A busy day today...starting with chores like washing..found the Laundry after some difficulty then forgot half my washing.. when getting back to the laundry my key wouldnt work...on and on the saga went..took me about 30 minutes just to get the washing on..lucky for me I was going on a tour so Peter had to finish it.Jo & I went out to Magnolia Plantation and Gardens..It was beautiful..huge gardens, then we went on a trolly tour around the swampy areas then a tour of the house...Its been in the family the whole time..Its the oldest gardens in the area I think it was put together a couple of years after Charleston was settled...dont ask me dates as I am hopeless...Alough I have found out the civil war was in 1861 not 1830 like I thought. It was a lovely morning.
Back in town I choofed off to the Central market and bought some earrings ..Theres a lady there who sells silver jewellery and it is replicas of the patterns on the wrought iron gates around the Old Quarter..So after that I went for a walk trying to find the gates to match the earrings..alas I ended up with many photos but not the right ones..turns out I missed one by about 500 yards..Darn !
Met up with Jo for dinner at "Jestines" Authentic Southern food...and it was packed, also had a line out the door the whole time we were there ..any wonder as the food was fantastic..We had Fried green Tomato's yummo, fried chicken and Jo had the chicken livers with onions. We stayed for desert and WOW..Jo had the Peach & Blueberry cobbler & I had Pineapple Bread pudding..God it was amazing. We waddled all the way back to the bus stop. What a great restaurant, deffinately up there with the Chinese in San Francisco.
Recipe for the tomato was dip the Tomato slices in buttermilk then Corn starch then fry..serve with a tomato & onion salsa....They also pickle cucumber slices..Mix water,vinegar,black pepper, sugar& onion ..add cucumber slices and marinate for 24/48 hours in fridge. You have to taste the marinade so you get the balance right...Mind you I had to twist their arms to get the recipe as they come from the original recipes that Jestine ( a negro slave) made for the family she worked for and she lived till 112 so fried chicken must be good for you ..
Also the story of the Fireman& the Dalmation dog...Apparently Fire stations have Dalmation dogs for pets as they are supposed to bring good luck..On 18 June 2007 a furniture store caught fire and 9 firemen were killed....!!! Can you imagine....!! The Dalmation statue sits out front of the station awaiting the firemen to return and they didnt.. How sad is that , and how shocking for the town.
Also found out the Pineapple story..They have a Pineapple fountain and Pineapple wrought iron and lots of nick nacks..Anyway back in the day all Pineapples came from Hawaii and if you had visitors and offered them Pineapple ..you were considered very rich..
That was 2 mysteries solved.
Fabulous city Charlston and very sad to leave it.. I have tried to take different photos today..less houses and more courtyards and gates and animals.. I hope I am not boring people with my repitition of house pictures..