Volume 2 Issue 23

March 23, 2007

Lettitor
By Heather Holbrook

   Driving home from Myrtle Beach on Hwy 17 last weekend, I passed several interesting cars headed the other way. Cherry condition hot rods with assorted flames painted on the sides, appropriately proud male drivers behind the wheel. Must have been a car show somewhere much to my sons’ and my delight; it made our road trip that much more enjoyable.
      Having driven across this great nation seven or eight times, and logging more than 100,000 miles in my lifetime, I find I have an eclectic taste in automobiles. And even though I can usually be found driving a golf cart, like most Americans I love my ride.
      I grew up around my grandparents’ Cadillacs, big, silver colored things with heavy doors and a memorable horn in F that Papa used liberally. I remember my family’s bright orange Vega and later, the enormous pale yellow Buick with the tan rag top. A little blue pickup truck we kept on the farm. My first car in high school, though, was a non-descript maroon Ford Tempo with a built in 8-track cassette player. I liked that car just fine, especially since for all four years of college I had no car whatsoever and rode my bike everywhere. In Missouri . In the snow.
      My first love, however, was the Jeep Scrambler. Rare now, these were extended bed Jeeps sort of like the Willy or later the Wrangler, but so laid back cool. My first cross-country drive was in a stripped down shell of a Jeep Wrangler with no locks on its doors and rubber plugs in the bare floors to let the rainwater out. That’s what I drove around in the City of Angels for several years. Later in life, I bought a brand-new hard-top Wrangler only to give it up when the children arrived. Then my husband and I moved on to more “practical” cars.
      Ah.Our 1986 Vixen XC.Those of you who have seen one of the 39 like it that exist in the world know exactly what I’m talking about and likely remember seeing it cross the Ben Sawyer. Literally we’d watch other drivers drop their jaws and mouth the words, “What in the world was that?” several times a day. With a BMW turbo-diesel engine and a Delorean design, it was like a mono-rail touring vehicle at 76 inches high that sat eight comfortably and boasted a tv, wet bar and airplane style lavatory. Like a stretch minivan, at the time it seemed suitable enough to bring our first-born home from the hospital in it. Since this vehicle was long out of production and we could only get parts from one source in Iowa , we sold it and got a family wagon of another stripe.
      This 1998 Hummer H1 four door wagon was complete with baby seat strapped in the center of the “backseat” with motorcycle straps. Now this was an old school diesel HumVee, and even with its power windows and cd player, it was a fighting machine that could and would do anything. We drove it on the beaches of the NC Outer Banks and towed a truck or two out of the surf, and in a standoff for a coveted parking place at Town Center , I would always win. My friends laughed and said, “Your car is bigger than your house.” My husband rolled his eyes and said, “Why don’t you just drive a dump truck, it’s the same thing.”
      Admittedly difficult to parallel park, I surrendered that beauty for my current micro SUV import that holds a million pieces of paper, weekly groceries and two car seats comfortably. But it’s getting to be time to trade her in and lately I have been getting restless for a dream car.
      As movie cameras were shooting the pilot for a television show a few days ago on Sullivan’s Island, I spied a “picture car” they were filming; a dark strawberry colored vintage Cadillac with fins and I immediately wanted it. So, here’s my wish list: a midnight blue 1950 Buick, one like Grace Kelly might have driven. Essentially two sofas encased in chrome and rounded curves sitting on four white-wall tires. Or a 1953 Cadillac Coupe Deville, equally fabulous. Or an enormously square Continental with suicide doors. I can still put car seats in these, right? Sure they’re impractical cars for everyday use, but considering I rarely leave the island, and maybe only log 50 miles in a typical week, I might like to drive around in a movie star mobile.
      Consider this Lettitor my want ad; if you have anything like these, email me a photo and a brief description. I’ll ride over in my golf cart and take a look.

The cheese o’ the Irish
By Kristin Hackler

      For anyone who has ever been to Ireland, there are three things that immediately calls the experience to the forefront of their memory: grass, sheep and coos. The verdant land of Ireland is so lush and so green that tests have been run on native Irish that prove they can see more shades of green than the average person. And everywhere, spotted across the deceptively monochromatic landscape, are sheep. Sheep, sheep and more sheep; and then coos. Known as cows in “the colonies”, it’s easier to call the Irish and Scottish cows “coos” because of the great difference in appearance between what we call cows and those hairy beasts; the cows, not the Irish.
      The Bos Longifron is an ancient breed of cattle with long, sweeping horns that found its way to the Baltic Shores some 6,000 years ago from its homeland in Mongolia. It’s cousin, the Bos Primigenius, had long red hair that made it look more like an enormous red-headed komondor dog than cattle. At some point, these two coos got together and created what is now commonly known as the Highland coo, a long horned, dreadlocked animal, the breeding of which played a significant role in the development and civilization of the Scottish highlands.
      One of the parent coos, the Bos Lognifron, never completely integrated itself into the Highland coo and today can still be found in the pastures of Ireland. It is this breed that the Irish credit for their amazing cheese production.
      As with most of today’s mouthwatering cheesy comestibles, the first innovations in Irish cheeses were made by monks. Although cheese making was common in the early Irish settlements, with names such as “Grus”, “Tang” and “Millsen” all referring to different types of cheese in early Irish literature, many of the Irish cheeses we know today were perfected by the Irish medieval monastic settlements. One of these cheeses is seen at almost every fancy cheese tasting these days, especially during St. Patrick’s Day, and is paired with the drink that compliments them the most; and this pairing is literally a no-brainer.
      Cahill’s Irish cheddar seems to have come about completely by accident. Although the combination seems like a recent idea, it was the monks who first put the two together. During the 14 th century, the Limerick monastic order created a cheddar that was formed and drained, but after only a brief time on the shelf was broken apart and soaked in a vat of wine. After a short soak, enough to seep wine into the first centimeter or so of each crumb, the bits were scooped back up and re-formed into a wheel. Following a few days of pressing and a week or so on the shelf, the cheese was dipped in wax to keep off the flies and sent to the county market. The creation of the cheese more than likely came about when a monk dropped a wheel while he was moving it from the aging room through the wine room and voila! A scrumptious cheese sensation that has lasted and thrived in present day.
      Although the recipe was lost for a time between the 17 th and 19 th century, the recipe was found again by William Smith O’Brien in 1848 and sixty years later, the Cahill family began producing it in the same ancient methods. Called Ardagh Chalice Wine cheese, the cheddar is named for the hometown of the Smith O’Brien family, Ardagh in Cahermoyle. The perfect pairing is the wine which is used to make this cheese; chardonnay. The Cahill’s actually follow the original Limerick Palatine Recipe for the chardonnay used in the cheese, another way of keeping it true to it’s monastic origins.
      The most popular version of this cheese, though, is the Cahill’s Irish Porter cheese. Soaked in vats of Limerick porter, this cheese is the only wheel made with a deep, rich beer, giving the cut cheese the appearance of mahogany-laced cream marble. Not only is the cheese an eye catcher, it’s made with the flavorful Bos Longifron milk and imparts a rich sharpness that’s cut perfectly with the chocolate and hops of the porter. The perfect pairing? A good pint of Guinness, Beamish & Crawford XX Porter or any good porter that you might have at hand.
      Cahill’s also makes a version of the cheese with Irish whiskey and although you could pair beer easily with it, there’s no better excuse to get out the bottle of Tullamore Dew than a slice of Cahills whiskey cheese.
      The Cahill’s porter will be the most easy to get a hold of; a steady supply is kept at Whole Foods and Earth Fare, as well as occasionally on hand at the Boone Hall Farms market.
      And as they say in Ireland, may neighbors respect you, trouble neglect you, the angels protect you, and heaven accept you.

Isle of Palms shells out for terrapins

   This year, the South Carolina Aquarium in downtown Charleston is holding a summer-long event entitled “Turtles on the Town”. Modeled after similar events such as “Cows on Parade” in Chicago, “Turtles on the Town” was created to help raise awareness for the conservation projects at the South Carolina Aquarium, as well as raise funds for programs such as the new sea turtle hospital.
      Artists willing to donate their time and work to decorating the turtles displayed their art at the Aquarium and were chosen by individual sponsors to decorate their fiberglass turtle.
     The idea of Isle of Palms sponsoring a turtle was brought up by Councilwoman Rice when the event was first introduced, who brought the idea to Mayor Sottile. The mayor, along with council, felt that the sponsorship was a wonderful idea, not only because the money raised was going toward a good cause, but the event would also help promote tourism during the summer season.
     During Spoleto and into the summer, tourists are given maps of the locations of the turtles across Charleston county, turning the sculptures into an artistic treasure hunt. Linda Tucker agreed with the idea, noting that the aquarium did a lot for the city, assisting with injured marine life and helping to rehabilitate injured loggerhead turtles. “The idea of supporting that work along with a new and interesting fun attraction for our residents and tourist just seemed like a natural fit.” 
Although Isle of Palms had planned to sponsor only one turtle, either the creativity or the cause must have plucked a heart string because the island is currently discussing the purchase of two turtles for the event. “The reason we decided that a second turtle would be nice is because we felt that it would be good to have one at the Isle of Palms Marina also.“ Said Linda Tucker, city administrator for Isle of Palms. “ When the Mayor, Councilwoman Rice and I went to the aquarium to pick out our first turtle, we got so inspired by the selections (three books worth containing many options from hundreds of artists),  that we just could not resist.“ Among the choices and themes available from the contributing artists were A Riverdog turtle, a Citadel turtle, a marine turtle, a Nascar turtle and a Sullivan’s Island turtle with a painting of the lighthouse on it’s shell. There was even a golf course turtle that both Linda and Carol thought would be perfect for Wild Dunes. Of the two artists chosen, the one picked for Front Beach was chosen because the artist, Justin Walling, worked mainly with tumbled glass. “The turtle will be covered in rounded, smooth reproduction antique mirrored glass discs and will cover every surface, but the edges will be smooth and safe to touch.” Said Linda. Because of it’s high reflection, the piece was aptly named "2007 Turtle Lover of the Year, "You".
      The second design that will hopefully be chosen for the Marina is called "Cool Waters" and is by Artist Annamarie Johnson of North Charleston.  “The surface will be painted and designed to depict the always constant cycle of life from the sun to earth to sky,” said Linda, “with flames representing the sun and all it touches. The scenes represent the array of the creatures protected and preserved by the Aquarium. “
     Both Linda Tucker and Carol Rice seem happy with the choices and hope that both turtles will be sponsored by the island. “I think that this is going to be a fun extra event for the Spring/Spoleto season this year. “ Said Linda.
All of the decorated turtles will be on display across the Charleston area during the 2007 Spoleto Festival that opens May 25. Contact the Aquarium at 843-720-1990 or stay tuned to the Island Eye News to find out when the maps will be available for tracking down your favorite artistic turtle.