston--Day One

 Stephen had an anesthesia conference in Charleston, and I was able to tag along.  A VACATION!!!!  WITHOUT KIDS!!!  BLISSFUL!!!!

On our way: 

 We made it and got our rental car.  Notice who's driving.  I'm finally an adult--I've rented my first car. 

We checked into our hotel, a beautiful Embassy Suites in Downtown Charleston, which ended up being a perfect spot!

We had such a list of places restaurants to try, so it was just a matter of mood.  After a long list of ideas, we decided on Basil Thai, and I'm SO glad we did!  It was some of the best Thai I've ever had!

Stephen LOVED the crab wontons, which he almost never does.  I always get the Tom Kha Gai soup, and this one did not disappoint!   It came to the table in its own flaming bowl! 

After dinner, we walked the streets a bit, and came up to the train museum, and had to take a few pictures for Meow-Meow. 

Then it was back to the hotel for some hot chocolate and a bath in our BIG bath tub!  VACATION!!!!!! 

Valentine's Day

 We had a simple v-day this year. 

The boys got some cards and goodies from both grandparents and even a box of yummy chocolate lollipops from Grama Sue! 

Several times since Christmas, each of the boys has asked me about my slippers and has mentioned wanting some.  I found a great deal after the season and got each of them a pair for under $10 total!  Score!!!  And, they love them! 

In discussing the reason for this holiday, we talked about love and showing our love in our family. 

Each morning, I added a new heart to each of the boys' doors, telling them something I love about them.  By Valentine's Day, the "heart attacks" were complete!  They looked forward to this, and in the few days I forgot, they let me know! 

Each boy had a party and exchanged valentines, even Evan, who had a v-day playgroup party. 

I wanted to go to Ryan's party at school, but watched Dayton instead.  I hear he had a great time, and he loved his box! 

 I did get to go to Kyle's school party and help out with the ice cream sundaes.  Kyle was excited to show me some of the things they'd been working on:  marshmellow creations.  His definitely looked the most builder-like.  Maybe he really wants to be a builder, afterall!
 

 For someone who doesn't like ice cream, he enjoyed this treat.  Maybe it was just for the sprinkles, candy, syrup, and whipped cream. 

 For the bags, everyone in Kyle's class made love monsters to decorate the outsides.  Kyle has enjoyed making several other monsters for all of us in the last few weeks. 

Having been out on a date the night before, I didn't really expect to do anything for dinner.  In fact, I mentioned having leftovers and The 400 special--whatever is frozen and cooks at 400, that's what we're having.  Stephen thought we couldn't do that on valentine's day, so he went to the store and picked us up the fixings for a great dinner, including flowers and wood for a fire.  I made the boys The 400 special, put them to bed, and then Stephen and I listened to some music, made shrimp and rice--and salad, poured some sparkling cider and started a fire.  It was delicious and romantic.  A great night.

Also, Stephen had the boys give me the flowers.  Ryan told me, "Dad picked them out."   Kyle said, "No, WE DID!"  {That is SO a description of their personalities.}  Later, while I was putting the flowers in water, Ryan gave his 2 cents:  "When I'm married, I'm going to get flowers for my girl.  Girls like that.  I've seen it."  What out, ladies.  Little Po's learning early!   


 And, to throw in a little something extra-----my hair is getting long enough to style.  I'm having fun with messy updos! 

Iron Chef: College Station

 We had another Iron Chef this month, and what better ingredient for February than chocolate? 

I made a chocolate chili with a white chocolate and green chile cornbread.  I didn't have a recipe for the cornbread, but figured it would work.  I bought a bar of nice white baking chocolate and set out all the ingredients the night before, as Thursday mornings are often a little crazy.  When I woke up, I saw a pile of golden foil on the kitchen floor, as if a R.O.U.S. {Rodent of Unusual Size} had been in my kitchen!  That ROUS was Evan, who had woken up at some point and eaten almost the ENTIRE BAR of chocolate!!!!!  Luckily, he left me 2 squares to work with, and the cornbread turned out.  THAT BOY!!!!! 

 Here's a sampling of some of the amazing tastes we had that day: 

 I don't know what happened to the photo of Chef Marcie's Texas Sheet Cake.  Oops! 

 These are Chef Aisling's "Best Brownies Ever"

And the winners were......Breanne for creativity, Me for taste, and Holly/Laurie for presentation.  

It was another fun Iron Chef!!!