Holy Moly, Charleston

The Captain told me this morning as we were sailing out of Charleston that we had ventured into international waters on our sail down from Beaufort.  Wonder if I can get a passport stamp for that?

Seas are good right now, but winds are going to be getting stronger as the day progresses.  Got my Bonine on early, so I'm feeling pretty good.  Elliott has crashed on the settee and The Cap and Mike are in the cockpit chatting and laughing; gosh, sometimes they giggle like teenage girls.  I love the sound of it.

Charleston is a town I like very much; the houses, the stink of the carriage ride horses, the Battery with its view out to sea and houses that I drool over no matter how many times I see them.  The porches, the gardens, the cars.  And, of course, the FOOD!  Now, we are not connoisseurs of the restaurants of Charleston because we've found one that covers all the bases for us.  Jestine's Kitchen, right on Meeting Street across from the firehouse.

I don't know how I found out about Jestine's, but if it was a recommendation by a friend, I am indebted forever.  I may have told you before but we have planned trips around a visit to Jestine's.  One year, on the way back from the Bahamas, we arrived in Charleston on a Monday and they were closed.  We were only to stay one day, but we stayed over just long enough to grab an early lunch there before hitting the road again for home.

What makes Jestine's so special?  I believe it's the fact that if I'd been closer to my southern grandparents (physically), that these meals would be representative of what would have been served on a Sunday after church, except that my grandparents did not go to church.  Fried chicken, fried pork chops, ham steaks, collards, black-eyed peas, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, corn bread.  The type of food that makes you sit back on the couch, stretch, and say "Ahhh!" as you nod your head for an afternoon nap in the bit of sun coming in through the living room window.

When we first got in, we expected to chill at the boat for most of the day.  Another boat came into the slip next to us almost hitting our dinghy up on the davits.  Whew!  We got

up a little late and thought of washing Nalani down to remove salt, and do general straightening up.  Thankfully, good friends from North Carolina asked if they could come down in the afternoon to go to Jestine's and walk around town.  Aren't they awesome to save us from the aforementioned jobs?

I have known my friend D since 8th grade; we met and hit it off immediately.  All through high school, we would talk Martian, write notes in backward script, and generally wreak havoc on our Algebra teacher, probably a brilliant person, but we were not impressed at that crazy age.

She and I have kept in touch over the years, through marriages, babies, moves, and though I don't see her much, I love her like a sister.  Granted, we have different ideologies on many things, but we are connected by the heart, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  I don't ask her to change her view, not does she mine, and we are symbiotic anyway.  And I love her family, too; we always have a great time together.  When they arrived, she brought peppers from her garden, soup (because it was still so durn cold) and homemade cookies.  We are so lucky.

They really enjoyed Jestine's, as we knew they would.  I love taking friends there to try it the first time.

We walked very different places this time around in Charleston and it was a good thing, just to be able to see new things in a town that you've been to quite a few times.  And I love getting off the tourist track anywhere I go, even though the touristy areas are awesome, just to see real folks working in their yards or meet lovely dogs (like Lucy--whose picture I will post) who just wagged herself up to the fence into the adoring arms of Elliott.  He stayed with her about 10 minutes and was still sad to go.

We didn't do much shopping, some window shopping, but we only put real money down for meals at Jestine's, nuts at the Peanut Store, and definitely, Moon Pies and Goo Goo Clusters and RC Cola, and of course, some traditional Benne wafers, which we love.