Day 8

Cinque Terre

Market in Cinque Terre

Seafood appetizers

Enjoying our meal

Terraced hills of grapes.

Coastline in Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre

Boats stored in Cinque Terre

We went to Cinque Terre, the Italian Riviera, and visited all of the five towns. The food is very unique in this area and different than traditional Italian meals. Each town was completly isolated with their own foods and dialect until the train service began in the 1920's. Our lunch consisted of a seafood plate appetizer that contained squid, octopus, fish pate, mussels, and very small fish. The pasta dish was spaghetti with pesto sauce, which is a local speciality. The beautiful setting of these multi-colored buildings against the Mediterranean Sea was breathtaking.

Day 5-7

Making Bruschetta.

Our guest chef, Alvaro.

Castle at Castagnoli

Enjoying the castle tour.

Medieval village

Day 5
Today we had a guest chef, Alvaro. He was a retired chef from Radda and was an excellent source of information. We prepared berry tiramasu, a variety of roasted meats and potatoes, riboletta (which is bread soup), and two kinds of bruschetta. In the afternoon, we toured a castle, winery, and two medieval villages.

Measuring flour with scales

Preparing dough for foccacia.

Our last class member and host family

San Gimignano

Piazza della Cisterna in San Gimignano

View from one of the towers

Day 6
Today was our last cooking class and we prepared risotto, foccacia, chicken marsala with zucchini, and a cake made with farrot (which is an ancient grain). After our meal we drove to San Gimignano and explored the beautiful city of towers on our way to Florence. We arrived in Florence that evening and had dinner with a friend who teaches Italian Food Culture classes. They were having a street festival in the area of our hotel, and we enjoyed food samples and observing the local people as we walked to our restaurant. We had a wonderful meal and it was interesting to discuss the nutrition of the Italian diet. Our host explained that the short distance from farm to table is what made their diet so healthy.

Porcelain museum at Pitti Pallace in Florence.

Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens

Gelato

Shopping in the markets

View of Arno River from Ponte Vecchio.

Ponte Vecchio

Meal with friend who teaches Italian Food Culture classes in Florence.

 Day 7
We explored the city of Florence for a straight 8 hours today! We began at the Boboli Gardens and Pitti Palace. The views from the top of the garden were breathtaking. The palace was the home of the Medici family which were the leaders of Florence during the Renaissance period. We really enjoyed the costume gallery which explained the history of fashion throughout the ages. This will be very rewarding information in our textile and fashion classes. We next visited the Galleria dell Accademia where we saw the sculpture of Michelangelo's David as well as his prisoner sculptures. Bortolini had a visiting exhibit that was also interesting. From there we took a Renaissance Walk through the town visiting historic sites and sculptures. In the evening, we had anouther excellent meal at a local restaurant in the Santo Spirito area of Florence. We continued to discuss the food culture with our host as she explained how most Italians purchase their food daily. She also said Italians have the second longest life expectancy. Tomorrow we travel to Cinque Terre.

Day 4

Preparing ingredients for pesto

Meal with the our host family.

Monteriggioni - walled city

Cafe at Monteriggioni

Ruins at Volterra

Streets of Volterra

Preparing stuffed conchigliana.

We had a wonderful day cooking today with 2 couples from the USA and one from Canada. Some of the unique things we made are homemade pesto sauce using a mortar and pestle, beans cooked in a glass beaker, and panna cotta with dark chocolate. Our pasta course was conchigliana stuffed with tuna, mozzarella, and olives. We learned about different kinds of olives and olive oils. In the afternoon, we traveled to Monteriggioni and Volterra. Both are walled cities and we were able to explore the Etruscan ruins. They were amazingly beautiful.

Day 3

Butcher shop in Greve

Preparing the veal.

Making gnocchi

Cheese shop in Greve

Greve in Chianti

Today we made gnocchi, pizza, veal with roasted peppers, and lemon sorbet. We were joined in our class by a group from Texas so felt right at home. We spent the afternoon in Greve visiting the shops. We toured a butcher shop, wine store, and ceramic shop. We are having trouble with computer connections and downloading pictures so the post is going to be short. Hopefully we have the pictures working now!

Day 2

View out our room window at Toscana Mia

Chopping vegetables and herbs for Crostini with a mezzaluna knife.

Rolling out the pasta dough with a mattarello rolling pin.



Siena



Duomo in Siena



View in Siena



Our first gelato

We began our cooking adventure this morning. We learned how to use Italian cooking equipment such as a Mezzaluna knife, mattarello rolling pin, and manual pasta maker while preparing a four course meal consisting of five dishes. We learned about different balsamic vinegars as well as many tips and techniques in preparing traditional "tipico" Tuscany cuisine. Lunch was delizioso! We enjoyed meeting and working with our fellow culiary students from Canada and England. Our afternoon, we spent in Siena. We toured the Duomo, Baptistry, Crypt, Piazza del Campo, and the Duomo museum. We walked the streets of Siena enjoying the many window displays of regional foods. We also tasted our first gelato. Looking forward to tomorrow's cooking class on gnocchi.

Day 1

Studying our itinerary as we wait for plane.

Tuscany countryside

Radda in Chianti

Arrived in Florence, sleep deprived, and drove through countryside. We saw magnificient views of olive groves, villas, and wineries. We stopped at Impruneta and Radda in Chianti region and walked through the picturesque villages. We arrived this evening at Toscana Mia, a 13th century farmhouse, to begin our cooking adventure. We met our hosts and discussed scheduled activities. We had a delicious meal consisting of 3 courses with our three generation host family.