A Night Out in 2012

Madison, Nate, and Don

This past weekend Don and I went out with Madison and Nate. Both kids are heading back to college this week, so we wanted to go out for a special evening.

We started our night out with dinner at Island Pasta in downtown Melbourne. The kids really like this place, and Don and I had never been.  They have some unique menu choices which is a nice change of pace.

Because it is a small place, I made reservations. We arrived right on time, but they did not have a table for us - not a good start. We had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. I started to get worried this delay would make us late for the play to which we already had tickets.

We finally got a table and sat down to look at the menu. We decided to share an appetizer and settled on the Jalapeno Ravioli with Mango Rum Dipping Sauce - yummmm

This was delicious - especially the mango rum dipping sauce. Sadly, we ran out of raviolis before we ran out of dipping sauce - I contemplated just drinking it straight out of the dish, but decided that might be in bad taste seeing as we were seated smack dab in the middle of the restaurant! If we were off in a corner....oh yeah it was that good!  I must figure out what is in there.  I definitely plan to try to recreate this dish at home and will add cilantro to the sauce cuz I think that will make it even better!

For our meals we weren't too adventurous.  Don, Madison, and Nate all had the same dish:  The Rasta Pasta which is jerked chicken, green onion, garlic, & fresh basil in a tomato sauce over penne pasta

Everyone enjoyed it, but they did say it was very spicy. I sneaked a little taste off of Don's plate and it was way too spicy for me, but they all gobbled it up

I had the Portobello Ravioli in a Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce - it was delish - although I would have liked more garlic, but I understand they have to play it safe for those crazy folks that are not garlic fanatics

We enjoyed our meals very much, but we weren't satisfied at stopping with our entrees. The desserts tempted us too much, and we decided to share the Fried Banana Cheesecake - banana cheesecake in a crispy wrapper with caramel sauce!  This was by far our favorite course of the night! OMG it was so good! and worth a trip to Island Pasta just for this!!

I can't even begin to tell you how delicious this was! The outside is like a cinnamon donut and the inside is just the right amount of banana and caramel creamy goodness

Mads and I decided we will be making something similar to this at home this week! She has some great ideas on how we can make this, and I will definitely share how it turns out. Now we just have to find the time in this very busy week to make this happen....

Overall we had a nice time at Island Pasta. It was a good choice for dinner. My favorite was the appetizer and the dessert by far. The entrees were just so-so for me.  Also, it was very loud in the restaurant. It is a small place so that makes sense, but I probably would try to avoid a busy weekend night because of the noise.  We did end up going back for lunch with a friend (YES, we already went back for more of the Fried Banana Cheesecake - don't judge!!) and it was much nicer as far as the noise level goes.

After dinner, we walked a short way to the Melbourne Civic Theatre to see The 39 Steps - Where Hitchcock Meets Hilarious  This was our first time at the Melbourne Civic Theatre, and I was surprised at how small it is!  I guess I was expecting it to be the size of the Cocoa Village Playhouse, but it was much smaller.  The play itself was a hoot!  If you want some good laughs you should definitely try to get out to this show.  There are only 4 actors in the play but they do several character changes throughout the course of the evening. The website says as many as 150 characters between the 4 actors! It made for a very fast paced show and some truly hilarious costumes at times. The play runs through September 23rd. Shows are on Friday and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm.  I hope you get a chance to check it out!

Don and I usually only go out when we are traveling, so this was a nice change of pace. It was so nice to spend a night out with the kids - I am sure going to miss them!  I wish Nate the best of luck at UCF this first year, and hope for Madison's continued success at SCAD.

Madison and I leave on Friday to move her back to Savannah. Classes don't start until September 10th, but she has to be back early for the equestrian team's pre-season training. I am going to stay the weekend to help her get settled into her new place. After having such a great summer with her, I have a feeling it is going to be difficult for me to leave Savannah without her again.  Don has to stay home because of work, so because I will be driving alone, I'll have to manage my way west on I-16 without the tears this year! 

I see FL is expecting a hurricane sometime over the weekend, so I might have to stay a little longer in Savannah...oh darn...(not)