Cinque Fotografie-Tuscany Day 7

We enjoyed a cooking class led by, Andrea, one of the staff at IL Segreto de Pietrafetta. He was a wonderful encouraging teacher who attributed much of his culinary skills to his mother.

Like many during Covid times, I took up baking bread and learning to make pasta. It was fun to expand on skills today, and to create a meal with family.

Sharon and I collaborated as Team 1958 and Jim and Nancy (Team JC/NC) worked together on their preparations.

We learned to make focaccia, tagliatelle, and cantucci which is similar to biscotti.

Our two teams made different variations on the theme. Team 1958 created a stuffed tomato, sun-dried tomato and basil focaccia, while Team JC/NC made a potato/rosemary focaccia.

We learned to create pasta dough which required rolling it out and stretching it much like the creation of pizza dough. Cutting the pasta into tagliatelle noodles was a fascinating cutting process. The final result was a really wonderful cacio e pepe (parmesan and pepper) creation. Sharon is not a fan of cheese and she learned to make a butter/sage variation.

We made two flavors of cantucci: chocolate/vanilla/hazelnut and rose/vanilla/pistachio. We learned that it is a tradition dating back hundreds of years to serve cantucci with Vin Santo, a strong amber colored wine used for dipping. Here's a link to the history: https://www.theflorentine.net/2015/09/10/cantuc….

We enjoyed our collaborative meal creation served with an ample supply of white wine that was available throughout the meal preparation process.

After a restful afternoon, we ventured about 40 minutes away to the hilltop village of Volterra known for its walled Medieval structure and is beautiful alabaster sculptures. We enjoyed tree valley views below and walking through the village which had similar features to Sam Gimignano. Although, our destination restaurant was closed, we found a great outdoor restaurant before making the trip back home. Kudos to Jim C for his adept navigation skills across the narrow winding switchbacks to and from Volterra.

We ended the evening with an aperitif of a limoncello style variation made with mandarin oranges that we had found last week in Sorrento. It was fun to recount the day, another wonderful series of adventures with family and lasting memories.

Before we retired for the evening we met Brian & Kathy, a couple from Spain who were celebrating a Covid-delayed honeymoon. Kathy is originally from Vermont and Brian is from Cork. They gave us wonderful tips for our upcoming travels to Ireland and we enjoyed reminiscing about our favorite places in Vermont. Signing off for now. Buona Notte!Read more