AND, FINALLY, WE COOK! (Wednesday, 9-1-2021)

The four of us have fallen IN LOVE with the Italian pizza!  I mean, we have all fallen HARD!  So when John was researching cooking classes, he came upon one on Airbnb Experiences (thanks, Michael, for telling us about these several years ago!) that involved learning how to make pizza, Italian style!  We all agreed that was the cooking class for us!

Our chef for the day, Giacomo Boccaccini, met us at our condo at 10:30AM.  Because there were three more people joining our class, he put us in his friend’s car and explained that he was a retired cop, who didn’t speak a word of English!  We didn’t think anything of it until we started driving up a mountain, much like our trip to Terza!  Switchback after switchback we climbed higher and higher when I suddenly realized…we could be getting kidnapped AT THIS VERY MOMENT!  😳😳😳

After about a 45 minute drive (all while wondering, “are we going to live to tell about this?”) we arrived at this tiny village of 15 houses.  We were the first to reach our destination.  We started to relax a bit after spotting a table and a pizza oven!  Whew!

When Chef Giacomo arrived with his group, Nathan, Eesha and Ally, we couldn’t believe it!  Not only were all three English speaking, but we found out that Nathan was born in Dayton, Ohio (where Patte and I were raised) and Ally was from Chicago!  Small world!  And they were all quite delightful!

Giacomo began walking us through how to make a great Italian pizza crust!  It only takes four ingredients:

flour, salt, yeast and water!  Oh, and a REALLY hot oven!

Patte, Mike, and John (and Ally, Eesha and Nathan) participated!  I documented everything with my phone and took copious notes!  The setting was simple but beautiful, way up there on that mountainside!

OH MY GOODNESS, did these pizzas smell FABULOUS and did they ever taste DELICIOUS!  We DEVOURED THEM!  I’d say the group did a FINE JOB!!!!

Everyone ate pizza, drank wine, and sat around talking for a long time afterwards!  What a delight!

If you are ever in Florence and are looking for a fabulous cooking experience, we all HIGHLY recommend Giacomo Boccaccinni, gb chef!  Eesha, Ally and Nathan—we sure enjoyed cooking with you all!

The ride back down the mountain was AMAZING!  And the best part was, we lived to talk about it!!!  

After a full day of cooking, these two were off to do laundry!  They handle the washing and drying and, when they get back, Patte and I do the folding!  Mike and John — have we told you we appreciate you, lately?  We’ll, we sure do!

CIAO FOR NOW!