Savannah - a.k.a. Binge Fest 2011

We walked and ate our way through Savannah one cold and cloudy weekend in January. I’m a Paula Deen fanatic, so a trip to Savannah was a must for me!  Her restaurant, The Lady & Sons, is in the heart of the historical district of Savannah.  Yes, that was my main (only) motivation to go to Savannah. Paula Deen has truly inspired me in the kitchen – and she’s one heck of a lady, too! If you like to read non-fiction, I highly recommend her memoir, “It Ain’t All About the Cookin’.” She’s good stuff, y’all.

We made the road trip to Savannah and arrived on Friday evening. The kids, of course, were beyond cranky and tired so they went to bed immediately. I took one glance out of our hotel window, longingly, and then hid in the bathroom with my People magazine, a granola bar and a mixed drink that the hubby commandeered from the overly talkative barkeeper in the lobby.  Woo hoo!  Happy Hour in the bathroom!  It was worth it because the kids slept well and woke up happy in the morning, allowing us a very long day of walking around, eating and site-seeing.

We woke up very early on Saturday morning (see my previous post on this subject!) and found the most delightful little café called Goose Feathers.  We all loved it, but Sienna still talks about this little café and wants to know when we’ll go back!  And she’s not easily impressed!  We ordered an assortment of yummy treats; the chocolate croissant and pecan cinnamon bun were especially delicious.  

I love these kiddos!

After breakfast, I cued up to make a reservation at The Lady & Sons.  Once I had our lunch reservation, we walked around the historical district, admired the beautiful homes, toured several of the park squares, sat on Forrest Gump’s bench (!!) and then, before we knew it, it was time to eat lunch! 

Let me make this clear: the restaurant lived up to the hype!  I ordered the buffet – to sample a little bit of everything – the fried chicken, okra, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc., were all so delicious.  But, my favorite part of the meal was the fried green tomatoes.  The lightest, tastiest batter you could ever imagine!  Highly recommend those, if you ever stop by! It was so fun to finally taste a butter cake (or a “ooey-gooey cake”) from the original source!  And the banana cream pie was heavenly.  I’ll have to try that recipe sometime soon… 

No, that's not really her.  But I wish it was!

To say the least, we were FULL.  To take a break, we jumped on a horse carriage tour and learned the inside scoop about Savannah.  Did you know it’s the most haunted city in America?  Boooooo!  The horse carriage ride was also a perfect time for the kids (and parents) to nap.  Hope the tour guide wasn’t too insulted that we all napped in the back row! 

Then, you guessed it, time to eat AGAIN!  We ended up at The Pirate House, a real old-world pirate tavern turned touristy restaurant.  It was an odd meal, for many reasons, but the highlight was trying fried pickles.  Yep, that’s right…they even fry pickles!  Those little bad boys were surprisingly good.  I loved the vinegar and salt flavor burst and crunchy-gooey texture. 

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped for homemade ice cream! 

Cheers!

I tried to convince myself that the we might have cancelled the amount of calories consumed with the amount of walking we did during the day but that’s probably wishful thinking.  Oh well.  When in Savannah...

Besides all the yummy food, I really loved that we could walk everywhere.  The area is easy to navigate because it’s on a grid system and the locals were friendly and helpful. It was a wonderful trip for us – the city has such a unique charm and we enjoyed too many delicious treats!