Day 6: Sunday

We attempted to go to bed earlier last night so that we wouldn’t miss the first service at church this morning. But inevitably, we were exhausted from an emotional and spontaneous week, so we attended the second service instead. I in a light dress, and Cobalt in swim trunks and a t-shirt, we dressed for the beach in case we were in the mood to take a stroll afterwards in the beautiful weather. Afterwards, we spoke to a few friends we hadn’t seen in a while and headed straight home. To commemorate the last day of break, Cobalt kindly asked what I wanted to do. We’d originally planned to go to the beach but realized how sleepy we were (but thought napping would ruin our circadian rhythm more than it was already messed up) and also how tiring the sun appeared to be (it’s incessant here, due to little cloud cover). So I replied I wanted to dress up and go to a fancy restaurant, even if it was in the middle of the day. Cobalt smiled and agreed, so we began thinking of fancy cuisines … ultimately, that brought us to Italian food.

Yelp reviews raved about a certain hole-in-the wall about a half a mile down the road from our house. So we neglected the fancy clothes and attempted to walk. (By “attempted” I mean that we *thought* we were walking to the restaurant, when, in fact, we were walking to the same one we’d eaten a couple days earlier. Silly, GPS! Tricks are for kids! :P Sigh.) After a 3/4 mile walk in the sun (fortunately, we’d donned hats and sunscreen!), and realizing the restaurant we were looking for didn’t exist in that area of town, we turned around and walked home. Exhausted, we ended up driving to the spot in the end. Ha.

When we arrived, we observed it was a little market, about the size of a gas station, but much less shady. Along the right-most wall, was sold a counter of fresh deli meats and cheeses by the pound; and a menu of sandwiches, pastas and salads on the opposing wall. Not an official restaurant, everything you buy is To-Go, but there is seating outside, conveniently in the shade. We couldn’t stop smiling the whole time we browsed the store! Not that we’ve been to Europe, but if I imagine myself in Italy, I hope a store feels this way: happy customers, genuine & exceptional food to-go, reasonable prices, fresh breads and pastries, odd food in cans or vinegar, a small shelf of unique wines, and prepackaged, precooked pasta dishes. I nearly wished I’d brought a darling tablecloth and wine glasses so we could have pretended we were picnicking on a sunny Sunday afternoon!

After quickly browsing the menu, and asking a customer behind us in line what they usually ordered, we chose three sandwiches: a muffaletta, a sliced turkey breast and a corned beef sandwich. While our order was being put together, we picked out two cakes from the pastry window: a slice of caramel torte and tiramisu cake. We also sampled fresh, slightly sweetened, almond biscotti (which I am totally going to buy next time); oh-my-gosh it would be absolutely perfect with morning/afternoon tea/coffee! Lastly, we picked out a bottle of sangria, a loaf of brioche bread (because I haven’t figured out how to make it from scratch yet, and the real stuff makes killer french toast!) and a pint of pistachio gelato.

Not sure why we felt obligated to order so much food! …  but fortunately it keeps well. Best $50 I’ve ever spent! All the sandwiches had a substantial amount of meat in them (and a lot of white bread but not a lot of vegetables, heh). I did some quick math and realized it was the same price to order a sandwich here than to order the meat by the pound and make it at home. The sandwiches are roundabout $8 each but can definitely be split amongst a friend or wrapped for tomorrow’s lunch. Thankfully, our seating outside was shaded by the building (I was surprisingly chilly with the breeze fluttering by intermittently) and the other customers sitting near us were chatting quietly; an extremely ideal lunch situation for a couple that hates crowded and loud venues! We were pleased, indeed. For our meal, we tasted bits and pieces of the sandwiches and cakes but saved the brioche, sangria and gelato for later. It was a great feeling, knowing that this date was cheaper than any fancy date we’d ever go on and came with a gross amount of food, quietness and pleasant weather. :)