International Woman's Day

Last week was the International Woman's Day which supposedly started in the US, but I had never heard about it before coming here.  In Italian it's called La Festa della Donna.  Fabri and I have never really celebrated it much.  Two years ago we bought a mimosa tree, the official woman's day flower.  Unfortunately Winter of 2009 was very harsh and that died and hasn't been replaced.  Last year Fabri probably brought me flowers, but I don't remember.  This year a couple of my American girlfriends here in Italy (Tammy & Anna) convinced me I had to do something for woman's day.  Fabri's response was, "yeah, sure, whatever go out and I'll go out with some guy friends."

The restaurant gave Tammy & I mimosa swags

So Tammy attempted to organize an evening of dinner and dancing, but apparently you have to book weeks ahead of time.  Who has time for that?  So then she suggested we go bowling.  I like bowling, but bowling in just two didn't sound that great, so I suggested we bring our husbands.  They put up a front like we were ruining their plans for a wild night out with the boys, but neither of them had spoken to any other "boyz" the afternoon of Festa della Donna.

Fabri and Michele LOVING their American import beers!

Anyway, they certainly enjoyed the restaurant choice! We went to Eleat in Cuneo. It's a new restaurant that opened in October.  Tammy & Michele had been there a few times and especially liked their mussel dishes.  Fabri and I were happy when we saw the reviews that they have good beer.  I have to say that bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale tasted better than any Sierra Nevada I've had before. 

Tammy and Jess love Barbera!

The restaurant is very modern and looks super American compared to most of the restaurants I've been to in Italy.  It is on the third floor of an office building and the walls are completely windows so you can look out.  We told the owners that the restaurant was almost perfect, they just needed stools at the bar.  They had a nice looking American style restaurant bar, but no stools.  If they had been there, we would have had a drink at the bar while waiting for Tammy & Michele instead of waiting at the table.  Not that that's a big deal, but the restaurant owners said it was a good idea and that next time we came, there would be stools.  We all had the mussel appetizer and different pizzas.  It was good, but Tammy said the mussel portion used to be larger, and I'd like to see the bowl filled to the brim with mussels next time instead of the stools! 

Strike a bowling pose!

After dinner we went over to the bowling alley.  That was a lot of fun.  It was great to do something new.  We hadn't been bowling for at least a year.  I don't know if Festa della Donna will be an annual event for me, it's sort of a pointless holiday.  I expect Fabri to treat me like a goddess every day, not just one day a year! But it's always fun to have an excuse to go out with friends.

Roses Maria Pia bought me for Festa della Donna