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Welcome to CarVen Spice Company!

Hmmmm.... where to start? How about the beginning. 

I grew up the daughter of a proud Geechee.  Daddie was born and raised in Mount Pleasant, SC.  It's just outside of Charleston.  As I grew I began to notice that Daddie always had a story for every lesson and it was usually told while he was doing two things: building something or cooking. Being his daughter and watching how he loved my mother, well there wasn't usually a dull moment in our house.  

Mommie didn't cook. At all. Beyond filling a pot with water (maybe) or warming up leftovers, the ONLY thing she did in the kitchen was wash the dishes.  Depending on what Daddie cooked I would come running into the kitchen to hear the latest tale of his Geechee Gullah upbringing.  This would translate into dishes liked Okra Soup, Stuffed Flounder, Red Rice, Fish and Grits, Grits with Shrimp Gravy, his famous Mac and Cheese, almost anything with Sweet Potatoes and ALWAYS rice. But his food didn't taste like other peoples.  This is where I learned that as strong as our Christian faith was/is, there was something about letting the ancestors move through you while cooking.  We measured NOTHING.  I learned to cook fluffy white rice without a rice cooker and by eyeballing the ratio of water to uncooked rice.  We would sprinkle until we were satisfied.  We used our noses to smell when the seasonings and the ingredients had melded perfectly.  Most of us we connected our Spirit. 

Daddie cooked because it was his way of loving on his family and everyone else that had the pleasure of being called family.  I learned to cook watching Daddie. He in turn would close his eyes at times to remember what his momma used and what would make that regular southern dish become something that connected him and us to his culture. My friends would tease me when I would go to school and say that last night we had Fish Head Soup for dinner.  Or fried okra.  Maybe spaghetti and fish. Most times rice and juice (well, that's what I called the gravy) and flounder, or perch, or spot, or brim or catfish, and definitely SHRIMP. 

I thank God for my parents.  I know He loves me because of who he allowed to by my Mommie and Daddie.  And I learned so many awesome things from both of them.  I learned to love cooking for those I love, friends and family, because Daddie loved it. So, you may not... no, you won't, get a lot of complicated gourmet dish recipes on this site.  What you will get it is stories that food helps us to share lessons about.  And you'll learn how to sprinkle til satisfied. 

CarVen Spice Company is dedicated to crafting hand-blended seasonings for the busy, new, inexperience, lazy cook and everything in between.  We pride ourselves on pulling from our Southern East Coast and Low Country Gullah roots as we created blends that spice up our foods and our lives!

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