Ever come across a really cool idea on vacation and you swear when you get
back home, you’re gonna make it or bake it? It took a recent trip to Charleston, South
Carolina, while roaming their charming gift shops to remind me of this sweet project and now I’m sharing it with y’all.

Big Sugar & I were first introduced to this scrumptious  but NOT edible treat on Saint Simon’s Island. Oh wait, is Simon possessive? Hold on a sec while I check that out… oops,
no apostrophe needed; their website should know, right? Saint Simons

So, we’re at our favorite restaurant, enjoying the beautiful sweet Georgia shrimp. It’s simple perfection. And it’s probably tied with Carolina barbecue as the food we miss the most. The most. I know, I know, no one wants to hear whining from any folks living in Hawaii but…Hawaii can mess up some fried shrimp, y’all. Unlike  Bubba (remember the best friend of Forest Gump, who has the running list of all the ways to prepare shrimp?)I mostly don’t want all the nonsense of shrimp dressed in coconut or pineappled, yada yada yada. There’s only two ways I really want my shrimp: big & steamed in Old Bay with lemon-butter for dunking or a delicate treatment of Southern batter done right with fresh made tartar or cocktail sauce.

Refrigeration be damned in a popular Southern Seafood Restaurant as these
sauces are always on the table in their squeeze bottles…because the diners are going
through it quickly. The lightest touch of batter, so sheer you can still see the pink creases of the shrimp.

Along with the plate of southern heaven, we were enjoying ice-cold draft
beer and Southern Sweet Tea. Big Sugar gets his tea straight and I get a half-n-half of
sweetened and unsweetened with a bucket of fresh lemons. After each of us had ordered our drinks, we visited the restroom and simultaneously came back to the table to share our discovery…and that brings us to the cool hand scrub in their restroom.

How perfect for a seafood restaurant; where folks really need a fragrant friction scrubbing
after peeling all that shrimp and tossing back oysters on the half-shell. After Big Sugar and I had both made our separate trips to the loo, we were so excited to share the scrub featured on the sink counters. Each of us thought it was so cleansing and genius . So much so that I forgot all about it for years, yep. We had a lot going on with many projects getting our St
Simons’ home ready for its new life as a rental.

Fast forward and we are in Charleston last month. We take a morning to do the tourist thang…carriage ride, strolling, window shopping and, after getting the same answer from all the locals when asking where to go for their favorite seafood lunch, Hyman’s. And there in their bathroom, which, Bonus! Has a picture of SJP (obsessed) on their celebrity-photo clad walls. They
also sell the scrub but c’mon- we got this.

It’s so easy and customizable; make it any fragrance you want to smell like-and if you happen to have an empty coconut half…I definitely think I makes it picture perfect. Perhaps I should put more things in coconut shells; like I’m marooned on Gilligan’s Island!

ISLAND COCONUT HAND SCRUB

1 cup sea salt ( I but it in stores like TJ Maxx or Ross- it’s so inexpensive as compared to the grocery store)

1 TB Coconut oil ( the above discount stores are a great source)

1 TB Coconut Body Wash ( Suave is an inexpensive one)

1 tsp coconut extract or a couple of drops of essential oil

We have ours on the vanity, next to the sink with a small wooden spoon for scooping onto your palms. Your hands will feel scrubbed (from the salt and body wash), moisturized from the oil and the scent will take you on a vacation!