Travel Time Twenty Ten

[Prof]

moved

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

We are in Charleston and the weather and gardens are beautiful!

I greatly miss Spring in South Carolina. Magnolias and Azaleas...

[sigh]remembering childhood in North Carolina and visiting Charleston.....[/sigh]

Forgot you hail from NC. Whenever I watch the Master's I can still smell Spring, even after being gone from SC for 15ish years.

[Prof]

Same here.

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

Forgot you hail from NC. Whenever I watch the Master's I can still smell Spring, even after being gone from SC for 15ish years.

The Masters takes place in Augusta, Georgia.

Yes, in Augusta, which is on the border with South Carolina. It's all about the commentator's comments about the azaleas. They smell the same whether they're in Augusta or in South Carolina and must be wonderful right now.

[Imalawman]

Forgot you hail from NC. Whenever I watch the Master's I can still smell Spring, even after being gone from SC for 15ish years.

The Masters takes place in Augusta, Georgia.

Yes, in Augusta, which is on the border with South Carolina. It's all about the commentator's comments about the azaleas. They smell the same whether they're in Augusta or in South Carolina and must be wonderful right now.

Same here, we used to have huge azaleas at my house growing up, the smell of spring is still associated with their sweet fragrance.

Speaking of travels, we're driving cross country (halfway) to NC over memorial day. BBQ, Bojangles, and sweet tea will be consumed in mass quantities.

[Pottapaug1938]

"Sweet tea"... is that what's called "iced tea" up this way?

[Prof]

"Sweet tea"... is that what's called "iced tea" up this way?

But sugar is added while the water is still hot so that it is sweet. Putting sugar or sweetener into cold iced tea is not very satisfactory to a Southerner who grew up with "sweet tea." (For those of you who play bartender, as you know, the addition of sugar to warm or hot water makes a "simple syrup" which the tea flavors. My sweet tea does not use a true simple syrup; just water sweetened with sucralose --Splenda TM.) Chilled, and served over ice with fresh lemon wedges, this is what teetotalers in the South survived on when I was a
kid.

As for azaleas and camellias, my Dad was a very serious gardener. We had 100's of azaleas and nearly that many camellias. He died on 12/31/84. I drove home to the farm and cut enough camellias to make a compete casket spray for the funeral. He would have been very pleased, I think.

[bmielke]

"Sweet tea"... is that what's called "iced tea" up this way?

No to mention the bilge water served as Ice Tea in New England and sweet tea in the same sentence is like asking a question comparing the Yankees with the Red Sox. Just don't do it.

[Pottapaug1938]

"Sweet tea"... is that what's called "iced tea" up this way?

No to mention the bilge water served as Ice Tea in New England and sweet tea in the same sentence is like asking a question comparing the Yankees with the Red Sox. Just don't do it.

Well, I learned to make "iced tea" from my father, born in 1919 and raised in Washington. D.C. The stuff I make is pretty good on a hot summer's day....

[bmielke]

"Sweet tea"... is that what's called "iced tea" up this way?

No to mention the bilge water served as Ice Tea in New England and sweet tea in the same sentence is like asking a question comparing the Yankees with the Red Sox. Just don't do it.

Well, I learned to make "iced tea" from my father, born in 1919 and raised in Washington. D.C. The stuff I make is pretty good on a hot summer's day....

If it's home made chances are it's good, but the stuff you get in a restraunt in New England is nothing compared with what you get down here.

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

"Sweet tea"... is that what's called "iced tea" up this way?

No to mention the bilge water served as Ice Tea in New England and sweet tea in the same sentence is like asking a question comparing the Yankees with the Red Sox. Just don't do it.

Well, I learned to make "iced tea" from my father, born in 1919 and raised in Washington. D.C. The stuff I make is pretty good on a hot summer's day....

I think we'll all agree that there is a gulf of difference between the ambrosia known as properly brewed ice tea (sweet or not) and that abomination known as instant tea.

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

Same here, we used to have huge azaleas at my house growing up, the smell of spring is still associated with their sweet fragrance.

Speaking of travels, we're driving cross country (halfway) to NC over memorial day. BBQ, Bojangles, and sweet tea will be consumed in mass quantities.

Great time of year to travel through that part of the country, especially from Nashville down to NC.

[Imalawman]

"Sweet tea"... is that what's called "iced tea" up this way?

no, "iced tea" in NC means sweet tea, unless you specify unsweetened. Where I live, in Iowa, iced means, unsweetened tea and one cannot even purchase sweet tea in these parts. BOOO!

I don't ask for much, but goddam it I want sweet tea and grits. Is it too much to ask that I have access to them in a least ONE restaurant up here?!?!?!

[Pottapaug1938]

I think we'll all agree that there is a gulf of difference between the ambrosia known as properly brewed ice tea (sweet or not) and that abomination known as instant tea.

"Abomination" is too good a word for it. I won't order it in a restaurant unless it's the homemade stuff.

[bmielke]

"Sweet tea"... is that what's called "iced tea" up this way?

no, "iced tea" in NC means sweet tea, unless you specify unsweetened. Where I live, in Iowa, iced means, unsweetened tea and one cannot even purchase sweet tea in these parts. BOOO!

I don't ask for much, but goddam it I want sweet tea and grits. Is it too much to ask that I have access to them in a least ONE restaurant up here?!?!?!

Every Waffle house I have ever been in (Even in the North) has Sweet Tea, it is not drinkable, but if you are itching for a taste of the South it is tea, and is sweet. Cracker Barrels everywhere have grits, but not being a fan I have no way of knowing if they are good or not.

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

I think we'll all agree that there is a gulf of difference between the ambrosia known as properly brewed ice tea (sweet or not) and that abomination known as instant tea.

"Abomination" is too good a word for it. I won't order it in a restaurant unless it's the homemade stuff.

Exactly. I used to go to a coffee house when I was in college to get fresh brewed iced tea. It was so fresh that it was served in two containers: a steeping pot, and a big glass filled with ice. You poured the hot tea over the ice and it ended up the perfect blend and temperature for drinking.

[Imalawman]

"Sweet tea"... is that what's called "iced tea" up this way?

no, "iced tea" in NC means sweet tea, unless you specify unsweetened. Where I live, in Iowa, iced means, unsweetened tea and one cannot even purchase sweet tea in these parts. BOOO!

I don't ask for much, but goddam it I want sweet tea and grits. Is it too much to ask that I have access to them in a least ONE restaurant up here?!?!?!

Every Waffle house I have ever been in (Even in the North) has Sweet Tea, it is not drinkable, but if you are itching for a taste of the South it is tea, and is sweet. Cracker Barrels everywhere have grits, but not being a fan I have no way of knowing if they are good or not.

The Cracker Barrel here does NOT have grits (I've checked). No Waffle Houses here at all. Any other suggestions? Thanks, though.

[bmielke]

The Cracker Barrel here does NOT have grits (I've checked). No Waffle Houses here at all. Any other suggestions? Thanks, though.

That's surprising.

Arizona Ice Tea makes a decent Sweet Tea, Walmart in PA had it by the gallon, down here they have concentrate in the Tea aisle.

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

The Cracker Barrel here does NOT have grits (I've checked). No Waffle Houses here at all. Any other suggestions? Thanks, though.

How about fixing up some grits at home? My wife makes cheese grits (using a recipe from some Alabama friends) that are as good as any greasy diner grits I ever had in SC.

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

Later this year when I visit New Orleans I plan to enjoy sweet tea and something I have not had in a very long time (as in decades) - fried chicken...

Whaaaaaaaat? Why have you deprived yourself of one of life's grandest culinary pleasures? I've been feeling imalawman's pain for not having grits, but geez. Have you been on a personal mission of some sort? Do you self-flagellate too?