Here it is Wednesday already.
We had two intense cooking classes today and spent the entire day here at lovely Casa Ombuto.
We are also really getting to know and love our chef Laura Giusti.  Laura is a wonderfully knowledgable and professional chef. She has a special way of explaining each step by pronouncing each word slowly and sloftly and with much thought as she is not confident in her mastery of English.  Her Italian accent is so beautiful and I am trying to use some Italian, as does classmate Tom from Northern Ireland who has studied Italian intensely for three months, which I feel  shows respect to Laura for the effort she puts forth to  learn our language. If any of us use an expression she is unfamiliar with, she will stop us and ask with a little smile, “What you say?”  She is very interested In learning slang so she will have better speaking skills for her next class of Americans. It cannot be easy to teach nine English speaking strangers how to prepare a complex recipe when you are not fluent, so I give her well deserved kudos. She is also a lovely person. The group is really very nice, so Kelly and I feel exceptionally blessed to be here at this time.
Today was a full day of cooking with two sessions, Spanish cuisine in the morning and French in the afternoon.
Our morning lessons were great and will be something I will look forward to preparing when I return.  Laura had gone to the fish market Tuesday while we were off on our excursions to purchase the fresh seafood for Paella.  Elizabeth prepared a wonderful cold gazpacho. Several of us sliced fruit and mixed the ingredients for a wonderful Sangria. We all learned the proper way to clean mussels, squid and prawns.  The cleaning of the mussels is very time consuming and not very pleasant, but, the squid…really worse. But,  I now know how to take a fresh squid, clean and cut it for calamari or paella!  After preparing the seafood we ate lunch at the big table just off the kitchen with beautiful orange place mats and fresh flowers.  Laura asked me what we call the small cloths on the table.  I told her they are place mats.  She said Italy they are called tablecloths Americano. (in Italian the adjective follows the noun). The Italians take great pride in preparing a beautiful table setting at even the simplest meal.
Lunch consisted of cold gazpacho, and fruity sangria and a wonderful Paella with chicken, peas, red peppers, onions, yellow rice, mussels, squid and prawns. Delicious!  Realizing the work that goes into preparing the Paella we.agreed it is a dish of much love. We completed our luncheon meal a Spanish dessert called Crema Catalana, milk, egg yolks sugar, flour, lemon and cinnamon, which is a wonderful custard that is torched like a Creme Brulee. It was wonderful.
Now it was time for a short walk /run up the mountain roads to the plateau. Maybe today my head won’t feel so light from the altitude.
After a one hour break we began our afternoon session.  We prepared the most amazing dish…..Sea Bass baked in a crust of salt.  I was responsible to prepare the crust while the others cleaned the sea bass by removing it’s intestines and the sharp fins. The scales remained intact and the head as well.  The dough for the crust was made of two boxes of sea salt and one of flour and chopped rosemary from the herb garden. The liquid was egg white and cool water.  It was difficult to mix the ingredients, but, I worked the dough until I was able to press it together and then worked or kneaded the dough on the table until it became consistent and soft.  I felt as if I had used a sea salt scrub for exfoliation…my hands were so soft!  Then I rolled the dough out

on a parchment paper into a rectangle large enough to fit on a jelly roll pan.  The fish was then placed in the middle  and six rosemary sprigs were placed in it’s cavity, and the dough brought over the top to wrap it completely.  The dough was sealed and it was ready to put into the oven for baking 45 minutes.  When the fish was served at dinner, the dough had been removed and Laura had opened the fish and by hand she cleaned the meat from the bones placing the wonderful white fish on our plates.  It was an impressive dish and very flavorful with rosemary and very moist.  We also prepared French onion soup,mixed provencal vegetables and two ice creams, one with just milk, sugar and cream and one with egg yolks, cream, milk, sugar and a vanilla pod. Of course the later was the best, but both were refreshing on our plate with our chocolate fondant cake.. Mmmmmmmmm good eats.
One important thing I have learned here is that if you have a cold surface such as marble or granite you do not need a bowl to mix your flour, sugar, egg  and liquid such as oil and water to prepare dough for bread or pasta. You simply pour the measured dry ingredients in a pile directly on the counter, take your hand and make a well in the center and place the liquids, crack the eggs and drop them in, add oil, water, whatever your recipe calls for and then mix with a fork all  the liquids. Then you slowly incorporate the dry ingredients.  If you have a container of flour handy, you simply take a small handful and dust it on your surface as you begin to work the dough.  Continue to add  dry or wet until you have the proper consistency.  It is an amazing technique.
Daniella, Laura’ s assistant had a visitor from Vancouver, Brian, join us for dinner.  Brian is 42 and started the company 1-800-got junk.  He had come to Casa Ombuto two years before when he divorced so he could learn to cook. He was happy to return for a visit and was taking Daniella out for drinks after dinner.
The shot glasses once again appeared, but, it seems like everyone is really a bit tired of so much drinking, but we each had a small glass of some spirit from the many bottles that appeared, lingered at the table for awhile and then returned to our rooms for a restful sleep.
Tomorrow will be our free day and Kelly and I along with little Elizabeth will go exploring in our Fiat. Better get to sleep…..the shops are waiting…..bueno notte.

The post Kelly and I with our favorite dish….Paella first appeared on Zjudes blog.

This morning I set my alarm for 7:30 am and was stirring to the sound of beautiful birds singing  loudly just  as the sun was about to rise over the mountains.  I am in Tuscany…..and I need to rise and get ready for the day.  Kelly and I had planned to take a hike.  It. felt cold as I stepped out of my comfortable bed.  I looked forward to a warm shower, even though I knew I would be warmed when we walked.  I showered and met Kelly at the cucina for a light breakfast of papaya yogurt, granola and a piece of toasted grain bread…..delicious, slices of fresh tomato and  swiss cheese.  Kelly had been sitting at the computer sharing  news with the family. Laura’s assistants had started a fire in the outdoor wood burning oven which would later bake our focaccia bread, but was a warm welcome with it’s spitting embers and smokey fragrance to  greet us as we sipped out hot tea.

After eating with the group we took to the trail for a morning hike.  Just a few minutes into the hike we were huffing and puffing.  The altitude was effecting us and it seemed we were totally out of shape.  The incline didn’t t seem to be that great, yet we were struggling to make it to the top of the trail, the road we had driven into Casa Ombuto from the main road from Poppi.  We were determined to complete a walk and continued on.  The view from the road just beyond the entrance was breathtaking.  The wild flowers, including bright red poppies were spectacular and encouraged us to continue on.  We took several pictures of the panoramic view even though we knew we could never capture the magnificence of it all.  We reached a summit and agreed we must attempt one more incline and then we would turn around and travel the trail downward returning to Casa Ombuto, the easy part of the hike.  We were able to complete our walk and were happy to climb the stairs from the main road to the pool area where Kelly showed me the hot tub, a large wooden tub with a fire burning stove for heating.  She suggested we inform them 24 hours before we wanted to use the tub so they could heat it. We freshened up after our walk and made our way to the cucina for cooking class.  It would be a long day with two classes, French and Moroccan cuisine.  We were excited to learn some new recipes.

In the morning we dove into French cuisine. The four retired travelers made a plum soufflé that came out of the oven so beautiful and tasty.  As we cooked we learned that Jim, a retired attorney, had written a fictional book entitled “The Baja Experience” that I am curious to read. Kelly and I worked on the salad noicise which is colorful and fresh with it’s many simple vegetables, boiled eggs and light dressing of garlic, basil and olive oil. We also made three Tapenade, one of baked eggplant, one walnuts and onions ,and the last of olives and anchovies. Then we  prepared individual focaccia breads that were baked in the outdoor oven that Laura later told us was over 300 years old.  We knew the buildings were old, but 300years?  During lunch in the garden, under a beautiful canopied wrought iron pergola, we drank a light Tuscan Rosato wine and dipped our focaccia and vegetable sticks into the Tapenades, and ate our fresh salad. So perfect.  I excused ,myself for a one hour nap between classes.  I think the time change is getting the best of me today.

After  our break we donned our aprons and gladly accepted the task of deboning the leg of lamb for the main course Morroccan lamb stew.  Tom and Eleanor formed beautiful almond macaroons while Lindsay and Cassie worked on little parcels of phyloh dough stuffed with cooked eggplant, onion and Morrocan spices.  Tom also prepared the carrots which were cut into sticks and cooked on the stove in several delicious spices.

After preparing the recipes we snacked pizza Laura had prepared for us of canned crushed tomatoes, olive oil and fresh oregano.  She shared with us that she was sad because she had lost her dog on Friday, a boxer she had had for 10 years  He had been sick and died at home.  Since her separation and divorce 8 years ago her dogs and son had been her only companions. She had lost both dogs within a short time. We were all very sad to see her upset and I shared that I too had lost a dog, Bunker recently.  Anyway, we had an hour or so before dinner so we sipped our wine and laughed with Cassie and Lindsay, the crazy sisters as they straddled the wall overlooking the  gorgeous Tuscan countryside.

The dinner table tonight was once again beautiful with a colorful Morroccan colored tablecloth and small enameled bowls to serve our vegetables.  The lamb was served surrounding couscous and made a beautiful presentation.  Although I have never liked lamb in the past, I must admit it was tasty. The almond macaroons and mint tea were the perfect light dessert. Barbara, the manager of Casa Ombuto, had joined us for dinner and when the shot glasses and bottles once again appeared, we cranked up the music and everyone danced.  Laura smiled as she looked on.  Even little Elizabeth from Austrailia danced for the first time since her husband had died nine years ago.
I called Tom before we returned to our suite to tell him about our wonderful day and to warn him we would be shopping tomorrow for table linens and ceramics in the village of Arezzo.

Had better turn in because we certainly do not want to miss the bus!  buena note.

The post Day two in Tuscany first appeared on Zjudes blog.