I think it’s safe to say that being away from home for an extended period is synonymous with eating.
I mean, who hasn’t gone on vacation and pretty much eaten their way through the entire experience?
Such was the case for my wife Wendy and I during a whirlwind tour of much of the Southeast that began Oct. 16 and concluded last Saturday. During the road trip, we visited relatives and friends in South Carolina and Georgia, and spent a couple of days and nights in a small town on the Atlantic Ocean.
While the scenery and company was wonderful throughout, there was a theme that settled in early on and maintained until the end: Food, food and more food.
Leaving out the less impressive culinary moments, here’s sort of a chronological a recap of the main edible events.
•Saturday, Oct. 17. We arrived at Wendy’s brother’s family’s house in Columbia, S.C. in the afternoon and were soon treated to a homemade spaghetti casserole, bread and salad. The entree wasn’t a dish you’d find at the average Italian restaurant in Springfield – it was a Southern-style masterpiece smothered in cheese, and set the tone for the rest of the trip. Yum.
•Sunday, Oct. 18. Not long after we woke up, we were sitting down to a breakfast of French toast (made by Wendy’s bother Tommy and his granddaughter Abby) and bacon. About three hours later, at the most, Tommy’s wife Kelly laid out a meal consisting of classic Southern comfort food, highlighted by another casserole dish that was like chicken pot pie on steroids (with all the good stuff covered by a layer of homemade biscuits) accompanied by wonderfully seasoned navy beans and more salad.
A while later, we maneuvered our loaded bellies to the truck and went across town to stay a night with a friend named Diana. Naturally, she had prepared a big batch of barbecue pork and potato salad.
Naturally, we ate (and enjoyed) a bunch of it after the earlier intake had been adequately processed. Yum again.
•Monday, Oct. 19. We left our Diana’s place headed toward the ocean for our two-night stay at Folly Beach, S.C. (on Folly Island, next door to Charleston). That night, we ate at Loggerhead’s Beach Grill (named after the local sea turtles) and enjoyed some fantastic local flounder and shrimp.
•Tuesday, Oct. 20. We boycotted food in the morning, but ended up at Rita’s Seaside Grille for lunch. Wendy had the most amazing beet and goat cheese salad (with arugula, pickled onions and both ruby and golden beets) while I wolfed down a grouper sandwich that was so easy to enjoy that I almost wanted another.
That evening, we went back to Loggerhead’s for a while and had a great crab and cheese dip with fresh made tortilla chips. Not to be denied more food, we then went back to Rita’s with a new found friend (a New York City native now living in Charleston) and gorged on the most incredible blackened tuna watermelon nachos (with white Mexican-style cheese) and a wonderful shrimp and sauce dish.
Wednesday, Oct. 21. Before we left Folly Beach, we ate lunch at the Lost Dog Café and ran into a dish with pecan crusted mahi mahi bathed in a dark mushroom sauce sitting on a bed of cooked spinach. Oh wow.
Upon returning to Columbia, we met another friend, Delaine, at Maurice Bessinger’s Piggy Park Barbecue and inhaled some fine Southern-style pork and brisket sandwiches. Bessinger’s claim to fame is a virtually perfect mustard-based sauce that can’t be described other than to say, “mmmm.”
•Thursday, Oct. 22. It was South Carolina State Fair day with Tommy and Kelly. Surely, the border collie demonstration, pig races and performance by St. Louis’ own comedian Dale Jones were memorable – along with all the rides and buildings full of interesting displays – but the food was a big-time highlight. As we sauntered around the gigantic fairgrounds, we ate Fiske’s famous French fries and malt vinegar, “mega-dogs” (giant corndogs), teriyaki chicken on a stick and more. Burp.
•Friday, Oct. 23. We left South Carolina and headed to Flowery Branch, Ga., to stay a night with Mike and Sandi. They had several other guests there, from North Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia.
When we set foot in the house at about 2:30 p.m., a crowd was already at the table dining on great pasta and sausage, and a nice Asian salad. Of course, we joined in.
Then, barely three hours later (déjà vu all over again), Miss Sandi laid out a spread including great baked chicken, soup, potato salad and beans. Somehow, there was room to shove plenty down the hatch.
•Saturday, Oct. 24. We left Georgia before the big breakfast manifested, and as we traveled all the way back to Houston our food intake consisted of mainly, as my wife calls it, “grazing.”
Whew. We made it back alive.
Don’t get me wrong, we did our share of walking during the trip (like to see the Morris Island Light off the north end of Folly Island, and of course, back and forth at the fair) and we did lots of talking and other things along the way. But in the end, food was a seemingly inevitable focus open to close.
And we were OK with that. Besides, if you can’t get away from it, you might as well embrace it.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.