How are we eating over here?

One big difference between my Italy and China vacations is that here in Italy I have access to a full kitchen.  Including an outdoor brick oven (we cooked pizza the other night) and a BBQ.  So, the other night we decided to cook steaks:

I haven't tried to start a charcoal grill for a long time!  But fortunately the technique came back to me.

We had the steak with some fried mushrooms and onions, zucchini, and some leftover spaghetti and salad.  Kind of an Italian style meal :-)

The next day we went to Pisa (and climbed the Leaning Tower - I'll post some pics once I have a chance to sort through them) - we planned to cook dinner again but found that the grocery store closed early on Sunday :-(  Too bad, we had to eat out again!  Italian menus typically have many courses (Aperitif, Primi Piati, Carne, etc) and since Italian meals last hours and hours and are very social occasions, you are expected to order from the many courses.  However we haven't accustomed to eat that much food yet, so we've been eating "Chinese Style" off of the Italian menu - ordering a selection of dishes and then sharing them.  All my Chinese friends would be very impressed, all that is missing is some bai jiu and festive toasting!

This meal we had penne with a spicy tomato sauce (picante!), rabbit and a mixed salad.  (Notice that when you order a "carne" plate (meat) you basically get a hunk of meat.  You have to order all the sides separately.)  Oh and also a sausage pizza :-)

After dinner we wandered over to the main square (we drove into Calci for dinner) and there was a concert going on!  A quartet (piano, accordion, violin and piano) plus a singer.  They played a selection of songs from movies, including a jazzy number where the accordionist basically turned his instrument into a bongo and the violinist became a bassist (we tried to figure out how a violin became a bass but to no avail).

At one point (during Mamba Italiana) the singer ripped off her dress revealing a green dress underneath and danced a sexy mamba number!

The concert started around 10 PM and finished after 11.  We are wondering how the Italians are adjusting to life in Canada, since the Brentwood Bay "music in the park" on Wednesdays starts at 6:30 PM and finishes promptly at 8:30!  We are imagining the Italians showing up to the park "early" at 9 PM and wondering where everyone is!