Marilyn & Phil Europe 2011: Tuscany

We picked up the hire care in La Spezia around midday and headed off to Radda in Chianti, Tuscany with Kent behind the wheel and me navigating. We had no problems getting out of La Spezia and onto the autostrada. We arrived at Muricciaglia Radda in Chianti around 4pm to a warm welcome from Mimma. “Come in, welcome, you must be in need of a glass of wine after such a long drive”. This welcome was the start of a wonderful four days in Tuscany. Mimma is one of the five Mammas who came to Brisbane to cook at the Executive Chef and at Redeemer College in 2010. Check out the web site: www.muricciaglia.com

We stayed in “Ovile” which was once an old sheep shed. It was a very comfortable, two bedroom, two bathroom house. The property also had a lovely swimming pool but there was no time for swimming with all the sightseeing, eating and drinking. Also, the weather was not really hot enough.

Our cottage

The pool

Happy hour in our courtyard

The first two days we explored the local villages. Having the hire car was great to get around. Kent did most of the driving and did very well on the small narrow, winding roads. Janelle and I did two half day cooking classes with the Mammas. What an experience this was. Of course, we started with a glass of good Chianti Reserve. We cooked four courses in each class and the men joined us for the dinner we had cooked. Of course there was more wine tasting to go with each course and to finish off home-made Limoncello.

In the thick of it

We all joined in an olive oil appreciation class which was very interesting and later visited the Franca’s(one of the Mammas) winery where more tasting took place. The cooking classes and the dinners to follow were a real highlight for me. Terrific Italian hosts, wonderful food in historic and spectacular settings and great conversation.

Olive tasting appreciation with Mimma

We can now cook like real Italian Mammas

At dinner after the first cooking class

After four wonderful days under the Tuscan sun, we headed back to Florence with Phil behind the wheel to drop the hire car off and catch the train to Rome. Great driving by Phil and navigating by Kent on the iPad,which got us into the centre of Florence without any wrong turns and no stress.

At the Florence train station we were waiting for the platform to be called for our trip to Rome. I decided to get some paninis to eat on the train for lunch. Left them with Phil and Janelle and headed off to the toilet. When I came back, the platform number had come up so Janelle and Phil headed to the platform. When I got there, I said to Phil “where are the paninis?”. No-where to be found. To cut a long story short, soon after we checked into our hotel in Rome, there was a knock on the door. There was Kent, paninis in hand, saying “room service”. Someone (no one owned up) had put the parcel of panninis into Kents’s carry bag.