“From the owners of Magnolias and Blossom comes a renovated 1834 brick-wall building with an urbane contemporary decor.

It took me a couple of visits to realize the colors were changing. The lights in the floor change colors (which are the lights in the ceiling in the restaurant below). At the very least, have an appetizer at the bar upstairs before we make our way to dinner elsewhere. This was a crab cake recipe from Magnolia’s Cookbook, one of our favorite places to eat in Charleston. I decided to include some of our favorite places as part of this Edible Review. We eat, drink, and shop our way down King Street. Since it’s only a three-hour drive for us, we try to get away for a weekend once a year. We like to park our car when we arrive and walk once we get there. The FOOD, gardens, architecture, and history. We went there on our honeymoon twenty-five years ago. I thought I’d focus on what I do love about South of Broad. I’ve included this video with Pat Conroy that was on Amazon’s website, that gives a brief synopsis. This book spans twenty years, starting in 1969 and ending with Hurricane Hugo. (I’ve come to expect suicide, rape and family dysfunction from Pat Conroy, but the psychotic killer put this over the top.) I feel like this is sacrilege, only giving this book two stars, but this book was a huge disappointment for me. This book read like a soap opera there was so much drama: suicide, rape (male & female), mental illness, murder, alcoholism, adultery, and AIDS. I resisted pitching it off the Cooper River Bridge when I was in Charleston in January, but just barely. 80 or 90 pages into the book, I began to think, I don’t identify with these characters, or even LIKE them so far ( the book has 512 pages). Nothing much changed through the course of the book for me. I struggled to finish it. I really, really, REALLY wanted to read this book. It’s been 14 years since Pat Conroy’s last book came out ( Beach Music). Books, Food & Photos, my three favorite things all in one place! I’m joining Jain in her bi-monthly edible book review at Food for Thought, where in her words, pages from your book magically mix with the kitchen and your camera.

South of broad by pat conroy