Days 10 and 11

Italy 2010

Days 10 and 11

Yesterday we sadly departed the small village of Soriano, the location of our cooking and adventure week. We got dropped off at the train station, and six hours and two trains later we arrived at Lucca, our home for the next week.

We walked our suitcases along the cobblestone streets until we finally found our apartment. It’s located along a narrow alleyway (as most all of them are). We live off a small courtyard, and we like it except for the bathroom being down a flight of stairs. We have a living room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. There are beautiful tiled floors throughout. Nothing is “Americanized”, so we are living as the Italians do. The buildings here are often made of multiple types of materials and still look great.

We ate dinner at a wonderful little Trattoria called Gigi, which is a small place in a piazza with potted trees around the several outside tables. There were a couple things we liked including the bruschetta and the polentina (fried cornmeal with meat reduction toppings). We did have withdrawal symptoms from our week in Soriano at cooking school!!

This morning we found a little place where we could sit outside in a piazza to have our cappuccini and croissants, watch all the people go by, and hear the music. This “little place” is called a bar, but it’s not the kind of bar you are used to. Yes, they have all the liquor, beer, and wine you are used to, but it’s also where the Italians go in the morning for their espressos and pastries (their typical breakfast).

Since we don’t do regular tours, we then did a self-guided audio tour of Lucca. They gave us little phone-like units that we held up to our ears and a map. We just had to punch in the numbers of each place. We even paused in the middle of our tour to have lunch. Our favorite stop was climbing the many steps to the top of a special tower that had trees growing on top.

There were several churches in the town, by our calculations, one every 2.4 blocks.

After four hours of walking, only Roberto was prepared to ride a bike along the 3 miles of wall that encircle the ancient city. This was the last of the walls built to protect the people of Lucca from their enemies. This was a very successful city made very rich by processing silk for Europe, thus the reason for defending against other city kingdoms.

The ride along the top of the wall is a visual treat. You can look upon lots of the villas and their gardens. The wall was reconfigured over a century ago for walking and riding, its days of use for defense now gone.

Day 9

Italy 2010

Day 9

By Shari

Today Roberto stayed home from our adventure outing, because we went to Civita. This is the dying hill town we stayed at two years ago with Dan and Jan Studer, and it was the Hotel from Hell. I went to learn more about this place, which is pretty neat if you are there for just a couple of hours. Roberto stayed home and set up our Blog. It’s unbelievable we have the blog you are looking at. A special Scot who was in our cooking class, Ian McNairn, taught him, and Bob thinks he’s one of the best technology teachers on the planet.

Our school took a van and an Alfa Romeo convertible that held one person, since we were one person too many for the smaller van. Since I was the extra person, I let another woman ride in the car on the way there, but I felt car sick from riding in the back of the bus.

This place called Civita is a dying city because parts keep eroding and falling off. There are only 20 full time residents. It’s like a fairy-tale place – a photographer’s dream. To get to it you have to walk up a very long bridge/walkway.

We had lunch at a tiny restaurant, and the food was so good, as usual.

Going back to the villa, I got to ride in the Alfa Romeo with the top down. What fun that was!!!! The driver drove really fast, and Italian music was playing the entire time.

Back at the villa, we made various kinds of pizza from scratch including ricotta cheese and Nutella. It was cooked in an outside wood-burning oven, and several tasty varieties were made. Delizioso!

It was also our last night together, and there were lots of hugs as we said good-bye. It was such a great group of people, and we had a splendid time!!

Days 7 and 8

Italy 2010

Days 7 and 8

Our host took us to several towns and wineries on Day 7 and kept us out of the kitchen for a day. The first stop was at an abbey built for travelers from England and France traveling to Rome and parts south between the years 1000 and 1200. We used to call then Crusaders, but maybe it is politically correct to call them visitors. The monks still chant several times a day, and we were fortunate to make one of the scheduled services.

It’s amazing how old this building is, and it’s easy to imagine the history surrounding it.

After mass, it was off to the local wineries. We think we most likely belong to the peasant class.We went to two fairly good wineries and we preferred the cheapest wine. There are some very dry wines in Italy, too dry for us, and they were the most expensive. One of the wineries had used a medieval cellar. Even the wine casks looked ancient. Unfortunately, none of the wine was to our liking, but the tour was very special.

We were then driven back to Soriano where we were taken to our tour guide’s sister’s villa in the hills above Soriano where an entire home-cooked meal was waiting for us. We didn’t get home until 11:30 P.M. Everyone was so tired.

The next day, Day 8, was a really fun day. After meeting at the bar for breakfast, we took off to the ancient Etruscan walled hill town of Orvieto. After taking the funicolare (tram) to the top and entrance to the village, we hopped on a bus to the huge and beautiful cathedral that is what most tourists come to see. It WAS amazing. We then walked and shopped our way back to the funicolare.

Our next stop was one of the best wineries we have ever visited. It is called Fattoria Madonna Delle Macchie – the Madonna’s Farm of the Tumbleweed. It’s been owned by four generations, and they also make the most wonderful olive oil. Part of the reason we liked it is that it’s small and intimate and very friendly. It dates back to the Estruscan era, and the caves that are for protection and cooling are made in the lava rock.

We were served a buffet lunch, and all the food was made on site. It was indescribably delicious. Of course we were served all the red and white wine we could consume. The ladies from LaFayette fortunately rode the bus home. Also, the olive oil was the best we’ve ever had, but that’s another story we won’t go into.

We then drove to “the villa” (shown earlier – Days 3 and 4) where we proceeded to make limoncello, limoncello cream, hazelnut biscotti, vanilla gelato, and dark chocolate gelato.

Our hosts and chef made the rest of the dinner which was carbonara spaghetti, and a huge arugula and tomato salad….fresher than we’ve ever had. Of course there were the appetizers and all the wine we could possibly drink. We were all so full we didn’t think we could get out of our chairs! That’s when we ate a portion of all the desserts we made. And we smiled the whole time!

Day 6

Italy 2010

Day 6

If you're going to go to cooking school, it's nice to realize you've just made something you're going to want to make again and again. Everything we made was mouth watering, and we don't wish to belabor the point, but our stomach gauge is on full 24/7.

We started by making a peasant salad called Panzanella. This is supposedly made from odds and ends in the kitchen, but ours was made from fresh veggies from the market and day old bread. There also are hard boiled eggs with the orange yolks from the neighbor’s chickens. It tastes great and the presentation is excellent.

While making the salad, we also made tiramisu, a challenge in of itself. All the cutting, chopping, beating and whipping for both dishes was done by hand and was a good upper body workout. However, nothing compared to the following dish which was fresh pasta. We made a type of pasta called pici, which is ‘cut’ with a special rolling pin after the dough is prepared.

The nice looking Italian in the next picture really worked us and whipped us into pasta chefs in less than an hour. All the female students love this man for his teaching skills and a little more.

In Italian cooking, the pasta is the first course which is followed by a second course that usually has meat. Our secunda piatti we made was roasted chicken and potatoes, and it was arguably the best we have ever eaten. The process of making it is different than any we’ve known and includes a secret ingredient you have to get here in Italy and is not found in the U.S.

After feasting, we got a short break before traveling to a medieval city called Viterbo to tour a water garden. This garden showcased water and sculpted rock but not flowers. Many of the trees in the garden have been there since the park was created 450 years ago.

Dinner fortunately was a three course affair. Even though we’d had pasta early in the day, we had it a second time partly because it was called ‘Strangled Priest’. The final main course was wild boar in mushrooms. The restaurant for this meal was top notch After all this eating, breakfast will consist of cappuccino only.

Day 5

Italy 2010

Day 5

Today we had our usual wonderful Italian breakfast at the bar in the piazza, which was a pastry, cappuccino, and fresh squeezed blood orange juice. Then we went shopping with the cook to five different shops to purchase the ingredients for our cooking day. Next, the 10 of us students boarded the wonderful ceiling-to-below-knee-glass touring bus to take the short ride to the villa. The villa is owned by our hosts (the owners) and located in the beautiful countryside surrounded by hazelnut trees. Our hostess was born and raised here and inherited this villa, then made wonderful improvements to it.

We made bruschetta, gnocchi with a most wonderful sauce, sauted bell beppers (which we roasted first in the oven), chicken cacciatore, and a wonderful dessert called panna cotta with chocolate and strawberries. Of course, our chef and teacher did a lot of the work. Then we opened bottles of wine and feasted at a huge table with views overlooking the Umbria countryside. The doors and windows were open and the music was playing. We all ended up so full that we thought we could never eat again.

We then boarded the touring bus and traveled a short distance to the Park of the Monsters. A 15th century prince went insane when his wife died and hired slaves to create massive monstrous statues out of the huge volcanic boulders below his castle. Our host claims that Michelangelo had his hand in sculpting this park.

After arriving back at our village, we had an hour to shower and clean up before getting back on the bus to drive a short distance to a trattoria out in the countryside.We were served many different appetizers, including an excellent octopus in red sauce. Then came a great pizza a combo about 3 feet long. We thought that was finally the end of the food when the most wonderful dessert pizza was served. It was thin-crust pizza filled with Nutella and Ricotta cheese.

AND NEXT came a really good Sangria filled with lots of fresh fruit.

All the students think we are eating way too much, but the food and wine are so SO good that we don't want to miss out on this opportunity to eat the best food in the world.

Day 4

Italy 2010

Day 4

Our fourth day, a Sunday, was a day of exploration. We got around in our special bus that has amazing windows. The bus driver, Sergio, takes us on some very narrow roads while singing in Italian (he doesn’t speak any English).

Our first stop was Europe’s tallest falls and the world’s oldest man-made falls – a feature hard to imagine. But when the water you see in the background of the following picture is turned off, as we did, you believe.

After picnicking on roast pig near the falls, we traveled to Ferentillo where it was discovered the dead buried beneath the church were mummified by the soil and rare bacteria in the soil. It was a bit weird seeing mummies with no special wrapping. For the squeamish, I’ve reduced this photo.

The one on the left was hung – can’t remember why – but he got to keep the special necktie.

After about ten minutes, it seemed like we were in an Indana Jones movie. We’ll save you from the other gruesome pictures.

Next, we went on a tour of the castle of a living prince. It was no Disney castle, but his family history and some of the artifacts made for great stories. The last room in the castle was the most interesting. It was called the artifact room and contained documents several hundred years old. Here is the prince displaying one document from the King of France.

Day 3

Italy 2010

Day 3

We’ve settled into the Italian life and used our limited knowledge of Italian to get around Rome in the half day we had before moving to cooking school. During previous trips, we walked a lot instead of getting on the wrong bus or wrong subway. Fortunately, we know enough now to ask questions, read signs, and feel comfortable without English.

The highlight of the day was joining others at cooking school in the evening after a train ride from Rome. It looks like we'll have a great group of people to be with for the week! The welcoming dinner filled every part of our stomachs. Having a 7-course meal where our waiter tried to serve us seconds of every course made the term “eating school” come to mind. Our favorite was a dish of thin pasta pouches filled with a special German meat and radicchio, topped with a cream sauce. Sadly we don’t learn to make these but we are sure there will be other wonderful pastas to make.

Days 1 and 2

Italy 2010

Days 1 and 2

One of the two biggest problems in going to Italy (and Croatia and Slovenia) is behind us. 28 hours of travel from Las Vegas went better than expected. We found sleep and combined with our jet lag pills, we were able to enjoy Rome on the first day.

Our travel hours set a new record for us thanks to long lay-overs in Detroit and Amsterdam. Both airports were accommodating; lots of restaurants, shops, and walking areas. Among the diversions, we noted the Dutch are not stingy with their chocolate. The chocolate chunks are the size of large brownies.

But, we digress from Rome. On our first full day, we bought bus tickets and traveled on public transportation to the Vatican. We used all our Italian speaking ‘skills’, asking lots of questions and understanding answers. Italians smiled a lot, either for trying or creative use of their language. Thank you Rosetta Stone.

It has been several years since we were last in Rome, and it was important to pay our respects to the Pope. From the ground level, the place is huge.

Notice the power in those two hands to move the crowd back. Maybe it’s the orange hat. Or, maybe it’s who she is with:

Wouldn’t this make a great postcard?!?! Why is this man smiling??

We did get into the place and climbed over 320 to the top of the Duomo – not many others over 60 years old were to be seen. The views of Rome and the rest of the Vatican City were beautiful. Just as interesting was the view of the inside of the Basilica. This is a very big church.

This is but one part, and yet the people almost are the size of ants. There was no choir, or maybe they were so far away we couldn’t hear them.

One could take days to see all the interesting things in Rome, but it is just a good stop to rest up for the rest of our journey. Day 3 will be spent traveling to cooking school.