WHITE CHRISTMAS

So right now, it's Boxing Day, a day traditionally reserved for Shopping and visiting people's houses for little get-togethers. We did neither of these things for one simple reason... SNOW.

Now it's not like there was 15 feet of snow blocking our doors and windows so no one could get in or out and we'd turn into Popsicles but there was a lot of it over Christmas. So much so, our street hasn't been shoveled or salted and all the cars (including ours) are almost up to the windows in snow. Add to that, the roads are all slushy and most Vancouverites are probably the worst drivers in the world, especially in the snow and that adds to the growing list of reasons to stay in, so that's what we did.

And at this moment, Michelle is over at our neighbor's place baking with the girls, while the guys are over here, watching movies and drinking up a storm. Not the original plan for Boxing day but a great day nonetheless. Kinda like our Christmas.

We were supposed to go visit my parents for Christmas Eve but because of the snowfall and the fact that they live high up in North Van, there was no way or econo-class Honda Fit with all season tires was gonna make the trip, so we had Christmas Dinner with our neighbors Tom & Angela which was awesome. Tom whipped up a huge Smoked Turkey, Angela made some kick ass Broccoli & Cauliflower Gratin, we had Thai Wings & the classic Meat Tourtiere and ended the night with Scotch & Cigars. It was weird not seeing my Dad on Christmas Eve but it was a great evening with our Neighbors.

The next day, Laura & Chad stayed over to open presents with us and this time it was our turn to host Christmas Day Dinner. Again because of the snow, not everyone could make it to our place but we still had a great turnout including Michelle's parents, siblings nephews & kids as well as my cousin & step-brother. It was a grand night, we invited Tom, Angela & Carl over as well. I cooked the traditional Dijon Maple Ham while Tom & Carl mastered a Deep-Fried Turkey. We had Chili Garlic Carrots, Creamed Spinach with Bacon & Onions, Mashed Yams, Moonblush Arugula Mint Salad and Scalloped Potatoes... it was a fantastic meal and a fantastic Christmas.

Here are all the pics from XMAS... enjoy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

WE HOPE THAT EVERYONE HAS A GREAT HOLIDAY AND A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

CORSIWORLD PIC PUBLISHED!!!

12/23/08 UPDATE - Another Corsiworld snow pic makes today's issue of 24 HOURS!! (Don't know who Corris World is though...)



Hey hey! Look at that! One of our pictures (seen below) got published in today's edition of 24 HOURS!!! You can see it on page 4 (first row - pic in the middle) or click on the link above and see it in all it's glory (even though they got the weblink right, they got the photographers name wrong - don't worry, I complained). Still very cool though!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODD

It was a big weekend for us for a number of reasons!

1. FIRST SNOW OF 2008 - Downtown Vancouver had their first snowfall of 2008 which was awesome. What was even more awesome was watching all the club-goers who weren't prepared for the snow, slip in their miniskirts and freak out that the snow was ruining their hair... made me laugh.
2. NEXON STAFF HOLIDAY PARTY - We attended our first Nexon Staff Holiday Party this year which was a great affair at the Aquarium. Everyone got dolled up, there was a nice sit down dinner amongst the sealife and Michelle got the chance to meet some of my co-workers for the first time, great night.
3. AWESOMETOWN XMAS SHINDIG - Bill & Susan held the first (of what I hope is many) awesome holiday party in their newly renovated living room/kitchen. It was great to hang out with the neighbours and their friends and indulge in some kick ass appies & baked goods.
4. TODD'S BIRTHDAY - We also got to go out and celebrate the birthday of our good friend and Alison's main squeeze, Todd Pretty. We partied it up with Mexican inspired eats and drinks at a new place called DEUCE BUNGALOW. It was a great night and good to see Todd having a blast with all his friends! See pics for the night HERE!!!

All in all, a great weekend!

AWESOMETOWN: THE TV SERIES

As many of you know,we've named our cool little neighbourhood AWESOMETOWN because it is a fun and awesome place to live. LESLEY was kind enough to send me the link to the failed television pilot called AWESOMETOWN which was a comedy sketch show that took place in a fun and awesome place to live called, you guessed it, AWESOMETOWN. Warning: contains some nudity and foul language. Check it out...

CALDER CHRISTMAS ALREADY???

Okay, you know that the year is just flying by if it's already CALDER CHRISTMAS and that means it's Christmas time 2008... where did the year go?

Ah well, if things are moving at this supersonic speed at least we can slow down and take part in what has become a Holiday Tradition of sorts, the Alison Calder/Todd Pretty Christmas Party, or as we all like to call it, CALDER CHRISTMAS! Now I've been to a few of these in the past (see some pics 2005 or 2006 or 2007) and it's always a great way to spend the evening with friends, food & drinks o'plenty, secret santa and sometimes even party games.

You can see all of the 2008 CALDER CHRISTMAS shenanigans HERE!!!

Thanks for another memorable CALDER CHRISTMAS party Ali & Todd, it was a great way to ring in the Holiday Season!

ADIOS NOVEMBER!

A helluva busy month if I do say so myself! Let's jump right in!

• OBAMA is president... booya!!!
• Michelle started her own blog called RAINY DAY WISHES focusing on Design, Fashion and her eye for detail! Check it out!
• VANCOUVER EATS visited four restaurants in November: THE HURRICANE GRILL, BROWN'S SOCIAL HOUSE, DIX BBQ & BREWERY and THE CASCADE ROOM! Check out the reviews by clicking on the links.
• Both BROOKE and SARAH celebrated birthdays with great nights out!
• TIKI BAR TV realeased a 20 episode DVD set which is absolutely awesome, 3 of those episodes feature MR. AMBASSADOR which is even more awesome, especially for me!
• I attended my second HOPSCOTCH and got into a fight with a STUPID LADY over the names of our dogs.
• DEEP FRIED TURKEY... 'nuff said!

And that takes us to December! I can't believe it's already December, 2008 flew by faster than I could think possible, it only feels like a few months ago that we were in Europe! Alas, the old saying holds true: Time flies when you are having fun!

DEEP FRIED TURKEY YO!

This weekend, Michelle and I traveled down to Portland to spend American Thanksgiving with my sister Marisa and her family. We left Friday at noon and got there around 7pm and immediately got to work on the dinner. The best past of spending Thanksgiving with the American Thanksgiving is the DEEP FRIED TURKEY! That's right, a giant pot filled with bubbling peanut oil and a nice 16 lbs. Turkey sizzling in it for 30 minutes! This might sound slightly off-putting but trust me when I say, the final result is a crispy, tender, juicy and extremely flavourful Thanksgiving dinner. If you ever... ever get the chance to try a Deep Fried Turkey, do yourself a favor and get busy, try yourself a DFT!

The rest of the visit was equally as enjoyable, lots of family time, lots of laughs and lots of dogs! That's right, we brought Carmine & Laverne down with us to spend the weekend along with Stuart & Marisa's dogs Phish & Chippy, it was "dogtacular". We haven't been down to Portland since our weekend in 2006 with the Forbzez but this weekend reminded us how much fun it is to spend time with the family, we'll have to do it again soon!

Check out the pics HERE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!

This weekend we celebrated the birthday of our good friend, SARAH WALL. We hooked up with a bunch of our peeps and spent the night at THE CASCADE ROOM, sampling their extensive cocktail menu and dining on some good nosh. If you've never been to the Cascade Room, it's a funky lounge on Main Street that vows to take you back to "the golden age of the cocktail". We quite enjoyed it but we enjoyed the night with Sarah and our friends more!

• To see the pics from Sarah's Birthday, click HERE!
  
• To see all of our Sarah pics, click HERE!
  
• To read our review on The Cascade Room, click HERE!

Happy Birthday Wally! We love you!

MICHELLE GOES A BLOGGIN'

I love my wife and I love that my nerdy habits are rubbing off on her. How's that you ask? Well, Michelle has joined the wonderful world of Blogger and created her very own Blog.

While we have this Blog, CORSIWORLD, together,I also run VANCOUVER EATS and GIO'S ENTERTAINMENT NEWS, which explore two of my passions: Food & Entertainment. Michelle has created a Blog that focuses on one of her passions (other than me), Design.

Michelle's Blog is called RAINY DAY WISHES and focuses on a number of Design related topics like: Home Renovations, Clothing, Accessories and spotlights other cool design-related sites and blogs. Michelle loves this stuff, she has a great design/fashion sense and could spend days researching and coming up with all sorts of cool design ideas. While she's doing that, I'll make a meal, watch HULK and cheer her on!

Check out RAINY DAY WISHES and become a "follower" or at least leave a comment!

SCOTCHY SCOTCH SCOTCH!

Those famous words from Ron Burgundy hold very true for me as well, I love scotch and have for a while. There are many types to try: blends, single malts, peaty, smooth and as a lover of scotch I would find it very helpful if there were some sort of "scotch festival" out there to help me out in my quest for a good sip. Well thank the maker for HOPSCOTCH. Here's how they themselves describe it:

Entering it’s 12th successful year, Vancouver’s Hopscotch festival continues to prove itself as the superior premium Scotch, Whiskey and Beer festival on the west coast. The number of Scotch, Whiskey and Premium Beer admirers seems to grow every year, which is why at each festival we try to expand and improve the educational component of our event by giving enthusiasts the opportunity to learn, sip, and taste only the highest quality of liquors.

We plan to once again provide our patrons with the best selection of delectable products, while also offering opportunities to be informed and enlightened at a variety of dinners and events. Don’t miss this unique occasion of being able to truly experience some of your favorite brands and their world renowned brand ambassadors.

Experience Vancouver's Hopscotch and the more than 200 products available to taste, sample and discover.

I describe it as this:

A boozy good time with my buddies! Scotch yeah!!!

I went last year and was bombarded with many a different scotch and beer. This year we were hit with not only that, but Vodka, Rum, Tequila and other liqueurs as well. It was a boozy good time. There were over 30 different booths to try and there was no way I could hit them all so I tried to go to ones that I didn't recognize or haven't tried before. For me, the "best in show" was the CHIVAS REGAL 25 YEAR... wow. I mean, wow! It was to die for and at $325 a bottle, I would hope it was that good. All in all another great Hopscotch, can't wait for next year!!!

To see some HOPSCOTCH 2007 pics click 

HERE!!!

To see some HOPSCOTCH 2008 pics click

HERE!!!

TOSHIBA COOL

This is a new TOSHIBA Commercial and it is way cool...

• The TV ad was shot using 200 Toshiba Gigashot Cameras: the highest number of moving image cameras ever used in a film sequence.
• This particular technique, viewing looping action in 360 degrees, has never been done before.
• The time spent processing footage from 200 cameras was over four weeks - 24 hours a day seven days a week!
• In terms of data, this is one of the biggest jobs a post-production house has ever taken on - 20TB of data.
• New offline and online editing software had to be specifically built for the job.
• Soundtrack is provided by Crystal Castles.
• Integrated campaign to promote Toshiba’s new range of upscaling products - TV, DVD and laptops - that convert standard definition TV and DVD images to near high-definition quality.

Way cool!

YOU'RE STUPID!

This is one of those "I can't believe it happened to me" stories...

Sunday afternoon, I was walking Laverne & Carmine around the neighborhood when an Asian lady crossed the street with a big smile across her face while looking at the dogs. The following is a word-for-word documentation of our conversation:

LADY - Are they twins?
GIO - No, they are brother and sister!
LADY - Really? Same Age?
GIO - No, she's 1.9 months, he's 9 months
LADY - What are their names?
GIO - She's Laverne, he's Carmine
LADY - (the lady stops walking and shakes her head) Stupid.
GIO - Excuse me?
LADY - I guess they have a stupid last name too, like Higgenbottom or something?
GIO - (Deciding to take the high road) You're stupid.
LADY - I'm sorry?
GIO - You should be. You're stupid. Carry on. (shooing her off with my free hand)
LADY - (looking shocked) Well, I never (and storms off)!
GIO - (calling after her) Have a nice day!

Can you believe that??? She actually has the gall to stand there in front of a guy who is about 125 lbs. heavier and at least a foot taller and call his dogs stupid? What is the world coming too? I wish I had a camera though to show you her expression when I called her "stupid" it was priceless. Imagine someone handing you a pile of cash only to pull it away just before you grab it while shoving a hot poker up your ass... that's kind of like her expression. I couldn't believe she actually said that the dogs had stupid names and I can't believe I called her stupid right afterwards and then told her to "carry on" while "shooing" her away. I actually "shooed" her away. I felt bad for 0.0 seconds and then felt great for the rest of the day.

She's probably telling the world that some bald fat guy with two pitbulls was rude to her or something. Gotta love our world!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE!

This weekend, our friend Brooke celebrated a milestone in style. She rung in her birthday surrounded by family and friends in this cool little joint called the Campoverde Social Club in Kits. It's a funky little spot, perfect for 30-40 people and everyone had a blast as evident by the pictures both Chad and I took, which you can view HERE FOR CHAD'S and HERE FOR OURS! Also if you want a little history on Brooke and her Jerk Store of a boyfriend named Buckley, or as they are known around town - BROOKLEY.... check out their set of pics HERE!!!

Happy Birthday Brooke! We love ya!

GO BAMA!

SAYANORA OCTOBER!

October was a rollercoaster of emotions for us here at Corsiworld and a busy month to boot. Check out all the ups and downs:

• I left PROPAGANDA and started a great job with NEXON!
• GIOCHANNEL is dead, long live GIO'S ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
• R.I.P. EARL O' DONNELL, we'll miss you brother.
• Our little niece AMAYA was baptized!
• A few new food reviews up at VANCOUVER EATS. Check out my thoughts on STELLA'S TAP & TAPAS BAR, HAMILTON STREET GRILL and MILESTONES!
• VEGAS BABY VEGAS!!!
• Another adventurous PARADE OF LOST SOULS
• A fun and costume filled HALLOWEEN complete with Pilots & Skunks

We'll, there you have it! On with November!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

It was that time again, time to done that silly costume for work, come home and give candy to the kiddies and then top it off with a night out with your friends, yes it's HALLOWEEN. This year we had three costumes making the rounds in Corsiworld. First off, I dressed up like a Russian Test Pilot and called myself Ivan Crashanburnski. Michelle's day costume was a kick ass Skunk and for the evening she became an American flygirl who opposes my Russian flyboy, we called ourselves THE COLD WAR.

A lot of people at both our jobs dressed up as well which is always great to see but it perplexes me that some people just don't like Halloween and refuse to take part. How can you not like Halloween? How can you not like dressing up in costume, laughing with/at your friends and co-workers and eating boatloads of candy with a guilt-free conscience. One of the many mysteries of the world I gather. Anyways after work we hooked up with friends at the Red Lion to eat and drink the night away. You can check out the full days events HERE!!!

PARADE OF LOST SOULS

Vancouver has been given the insulting moniker of NO FUN CITY and for the most part, it's true. A lot of our events like Indy get cancelled and other like The Festival of Lights are always teetering on the brink. But one event is still going strong, it still brings out thousands of onlookers and still unites a community. I'm talking about East Vancouver's PARADE OF LOST SOULS.

Described as a "celebration of the cycle of life & death" and "of our facing fears in order to live life to its fullest". This pre-Halloween event sees costumes, house dressing, dancing, music and walking & talking through the streets on and around Commercial Drive. It's a pretty cool night that really brings the East Van Community together and one I recommend checking out if you haven't before. The Parade usually takes place the week before Halloween and you can see some our pics from this year's parade HERE!!!

VEGAS: FAMILY STYLE

Corsiworld once again visited their favorite weekend destination spot in the world, the City of Sin, Las Vegas. But this time it was different... this time it was "Family style". Michelle went down for the entire week along with her sister Teri, I went down for the initial weekend and then got on the plane as Michelle's Mom & Aunt arrived. Then a few days later when Mom & Aunt went home, Michelle and Teri spent some time with their brother Robby who arrived there on their last night with his wife Kathleen. Quite the family affair.

Like I said, it was a bit of a different trip for a couple reasons. 1) We didn't stay in a Hotel, no no, this time and for the first time we stayed at our Time Share at TAHITI VILLAGE which was cool. But lets look at the overall picture, let's call it "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly"....

The Good - Awesome pool, awesome Margaritas, awesome bed & bathroom in the giant awesome room. 24 hour hot tub, spa, gym, sauna and BBQ's, grill up a steak by the pool at 3am if you like, go ahead! It's Tahiti Village!

The good but not great (the bad to keep the movie reference alive) - the food, Tahiti Village is connected to a Denny's and a place called Tahiti Joe's. Denny's is... well, Denny's (Hangover breakfasts) and Tahiti Joe's has quite a good Dinner Menu but the Late Night Menu is quite a disaster. Also, they offer a free half hour shuttle that takes you to four stops along the strip which is great but it's small and fills up fast and even if its full, the shuttle still goes to all the stops to say "sorry, we're full". Also, the Village is on the strip which is great but anytime you need to cab to the main part of the strip instead of using the shuttle, it's $20. That adds up fast (Note - cabbing home at 4am only costs about $13 since the roads are quiet).

The Ugly - No maid service, they say that if you are there for the week, you get maid service on the 4th day, yeah, we didn't get it until the 7th. Also, they are "really" pushy for you to take another meeting to hear about all the great things that they are doing with "Tahiti Village", like they call you every morning and since we are both on the contract, we both have to be at the meeting. And they are utterly horrified if you don't want to go to the meeting, like you are breathing in space without a helmet and they are freaked out because your eyes are about to explode and they cannot look away. Needless to say we didn't take the meeting but we will next time so we can get some free show tickets. Finally and this is the real kicker for us, the overall service. Tahiti Village, will bend over backwards to get you to sign on and make you feel like a million and wait on you hand and foot but once you sign, your not important anymore. You're in... we got the money, we got your signature, your "little people" now. Potential owners get the bigger buses, the better coffee, the tastier food. Owners get no maid service and tiny shuttles. Overall though, it was a fun experience and cool to stay in our "time share" but next time we will use our week in one of the sister hotels in Hawaii or Florida. 

2) We are family. Usually you go to Vegas to party and gamble with guys, or see shows and live in decadence with your partner, this time it was to show the family the sights and sounds of Vegas. Much like my trip last year with my dad, Michelle wanted to do the same for her Aunt, Mom and Sister which was really cool of her. The best part is that Teri & Mom Ruth have never been to Vegas and Aunt Edie was only there for 1 day on a stopover years ago, so they were amazed. The best part? Ruth & Edie gambled every night till 6am, EVERY NIGHT! They loved it and they won too! They all had a blast.

A week in Vegas is a lot but it was a lot of fun and great to see the family having such a good time. Next time we go though, it'll just be Michelle and me. Vegas baby, Vegas. See some of the pics HERE.

ANDREW BAWIDAMANN

A little known fact about me is that I am a huge fan of Pin-Up Art! I'm not talking about Playmates (although I've been known to looksee at a playmate or two in my time) but I am talking about Pin-up Art from the 30's and onwards. Call it cheescake, call it smut, whatever, I think its cool and I think it started for me when I saw footage from WWII and that great art some of the soldiers had painted on the sides of their planes. The older I got, the more interested I got in Pin-up art. There's something about well done pin-ups that is worth looking at!

There's tons of artists to look at (And don't worry it's not pRon so you can look at it at work) too, like EDWARD RUNCI, EARL MACPHERSON, PETER DRIBEN, GEORGE PETTY, GIL ELVGREN, BILLY DEVORSS and the legendary ALBERTO VARGAS. While I respect the classics, I like the modern takes on pin-ups, a little more stylized, a little more iconic like RALPH BURCH or JOEL HERRERA but one in particular is my favorite... ANDREW BAWIDAMANN.

How did I find this cool artist? Well, while looking for cool Russian pics for my TIKIBARTV character, Mr. Ambassador, I came across this piece of art.


Wow! How cool is that? The piece is called COSMONAUGHTY and you can find more like it and the ones at the top of this post at his website HERE. There are some great pieces, some military-based, others fantasy-based, as well as sketches, stickers and clothes, unfortunately his book is sold out but if anyone knows where I can snag a copy, please lemme know.

Now, you're probably thinking, what does Michelle think about Pin-up Art? Well, she likes it and appreciates the good stuff! Luckily, she's also a fan of Bawidamann and his iconic/retro style but seriously, how could you not be? You may not like the subject matter but you can definitely dig the style!

You can see some of my favorite Bawidamann pieces HERE!!!

BRILLIANT

Real or not, it doesn't matter, it's just brilliant...

WHAT HAPPENED TO GIOCHANNEL?

So for the longest time, I ran an entertainment site called GIOCHANNEL and from October 2003 until summer 2008, I or some of my close friends, would update that site everyday with the latest Movie, TV, Comic Book or DVD news. We wrote reviews, he hosted trailers we even had a section for idiotic but entertaining links found on the information superhighway. Lately, the parent site of Giochannel called CGCHANNEL has been going through some internal issues as well as having some server issues and the first and only victim of said issues is ofcourse GIOCHANNEL.

I've tried and tried to get GIOCHANNEL back up and running, but dealing with a parent site in Quebec while I am in Vancouver has not been easy. After a few months, I had to give up, the dream seems to be over my friends, GIOCHANNEL is gone.

But the Entertainment News lives on! While I am working on a new web venture with some fans of GIOCHANNEL, I've set up a blog so you can get all the same info I would have posted on GIOCHANNEL HERE!

I call the blog GIO'S ENTERTAINMENT NEWS and for all you oldtimers out there, that was the name of my original daily entertainment email that I used to send out before I started GIOCHANNEL. Everything old is new again indeed!

So if you are looking for your Entertainment News fix from me, GIOCHANNEL may be down but I am not out. Visit GIO'S ENTERTAINMENT NEWS and be sure to bookmark it as I update it everyday!

THE NEW JOB

So it's friday evening and I just finished my first official week at "the new job", guess what... I love it. I know, I know, it's the "honeymoon period" right now and once I get comfortable, I'll be exposed to the real deal but really, I've been exposed to a lot so far. I've met a lot of people, been part of a lot of meetings, seen a lot of presentations and read a lot of docs so I've seen a lot of the "real deal" at HUMANATURE already and it doesn't scare me. I love it. The projects are interesting, the bosses seem cool and my small team is awesome, the jokes are already flying fast & furious. This is gonna be a great adventure.

ENDINGS & BEGINNINGS

It was a weekend of endings and beginnings for us at Corsiworld.

First off on Saturday, we said goodbye to our brother-in-law EARL O'DONNELL who passed away last week after a lengthy battle with Liver Disease. Earl was one of my favorite relatives since for the five years that I knew him, he never got my name right. It was always "Gino" and no matter how many times I corrected him, the very next moment it was "Gino", so I just stopped trying. He also took a keen interest in my industry and found it quite amazing that I made Video Games for a living and I loved telling him about it cause he seemed truly impressed with what I was sharing with him. The funeral occurred on Saturday in a chapel packed with over 300 people and it was a beautiful service complete with fantastic speeches by four of Earl's grandkids. Earl was a good guy, he was always smiling or cracking a joke and it is sad to see him go but we know he's up there smiling down on us all. We'll miss you buddy.

On Sunday, we took part in the baptism of my little niece AMAYA. We met at the family church (The Corsi's aren't church-goers but we all seem to go to the same one for these types of events) and a small group of family and friends were on hand for the ceremony. Ida & Albert's friends Leslie & Robby were named the Godparents and Amaya was in perfect form for the entire Baptism. Afterwards, the whole gang headed to Gusto Di Quattro for a beautiful lunch and a few laughs with old family friends. It was a great way to spend a sunday and Amaya was just perfect. Pics can be seen HERE!!!

GOODBYE PROPAGANDA

Today marks the end of an era for me. Three and a half years ago, I started work at a small games studio called Revolution Games and I was employee #18. Today, I leave a large Disney-owned Company called Propaganda Games that is now home to 150+ talented, passionate people. Why?

I got offered a great & creative gig at another studio that felt too good to pass up and would allow me to flex some long dormant muscles that were in desperate need of some activity. I'm really excited with this new opportunity but it was a hard choice. I have so many good memories at Propaganda: the first Whistler Staff Day, San Diego Comic Con 2005, Snow Day on Grouse, getting my first SLR camera (thanks Frank!), Pancake Breakfasts, the Turok Launch Party, GDC in San Francisco, Beer o'clock, Poker Nights, Costume Days, Mini Game Week and finally seeing the fruit of our labour, Turok, on the shelves in stores.

It's been a hell of a ride but sometimes you gotta follow your gut and suit up for a brand new adventure and that's just what I'm gonna do!

Thanks for all the memories PROPAGANDA GAMES!!!

BYE BYE SEPTEMBER

Time is really flying this year, I can't believe September has come and gone, it feels like New Years was just a few weeks ago... man, time really does fly. Lot's to recap this month:

• Michelle and I celebrated our third wedding ANNIVERSARY
• I had a BIRTHDAY
• KEN & LOREEN tied the knot!
• A review for THE KINGSTON is up at VANCOUVER EATS
• All my Italian relatives came for a visit and we all spent a weekend in WHISTLER together which was grand!
• FREWER had a birthday
• I took some shots of Natasha's BRIDAL PARTY to get me some more photo experience!
• Finally, take a look at our SEPTEMBER Pics
• All in all, a great month! Now onto October!
  
  
  

LITTLE MAN

It was a tough week for CARMINE, first off, he got "the big snip" and had to wear "the cone of shame" for a bit but after a few days he got an allergic reaction to something and swelled up like a balloon. His body was covered in hives, his entire face swelled up and he was a bit itchy, let's just say he wasn't a happy camper. After a few vet visits, we still aren't sure what exactly caused the issue (spider bite?) but he is on medication and slowly getting better. Poor little man!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEAN FREWPOT!

WE LOVE YOU MAN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIO!!!!!

Today at Corsiworld we celebrate the birth of one half of our dynamic duo. Well, celebrate may be a strong word. You see, Mr Corsi is having a tough time with this particular age, 36. Maybe because it is 6 years into his thirties or only 4 years from 40. We dont really know why. 

I have done some investigation to find out a bit more about this day:

• its the same day of the year that Augustus Cesar, Roman Emperor was born and well as Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire so apparently strong leaders are born on september 23rd. That is fitting, as Gio is a very strong person, a good leader and my personal rock on whom a lean so often (especially of late).
• It is NEW YEARS Day in Constantinople due to the birth of Augustus. Its like the day was meant to be a day of celebration for centuries; perfect to celebrate my main man Gio!
• Being born on September 23rd makes him a Libra, a truely great astrological sign. Does a person become their sign or are they destined by the stars? Well the qualities of a Libra are (see if you think they match our man): Flirty and frivolous  (yep), gentle (check), sensitive to others (check), cheerful (generally, maybe not today), graceful (well...) , diplomatic (check), cooperative (depends on the event), charming (check), easy-going (check)! A true Libra!

There are a couple of cool factoids about the number as well..

• 36 is the sum of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8! and if you add all numbers up to 36 you get 666!
• 36 is the number of degrees in the angle of all 5 tips in a star!
• 36 is the anatomic number of KRYPTON!!

So you see it is a great day and a great age! 

Gio you have accomplished so much, and have overcome hurdles, you have a gift for making those around you feel secure and happy that is inspiring, your talent for making people laugh is incredible, your caring spirit is endearing, and your knack for useless pop-trivia is mind-blowing. You are my friend and my love, and I consider myself lucky to have found you. So buck up and celebrate! 

 

KEN & LOREEN TIE THE KNOT

The final wedding of the season! Our friends Ken & Loreen tied the knot over the weekend while we were in Whistler but Michelle came down to take part in the festivities! She also brought along her camera to take some snaps, I mean come on, it wouldn't be a Corsiworld Blog entry without some pictures! Anyway, the day was perfect as was the wedding and a good time was had by all. For those of you keeping score, Loreen was the lovely lass who made all the pink bridesmaids dresses for our wedding! Now you know and knowing is half the battle!

Check out the pics HERE!!! Congrats Ken and Loreen!

3 YEARS STRONG...

Three years ago today we got married and today we shall celebrate that joyous event by working! We shall work extra hard and make an extra effort to do a good job as that is the best way to celebrate our love for earch other... BOOYA!

It's amazing that three years have already gone by, it doesn't feel that way... but sometimes it does, like when Michelle asks me to do something and I don't do it, so she asks me again and I say "yup" but I still don't do it... so then she gets mad at me and I get mad at her for getting mad at me when I didn't do anything wrong. Right? I love those days!

I kid, I kid, I'll take those days and every other day of the last three years and I know the next three are going to be even better. Happy Anniversary baby!

To see some Corsiworld goodness check out our pics HERE

THE BEST MEAL IN A LONG, LONG TIME...

Whenever someone asks me "what is the best meal I've ever had" I tell the tale of my beef tenderloin & Caymus Cabernet at Quattro in Whistler with my uncle Antonio. My second favorite has to be the "experience" I had at Nine Steakhouse at the Palms in Las Vegas, I will never forget the first time I bit into that steak during my Stag weekend, it was awesome. So you see, the best meal was because of the food and wine pairing, the second meal was because of the experience. Well, I know have a third favorite meal and it's because of the food and the wine and the experience!

This weekend saw 13 Corsi relatives from Italy and 10 of the Vancouver-based Corsis head to Whistler for a weekend of fun, food and family-bonding. Some stayed in a hotel, others with my Uncle at his place while the rest of us made camp at a great 6-bedroom cabin in the woods. We had a BBQ on the lake, some folks went ATVing while others took the tram to the peak of the mountain, we ate at different restaurants, went dancing till the wee hours and usually ended up for cigars and cocktails at one place or another, it was a great weekend to be sure but let's get back to "the meal".

First off, all the meals were great, big ones included a suckling-pig feast at CARAMBA (how very Roman of us), the biggest bowl of traditional Paella at KYPRIAKI and some award-winning French appies at BAREFOOT BISTRO. But one meal in particular stood out from the rest and once again it was from Chef Jeremie Trottier at QUATTRO IN WHISTLER. Now I know what you are thinking "hey hey bald man, this is one of the family restaurants, ofcourse you are going to say its awesome". Not true jerk face, I calls them like I sees them and I have had disappointing meals at my family's restaurants, luckily, this wasn't one of them.

The meal, or feast, or food orgy, whatever you want to call it was 8 courses long and each course was paired with a fantastic wine. What's even better is that Chef Jeremie didn't just give us a meal of Quattro Favorites, he created a menu of his favorite dishes, some inspired by his Italian experiences, others from his personal adventures, it was truly a meal to remember.

A weekend with non-stop relatives can be tough, I mean we've all heard the stories or seen the movie version starring Chevy Chase but this was a great experience and it was awesome to see three generations of the family having a blast together. A few of them are here for another few days but you can see a pictorial history of their visit HERE!!!

AWESOMETOWN

We've dubbed our little 10-unit Townhouse complex "Awesometown" because well, it's awesome! How did that name come to be? Well, during our yearly owner's meeting, Michelle asked the group what the name of our complex actually was since it is a bit of a mystery and before anyone could say anything, I blurted out "Awesometown". People laughed but sure enough the name stuck and more and more folks are using the moniker to describe our living situation.

But a name alone does not make a town awesome, a town must be awesome to truly deserve the name Awesometown. Take yesterday for instance, a few of us were hanging out in the courtyard letting the dogs run rampant when Tom suggested we have a big BBQ, everyone who was there said "sure" and just like that a feast of epic neighbourly proportions was underway. Within a few hours we were eating, drinking and laughing while filling our bellies to no bounds.

Let me get into the extremely tasty foody specifics: we provided 2 types of baked Chicken Wings (18 Roasted Garlic & Herbs and 18 Brown Sugar, Red Salt & Chili), a large Summer Grape Tomato Salad, Grilled Sausages and Michelle's highly-coveted homemade Chocolate/Espresso Cookies. Tom & Angela created smoked/pulled Beef Brisket Sammiches, Corn & Blue Cheese Salad and mustardy rustic Potato Salad. Teri provided the Roasted Garlic Wild Rice and Portobello Mushroom Burgers. Mike & Carla gave us the Ginger Soy BBQ Salmon, the Arugula Summer Salad, fresh Bruschetta, Olives & Cheese. How's that for awesome???

4 units pitched in for the food, 2 other units made cameo appearances and a good time was had by all. Sangria, Wine, Beer and Scotch were shared and again we got to know our neighbours who are all cool people and this quick impromptu BBQ turned into a memorable night. It's funny, when we lived in Deep Cove, over the course of a year we met our neighbours once or twice and never "broke bread" with them, I bet you I wouldn't recognize them on the street if I saw them. But here it's different, a lot of us hang out, go out on the town or have everyone over for a meal or a drink, it's great.

I love AWESOMETOWN.