Siblings Visits Part 2: Paul/Athens

Continuing my recap of siblings visits this week...

I rolled into Athens around 5:15 Tuesday afternoon. Paul was outside his apartment waiting for me! Eager to show off his more mature digs (Paul lived in The University of Georgia's — mostly freshmen — Creswell Hall last year).

Paul kicks his feet in the air outside his place

(a traditional celebration for posh college apartment living)

As with my Anna/Dahlonega visit, I didn't have much of an agenda for our time together. Paul suggested something fun: doing a scenic driving tour of all the places I lived when I went to UGA. Paul visited me in almost each place but didn't have a point of reference before. Way fun!

We didn't feel the need to swing by Russell Hall (a freshmen dorm up the hill from Paul's 2008-2009 residence), but here's a picture of it anyway. Six East, represent!

Russell is home to UGA 1,000-ish co-eds every year.

Paul LOVES the tour.

And the rest of my humble abodes:

Sophomore year part 1 (left halfway through the year for a 

killer house I couldn't pass up renting): Riverbend 

(aka "super crappy and super cheap") Apartments

Sophomore part 2: cool Gaines School Road house with three lady roomies

Junior year: Pineview townhouse with four other gals

Senior year with crazy Katie (East side house - three bedrooms)

Each dwelling was, of course, accompanied by stories of crazy roommates, big parties, friends and other momentous occasions. Maybe I'll recap some of those stories sometime... (Paul, please don't repeat some of those stories!) This fat girl also gave her brother the inside scoop on her favorite restaurants and other hot spots (word up to Five Star Day, DePalma's, Taco Stand, Peppino's and Gyro Wrap). 

All that talk of food got us thinking about dinner. Even though Paul's been doing a great job of food shopping for himself, we thought a departure from all those Lean Cuisines and sandwiches was in order. We decided on lemon, butter and caper tilapia with wild rice and broiled asparagus as our sides. There may or may not have been a little cabernet, pinot grigio and ice cream involved as well. 

One stop (sorry, Anna, we got twist-off wine bottles) at Kroger and we were ready to rock.

No wine glasses? It's just as classy in a UGA tumbler!

Just a little flour here and there.

Mmm. Asparagus with salt, pepper and a smidge of oil (broiled for 16-ish minutes) 

along with our tilapia and long-grain wild rice.

 

Despite the messes created by the flour and fresh lemon juice, we deemed the meal a success. (If you're interested in making Julia's delicious and light tilapia recipe, see the end of this post.)

Bravo reality TV obsession and ice cream eating are in our genes. We dedicated a mere 2.5 hours to Jeff Lewis and his OCD craziness on "Flipping Out" while chewing on some Edy's chocolate yogurt with brownie swirl. My love is still for Zoila though.

While there are no photos to document it (sadness!), we rounded out our visit with a nice Mama's Boy breakfast with my long-time friend Kate. She filled us in on life, her position with a citizen's advocacy group and other fun Athens things. 

Thanks for letting me visit!

Lemon Caper Tilapia

1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2/3 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice 
1 tablespoon drained brine-packed green peppercorns, lightly crushed
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon vegetable oil (or more if it looks like the fish may start to stick)
4 tilapia filets
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons butter
Lemon slices (optional)

Directions 

Combine first 3 ingredients. Melt 1 teaspoon of butter with oil in a large nonstick skillet over low heat. While butter melts, sprinkle fish fillets with salt and black pepper. Place the flour in a shallow dish. Dredge fillets in flour; shake off excess flour.
Increase heat to medium-high; heat 2 minutes or until butter turns golden brown. Add fillets to pan; sauté 3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Remove fillets from pan. Add broth mixture to pan, scraping to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil; cook until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat. Stir in two teaspoons of butter with a whisk. Serve sauce over fillets. Garnish with lemon wedges, if desired.