Good Food

   We are on our annual pilgrimage to the south. Right now we are in the lovely city of Greenville (not Greensville) South Carolina. We have spent the last three days enjoying Myrtle Beach with a day trip to my favourite city, Charleston.
   We try to eat in places we have never been before. This trip we found two really good places.
    The first place is Vicini's in Myrtle Beach. If you are looking for some good Italian food, that is the place to go. It's small and quiet. The decor is bright and cheerful. There is an ample selection of wine bottle on one wall if you are so inclined.
    They have something on the menu that I've only seen at one other restaurant in my life. The serve cavatelli. It's hard to explain cavatelli. It's a small rolled noodle. According to the menu the dough has ricotta cheese in it.
  Cavatelli is something I've grown up with. The only restaurant I've ever seen it served at was the one in the town my grandparents lived in. My grandmother worked there when I was young. Once a week a group of women who were either immigrants from Italy or children of immigrants would come to the restaurant and cook. They'd make huge batches of spaghetti, ravioli and cavatelli. The would make gallons and gallons of tomato sauce. At lunchtime they would break for lunch and eat a little of what they'd made.
  My grandmother catered wedding for many years. The menu always included cavatelli. I never knew if it was because it was that good or if it was because my grandmother's rates were that low. As a teenager I didn't eat cavatelli much because I had it all the time. The last time I had cavatelli was once when I made it for a friend many many years ago.
   When I saw it on the menu my eyes almost popped out. I knew what I was going to eat.
   They served it on a big plate with meat sauce. It looked exactly like I remember it. I almost cried. I put some parmesan cheese on it and took a bite. Tears rolled down my face. It tasted exactly like I remembered. C wondered what was going on. He was concerned. I told him I was fine. These were tears of joy. I had so many good memories of living with my grandparents out on the farm. I remembered playing on the floor of the restaurant while my grandmother and the other women cooked. I remember helping them sometimes.
   I happily ate my way through the entire plate. It was wonderful.
   We went to Charleston last Wednesday. We went on a carriage ride. Our guy was a witty and smart fellow named Mike W. (because there are three other guys named Mike) His comments as we rode down the streets of Charleston were witty and informative. Our carriage was pulled by two mules named Willie and Waylon. Mike said that they didn't get along very well with each other but if they were out of sight of each other for more than five minutes they would start to bray.
  Afterwards we walked around a bit and then started looking for a place to eat dinner. We had stopped in the Huguenot church to look around. C got into a conversation with the attendants and asked them if they knew a good fish place.  They did. It was Hyman's Seafood. They warned us that there would most likely be a line. We decided that it would be best to go there right away. We walked down there.
  There was no line. Instead there were several young women who were wait staff out there. They offered us a hush puppy from a large bowl. C was happy. He loves hush puppies. We were seated right away.
   The waitress came and took our drink order. When she returned with our drinks she had a bowl of fresh boiled peanuts and a small plate of hushpuppies. I almost got up and danced for joy. I love boiled peanuts. I immediately dug in and began to eat. They were the best boiled peanuts I ever had. I could have eaten the peanuts for my meal, but there was fish. I ordered the flounder with a side of fried okra.
  When the food came it was good. The okra was fresh and  tasty. I had fried fish, fried okra and friend hush puppies. I've never eaten that much fried food in my entire life at one sitting. It was wonderful.
  I continued to pick away at the peanuts. They were so good. I told the waitress how much I liked them. She said that she'd give me some in a togo cup. I thought that she was going to give me the remains of what was left on the table. Instead she gave me fresh peanuts.
  Unfortunately I was so full. I couldn't eat more than a few of the peanuts. I felt bad as boiled peanuts taste best fresh. I kept the cup anyway. The next day I ate some. They were still good. The texture was just the same as it was when they were fresh. I ate off of that cup for a few days. Still good.
   If you are ever in Myrtle Beach and looking for Italian food remember Vicini's. If you are looking for fish in Charleston, go to Hyman's.