Good Evening Family and Friends:
When I arose this morning, I looked out the windows to our breathtaking view, and just listened to the incredible twittering of birds everywhere. It's heavenly here, and that's all I can say about the view from Room 204, at Villa Mercedes.
We went downstairs for our last breakfast at Villa Mercedes. Sweet Father Dino greeted us in the same way and ushered us into the chilly breakfast room. I figured out that what would make this room feel really complete, would be a few tin knights along the walls. (The kind where you want to walk over and lift up the mask to see if there really is anyone alive in there or not). As I sat down, shivering away, I realized I had gained a new love for Nutella (chocolate icing you put on toast), and packaged pastries.
But in fairness, we did enjoy our stay here, and were quite comfortable. And really - when it takes less than 90 seconds to walk to the Duomo, what else could could you ask for, besides free parking (which we also had).
So, we checked out and went for one last espresso on the Piazza Del Duomo at Hescanas Caffetteria, (you may wonder about the spelling, but I spell these places as they really are spelled). We noted that tour groups were already gathering in clumps around the Piazza.
We left and started our 9 km drive to Decugnano Dei Barbi Estate. The Fiat zipped along around windy roads, past lush vineyards, as we climbed higher and soon we could see Orvieto off in the distance. We stopped to take a few pictures and drank in the beauty and peacefulness of the area.
We arrived at Decugnano Dei Barbi Estate for our 10:00 am meeting time with Anna Rita, Public Relations person for the Estate, and discovered our lesson and tour would be a private one! Anna began our tour by talking about the geological history of the area, as well as the history of the monks in the region. She explained that it was the monks who started making wine and selling it, (not drinking it - only selling it. We all smiled at this. After an hour long tour and patient explanation of the process and production of 9,000 bottles of wine a year, Anna led us to the kitchen, where we began our cooking lesson with Rosalina. Rosalina speaks Italian only, but Anna stayed to interpret and help out. I so enjoyed this lesson! Ron put an apron on and did his best. When we got going with the lesson, he kept tasting things, like the raw dough, or a piece of parsley that fell somewhere. Rosalina laughed in a jolly way each time and encouraged him.
First, we donned our special black aprons (which were ours to keep). We started by making pizza dough. This was so much fun...and it's just so easy while you're watching a professional. Then you try it yourself and it's hard work. I found out that kneading dough properly is a skill which must be learned by practice. Any machine to help you speed up the process is just not allowed. Rosalina patiently worked with us, smiling at our incompetence from time to time. While the pizza dough was rising, we practiced making pasta dough. Ron kept falling behind, and needed quite a lot of assistance. I was so happy to be working along side an Italian cook to learn these fundamentals of Italian cuisine. I could even feel when the dough got to the right consistency. When the pasta dough was left to rest, Ron decided to expound upon the fact that his family were farmers in the High Prairie area. (I think he felt suddenly inspired by Anna talking about the grape industry. The good thing is, Ron stopped when I gave him a look which he interpreted as, "Are you kidding?" or "Did you forget where you are?" You know, that kind of look you give your husband, when you can't believe what he just came up with...
So, we continued on with the lesson, cutting up vegetables in season - asparagus, tomatoes, and peas. Whatever is in season, goes into the pasta dish. We then mixed sausage with a few ingredients and put the mixture in carved out zucchinis to bake. After that, we made special cookie dough, which we formed into rings. When baked, these cookies were to be dipped in a dessert wine from the Decugnano Estate. I looked over at Ron's cookie station, and thought his looked good enough to be sold at the Calgary Stampede.
When the pizza dough had risen, we patted it out and made pizza marguerita and pizza marinara and focaccia. Then we rolled out the pasta dough, and cut it into wide strips of no specific design, which Ron really enjoyed.
After all our hard work in the kitchen, Anna seated us at a long, wooden table with two place settings, in a room that looked like an old chapel. We could look out the glass doors, and see Orvieto in the distance.
From the kitchen, Anna first served us our baked focaccia, and pizzas, along with wine pairing. It was thoroughly enjoyable and delicious. Then out came the pasta dish with the cooked, fresh vegetables, and Anna did further wine pairing.
As a side note, we found Anna an absolutely fascinating hostes, and a very interesting person. Not only does she have a Masters in Art History from London, but she is a certified Sommelier, (trained in Rome), and now enrolled (for 2.5 years) in another program to become a trained connoisseur (critic) of wine and food. She has a husband who works and travels, 3 children at home, a busy career, and says there is still time to make pasta at home at least once a week. Regarding the cooking of Italian cuisine, Anna says, it is simple..."you grow up watching your mother cook, and then - you just cook like her".
We finished off with the crunchy cookies, which had one whole cup of olive oil in the dough. Delicious.
When this delightful food and drink experience was over,I wanted to put my head down on the table and start snoring - but instead we had to drive for 2 hours, to our B&B in San Casciano (our next destination),just outside of Florence. We said, "Arriverderci" to Anna, and off we drove in the trusty Fiat, listening to Italian staticky radio the whole way.
Driving along the A1 we missed our proper turn off due to construction, and ended up in Florence fighting our way through traffic to get back out,(Ron found this quite exasperating, as he seldom goes off course). However, he did successfully get us back on track. This experience took approximately one hour, but we finally reached our B&B Villa il Poggiale, in San Casciano in val di Pesa at around 7:00 pm. We have been here once before and were so happy to be back.
We are staying around the Villa this evening, to plan out our day tomorrow. It is so chilly, you wouldn't believe it. Apparently it's the coldest spring weather they've experienced in 60 years...
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