A beautiful day in the neighborhood = barbecue

It's going to be a beautiful weekend in Charleston, and not just because of the weather. The delectable scent of perfectly seasoned barbecue will be wafting from Marion Square, cooked up by pitmaster Jimmy Hagood and his Big Red Rig team.

It's part of the SEWE celebration, and Jimmy's teaching some of his tasty techniques in a new class he's calling "'Cue Camp." I learned all about it for my article in today's Post and Courier, which continues my always tasty journey to write about food. I haven't met a barbecue style I don't like (thank goodness for running shoes!), so I was excited to interview him again. I'd spoken to him a few years ago for a Lowcountry Living profile, and he was just as gracious as ever.

He's already been on the Today show and is featured in this month's Garden & Gun, so catch his camp while you can. I bet he's about to be even more busy than he already is ...

Up next for me -- The BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival. Better go for that run!

I'm Wild for Wild in the Kitchen

For this year's Southeastern Wildlife Exposition section in the Post and Courier, I had the opportunity to write about a new program which focuses on S.C. products and local chefs using those products (read article here on p. 10). Part "state fair" tent and demonstration kitchen, Wild in the Kitchen was a great event B. and I got to attend this past weekend.

Besides seeing a great cooking demonstration by Fred Neuville, here's what we sampled as a roving breakfast of sorts -- remember, all produced in S.C.-- in as faithful an order as I can remember:

-- boiled peanuts
-- a pork rind with barbecue sauce on it
-- a tortilla with barbecue sauce on it
-- creamy cheese grits
-- dry wine from noble grapes
-- semi-dry wine from muscadine
-- bloody mary mix
-- quail
-- more cheesy grits
-- pimento cheese
-- pickled okra
-- chocolate milk from the Coburg dairy

And then I was hungry for lunch.