South Carolina is such a small town.

We're at the beach, three hours from home. But we might as well be home, because we run into the same people, eat the same food and do the same stuff, like exercise, shop, eat and blog. Yesterday, my sister in law and I had lunch at Perrone's with our friend J. from home, who also happened to be at the beach. We went to the gym before lunch, just like home. We ate an early lunch because I had to pick up Baby J, just like home. The only difference was, instead of taking him to the drop-in nursery, I left him with my parents, who just happened to be at the beach last week, too. They follow me everywhere*. But I digress.

Because my whole point was to tell you about the awesomeness that is Perrone's. If you're ever in the Litchfield Beach/Pawley's Island 'hood, you should go there. It would be wrong not to. They have everything a girl like me wants: food, wine, coffee, fancy olive oil, to-go stuff for parties, chocolate. What else is there, really? For our lunch with J., I had the beef carpaccio, and almost died it was so good. The chef used lemon olive oil (which I had to buy, of course) and horseradish and dijon mustard sauce. It was so good I felt sad when I was finished, so sad I almost ordered another one, but I thought that would negate my trip to the gym.


My sister in law ordered the BLTC Salad (bacon, lettuce, tomato and cheddar) with a crab cake on the side. J. ordered curry chicken salad, but when she saw the BLTC, decided to box up the chicken salad and order that. I love a woman who can make a quick decision. According to a sign I saw in a dressing room recently, "The road of life is paved with flat squirrels who couldn't make a decision." Yeah, that. And I'm sure the chicken salad tasted great later.


I liked it so much I had to go back later that day, this time with my husband, for a glass of wine. We ran into my orthodontist and his wife. I haven't seen him in twenty years. He was unimpressed with my diligent use of my retainers. I love that Perrone's pours three wines a day, white, red and pink for ladies European men like my husband, and they're all good.



The pink wine on the left is his. Mine is the lovely white on the right.


We liked that wine so much, we went back the next day for lunch. I had the salad, which is the best low-carb BLT evah and made my husband get the carpaccio, which he wouldn't share. Wine at lunch is okay if you're on vacation.


During lunch, J showed up with her husband and son, because that place is darn good. She pointed out she could have guessed she would love it, because the other patrons all looked like people we'd be friends with (you know, intelligent and mad stylish!) I looked around and it was true. J. also thought the flower arrangement proved Perrone's would be good. Women know these things.

We liked the wine so much, we bought some to drink with dinner. Yeah, we were drinking all day. Wanna' make something of it? Before dinner, we sent my brother and sister in law back to Perrone's for a glass of wine and a few orders of mussels to eat as appetizers. We got both kinds, Thai and regular. They were so awesome, I forgot to take a picture until they were all gone. I also had had quite a bit to drink. This is what the Thai mussels looked like, after we ate them.


During one of our many trips to Perrone's, we ran into a friend of my husband's, a lawyer down at the beach. He had his office party there and told us the after hours wine dinners are legend. I want to go to one real bad. I love the beach!


Namasté, y'all!

* And thank goodness, because otherwise, who would have kept Baby J? And who would have bought my lunch at Bistro 217? Thanks, Mom!