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.