What can we say about our day in Pompeii? All of us agree it was both our good thing and our bad thing today. It was in turns amazing, overwhelming, frustrating, annoying, exhausting, stimulating, but definitely a not to be missed experience. The day started off just fine, with an easy trip on the train from Sorrento, during which we smugly congratulated ourselves on our relatively early start. But even though we arrived less than an hour after opening, the place was already full of bus loads of tourists. We were frustrated by lines and crowds and especially by the fact that they were out of the informational booklet that all the guidebooks promised was excellent for touring the site. (And the promise of which made us decide not to lug our other guidebooks along with ... read more

We're sitting in the Rome airport, looking at appropriately (since we're leaving) gloomy and rainy skies, it has become clear that I'll be back home before this blog is ever completed... Of course we have hours of travel ahead of us before arriving back in California, so who knows? I'll certainly give it a try! ***************************************************************************** Monday, September 30 What do you say about an entire day of driving in Italy, and encountering every challenge possible--thunderstorms, blinding setting sun, winding mountain roads, aggressive autostrada drivers, frenetic city centros at rush hour, filled with darting pedestrians? See blog title! The final straw, however, was sitting in stop and go (mostly stop) bumper to bumper traffic on the coastal road to Sorrento. It took us over two hours to go 10 km, and we were stopped ab... read more

It's our last day of cooking school, so during our time at the cafe this morning we planned the dinner menu for our last meal together. Our classmates had tried a typical local dish, called tiella or taieddha, at a restaurant, which they wanted to learn how to prepare, so we built a simple, light menu around that, since it is a heavy dish made with mussels and potatoes. The morning's market visits included a stop at a fish market, where we bought tons of fish and shellfish for lunch's fish soup, as well as dinner's ingredients. Then we headed back to the school, where things got real fishy! The soup was simple but absolutely delicious, especially with the great bread for mopping up the delicious broth, with beautiful and sweet fresh peaches to finish up. ... read more

Morning prep began with making yet another type of pasta--this one with the much tamer name of orecchiette or "little ears". We were taught by the charming and incredibly patient Giuseppe and joined in our efforts by a friend of Silvestro's, the incredibly beautiful Ortoalisa, who is not only an expert orecchiette maker, but also a mother to a 7 year old, a marine biologist and university student! The Biagi sisters dominated the rest of the class at this one, though most thought Sandy's were a tad better... We followed this with preparing the ingredients for lunch's first course: pepperonata, a dish made from thinly sliced bell peppers "sweated" to softness then dressed with olive oil and tossed with breadcrumbs. We also made the broccoli rabe sauce for the orecchiette (2nd course). Then onto the braised ... read more

We met first at the local cafe for a "stiff one" to start off our first cooking experience. We were pleased to find out an Australian couple, Barry and Susan, would be joining us for the day. They were great folks and added a bit of balance to the group. Plus Dave and I were excited to talk with them about their country, which we'll be visiting next year. After coffee, we proceeded to the smallish market to buy fresh meat and produce, then back to the school to have our first pasta making lesson and prepare the rest of our lunch: mussels in wine, "Mexican hat" pasta, with cherry tomatoes and ricotta,followed by whole grilled Bronzino fish and braised sweet pepper, and finally melon for dessert. Home to recover for 3 hours, then returned to ... read more