Simple Fresh Southern

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Simple Fresh Southern--this is the title of the newest cookbook by The Lee Bros., Matt and Ted, whom I had the pleasure of hearing speak at the SC Book Festival last Saturday afternoon. Matt and Ted are from Charleston, SC, and are food journalists. They write for Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, GQ, The New York Times, and are the wine columnists for Martha Stewart Living.

They also founded The Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalogue, a mail-order catalogue for southern pantry staples like stone-ground grits, fig preserves, and, of course, boiled peanuts, as well as writing cookbooks.

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And on top of all this, they're really cute and funny.

While talking about their cookbook, they discussed the origin of the boiled peanut, (apparently boiling a peanut is a disgusting thought to many northerners--who knew?), as well as their recent appearances on Martha Stewart's show and Throw Down with Bobby Flay.

I didn't spring for their new cookbook at the Festival, as the line to get it signed was longer than I was willing to wait, and I haven't paid full-price for a book in ages, (love half.com); but I fully intend on purchasing it soon.

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So Many Things, So Little Time...

There is a LOT going on in Columbia in the next few days...I will probably be adding to this list later in the week, but here goes:

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February 23rd (today): At a City Hall Press Conference scheduled for 4 pm today, Mayor Bob Coble and animal advocates will proclaim Spay Day! National Spay Day is an initiative that promotes the importance of spaying and neutering pets, which significantly decreases the high population of stray animals. The Humane SPCA, Animal Mission, and other local animal shelters are all in support of this initiative. (More on Spay Day events later in the week...see below).

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Tonight- go see A Single Man at The Nickelodeon. This Golden-Globe nominated film starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore (swoon) will only be playing through Thursday.


Friday, February 26th: Go to the Spay Day Benefit Concert at Elbow Room in 5 Points. Show starts at 8 pm and tickets are $5 in advance from Sid & Nancy, or $7 at the door. Artists include: Kenley Young & the Open Fires, Mean Weiner, Todd Mathis, The Thirsties, and Josh Roberts & Leslie Branham. All proceeds benefit the local Humane Society.

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SC Book Festival poster art by Columbia's own Claire Farrell

Saturday, February 27th: The SC Book Festival is this weekend--February 27th-28th at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center and admission is FREE! I plan to go Saturday to check out some of the presentations by authors of cookbooks. There will be all kinds of authors on hand to speak about their books, sell you their books, and sign them too--children's books, arts books, history books, you name it! [For those of you who are big fans- Dorothea Benton Frank will be at the Festival discussing Return to Sullivans Island at 12:45 on Sunday]. Click here for the full Saturday and Sunday schedules.

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Also on Saturday- ride your bike, skate, walk or ride the bus to the State House at 2 pm to attend the Transportation Transformation event, DJ Chris Wenner will be spinning. This event has been organized by Aaron Johnson and Grant Robertson, who are running for Columbia Mayor and City Council, respectively. According to the Facebook invitation, "the purpose of this rally is to draw together disparate groups in order to improve Columbia's transportation system." I for one love public transportation--in other cities. It sucks in Columbia. And I work with a population that has no choice but to depend on our broken and embarrassingly under-funded system...we should all care about this issue. "The problems with our transportation affect our safety, our environment, our health, our economy, and our quality of life."

So, what's on your agenda this week and weekend?

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