Mac's, kitchen supply bliss, red solo cups and baseball boys.

On Monday I met up with my new buddy Casandra to grab a bite to eat and run some errands downtown for Father's Day.  We drove the length of West End twice before we finally came up with a place neither of us had eaten at before!  We settled on Mac's Speedshop, a new biker bar that recently opened across from the Greenville Drive ball field at 930 South Main Street.   The North Carolina based restaurant is supposed to be known for its BBQ, but I zoned in on Fish Tacos.  A BBQ place that does tacos?  Really?  Who wouldn't try that?!  I had the pulled pork taco and the fish taco. They were kind of expensive at $4 each.

The meat on both was nicely cooked, but there was almost too much going on. The pork taco had a rich and spicy aioli sauce, a mustard sauce, sweet and tangy pickled onions, crunchy slaw, and limes on soft corn tortillas. I chomped away and sauce dripped down my arm.  Along with the seasoning of the meat, it was sort of overkill, HOWEVER, I'm a picky taco eater and this place gets better-than-most cheers for their fish taco effort.   The diced blackened fish was topped with Asian Peanut Slaw, guacamole, pickled onions (which are apparently on everything), lime and ginger aioli.

The downside: the service was pretty dang slow considering there were probably a dozen customers in the whole place, it was FREEZING in there, and if you're short, you might want to bring a step ladder to climb up on the seating.  There are tables outside and a few tables inside, but the rest of the place is cram packed with tall bar tables and really tall tables along the walls.    I might recommend that you try it once, and it's probably a pretty big deal for the biker crowd in Greenville, but I probably won't be going back.

We also checked out this cool little kitchen place at McBee Station Casandra had heard about called Kitchen Arts and Pottery.  I will be going back here! It's owned by Greenville Chef turned shop owner, Liz Bardsley. She carries higher end French inspired gourmet ingredients and very cool gadgets and gizmos. Big kudos from me for carrying Leopard Forest Coffee (a shout out to my friend Ildi and her bean roasting crew). We snagged some incredibly decadent caramels that were made with black pepper, balsamic vinegar and sea salt and nibbled on them to our next stop. Casandra bought them and she shared.  A good friend, right?

Tuesday afternoon landed me at a remote lake in Tamassee, South Carolina visiting my bff Griet and her family. Couldn't you just sit with a red solo cup and stare at this view forever?

And today I trekked to Columbia for my first staff meeting as the Family Travel Insider for South Carolina Parks, Rec and Tourism!  Yea to a new job! Well, that's what I was thinking until they asked me to film a video introduction of myself on the first day.  With a script.  Panic washed over me. I had crazy flashbacks of college Shakespeare class.  I suck at memorizing stuff... now my new boss can attest to that. But I gotta hand it to him, he was patient!  I think I'm gonna like it there, and I swear I'll get better in front of a camera.

Anyone out there got a good non-apple video editing program (free) that works well for blog video editing?  I could start video blogging for you guys too maybe.

Anyone out there remember the Christian Slater movie where he had an underground radio station in his basement?  What was that called?  I used to watch it over and over again on VHS. Is video blogging our generation's less rebellious underground radio?  Just a thought.  Anyone out there?  Anyone listening? Signing off.

But not without a song...
I'm sorry, but I could listen to Carly Rae Jepsen sing this song all day long.  And the handsome baseball boys make me want to tap the roof with my fists.  Just sayin'.

Oh, and good luck to USC at the College World Series! Go Cocks!