Monday in Verona

Slow start this morning. We all needed that. It was raining so we cancelled our visit to Giardini Giusti and moved that to Thursday afternoon.

Lunch was in fabulous location in the hills around Verona, the Torricelle, with the most amazing view of the city!

Today's highlight was the cooking class at E Cucina.

A typical Veronese menu: Asparagus appetizer (of course because it is in season), hand- made pasta turned into ricotta-filled tortelli, rabbit alla mediterranean and for dessert, tiramisu!

Everyone participated. Everyone helped each other. There were a few firsts- first time using a pasta machine, first time eating rabbit, first time making pasta.

Chef Luca Fasoli was amazing as always!!! A true pleasure being in his class. He puts his students at ease. The recipes and ingredients were well explained. We all loved his little accent when speaking english.

Martina, the owner, was assisting.

 I am certain many of the group will be trying them out on their friends and family when they get home.

Buon appetito!

Day 5, Venice

An early start today. Train ride to Venice.

Preparing for the day.

Walked all day! IN THE POURING RAIN! Thanks Barb for your newspaper trick. Dries shoes perfectly!

photo by Flo 

Thanks Flo for your pictures!

I took this in the morning before the downpour!

Excellent almond paste treats in the Jewish Ghetto.
Thanks Julia for taking us there.

We did have a rainbow at the end of the day!

We had a nice dinner with Valpolicella Ripasso wine at home with the group.

Textile Exhibits

Saturday was dedicated to seeing all the textile exhibits of the festival, Verona Tessile.  Thank goodness it was a gorgeous sunny day and perfect for walking around town.

There were antique quilts from the Amish community.

There were contemporary quilts from Joe Cumnningham (USA)

Joe Cunningham explaining his work.

There were traditional gems! Hand pieced and quilted from Verona.

Nice to see a young crowd interested.

Margaret Fabrizio (in her very late 80's!) exhibited her work too. She is from San Francisco.

There were some hands-on experiences.

My personal favorite was Joe Cunningham's Autoworld (2015)

detail

detail

People picked up a quick lunch- panino and drink- while heading to the historical buildings to see the international exhibits.

It was good to sit down and relax during dinner time. Our legs needed a rest after all that walking.

Our dinner spot in Verona's historical city centre.

The label shows the osteria's location,
right near Ponte Pietra.
It's their own production of prosecco.

I asked the group of they had any pictures of that evening and everyone sent me pictures of the food!
I guess it was good!

Here are some of the antipasto.

Some of the desserts.

Everyone is gaining weight!

Textile Workshop

Today was our dying workshop up at the Ad Maiora studios.

everyone got a hand-made name tag

First the big walk up the hill.

Then lots of stitching before the dying part.

Marina concentrated on showing how the stitch size, the thread size, the tightness of stitch and the length of stitch plays a part in the final design.

Then the surprises!

Amazing teacher...as always.

We had lunch up at the studio. Jenni made fabulous orrecchiete! Hand made, of course!

Recipe from her family from Puglia. She made it with the traditional sauce- cimi di rape and anchovies, onions.

Better than delicious!!

The weather suddenly turned and Barb and I made it into the museum just in time.

No filter!

Hand made, Maria Rosaria Nola
exhibit in the Museum of Natural History
inspired by the stone floors of Italy

inspired by floors in Abruzzo, Italy
made by Chiara Biraghi

We managed to see a few more exhibits from Verona Tessile before getting together for an apericena.