Oftentimes, I find it difficult to round-up a weekend when there’s so much to say of what went down. But this weekend is in need of a recap, since it’s one of those that stands out in a year of already so much excellence.
Friday evening Mom got in, and we hung around the house before making our way over to Husk. Now, my excitement for Husk has been palpable through several posts now. When we arrived at the bar for drinks before dinner, I was positively giddy. There, we found ourselves seated in the rafters of an old but new building – one decorated to tease the eye, transporting the diner to the rusted ambiance of a southern farm.
It’s a shame that the meal itself was not exactly the meal of my Husk dreams. Perhaps it didn’t help that my expectations were beyond high, but then again I was expecting to be blown away from start to finish. Continue reading →
Since it’s almost Friday and that’s all I can think about at the moment, I thought I would post to get my mind off the fact that my mom will be here tomorrow. Can’t wait for the weekend, yet again!
All this week, Jamey and I have kickstarted our revamped diets with a variety of healthy foods and dinners. (Based on our verbal reports to each other, it sounds like he’s been doing even better than me for lunch options. Everyone give him an internet pat on the back for staying strong!)
Since my mom is coming into town Friday night (Hello, Husk!), I can already predict our weekend will be full of wonderful, rich and local food choices. I hope she has braced herself for a yummy weekend!
In the meantime, here is a picture of our sous vide teryaki pork with a side of sautéed garlic spinach.
A homemade dinner is just as good as any night out.
By the light of candlelight, glasses of wine and my Valentine’s Day roses, it was a lovely dinner to spend mid-week together. These kinds of meals are always my favorite.
Isn’t there a song called “Anticipation”? I think there is. I need to fish around for this before I can fully post, since now I have some song that has “anticipation” in the lead lyrics stuck in my head.
Oh, now I am really lame. The version I just was singing in my head wasn’t even the original by Carly Simon…
BUT! Back to the origin of this post, and the reason why anticipation is indeed building.
Yes, we’re still getting married; yes, it’s still many months away; yes, Jamey and I do plan to adopt a puppy, but not (sadly!) yet.
We are going to be dining at Husk Restaurant in approximately two and a half weeks!
If you’re familiar with the Charleston dining scene at all, you’ll know that James Beard award-winning chef Sean Brock opened Husk last fall. To our delight, it’s not only a block and a half from our house downtown, but it’s on our street.
The New York Times captures one of Brock’s tantalizing new dishes in a review of Husk today:
And his Carolina Gold rice was served as if it were risotto, creamy and toothsome at once, with local mushrooms and an egg from Sea Island (its yolk the brightest orange), surrounded by a broth flavored with ham hocks. The dish managed to evoke the marshy salinity of the air that rises off the flats of the Cooper River at low tide, as dogs run into the water below the Carolina Yacht Club. This was the promise of Husk revealed, local cooking at its best.
The review alone makes me want to reread The Prince of Tides.
Perhaps you can now understand why my anticipation is indeed peaked. My mom will be coming in to town for her birthday that weekend, and I can’t think of a better way for her to ring in another year of her “thirties” than to experience Husk. We have been looking for an excuse to check out our new neighbor down the block, and this definitely seems like the right time to do so.
So, Mama: get ready for an all-out Top Chef dining experience. Can’t wait to spend your birthday with you!
Apologies for our lack of posts around these parts; the real world has been interfering with a blogger schedule.
However, Jamey and I did manage to make time for a little dinner, games and fun this past weekend.
The pork butt and all its juicy goodness.
Saturday night, our friends Brigid and Kyle came over (and brought their new baby Connor!)
Jamey got up at 8 that morning to put a pork butt in the smoker, and arguably it was the best we’ve tasted yet with that contraption. (The pork we previously smoked was also delicious, as was the smoked chicken we worked with last week.)
Honestly, the food we put into this thing just keeps getting better and better. Our next attempt will probably involve some sort of stuffing, which we plan to mix with the mortar and pestle Jamey also got for Christmas. (I told you he got a bunch of cooking contraptions this past holiday, for which we are extremely grateful.)
We paired the meat with a side salad, some fresh green beans, a delicious sampler cake that Brigid and Kyle brought, and of course plenty of spirits.
You can read more about Brigid’s take on the night on her blog, as well as see some interesting pictures of Jamey and me. (It’s ok, we are secure in our level of attractiveness…although Kyle, Brigid and Connor’s normality may make us seem that much more ridiculous.)
But Connor chilled on our floor all night! It was more than precious.
We finished up the evening with a game of Mexican train dominoes, and I dare to say that we might have started a new board game addiction for the Hines family. (I think the Lenenskis and Monahans can truly identify. 2 a.m. domino games anyone? Dad?)
Dominoes by candlelight (and wine).
All in all, it was a stellar evening for an all-around relaxing weekend. Can’t wait to do it again.
Jamey & Claire 