Tuscan Cooking Lessons

The ad for our Florentine Villa said they offered Tuscan cooking lessons with Teresa. Not only do you learn secret family recipes for a four course meal, but after you cook it, you get to eat it! Terri and I made arrangements to meet Teresa in her 17th century kitchen for some cooking lessons, lots of sampling, and some wine.

The sun shone in the window of her kitchen and bounced off of the red tile roofs that were stacked against the hillside. The kitchen was small and warm but inviting. It was so beautiful, surely something magical would happen in there.

We jumped right into making a chocolate cake with apples and pears. When I asked if the fruit could be substituted for strawberries or raspberries, I was quickly reprimanded. "NO NO NO" Teresa said "only the apple and the pear". Teresa's English isn't so great but she really gets her point across. You absolutely cannot freeze pasta or focaccia dough, and don't you dare substitute berries in her Great Grandmothers chocolate cake!

We made chocolate cake and pasta noodles from scratch, followed by the filling for cannelloni, some herbed something or other meat dish, and got lessons on how to make the most delicious focaccia bread/pizza crust I have ever tasted in my life.

After we "helped" prepare dinner we were released to enjoy a glass of wine on the terrace overlooking the city of Florence and the family's olive grove. Later, Matt, the boys, and Matt's dad joined us on the terrace for dinner. The view was simply amazing. The weather was perfect. And the food ... oh the food was incredible. All of the herbs and vegetables are grown on the property, and the bread and pasta were so fresh they melted in your mouth. I'll never eat at Olive Garden again and something tells me it will be a long time before I have a terrace dining experience like that again either.

I doubt I'll be able to make any of the recipes we learned in Teresa's kitchen, but cooking and eating there will always be sweet memories for me.