Generosity

Caroline and I went to Lake Como one Sunday when we were staying in the Milan flat. Faye told us to go to this brewery and ask for “Brava” which apparently is the best beer in the world. So we went to Lake Como, and it was gorgeous! It was a bit of a rainy day, so it was quiet there and a bit eerie. We could imagine how nice it would be on a sunny day! Along the lake front there was a little market going on with some delicious cheeses, meats, and sweets. Each booth was from a different area in northern Italy, and they were giving out SO many samples. Every booth we went to had the nicest people, and they were all so eager to tell us about their homes and share their food with us. They didn’t really care whether or not we bought anything—they were happy to share the best foods from their home towns! We just walked by a booth and someone would say, ahh try these olives!! Have another! Isn’t this apple strudel great! Try it! This cheese is delicious!! And here it is smoked! You have to try it with the salami! Seriously, I ate my weight in cheese.

Later we went in search of the brewery. It was nowhere to be found. We did, however, find one in Milan (thanks Garmin). When we got there, it was closed! This was no great surprise…everything in Italy is usually closed, especially on a Sunday. But there were a couple of men outside. We asked if the brewery was open at all on Sunday, and one man said, ah, wait one second. So we did. And then the owner of the brewery comes out and invites us in! We asked if we could just buy some beer to take with us, and he asked us what kind of beer we liked. Then he comes with this huge bottle of beer, and we’re thinking, hm, how much is this going to cost? We didn’t really want to spend a ton of money on beer…so he says, no, take it—it’s free! Then he takes us outside to a cooler, and gives us another huge bottle, and tells us all about the different beers they make and breweries in Italy. Then he gave us these really cool beer mugs (mugs?) with the name of the brewery, and invited us back for aperitivo that night. So we went with our group, and the food was excellent. It was super crowded, but the owner kept coming with beer samples because he wanted us to taste all of the beers he told us about. It was such a cool day. I just kept thinking how amazing it was that people were so happy to give us things and were less worried about making money. It was more like, “look at this thing I made with my hands! Try it! I know it’s good, and I want you to have it because I know you’ll love it!” And they were right, because it all was really, really good.