Cooking School Graduates!
We wanted to plan something special for our last day in Florence – an Italian cooking class! We learned how to make two types of pasta (tagliatelle and ravioli), ragu, and tiramisu. The lesson started first at the San Lorenzo Market, where we received a lesson about the origins of Italian cooking a regional dishes. Waste not, want not! That’s the only way to explain the abundance of cow stomach sandwiches in Florence. The class was so much fun and of course we were able to enjoy the dishes we prepared with a red Chianti!
First things first!
Cathedral Square, bright and early
Mom with the Cathedral Square
Edward with his wild boar stuffed animal
Basilica di San Lorenzo, namesake for the market
Cheese and salami
Huge blocks of parmesan – we couldn’t leave without taking one home with us!
Yum?
The famous Florentine lampredotto
So much deliciousness!
Learning about the regional pasta dishes
Mom and Dad ready to cook!
Edward gets an apron, too!
Ready to begin
First things first, the ragu
Quick photo during the lesson
At a certain moment Edward didn’t want to sit anymore
So he started exploring the room
And playing on everything he could find before settling down for a nap
Ready to get started on the tiramisu
All of the bowls of egg whites to be passed around and whipped
Tiramisu essentials
Working on my layers
Tada!
Time to make our pasta dough – just need flour and eggs
Demonstrating the technique
Time for me to begin!
My pasta ready to be cooked! Ravioli with ricotta and tagliatelle to go with the ragu!
Time to eat lunch: Tuscan bread rubbed with garlic and truffle oil to begin
Ricotta ravioli with a butter sage sauce
Tagliatelle with ragu
All of the tiramisu, ready to be eaten for dessert!
We had to decorate our tiramisus so we could pick them out when it came time for dessert haha
After the lesson, we walked a bit around the outdoor market before splitting up. Koen and I visited the Ferragamo Museo for a bit of Italian footwear. The building itself, the Palazzo Spini Feroni, is worth visiting because of it’s history. 2015 marked 150 years since Florence was named the capital of Italy (although it was only for 15 years) and the building was home to the city council. In honor of the anniversary, there was a special exhibit “A Palace and the City”. So we were able to look through the Ferragamo archives as well as getting a bit of history of Florence as the capital of Italy.
Shopping at the San Lorenzo market for all of our souvenirs!
Basilica of Santa Maria Novella
Piazza di Santa Maria Novella
Palazzo Spini Feroni
Ferragamo Museo
Ferragamo archives
The four silk variants of the foulard made by Ferragamo in 1961 with a drawing by the artist Alvaro Monnini
Ferragamo art collection
“View of the Santa Trinita bridge, the Santa Trinita church and the column erected on behalf of Cosimo 1” Giuseppe Zocchi, 1744
A Palace and the City
Foot models: Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich, Angelina Jolie
Foot models: Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Sofia Loren
For our last dinner in Florence, of course we wanted to eat together. Koen and I prepared some more pasta (when in Italy, right?) and then we ventured out for one more serving of gelato!
One more gelato from Gelateria Pasticceria Badiani
I miss my daily gelato so much!
An American in Antwerp 