Indianapolis in 30 hours or less!

Eric and I found out a few weeks ago that we had been invited to a wedding on May 22 in Indianapolis.  Unfortunately we had no idea until the bride called to see if we were coming and what we wanted for dinner.  Much thanks to AirTran's super cheap flights, we were able to make it up for the weekend to celebrate the joyous joining of two beautiful people.

I was also able to meet up with my friend Ashley, who just happened to be in Indy for the weekend, too.  It was great to briefly catch up with her and have Thai food (she's the one who introduced me to it back in college).

And of course, before we left, Eric scouted out some breweries and brew pubs in the area for us to visit.  The brew pubs were generic, as usual, but the Sun King Brewery was mighty good.  Very similar to Sweetwater, but a smaller scale operation.  Indiana Bonus: Growlers

The wedding was beautiful!  It was the first one Eric and I had been to since our own wedding.  It was also the most like our wedding we had ever been to, so it was nice to see what our wedding was like had we remembered it....  Dinner was amazing (spinach raviolis with red pepper cream sauce) and a great tasting pound cake with chocolate ganache.  Elesia was radiant, and Mike blew us away with his Backstreet Boys dancing with his twin.

The next day we slept in (first time in a good 10 days) before heading to Ashley's recommended Mug N Bun for some fabulously fried foods.  Who can go wrong with fried mac n cheese or funnel cake fries?  And oh. my. gosh. HOMEMADE ROOTBEER!  Yum.  We got a mug to go.  Too bad we couldn't take it on the plane.

I want to go back just thinking about these. Never mind the stomach aches we had a few hours later!

Savory Baked Chicken and Potato Dinner - Cooking for 2 - Eat Better America

Savory Baked Chicken and Potato Dinner - Cooking for 2 - Eat Better America

Looking forward to giving this recipe a try with Eric. It's always hard to find tasty 2 person dishes. This looks great :)

Look, Mom! No hands!

Eric has been practicing on his unicycle. Looking pretty good, champ!

Mother's Day

The day after Katie's graduation, we went to Tybee Island on the coast of Georgia for Mother's Day.  It was nice to have all of "us kids" at the beach for the first time (not counting the cruise) as adults.  We rocked a cooler of adult beverages and packed sandwiches and chips.  And as any good Italian family would, we brought our bocce balls to the beach.  Honestly, I was surprised that someone didn't have a nice lasagna packed away for an afternoon snack.

Dad found this signage "gem" - our tax dollars at work.

Mom & Dad

Katie "the sunscreen queen" applying a thick layer to protect Alex's delicate skin.

Or something like that.

Different textured sands call for different techniques.

The only evidence (that I'll share with you) of me at the beach.

After a few hours of fun-in-the-sun, we went to Spankys on Tybee for linner and then went back to David & Paige's house in Savannah for some T.V. and R&R.  Katie, Jacob and I then walked River Street for a bit, enjoying their mighty delicious chocolate, carmel, candy coated apples.  mmm..mm..mmm.  The rest of the crew went home, but Katie, Jacob and I headed back to The 'Boro for a few more days of vacation.

Katie & Jacob at River Street in Savannah.

Katie's Graduation

Congratulations to the very last Corsetti to graduate from college!  Hooray!  Katie finished Magna Cum Laude in 4 years with a Bachelors of Science in Family Consumer Science Education (aka Home Ec Ed).

My parents, grandparents, Katie's Godparents (our aunt & uncle), and my siblings all drove to Statesboro for the ceremony and picnic after.   While the Commencement speaker was only the University's President, all the graduates had their name called and had the chance to walk across the stage.

At the end of the ceremony, everyone sung the Alama Mater (which by the way, I'm impressed with how the composer landed Georgia Southern University lyrically) and watched the Eagle soar through the stadium; a rather majestic site that my Flip camera failed to record.  The weather held out and was much less horrendous than anticipated.  Given that it's the gnat capital of the world, the sun, humidity, breeze and bugs found just the right balance to leave us sun-kissed and glowing without having to peel bugs off our contact lens or sweating like a chimpanzee in the Sub-Saharan Desert.

The afternoon concluded with presents back at Katie's townhouse and then a double family cookout at her friend Andrew's house.  Lots of burgers, watermelon, and Dad's famous mac & cheese.  And what kind of party would it be without a Publix cake?  mmmhmmm.

It was great to spend the weekend as a family and in celebration of such a great accomplishment.  Congratulations again, Katie!

Homemade Week, Day 4

The last of our true "Homemade Days" - our breakfast and lunch menus continued as the previous days. We concluded that we'd like to keep up with most of the items that we homemade.  However, we need to spread them out over the week or two weeks, and make extra so we only have to make each item once or twice a month.  We both agreed that our dinner choices, while AMAZING, were a bit complicated for regular dinners.  They should be saved for the weekend or company.  We also concluded that we spent a little more than we usually do on groceries, but ended up with two weeks worth of food or with enough ingredients that we could make a second batch.  In the end we finished a little ahead.  So without further adieu, here is our last menu and some photos.

Breakfasts and Lunches:

•  same as Day 2 & 3

Dinner for Elizabeth & Eric and our guest, Joey:

• Orange Chicken (Healthy College Cookbook)
• Steamed Green Beans
• Left over side of pasta
• Home brew (choice of IPA or Espresso Stout) 
• Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (It was gross. Just ask Joey.)  

Here are some photos of our homemade foods:

Lois's Shower Cake

Shower Cupcakes & Cake

Granola Bars

Flattening the pasta

Hanging it out to dry

Tasty homemade (and way too thick) linguine with diced tomatoes and basil.

Homemade Week Day 3

Day 2 went over really well!  I snuck a few pieces of candy (sshhh!), but over all it's been a good experience.  The shrimp and grits were fantastic, though not a "typical" recipe that I've ever had before.  They were even better the second time around (aka today's lunch!).  Eric gave out bites of the granola bars at work, and before he left for the day it was topic of conversation.  Everyone was going home to make them!  I am interested to try some other varieties (and with chocolate chips..mmm!)


Today is day 3 of our "Homemade Food Week".  Today's menu includes the following:

Breakfasts and Lunches:

•  same as Day 2
• included a small portion of Shrimp & Grits in E's Lunch
• small portion of fruit roll ups for Eric

Dinner for Elizabeth & Eric:

• Homemade Pasta (or some concoction thereof)
• A diced tomato and basil sauce that I will make up as I go
• home brew (choice of IPA or Espresso Stout) or left over wine
• Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (still need to check on it)  

Homemade Week, Day 2

Today is day 2 of our "Homemade Food Week".  Today's menu includes the following:

Breakfast for Elizabeth:

• egg white omelette with
• four cheese blend
• green peppers and roma tomatoes
• french press coffee with 
• a splash of skim milk
• a few spoonfuls of the grits for tonight

Breakfast for Eric:

• homemade "instant" oatmeal packets with 
• local honey or molasas

Lunches for Elizabeth & Eric:

• homemade peanut butter
• homemade 3 berries jelly
• homemade bread
• 3-4 small pieces of homemade beef jerky
• handful of dried pineapples
• (Eric) homemade yogurt
• banana or apple
• homemade granola bars

Dinner for Elizabeth & Eric:

• Shrimp and Grits with spinach
• home brew (choice of IPA or Espresso Stout)
• Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (if it finally set right)  or
• leftover cupcakes from the baby shower