Italian Feast Cooking Class

We joined a cooking class on our second night in Florence - something that I'd been looking forward to for this trip. It's run by a proper cooking school down a little laneway. We cooked in small groups and got to meet some really lovely people who were also travelling through Italy which made the experience really enjoyable.
So, what did we make? We made a simple 4 course italian meal. First course was an antipasto dish of roasted zucchinis stuffed with beef and herbs. The zucchinis we used were round rather than the long shaped normally available in Sydney. Next course was baked spinach and ricotta crepes followed by a main of chicken cacciatore then lastly panna cotta with strawberry sauce. We all got a go at preparing and cooking which was great fun! Afterwards, we got to enjoy the meal with wine in the cooking school's dining room. It was such a wonderful experience, making our visit to Florence very special indeed!Enjoy the photos!

Florence's magnificent Duomo

Here are some pictures from our visit to the Duomo. We climbed up all 463 steep steps up to the top cupola of the dome. What a magnificent view at the top - making the climb all worth it.

Silly train ticket machine at Florence main station

Steve and I wandered down to buy our tickets for our train ride to Rome (where we are going in a few days).  After working out pretty quickly how to use the ticket machines, which are very intuitive and user-friendly, we successfully purchased and printed our tickets. The reason why I'm blogging about this somewhat mundane event is because after the tickets are printed, the hole in which you need to put your hand in to retrieve the tickets has a ridiculously small opening!  And, once you have managed to get your hand in, the ticket is so difficult to get out as it is quite deep, the ticket is perpendicular to the opening and you have to angle your hand like a contortionist to get the damn thing without ripping it! Fortunately, we managed to get the ticket out with no damage but not after a few minutes of wriggling and a cramping hand afterwards.... Such a well designed ticketing interface (designed by the smarty pants team) but they obviously left the ticket retrieval part to the not-so-Einstein people-with-tiny-hands.

Florence's Mercato Centrale

One of my favourite things to do on my travels is to visit the food markets to check out the interesting and wonderful foods - they provide amazing inspiration for my cooking as well as being educational and heighten my appreciation of all things food.
My foodie senses went into overdrive when we visited the San Lorenzo Central Food Markets in Florence.
I was expecting the markets to be quite chaotic, based on visits to other markets around the world however this place was pretty neat and laid out very well. I found a few of the stalls start to cater for the tourist market which is a little disappointing however the fresh meat and seafood sections where still rather satisfying. I had seen a few shows on TV that featured bull's testicles so was on the hunt to find them (no, don't worry, I won't be using them as an inspiration for my next dinner party) just to satisfy the curiosity. I thought about posting the pictures but you have been spared...!

Aside from bull balls, there was plenty of prosciutto hanging from the stalls in whole legs - they probably weigh 8-10kgs each - not sure how long it would take one to finish a whole leg?!! Looked yummy though - made me dream of it thinly sliced on some crusty bread with some Chianti wine...perfecto!

There was also a lot of dried porcini mushrooms - they are sold in such small quantities back in Sydney but here they are in abundance. Different grades sold for different prices - it reminds me of when my mother sends me to Hong Kong to buy dried shittake mushrooms - how to tell what's better?! I'm always at the vendor's hands when it comes to knowing quality of dried mushrooms.....

Also, plenty of cheese.....oh my legs are weak already...

And here are some examples of touristy stuff.... bow shaped pasta in italian flag (green, white & red) colours....

and of course the rather eh - hem "interesting" shaped pasta that I've seen back at home as well. I wonder who buys this stuff? Is it just made to bring a chuckle out of teenagers? The name on the packet is "Fantasia".....Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse would be mortified...

and finally, just wanted to share this really cute moment which I captured. This local italian couple was buying meat at the butcher stall with her dog. Do you think little wags here was just hoping for a little bone to be thrown in?

Ciao Florence!

We arrived into Florence late Tuesday evening from London - roads are quite empty and not as busy as what I'd expected.
Arrived at our beautiful hotel just a couple of blocks from the Duomo.
More posts coming very shortly today on our many activities here including our visit to the central food markets, the Palazzo Pitti and our Italian Feast cooking class!

Lunch @ Nobu Berkeley London

A quick foodie post....had lunch at Nobu which was just around the corner from our Mayfair hotel - pricey but best Bento box ever!

Our own private Burberry Headquarters Tour!!!

It's been a couple of days since my last post but lots been happening so make sure you read my next posts to keep up to date with all the activities!

Firstly, absolutely have to tell you all about our tour of the gorgeous Burberry Headquarters in Westminster London. My dear friend, Alex moved over to London a few years ago and has been working at Burberry for most of that time - she is planning to move off again and finishes up at Burberry this week - how lucky for Steve and I to be here before she leaves and be given a private tour of this amazing fashion house's HQ!!!

The entire HQ (over 160,000 sq ft over 8 floors) houses its design team and admin as well as a huge showroom which displays all the items in their current collections of handbags, shoes, accessories, ready to wear clothing and children's wear. We got to tour the showroom - one of the cutest things we saw was the leather biker jacket for the bambinos. We also got to check out the new Burberry makeup line.

Here are some highlight photos. Thank you Alex!!! xxxxx!