yesterday felt like a true vacation day. what do i mean by that… i’ve been gone for over a week right?
it was a day where we sat back and just let things happen and let the day take us where it wanted us to go.
yesterday we met the other couple staying at the bed and breakfast who are also from the united states. who also got married on june 13! we had such a great time with them we ended up driving around chianti and drinking wine at the local wineries. you guys a nice bottle of chianti here is like 11 euro. that is just insane. and most of the smaller ones do not distribute so you feel like you are getting a rare gem that you probably only get to experience once in your life.
after driving around we arrived at the last winery for a tour of the grounds (including the medieval castle tower that is smack dab in the middle of the house) and the olives, vines and cellar. which by the way was incredible.
after a tasting and tour we headed up to what used to be the old horse barn (renovated into cottages) for our cooking lesson. our new friends joined us along with another couple and their two children from san francisco area. we spent over 5 hours preparing dinner together. we all made pasta from scratch including the dough, rolling it out, cutting it, drying it a bit and cooking it. (even joe made his own!) we then made from scratch a tomato sauce, italian bread and tiramisu. it was quite an experience and i finally figured out why my dough was NEVER turning out. it’s the kneading process, the speed and technique that was totally off for me.
after we had prepared the meal we all sat down as a group outside under the moon and stars (because by that time it was almost 10pm) and enjoyed the fruits of our labor. it was a pretty great experience and a great reminder that when you open yourself up to new experiences and people, good things happen.
