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!