Tuscany

cooking school in Tuscany

A few weeks ago I spent a fabulous week in Tuscany/ Umbria at a cooking school. Our teacher, Faye Hess, was amazing. We learned tons about Italian cooking, techniques, and how to serve awesome full course meals. I highly recommend this experience to anyone who is interested. Here is a link to FayeFood.
Did I mention that besides the abundance of cooking lessons, wine tastings, and touring Tuscany, we also did some shopping? A day in Deruta, oh yeah, and the Prada outlet on the way up. Although I missed my little ones at home immensely, I can’t think of a better way to spend a week with the girls.

Here are some pictures of lovely Tuscany, Umbria, and our cooking extravaganza!

Our villa in Mercatale, near Cortona, Italy.

A Deruta pottery maker

FIMA store in Deruta

Pic with Michele at FIMA. I ordered a full set of painted dinnerware, it came with personal inscription on each piece!

Todi, Umbria

cute Italian couple

a visit with Rameria, a copper maker in Montepulciano

wine barrels at the Contucci winery in Montepulciano

me and Erin in Montepulciano

Tuscan landscape

grove of cypress trees in the Tuscan hills

Our group at a Tuscan vineyard.

A tour through olive groves. I'll never go back to the other brands!

We didn't see as many poppies as usual because of the rain, but when they did open up they were Bellisimo!

Bevin and I in the olive grove.

Dinner at the Bonci factory with the Scarpaccini family. What an experience.

Perugia

Gubbio

medieval Gubbio

Sunrise shoot near Cortona.

sunrise on the vineyard

sunrise in the Tuscan hills

Assisi

nuns in search of St. Francis sights

Assisi

asparagus salad, one of our many incredible dishes

risotto with roasted tomatoes

Thanks Faye, you rocked!

Jun 06, 2010 | Categories: Travel | Tags: Cooking Class, European Travel, Italy, Travel, Tuscany | Comments Off

Toscana and November fun with the Grandma’s

My mom and grandma just left after a great 3 week trip. We took them to Tuscany, Füssen, Ülm, and Christmas Markets. We had so much fun having them here. My grandma is a great baker, so I watched as she made some of her specialties. We cooked Thanksgiving here at the house and had the Kling family over. Everything was gobbled up. I think the pumpkin pie was a big hit with the Kling’s. And they tried Eggnog for the first time. Well, I should say Brigitte tried it, I don’t think anyone else was that adventurous. We love getting the change to share different traditions with our best German friends. It’s been a wonderful experience. Can’t wait for Christmas Eve at their house for fondue and other festive food.
Here are some of the hundreds of family photos while the grandma’s were in town. My mom is an avid scrapbooker so many of the photos were for her.