I am glad we asked!

While Adam and I are stationed in temporary housing we are privileged with a benefit called "actual cost per diem," meaning whatever we spend on food up to a daily maximum amount will be reimbursed. This is a nice little perk. We don't eat out every meal but we have taken this opportunity to try out some of the local restaurants to see what we like.

As a side note, one thing I have learned about eating out over here is that you don't want to wait until you are hungry to decide you'd like to go out. Eating out is a completely different experience here, once they give you a table they plan on you keeping that table for the entire evening.

For example, a few nights ago we went to an Italian restaurant called Gianni Ristorante. The food was excellent and the service was good too, but it might have been considered slow according to American standards. Once we were seated we were given about twenty or so minutes to look over the menu before we were checked on. After ordering we had a good hour to talk amongst ourselves while we waited for our food. This is pretty on par with the other restaurants we have tried as well. You aren't just going out for a meal you are truly dining out for the evening.

I was only able to finish about half of my food because the portion size was huge, so Adam asked the waiter if we could get a to-go box. Apparently this is an American thing to do as well because our waiter gave us a funny look.

"You want to take this with you?" He asked.

We felt very foolish at this point but still said yes:) I guess you are just expected to either sit and eat all night until your food is gone or surrender the left overs as waste. I couldn't bring myself to do either so we ran the risk of looking like dumb Americans. Here is what it got us:


Isn't it cute?!? Adam calls it a duck but I think a swan is much more appealing. Instead of to-go boxes they wrap your left overs in attractive tinfoil animals, at least this Italian restaurant did. I very much enjoyed receiving my swan, I am glad we asked!