Soccer fans, get ready! The Charleston Battery kicks off its pre-season schedule with an away game scrimmage versus the College of Charleston on February 21. They will then play three exciting matches against Major League Soccer opposition in the Carolina Challenge Cup, February 25 – March 3 right here at Blackbaud Stadium on Daniel Island.

Following the conclusion of the Carolina Challenge Cup, the Charleston Battery’s next pre-season match is on Wednesday, March 7 at Coastal Carolina University. The Battery will then play a mixture of college and professional teams throughout the remainder of preseason as it sets its sights on the USL PRO opener on April 7 at the Richmond Kickers.

Charleston Battery soccer is a terrific way to spend an evening with family and friends. Be sure not to miss the Fun Zone! Open 60 minutes before kick-off through the end of each home game, this interactive soccer theme park has activities for kids of all ages.

The pre-season schedule is as follows:
February 21 at the College of Charleston 8pm
February 25 vs. Columbus Crew 7:15 PM
February 29 vs. D.C. United 7:15 PM
March 3 vs. Chicago Fire 7:15 PM
March 7 at Coastal Carolina University 5pm
Mar 10 at Atlanta Silverbacks, 4pm
Mar 17 vs. Clemson University/College of Charleston, 2pm
Mar 24 vs. Wilmington Hammerheads, 4 PM
Mar 25 vs. Coastal Carolina, 2pm
Mar 29 at Carolina Railhawks TBD

Come check out the action at Blackbaud Stadium. Special group rates are available. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at charlestonbattery.com or by calling (843) 971-GOAL.

Looking to extend your Valentine’s Day festivities? Celebrate music with your loved one as string and brass quintets from the Charleston Symphony Orchestra perform Masters of the Romantic Era at Providence Baptist Church on Saturday, February 18. This romantic evening will feature the music of Puccini, Schubert, Dvorak and Victor Ewald.  The concert starts at 7:00 pm. Following the performance, a reception will offer the opportunity for audience members to meet and mingle with the musicians. Light refreshments will be served. Tickets cost $15 and can be purchased at www.charlestonsymphony.com.

We all know how important the green spaces and parks are on Daniel Island to island residents and friends.  If you enjoy gardening and being outdoors, then you will definitely want to participate in the Garden in the Parks event at Etiwan Park on Saturday, February 11 from 10am – 12pm. Sponsored by the Charleston Parks Conservancy, this event will help make the pocket garden in Etiwan Park continue to look beautiful! Activities include winter pruning of roses and more.  Don’t come empty handed.  Bring your tools and shears and contribute to maintaining the beauty of this wonderful park.  The Charleston Parks Conservancy’s mission is to care for and improve Charleston’s 120+ parks.  By helping out, you are contributing to the city’s beauty, health and economic strength.  For more information, click here.

Calling all Family Circle Cup Tennis fans!  This is your chance to be an integral part of one of Charleston’s signature events.  The Family Circle Cup is currently accepting applications for 375 adult volunteer positions for the March 31 – April 8 event.  This year, the Family Circle Cup will be celebrating its 40th consecutive year, right here in the Best Tennis Town in America, Charleston, SC.

“Without the outstanding efforts from our volunteers, the Family Circle Cup wouldn’t be the world class event it is today,” Eleanor Adams, Family Circle Cup Tournament Manager, said. “They are the reason the fans have such a memorable experience at the event each year and we greatly appreciate their generosity and dedication.”

A good portion of the tournament’s pool of volunteers and temporary staff are island residents, who are proud to have this world-class event take place in their hometown and take pride in the fact that their contributions go a long way towards making the tournament a success. Last year was no exception.  Nancy Heinz, a long-time resident of Daniel Island’s Codner’s Ferry Park neighborhood, served as the Family Circle Cup’s Volunteer of the Year. To read her story, click here.

Adult volunteer opportunities this year involve 17 areas including Guest Services, Player Lounge, Transportation, Media Center, Information Technology, Ticket Office, Ushers, Food & Beverage, Adult Ball Crew and other areas.  The volunteer uniform fee is $60 and provides a week full of benefits.  For more information about adult volunteerism, direct inquires to Jo Cooper, Volunteer Coordinator at Jo.Cooper@familycirclecip.com or by leaving a message on the Family Circle Cup Volunteer Hotline at (843) 849-5309.  Applications are available on line at familycirclecup.com

Tyler Dudley, Executive Chef at the Daniel Island Club

Tyler Dudley, a newly minted Certified Executive Chef, has held the top chef position at Daniel Island for the past ten years. During that time, he and his team of 25, which includes a Chef de Cuisine, Banquet Chef, Sous Chef and Executive Pastry Chef, have created an exciting mix of fine-dining and casual cuisine that ranks the club with the best downtown restaurants in a great food town like Charleston, which appears regularly on Top Ten lists of the nation’s best dining destinations. The Daniel Island Club has even earned the right to participate in the Charleston Wine and Food festival, which is normally limited to public operations.

Chef Dudley was kind enough to take time to share with us how he continually raises the bar in an exceptional club F&B operation.

Q: Chef, for those who are not familiar with Lowcountry cuisine, can you explain all that it encompasses as far as cooking style, geography and history?  Also, how have you integrated it into your menus at Daniel Island?

Chef Tyler's Shrimp & Grits

A: Lowcountry cuisine is the cooking traditionally associated with the coastal area of South Carolina that stretches from Pawley’s Island to the Savannah River in Georgia. This region has a rich diversity in seafood from the coast, and influences from Caribbean and African cuisine.

Lowcountry cooking has a strong correlation with New Orleans and Cajun cuisine as well. We try to utilize as many local ingredients as possible in our menus, and like to put a modern spin on Lowcountry favorites, such as with our versions of Shrimp and Grits (see recipe at right) or Fried Green Tomatoes.

The Main Dining Room at the Daniel Island Club

Q: A huge priority for you has been to get your culinary team out into the community, by participating in events such as the Charleston Wine and Food Festival or fundraisers like “Darkness to Light,” which raises money for the prevention of child abuse. Explain to us the positive impact this has on your relationship with your staff when these become a regular practice.

A: It’s easy sometimes to be “locked in” and focused on the day-to-day operations of a very busy private club, which can lead to forgetting what’s going on in your local culinary community. Our culinary team strives to get out there, not only to support great organizations like Darkness to Light, but also to be involved with events like the Charleston Wine and Food Festival. This not only brings great exposure to the club, it gets our culinary team excited about what we are doing here. And it gives our chefs great networking abilities with the outstanding culinary talent that we have here in Charleston.

Q: Chef, I’m surprised at the number of club chefs who now have extensive gardens on site. Having taken on a huge project with your 100-by-40-yard garden, what tips can you offer for getting beyond just having herb beds outside our kitchen doors?

A: We started about three years ago with a small herb garden, and that soon led to discussions of how to expand that resource. There has been a huge movement, not only in Charleston but also the entire country, around the farm-to-table concept—and when our President of the Daniel Island Company came to us with interest of expanding to a 100% organic garden on the property, it kind of took off from there. Some tips I can give would be to start small, do some research and not only get your culinary team involved but other departments such as course and grounds maintenance, which does the tilling and other upkeep that requires heavy equipment for us.

To read the rest of the article in Club & Resort Business, click here.

Daniel Island’s accolades as a Top 50 Master Planned Community (Where to Retire magazine) and rankings from Golf Digest for the Rees Jones-designed Ralston Creek course are among the awards that counted towards this designation.

“GolfCourseHome leverages the value of all existing rankings to create a full-scale compilation you won’t find anywhere else,” says GolfCourseHome Network Publisher David Lott. “The best (communities) rise to the top, riding the wave of repeated accolades from a wide variety of sources. We’ve identified these superior communities for our readers and they are, indeed, the best of the best.”

We couldn’t agree more!

There’s still time to take advantage of Charleston Restaurant Week, right here on Daniel Island! From now through January 22 you can enjoy the world-renowned cuisine of the Lowcountry as a wide variety of participating restaurants offer prix fixe menus consisting of three items for one low price. Daniel Island restaurants Vespa Pizzeria and Queen Anne’s Revenge are each offering their own three-course menu featuring s a delectable choice of appetizers, entrees and desserts – all for just $20. The event is part of Restaurant Week South Carolina, sponsored by the South Carolina Hospitality Association. Charleston Restaurant Week, executed by the Charleston Restaurant Association (CRA), has become one of the most highly anticipated culinary events in the Charleston area. To view a full listing of participating restaurants, click here.

Bon Appetit!

Have you ever wanted to see your favorite musical artist perform up close and personal?  Well, this might serve as an opportunity to do just that.  Music with Friends invites you to come learn about this intimate private music club on Wednesday, January 25 from 5-7 pm at the Daniel Island Club.

Music with Friends offers members unique music experiences by blending outstanding talent with an intimate setting, shared by people who enjoy listening to great music with friends from their community.  The music club is proud to announce that Smokey Robinson will perform for their first concert in 2012 on Monday, March 26th at the Dock Street Theater. Past performers for the inaugural 2011 season included Diana Ross, Earth, Wind & Fire and Bonnie Raitt.

Please join Becky Mitchener and Cantey Hare, directors of membership for Music With Friends, for hors d’oeuvres and cocktails and to learn about all this intimate music club has to offer.  Please RSVP to mitchener@musicwithfriends.com or call (704) 907-1806.  You can also e-mail Charleston@musicwithfriends.com or call (843) 960-4845.

Reprinted with permission by The Daniel Island News
Letters to the Editor
December 15, 2011

Christmas as an experience is often very different from the way I envision it in my romantic mind’s eye. Recently though, I had a wonderful treat – an evening with friends on Daniel Island that summed up for me the good things about living on Daniel Island and also helped me to get into the Christmas spirit. It made me think about how the design and texture of a town help make the community what it is. We all know that we live in a fabulously beautiful place. We are incredibly lucky to have a quality school that many of us center our lives around. We have sidewalks, bike trails, pools, parks, lots of green space, playgrounds and even a dog park. Our children run around freely, bicycle to their friends’, the parks and school – something that I marvel at each and every day. We have a library with a staff that is truly dedicated, informative, knowledgeable and helpful.

In fact we have so many interesting, talented and wonderful people living here, I have to pinch myself and ask: “Is this a fairy tale town or actually what a well thought out and planned community looks like?” Do the beauty and thoughtfulness attract more of the same? Frank Lloyd Wright once said: “If you foolishly ignore beauty, you’ll soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you wisely invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.”

On a recent Friday night I felt as though I had gone to heaven….. or at least to a small village in Europe (which for me would be heaven). After watching the Daniel Island tree lighting and entertainment with my kids, husband and friends and munching on some surprisingly good chili, we decided to continue the holiday reveling and go have a glass of cheer at the nearby Irish pub. The pub was bubbling over with people but we were comfortably seated and we easily made room for more friends as they joined us. The children were welcomed and we were able to settle them at tables in different groups around us – far enough that the older kids had a little autonomy though still within view. The pub was teeming with friends and familiar faces – including some of our children’s teachers and even our principal.

My happiness was at its peak when my niece, her husband and their beautiful little ones, also DI locals, popped in for a beer, spying us in the window as they were out for an evening stroll to enjoy the newly lighted tree. What could be more heavenly or Christmassy?

As we made merry, catching up with good friends – our children nearby and happy, familiar faces, loving family, teachers and neighbors all around me in a neighborhood pub, I felt like I was in the greatest little pub, in the greatest little town on earth.

It is a beautiful life on Daniel Island and I am truly grateful!

Jacqueline Gowe
Daniel Island

"Frosty the Snowman Tree", decorated by the Daniel Island POA office.

Twenty local businesses, individuals and organizations donated their time and efforts this year by decorating holiday-themed Christmas Trees that were raffled during the Daniel Island Holiday Festival on December 3rd.  The beautiful trees raised $1,273 that the Daniel Island Community Fund then matched, bringing in a grand total of $2,546 benefiting the boys at Windwood Farm Home for Children.  However, the trees represented far more than just the spirit of Christmas. They brought awareness to a cause that affects more than 19,000 abused and neglected children annually in South Carolina.

“This initiative exceeded our expectations, not only from a financial perspective, but it was great to see how quickly people would get involved once they realized what the cause was,” said Kristin Power, Director of Development at Windwood Farm. “Once again The Daniel Island Property Owners Association, The Daniel Island Community Fund and all that represents this great community, came to the aide of our boys in a big way.  For that I cannot thank you all enough!”

The initiative will be back in 2012 so stay tuned for information next fall on how you can participate.  Also, mark your calendars for Saturday, February 25 when the Daniel Island POA office and Windwood Farm will partner together for the popular annual “Pork n’ Pearls” oyster roast.  More details to come!