Italy Trip – Day 31 – Our Lucca Farmhouse – We Take A Cooking Class

Editor’s note: We have been back from Italy for more than 5 months now, and at last I am ready to return to writing regularly, and, finally, to revisit the days of our Italian Adventure that have yet to be chronicled. Even now I feel tightness in my chest as I prepare to settle into re-telling our stories from the trip. The time was so wonderful, so intense, so special, I fear I won’t do it justice.

Just the other day I came across this quote in a book: “Memory is a tricky thing, Sophia,” he had said to her. “It doesn’t just recall the past, it makes the past.” From The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove.

There’s something fragile yet timeless about these memories.

Children, be gentle with me in the future, when our memories diverge. I did my best.

Now, on to our story:

Lella, our hostess/owner here at the farmhouse, offers a couple iterations of cooking class. We chose the one where we would make an appetizer, pasta, and dessert, then eat all that for our lunch.

We were joined by two other renters at the farmhouse, Paula and Mark, fellow English-speakers from Minnesota. (There are three separate apartments for travelers, plus Lella and her husband’s home, plus-in a condo-type arrangement, another completely separate home for another Italian family stuck on the end in this huge old Tuscan villa.)

We began at 10 a.m., and finally ate lunch around 2:45 p.m., and a great time was had by all. The Buster popped down to help make the dessert and pasta and to eat. The girls hung in there for the vast majority of the class, but did take a break when we were making the meat sauce. Lella complimented us several times on the children and how great they were to have in class.

The story in pictures:

I borrowed a pasta maker from my sister-in-law, but with the kitchen in the midst of a renovation, we haven’t made the effort yet. I look forward to giving it a shot.