Today was chore day. Eric changed generator oil. Christi cleaned. Our big outings were lunch and dinner in the marina complex.

A few weeks ago we had complained about the short number of hours “real” restaurants are open in Europe. Today we found out it is not our imagination that restaurants only open for like an hour. The day we arrived, we had gone to the restaurant closest to our boat for lunch. It was a few minutes before 1400. The kitchen was already closed. Today we went in at 1215, confident they would be open, and were told the kitchen didn’t open until 1300.

And, while we are in complaining mode, here is another interesting story. In Italy and Malta, we have had even worse luck with finding retail stores open than restaurants. Businesses seem to open at 1000 or 1100, close at 1200 or 1300 for lunch, then reopen at around 1600 or 1700 and close again at 1700 or 1800. It seems like no matter what time we arrive at a store, we just missed their open hours. So, today we went out for dinner at 1830, hoping and praying we would find a restaurant that opened early. We were starving and Christi didn’t want to cook. We went to every single restaurant in the marina complex and none were open yet. But, we were overjoyed to see that the elusive yacht chandlery was open. Yay! It was close to 1900, and the sign said it closed at 1930. We walked in, and Eric excitedly combed the aisles looking at all the goodies they had. Yacht supply stores are more fun for him than Disneyland, especially when he finds things that are useful. Anyway, he started picking up things to buy and the workers turned the lights out on us! Clearly, they wanted to close up early and we were a terrible nuisance to them. Eric bought the few things he had already picked up and we left. They were actually nice to us at the check out, they just wanted to go home and didn’t care about our sale. That is something that would never, ever happen in America.

So, on to dinner. We were standing at the door of a restaurant five minutes before it opened, with our noses pressed to the glass, big sad eyes, and saliva running down our chins in hopes they would open early for us. The owners are a really nice couple who tried their best to chat with us in broken English. The food was wonderful. When we were ordering our meal, they kindly translated the menu for us. One of the things they said was on the menu was mushrooms. We like mushrooms, so we ordered them. Out came mussels. We didn’t care because the mussels were fabulous, but we think it is funny that twice now the word “mussel” has been grossly mistranslated for us.

On a random note, we have been surprised by how simple Italian food is. For example, tomato sauces are usually plain tomato paste and salt, and the dish will usually be garnished with high quality cheese and fresh basil for added flavor. Don’t get us wrong, it is great food the high quality ingredients make for awesome flavor. It is just not what we expected. In America, Italian food is zesty, and sauces have a lot of herbs, garlic, onion and other things cooked into them to flavor them. The really zesty stuff is what we were anticipating.

Anyway, we had two really good desserts with dinner. One was tiramisu, which is lady fingers soaked in espresso and topped with mascarpone cheese. Eric ordered one. Christi isn’t normally a tiramisu fan, but she loved this tiramisu. It is by far the best we have ever had. The cheese was extra flavorful, the cake at the bottom flavorful, and there was about ½ inch of coffee in the bottom of the bowl. Usually the lady fingers are barely moistened with the coffee and you can’t taste the coffee flavor very well.

Christi ordered a Sardinian cookie plate. In Italy, every town has specialty food products, and the government and people go out of their way to protect those secret ingredients and recipes. For example, you can’t call a wine Marsala wine unless it is made in Marsala using 100% local Marsala grapes. Nor can you take Marsala grapes and plant them anywhere other than Marsala. Anyway, the owner is from Sardinia, so she makes cookies from her hometown. The tear drop shaped one has a fig filling in the center, and the dough is rather hard and plain. The one on the right is amaretto flavored, soft and light. The one on top is a little bit like an oatmeal raisin cookie, soft and dense. The bottom one is a heavy, sweet dough, and obviously the sugar glaze is very sweet.

And since we are on the subject of desserts, Christi has a new food addiction to marzipan. She is stopping by the marina bakery daily to get one. Marzipan is a dessert that is shaped and dyed to look like other foods, most commonly fruit. She is not sure why, but she always thought marzipan was a flavorless hard sugar candy. She had no idea it was really a soft, rich, amaretto flavored, doughy cookie. Not only are they yummy, they are fun to eat because they come in so many entertaining shapes. No, this is not a croissant, it is a marzipan cookie.

And, still on the subject of desserts, the other day Eric got something new to us. We have no idea what it is called. It looks light and fluffy, but it is actually as heavy as a brick. It is very dense and rich. It was too much for him, which is a huge feat. Eric can easily out dessert everyone we know.

Something we have found interesting in Italy is, like in Greece, quite a few restaurants bring you a complimentary shot or dessert wine after your meal. We think it is a nice touch. We have tried a few nice wines, a few liqueurs that have left burn marks down our throats, and discovered our new favorite liqueur, Erotica.

Oh, and on the subject of alcohol, in Italy, “bars” are a place to get a beverage, not necessarily alcoholic. Bars open early in the morning and stay open late at night, serving everything from coffee, teas, soda, juice, granitas, as well as a big selection of alcoholic beverages. Bars also usually serve a light food menu. It is about as different from the American concept of “bar” as you can get.

Oh, back to complaining”¦ Food service in Italy is generally really good until the end, when we ask for our check. In Europe, they will let you sit in a restaurant pretty much as long as you want after you are done eating. It is nice that they don’t rush you out the door like they do in America. When you are ready to go, you ask for the check. The servers never bring it to you until you ask (in a real restaurant, at least. Sometimes they do in “snacks”). We have a hard time getting our servers in Italy to bring us the check. They seem to want to hold us hostage. We will often times literally ask three or four times over a half hour to 45 minute period before they finally bother to bring it out, and they can’t seem to understand why we would want to leave.