Greetings from Tuscany.
On Sunday I arrived in Pisa from Barcelona, via Munich! My poor little brain struggled with so many languages in one day. I was so tired that when the Lufthansa flight attendant asked me what I wanted to drink in Spanish I replied in German. I got to Pisa by lunch time and the friendly rep from the cooking school offered to drive me through the town on the way back to the villa so that I could see the leaning tower.
I never realized it developed the lean before the building of it was even completed. We then decided to head back to the villa. Just one problem, he had tripped the immobilizer in the car and it wouldn't start. 45 minutes and three espressos later we were back on the road. The villa is lovely.
Sunday is chef Valentino's day off, so dinner was made "home style" by one of the other staff, Kira. It was awesome. We had melon with prosciutto and why she called "pizza chicken" which was chicken breast baked in a lovely sauce of tomatoes, garlic, olives, herbs and mozzarella. Poor girl is trying to teach me Italian (all the other guests speak some Italian, just not me).
Come Monday morning we were put to work in the kitchen. We spent all morning working on our four course (!!!) lunch. We stated with goat cheese involtini with bresaola
We then had our first pasta course. We had spent all morning learning how to make all sorts of pasta.
This was followed by the ravioli we had made with an asparagus sauce
Even though it was only lunch we needed to have a dolche (dessert). We made cantucci with vin santo
After a break we were back in the kitchen to make dinner. First course was pappa al pomodoro, a traditional Tuscan soup made with leftover bread.
This was followed by a main of florentine roast pork, rosemary roasted potatoes and grilled vegetables in this amazing parsley sauce.
Dessert was panacotta with strawberry sauce
At this point I decided to check to see if my travel insurance covered me if I was to explode after eating all that food.
Today, we went to the town of Lucca. It still has it's wall. Nobody ever penetrated it. Even Napoleon saw how strong it was and knocked on the door and offered them the money that he would have paid for the explosives if they would simply let him in (they did, and he gave the town to his sister as a wedding gift). Puccini lived in Lucca and wrote many of his famous pieces there. We even went to his house where his piano is still. Vespa's are made nearby. The town where the story of Pinocchio was written is also just a few km's from Lucca. Lucca was just like I imagined Italy to be. Lots of older men riding bicycles with wicker baskets on the front down tiny cobbled streets.
Almost time to go back to the kitchen. Tonight we are making deep fried stuffed zucchini flowers, lasagna, saltimbocca with green beans and pancetta and a chocolate souffle.
Hoping the pants still fit at the end of the week!
On Sunday I arrived in Pisa from Barcelona, via Munich! My poor little brain struggled with so many languages in one day. I was so tired that when the Lufthansa flight attendant asked me what I wanted to drink in Spanish I replied in German. I got to Pisa by lunch time and the friendly rep from the cooking school offered to drive me through the town on the way back to the villa so that I could see the leaning tower.
I never realized it developed the lean before the building of it was even completed. We then decided to head back to the villa. Just one problem, he had tripped the immobilizer in the car and it wouldn't start. 45 minutes and three espressos later we were back on the road. The villa is lovely.
Sunday is chef Valentino's day off, so dinner was made "home style" by one of the other staff, Kira. It was awesome. We had melon with prosciutto and why she called "pizza chicken" which was chicken breast baked in a lovely sauce of tomatoes, garlic, olives, herbs and mozzarella. Poor girl is trying to teach me Italian (all the other guests speak some Italian, just not me).
Come Monday morning we were put to work in the kitchen. We spent all morning working on our four course (!!!) lunch. We stated with goat cheese involtini with bresaola
We then had our first pasta course. We had spent all morning learning how to make all sorts of pasta.
We turned some of that into tagliatelle with a pesto sauce.
This was followed by the ravioli we had made with an asparagus sauce
Even though it was only lunch we needed to have a dolche (dessert). We made cantucci with vin santo
After a break we were back in the kitchen to make dinner. First course was pappa al pomodoro, a traditional Tuscan soup made with leftover bread.
This was followed by a main of florentine roast pork, rosemary roasted potatoes and grilled vegetables in this amazing parsley sauce.
Dessert was panacotta with strawberry sauce
At this point I decided to check to see if my travel insurance covered me if I was to explode after eating all that food.
Today, we went to the town of Lucca. It still has it's wall. Nobody ever penetrated it. Even Napoleon saw how strong it was and knocked on the door and offered them the money that he would have paid for the explosives if they would simply let him in (they did, and he gave the town to his sister as a wedding gift). Puccini lived in Lucca and wrote many of his famous pieces there. We even went to his house where his piano is still. Vespa's are made nearby. The town where the story of Pinocchio was written is also just a few km's from Lucca. Lucca was just like I imagined Italy to be. Lots of older men riding bicycles with wicker baskets on the front down tiny cobbled streets.
There is a tower with trees growing out the top of it. They wanted to be the tallest building in town, but nobody can build taller than the basilica (from where I took this picture). So to get around that, they planted the trees.
Hoping the pants still fit at the end of the week!
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