Ladies’ Day Out at the Lake

By Jaclyn Youhana Garver

Northeast Indiana boasts more than 200 lakes, and summertime is the perfect time to take advantage of all that lakescape. To help you plan, we’ve collected the best ingredients for a girls’ trip to your favorite lake.

Where To Stay

It seems Hoosiers in this region all have a friend who knows someone with a lake house. If there’s no home to borrow through your group’s channels, turn to Airbnb or VBRO.com. If your group loves tent-sleeping, there are plenty of campgrounds to choose from, too. Check out the Lake James Campground in Angola, Blue Lake Campground in Churubusco or Pike Lake Campground in Warsaw.

What To Eat

No trip to the lake is complete without a picnic feast. Here are some simple, tasty side and sweet options to pair with your favorite grilled protein:

No Frills Pasta Salad

1 box (16 ounces) rotini pasta, cooked al dente and cooled

5 ounces mini pepperoni

3 string cheeses, cut in ½-inch rounds

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

½ cup black olives, sliced

¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 bottle your favorite Italian vinaigrette dressing

Mix together all ingredients. Let sit for at least an hour.

Easy Southern Banana Cream Pudding

1 package banana cream-flavor instant pudding

2 ½ cups cold milk

30 vanilla wafers

3 bananas, sliced

8 ounces whipped topping, thawed

Beat pudding mix and milk with whisk for 2 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. Arrange a layer of wafers along the bottom and up the sides of a 2-quart bowl. Layer with half the bananas; layer with half the pudding. Repeat each layer. Top with whipped topping, and refrigerate 1 hour.

What To Drink

If you have more than three or four people, opt for a pitcher of your favorite cocktail. Nothing says summer like a caipirinha, the national drink of Brazil. Also, it’s ridiculously simple.

8 limes, cut in wedges, then halves

1 cup sugar

1 bottle cachaça*

Ice cubes

Place the lime wedges and sugar in the bottom of a pitcher. Using a muddler or the handle of a wooden spoon, crush and mash the limes to release the oils and juice from the rind. When they have been juiced and the sugar begins to dissolve, add the liquor and stir to combine. Fill lowball glasses with ice cubes, pour the cocktail over the ice and serve. Do not remove the pieces of crushed lime.

* You can find cachaça, a Brazilian white rum made from sugar cane, at most liquor stores. Sub vodka for a caipiroska. Sub white rum for a caipirissima. Sub sake for a caipisake.

Game Time

The key to a perfect lake house party game is something that doesn’t require too much brain power: You want to be able to giggle through it without missing anything vital. That’s why we love Apples to Apples and, for those who find hilarity in offensive things, Cards Against Humanity. For a visual take on these two verbal games, choose What Do You Meme? Telestrations (or the R-rated Telestrations After Dark) mixes the childhood game Telephone with Pictionary (trust us—this will be your new favorite game). a