These days I’m back in my hometown of Greenville, South Carolina, often to spend time with my mom.  Each visit turns into an adventure as we go on culinary explorations.  My hometown has truly turned into a foodie town in recent years.  Check out my blog “Greenville Eats – My Hometown is a Foodie Town“.

My first 24 hours back in Greenville was filled with food and fitness.  I got to my mom’s house late on Thursday afternoon.  It was such a gorgeous day with temperatures still in the mid 70s, so we headed to one of our favorites.  Soby’s has wonderful al fresco dining.  My mom loves it because she can watch all the dogs out for walks and of course people watch.  We order the same thing every time we go.  We split the Mixed Greens salad with grilled local apples, Goat Lady chevre, toasted almonds and drizzled with creamy sunflower seed pesto and Seared Mountain Trout with Carolina Gold rice, snap peas, baby carrots, and orange fennel emulsion.  It was a delightful evening of great food and great conversation while we dined on the patio.

It was truly spring in February in Greenville on Friday so I decided to spend some time outside in downtown.  The dilapidated downtown I grew up with is now a bustling cosmopolitan city filled with condos, cafes, restaurants, boutiques, and galleries.  It’s a southern city on the rise where folks will greet you with smile and a “Hi y’all,” or “How you doin’?” as you walk down the street.  With companies like Michelin Tires and BMW having their North American headquarters in Greenville, my hometown has gained a little bit of a European makeover, but still keeps true to its southern hospitality roots.  In downtown you’ll likely notice the construction of new hotels and condos as the revitalization continues.  No trip home is complete without a stop in Falls Park.  I love the view from Liberty Bridge.

From there I headed out for a run along the Swamp Rabbit Trail.  I’ve written about my love of this trail before in my blog “Anything But Swampy on the Swamp Rabbit Trail.”  With temps in the 70s, it was a wonderful day for a jog along the trail.

Getting tight on time, I had to pick up the pace on my jog and literally run for yoga in order to make the 12:30pm Slow Flow class at Greenville Yoga.  I started the class sweating on my mat and left refreshed and renewed.  I’ve taken several classes at Greenville Yoga and love getting time in this zen space.  The back wall is a chalk board where folks have written why they do yoga.  Mine is in the lower left corner – “It’s my happy place” – complete with a sunshine of course!  I wrote that awhile back so it was cool to see it still there.

Hungry and needing to re-fuel post workout, but not wanting a lot to eat since it was almost 2pm, I stopped in at Southern Pressed Juicery.  I decided on the Dirty Hippie açaí bowl with açaí, avocado, banana, spinach, vanilla extract, almond milk, hemp seeds, sliced almonds, cucumber, and strawberries topped with almond butter and raw honey.  I also ordered a Mexicoco Matcha made with raw cacao, maca, cayenne, almond milk, coconut butter, cinnamon, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and Himalayan pink salt then topped with a dollop of coconut whip.  It was exactly what I needed after a run and yoga.

For dinner Friday night, we headed to a new restaurant in Greenville – Otto Izakaya.  It’s Japanese.  We started with edamame.  Theirs is sautéed with garlic and topped with parmesan for a different twist.  Both of us really liked it.  We split the veggie fried rice.  I knew it was good when my mom went back for a third scoop while I was noshing on an order tuna nigiri.  Don’t worry – I got my fair share of the veggie fried rice too!  We splurge again and ordered dessert because the fried cheesecake wontons with ice cream, sounded different.  It was yummy!

Favs after my first 24 hours:

Saturday morning I jumped into a Good Morning Flow class with Downtown Yoga Greenville at Studio 17.  It was a yummy blend of vinyasa (flow) and hatha (balance and breathing).  Plus, I love the studio space filled with pilates and yoga equipment.  I’ll definitely be back to take more classes.

Saturday night we headed to Augusta Grill.  We’ve never been disappointed here.  It’s been one of our go-to’s for years.  My dad used to love their blackberry cobbler.  We started with splitting the salad with strawberries, feta, red onions, almonds and raspberry vinaigrette.  Usually my mom and I split the trout, but Saturday night se went for the Buttermilk Fried Scallops and I had my all-time favorite southern dish of shrimp and grits.  They do theirs with just shrimp and grits sprinkled with diced tomato and drizzled with beurre blanc sauce.  So good!

Sunday morning we tried one of Greenville’s breakfast and brunch hot spots.  Every time I’ve driven by Biscuit Head on a Saturday or Sunday morning, there’s always a line out the door.  We got there about 9am, just in time before the crowds.  Both of us opted to order a couple of sides of one egg and grits with pimento cheese for each of us.  I had to go all out southern and order the side of Fried Green Tomato too.  It was my last southern cuisine of this trip so I had to go all out!