Charleston Visit and Kutcher's German Honeymoon

We recently returned from an amazing trip to Charleston, SC for a few wedding celebrations.  

As we entered the Atlanta International Airport, employees hovered along the corridors, cheerfully greeting us like southern family, "Welcome home y'all."  I don't recall ever having such an enjoyable experience in the customs area.  Perhaps, spending the past year among quiet lean Germans made me appreciate jolly meaty Americans.  South Carolina's 80 degree weather was also a welcomed change - paradise at last!

Charleston has more quality restaurants per square mile than any other city so I had to prioritize my dining experiences.  The premier outing to Xiao Bao Biscuit, a remarkable spicy "Asian soul food" spot downtown was divine!  

XXB with Lou & Hope (Koening too), Stripes and crutches theme night

Another memorable meal was at The Boathouse on IOP for at Bryan & Meg's rehearsal dinner.

Me & Jamie excited for some fresh seafood-  succulent mahi mahi, stoneground grits and green beans

We also celebrated Alicia & Brian's engagement at Megan C's stellar house downtown.

Incredibly excited for our upcoming Austrian Ski Haus Trip with Sabrina & John (above right) & "fam" Feb 2014!

Boone Hall Plantation, with it's marsh views and weeping willow trees, was an idyllic setting for Meg & Bryan's wedding day.

Gorgeous bride and her dad (many gals were gawking at this handsome man in uniform)

Tash, Me, Lou and sweet tea cocktails

Beauteous Carolina sunset on the marsh

Scoots and Frau

Friend, Leon, Megano'

The best part of visiting Charleston was seeing friends and family and their beautiful offspring.

CC Inc. and Jess's & John's creation - aka baby Walt

Holly Mataosky (Scott's cousin) with princess purse

 Christian Mataosky sporting a versatile garment like his cousin Scott

Jack Scheerer- my 2nd cousin rocking his new Euro tanktop

Royal Elizabeth Grace (daughter of Kelly & Rhino Reynolds)

I also got to spend my birthday night out in Charleston with my parents and my in-laws Sis & Skip.  A newly opened bar (to us), The Craftsmen Kitchen & Tap House was our first stop.

Ira and Skip have the palates of JV cheerleaders -slurping fruity cider beers and vodka Sprites

Later, we enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner at Hanks.  

Scoot, Sis, and Special Seafood Tower

We also celebrated the upcoming nuptials of Tash & Mike!  We feasted on pulled pork, mac n cheese, and roasted oysters at Tuxburry Farm.  Can't wait to see the real deal wedding in England in a few weeks!!!

It was truly wonderful reuniting with close friends and family.  Special thanks to Mic, Julie, Jamie, Logan, Hope & Kenneth for letting us couch surf at your lovely homes.  Thanks Mark & Deb for hosting a pre-Thanksgiving/B-day party!  We really appreciate it!

Before flying back, we stopped for one last "only in America" meal at The Early Bird Diner. 

Honey mustard drizzled fried chicken & syrup soaked cinnamon waffles

On the way to Germany, the flight attendant seemed perplexed as she looked at our seat numbers.  When she winked at me, I wondered if she planned to move us to a spacious Emergency Exit row.  Eventually, she awkwardly approached and said, "Are you Mr. & Mrs. Shank (pause) with the special Asian-Vegetarian and Hindu Meal requests?" 
 Of course we are!  At that moment, I learned how it felt to be racially profiled.  

When we got back to Stuttgart, the Kutchers came to visit as the finale to their Euro Honeymoon.  Bryan is often adorned in colorful tapered pants and considers himself a trendsetter in Charleston so he was thrilled to shop and embrace his Germanic metrosexual roots.

Kutcher's favorite store - he claims the selection is better in Europe

We skipped Thanksgiving traditions, like boring unappetizing turkey, and had a delicious German feast then bounced to the local Christmas markets.

Meg & Bryan - Snow in foreground, Weihnachtsmarkt in the background

Scoot's bundled up in warm Peruvian hat (from Logan's travels)

The most famous xmas drink in town is Gluwein.  I have always been partial to the traditional (warm red wine sweetened with cloves and cinnamon spice) and this year discovered a white gluwein (white wine, egg nog, liquor of some sort and vanilla) that is tasty but dangerous (see next blog...).

Scoot's grumpy because:  A.) he hates gluwein  or  B.) we were taking millions of photos


Kutch ice skated with this penguin to keep him from busting his tuchus

The next day, we rode the train for about an hour to historic Heidelberg, Germany.  The famous Heidelberg Castle is a majestic ruin from the Renaissance period.  

Shloss Heidelberg was built sometime between 1294 and 1303

The Heidelberg Tun is an enormous wine vat with the capacity of 57,000,000 liters of wine.

Scoots was thirsty and didn't realize 136 oak trees were destroyed to construct this massive wine barrel

White men can jump - Me, John, Scoot, Sasha, Mariel, Kutch, Joe, Meg (left to right)

Scaffolding is soo hot right now in Germany

 On their last day, the Kutchers drove with Scoots about 4 hours south to the glacial area of Solden, Austria. 

Solden has ginormous slopes so I stayed home to protect my teeth

Ski season just commenced and they were all thrilled to snowboard in the Alps. 

Meg, Bryan, Scott

High up on the slopes, Scoots and friends discovered a huge stage with an Electronic Dance Party DJ!

Newlyweds!

Dancing dinosaurs

To see footage from this random mid- day dance party click here:
https://vimeo.com/80725843

 They drove back after a full day of "bombing" down the mountain and we had dinner at our neighborhood Portuguese joint, Beja. 

Grilled Prawns and Seafood Stew

We had a wonderful time with the Kutchers and look forward to their next Euro trip/visit! 

Speer's Trip to Europe!!!

Scott and I had been excited for Nate & Dana's visit to Stuttgart for many months.  Nate has been Scott's best bud since 3rd grade when Scott was a bashful introvert and wore rec specs.

Dana and Nate are world travelers but this was their first European trip.

We served them our favorite German beer and showed them Stuttgart's top attractions.  One day, we were scared that we lost Nate forever.  

Nate's train ticket says  2 zones but Nate "explored" all 6 zones 

His plan was to take the train to Scott's office (10 mins away) for lunch and instead he rode for 3 hrs and sadly never found Scott.  Fortunately, (for me since I put him on the wrong train), Nate is a positive spirit and grinned saying, "no big deal, now I have mastered the Stuttgart rail system for our ride to Paris; it's time for a beer!"  

We also attended the Leinfelden Krauterfest (festival of cabbage)!

Cabbage Queens

It should have been no surprise that this was a large event with cabbage vendors and entertainment since Germans love fests and kraut.

cart o krauts

Shots of Baileys from cabbage leaves was not a big hit.

Check out the Germans smooching in the background - clearly, kraut is a real turn on

The Speers celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss with plenty of beer. 

Nate with Dana tasting the local specialty- sauerkraut goulash

Massive piles of oddly shaped cabbage surrounded us on ever street.

Boy in background sporting the trendy cabbage hat

The next day, the Speers took the train to Paris and we went back to work.  The following weekend, we drove to Lake Como, Italy.

Speers and Scoots waiting for the ferry to Bellagio

The drizzly cloudy weather didn't stop us from exploring the famous gardens.

Thrifty Frau Shank's hair growing long and unruly, excited for an upcoming trim in Charleston

Pretty sunset not depicted well in this picture

We relaxed at my favorite wine bar, Cantina Folie, that I had discovered with Cindy.  The service and quality were still buonissimo!

Lots of wine - we each tasted 4-5 types and picked our favorites

The next morning, we drove to Alba, located in the Piedmont region of Italy.  This area is famous for superb Northern Italian cuisine so we scheduled a cooking class at Per Tutti i Gusti.

Nebbiolo grapes and pretty autumnal colors

Per Tutti i Gusti is a family run business in the heart of the Barberesco wine country.  Three generations (Grandma, Patrizia & Baby Lucia) live together on this small farm where they sell local homemade specialty products.

When I asked Patrizia if they make goat cheese, she looked perplexed- thus, these goats are in fact pets

That day, after spending quality time with this wonderful happy family, Scott and I decided we are ready to take the next step in our relationship ...

This beats a hairless cat

...we are going to get a pet goat! 

  I was excited to see all of the ingredients were already measured, chopped and ready for us to start cookin!  We worked in a huge industrial style kitchen that was better than I expected (based on cost and previous emails).

Patrizia in middle,  bowl of green is the spinach ricotta filling for the agnolotti (mini special ravioli)

Patrizia and grandma taught us how to knead the dough make fresh pasta from scratch.  

Scoots focusing intensely on filling his pasta

We cooked Bagna Cauda combining boiled young garlic and anchovies (pics looked scary but it was divine) and made potato gnocchi with a hearty ragu sauce.

I was surprised to learn the only ingredients in gnocchi are flour, potato, and egg

Last but not least, we rolled dough for Paste Di Meliga- corn flour biscuits (served with a zabaglione sweet cream and Mosacato wine sauce)

 Doughboy Scoot's biscuits were shaped oddly but he looked like a pro in his manly apron

While we cooked, we sipped wine and tasted a variety of local cheese, meat, truffle creams, honey, sauces, jams... 

Finished product:  spinach & ricotta agnolotti with an herbed brown butter thyme sauce

The family invited us to the dining room and served us wine from their uncle's cellar (no label on these bottles) as well as Grappa and Limoncello.

"Chin Chin" we toast like Italians

 After dinner, Nate wandered back to the kitchen to hang out with Grandma (adorable lady spoke zero English and LOVED Nate and his cooking skills).

Pasta machine we did not use  (this would have been cheating but much easier)

 The next day, we went to the famous Fiera Del Tartufo (White Truffle Festival).  White truffles are considered one of the world's most prized and luxurious delicacies.  Pigs and dogs are trained to hunt truffles in the Alba countryside.

According to wikipedia, "The record price paid for a single white truffle was 330,000 USD (£165,000) for a specimen weighing 1.5 kilograms (3.3 lb), discovered by Luciano Savini and his dog Rocco."

For a mere 10 euro, we spent hours in a huge exhibition hall sampling truffle creations and sipping wine from the over 30 local vineyards.

Most of the food was exquisite but we stayed away from a few local favorites like the carne cruda (below).

Raw beef resembling an uncooked Wendy's shaped hamburger, no grazie!

More photos from the truffle extravaganza below: 

Italian man shaving truffles over fresh fried eggs (this was superb)

Highest quality Parmesan Region

Travelling with the Speers was truly enjoyable and we look forward to many more vacations with them in the future!