Torre del Tartufo, Part 2, Day 5

So tired. I got up early to read and write in the silence, and it was wonderful, but then I fell asleep and missed the departure of the Indian contingent. Bummer.

Lunch was the white duck ragout with homemade pasta with farmer cake for dessert. Coffee break was sweet bread with blueberries baked in (Franco said also to use wine grapes). Dinner was stuffed tomato, cavatelli with broccoli rabe and tomato, turkey scallopine with squash and chestnuts, and tortelli with apples and balsamic vinegar ice cream.

Lars, Pippa, and Nelia arrived today. I think Pippa is the kite, and Lars is the kiteholder. Wonderful people.

Caught another buzzsaw bug with hairspray. I'm near the end of the can, and I have two more nights to go. I hope I have enough. I hope more that the buzzsaw bugs quit flying into my room.

Torre del Tartufo, Part 2, Day 4

Exhausting day. We left at 9:30 for the excursion day, which involved a trip back to the same ceramics factory (spent too much money) as last year, then to the same cheese farm as last year, then to a winery, and then to a textile mill. Luckily, I was overwhelmed at the textile mill and did not buy anything.

I haven't gotten as much mental alone time on this trip as I did the last one -- a bigger group makes a huge difference. Last year, there were only 7 of us, and the husbands went out of their way to shield me from distraction. This trip, with 12, it seems like there's a lot less free time to read. I'm enjoying this group a lot, I don't mean to make it sound like I'm not having a fabulous time, but there are a lot of extraverts in this group, which means that there's less silent time to think.

There's also an older lady on this trip who is sucking my will to live, and I haven't been able to pinpoint why, but I think it's because, like Heather last year, she only talks about herself. The woman who sells advertising for Google also talks a lot about herself, but the way she does it is mostly fun. The older lady asks questions that you can tell she thinks are really intelligent, but in truth, are kind of silly. It's a little bit like she heard someone else ask the same question and sound smart, so she plonks it into a conversation with no thought for context. I think Turner would say that she has no concept of nuance, and maybe that's what it is. She's interesting to watch, and she's very accomplished, which makes it even more interesting. Because I'm not a nice person, it never makes the annoying go away completely.

It's so silent in my room, I can feel my ears straining to hear something, anything, when I stop typing. The occasional bug hitting the light puts my senses on high alert, which is funny. Silence is so underrated; I wish I had a silent spot to retreat to in Houston. Moving to Plano with Mom and Dad will make that easier -- there's very little noise in the suburbs on a cul de sac.

Today, we had lunch at Casa Miranda, the cheese farm in Casentino: vegetable soup, but blended together so it was smooth and slightly thick; a variety of cold cuts; 4 different kinds of cheese that they make there; and the sweetest, juiciest pear that was perfectly ripe and melted in the mouth. Dinner was the minestrone that I chopped and chopped and chopped vegetables for, as well as some wild boar stew, focaccia, and chocolate tart, which I was too full to eat.

I think I'm going to sleep with the shutters open and see what happens. It's just as easy for me to sleep in the sunshine as the dark, but maybe I'll have a chance to get up early and enjoy the silence.

Torre del Tartufo, Part 2, Day 3

To be clear, a week here is not completely relaxing. I have killed several bugs with my bare hands (that's sort of a lie since I had big wads of tp or a shoe in the aforementioned bare hands), and the cooking lessons are INTENSE. It's 4+ hours of chopping and mixing and sauteeing, and my arms are sore. I'm about to treat myself to 3 Advil.

At the same time, the company on this trip has been lovely, and being a return guest means that none of the cooking lessons stress me out like they do first-timers. The weather has been perfect -- highs in the 70s and 80s in the sunshine, and cold at night to make sleep easier. It's been sunny and clear, so I've been spoiled by the amazing views of Tuscany, the breathtaking sunsets, and the night sky filled with stars that I never get to see in the city and does so much to put life in perspective.

Today, we made a ton of stuff. Madthu and I chopped endless vegetables to make spinach filling for ravioli and to make minestrone. If you've ever had Campbell's vegetable soup in the classic can, you'll know how tiny we had to chop the following: potatoes, carrots, onion, black cabbage (only available in Tuscany, and only after the first frost), swiss chard, artichokes, zucchini, broccoli, green beans, squash, celery, and leeks. Plus some tomato. And not just one of each -- several.

Glen deboned and chopped 2 ducks for our white duck ragout. The white refers to the ragout (no tomato) rather than the duck.

The starter team made parmesan baskets (my Waterloo), artichoke salad, focaccia bread, and taralli, which is like breadsticks or pretzels.

The dessert team made several desserts: ricotta cheese pie with berry sauce, capresi style cake, and farmer cake. The mains team made saltimbocca, gratinated fennel, wild boar stew, and polenta.

What we actually ate was individual pizzas, baked in the pizza oven (the best), and the pear and chocolate tart. For the coffee break (2 hours into the cooking lesson), we had the focaccia. And for dinner, we had artichoke salad, spinach ravioli, saltimbocca with gratinated fennel, and the ricotta pie. I only managed one bite of the ricotta pie. I snuck off early from digestives to write and read; we leave at 9am tomorrow for the excursion day.

The time is flying by, and I can't decide if I want to take the bus to Cortona on Friday, or hang out here and relax. I have some time to decide, so I'm not worried, but the idea of trying out my fledgling Italian where I'm sure they won't understand me is tempting. A domani!

Torre del Tartufo, Part 2, Day 2

After indiscriminately drinking too much wine and sampling too many liqueurs, I was happy to fall into my bed last night. Sadly, I woke up at 3am to Kelly Clarkson singing that her life would suck without me -- my US cell phone somehow turned itself on, and not only did it think it was 7am, but it also thinks it's October 13. I didn't realize how dependent it is on access to a cell network to know what day it is.

I managed to fall back asleep, make it to breakfast, and start reading Jennifer Weiner's new novel. It's really good, of course, and her novels always have an undercurrent of melancholy that I find strangely soothing. I bailed out of after-dinner liqueurs a little early to try to finish it.

My Flip ran out of battery, and I opened it up to discover that it runs on rechargeable batteries. I have no recollection of where the charging cable is. Franco agreed to buy me some batteries at the market, which is extremely generous since I will mostly be filming him! I think we're doing pasta tomorrow, and if we are, I want to make sure I film him talking about the "Fight Club" rule for pasta machines.

For lunch today, we had salad, pasta bolognese, and panna cotta with chocolate sauce. We didn't make much progress on the panna cotta because we were all so full. Dinner was pecorino flan with a creamed leek sauce, eggplant spaghetti, chicken stuffed with pecorino and truffle paste on buttered green beans, and tiramisu.

We had some newcomers join us today; they're doing the 3-day course, and so will only stay until Thursday. They are Mindi (short for Mohinder), his sister-in-law Madthu, her friend Abu (who is India's top designer and a favorite of English celebrities) (ETA that Madthu is married to Abu's business partner, Sandeep, who is Mindi's brother, but we never established whether Abu and Sandeep are also life partners, which added a soupcon of excitement), and Abu's assistant, Lubna. They seem very nice, but they are also clearly all extremely wealthy and out of their element. I wonder what their perception of Torre del Tartufo is. I love it here, but it's not luxurious like the Ritz-Carlton, and Franco definitely puts us to work during the cooking class. It will be very interesting to see reactions.

I killed 6 bugs with my bare hands today, and one with my shoe. I've been leaving the ladybugs alone, but there are some larger, sinister-looking red beetles that I have been dispatching with large wads of toilet paper. I also hit something long and scary with my shoe against the wall. And I brought down some gray, triangular, flying something that sounded like a buzzsaw. I truly thought maybe the gardener was cutting wood for the hot tub, and then I realized I am not that lucky. I steeled myself, then attacked. First I sprayed it with some hairspray, and when it fell to my bed (well-played, scary bug), I got it with a larger-than-normal wad of toilet paper. I'm not sure how they've all gotten in here, but for some reason, I'm not as stressed about it as I think I would be at home.

Nothing deep tonight. Am still so happy to be here and relaxing. I have been ignoring e-mail except to delete some of the automated stuff I get from the WSJ, and it's been so great not to have jet lag.

The liqueurs make my wrists hurt, so I'm going to finish the Jennifer Weiner and drink some acqua frizzante. Amo Italia.

Torre del Tartufo, Part 2, Day 1

Not so good Pret a Manger sandwich at Gatwick. Ketchup is never a good idea. Two children took turns screaming on the flight -- one was in the row directly behind me, kicking my seat back with gusto, the other two rows ahead. I understood after that flight how some parents lose their minds and do horrible things. The dad of the family behind me looked like he was ready to desert, and the mom wasn't much happier.

After practicing, "Vorrei un biglietto di andato e ritorno per Arezzo per favore" for two weeks, once I landed in Pisa, I got Euro from a bancomat (ATM), and then asked the nice lady at the bigliaterria, "Can I get a ticket to Arezzo? Round trip?" In English. Sigh.

I took the train from the airport to the central station, then from the Pisa central station to Florence, then to Arezzo, and I'm kind of proud to say that I figured it out with my Berlitz phrase books. God bless Berlitz. I did manage to say, "Vorrei andare a Torre del Tartufo, per favore" to my taxi driver in Arezzo ("I'd like to go to Torre del Tartufo, please") fairly successfully.

I forgot about the last bit of the journey to Torre del Tartufo -- it's a glorified, partially-paved hiking trail, and I tried to keep the taxi on the path with my thigh muscles (they're there, buried under the fat). I got a glimpse of the bridge that Sarah took a chunk out of last year, and then got a reminder of just how far you have to go to get here. It's heaven, and it feels like home.

Barbara Helmer, the manager gave me a HUGE hug upon arrival, and took me to see Franco and Simonetta (Oana arrives Tuesday). Fellow students are Glen and Linda, from Vancouver, who recently sold their interest in their trucking business, and are spending a year traveling the world; Michael and Carolyn, who are an opthalmologist and orthopedic surgeon, respectively, from Belfast (they don't know Sarah); Kristin, from SF, and Claire, from NYC, who have been friends since college -- Kristin does ad sales for Google, and Claire works for Morgan Lewis in NYC; and Elena, who is from Santa Barbara. Seems like a great group, and I'm looking forward to the week.

Had too much to drink before, during, and after dinner, but did want to capture as much as possible. Dana stayed in the same room I'm staying in, and she left me a very sweet note and gift -- classic Dana Greatman. Seems like she had a fabulous time, which makes me so happy. Italy soothes the soul, or at least soothes my soul, and I'm relieved that she had a similar experience.

It struck me on the train that if I had all the money in the world, I'd spend it becoming fluent in Korean, Italian, German, and Mandarin. For reals. I need to find a way to make that happen, but in the meantime, I'm so happy to be ensconced in my room in the tower. Pictures and video coming soon. Buona notte!