Una buona grigliata

For night two in Ustica, dinner plans included pesce grigliata (grilled fish) of various types.  As the sun set over the Meditteranean, the guys and gals had a few beers, while I caught up on a few more zzzzs before heading out.

Pretty much all of the dining that I have seen or been a part of this trip is out outdoors, and, when it is 75 degrees out at dinner time (11:00 pm or so), it's really quite nice to dine al fresco.

Federica, Fabrizio's girlfriend had done some research and found this place for us, and let me tell you, it was a gem.  We started with some antipasti of calamari fritti and grilled primo sale cheese.  Primo sale means first salt, and Francesco explained to me that the name is because the cheese is made by layering salt on top of it when it is raw.  If multiple layers are added, it becomes pecorino, a hard, salty cheese used to top pastas.  Anyway, it was delicious and the calamari was very lightly dusted in flour and fried - not heavy and thick like you might find at TGIFridays.

Fabrizio, one of the guys on the trip, knew I appreciated all of the food, and took me over to the grill to see what was happening with our entrees.  Really, it was pretty simple, but looked great!  Just swordfish with a little bit of salt on the grill.

Before long, dinner was ready, and out came the family style plates of grilled swordfish and calamari, and gamberi - shrimp of various sizes.

There wasn't a lot of talking during our meal (and this is rare in Italy!), as we all chowed down on the delicious feast.  After dinner, the owner came by to see if we wanted to buy some t-shirts from the restaurant for five euro.  Since I had been wearing the same two or three shirts for the whole trip, I was excited to add a new one to the wardrobe, and five euro seemed like a bargain.

Above, Fabrizio and I can be seen modeling our new tees, and below is a pic of dessert - lemon sorbetto with vodka.  Light, lemony and simply delicious!

After dinner, it was only about 12:30 am, so of course, we had to see what was going on.  Believe it or not, on the small island of Ustica, there was a huge disco. After some unsuccessful negotiating by Fabrizio for a group discount, we paid the seven euro cover only to find a large, empty dance floor.

As it turns out, we were just early.  By 2:00 am, the place filled up a bit.  But, we called it an early night and by 3:30 am, headed back to our bungalows at Spalmatore to rest up for our last day on the island.