COOKING CLASS IN TUSCANY

I had made reservations for a few activities during my trip to Italy, one of them being a pizza and gelato cooking class in Tuscany. I have to say, I expected the class to be interesting, but what I got was so much better!

​First, the class took place outdoors on the grounds of a beautiful vineyard on the top of a hill just outside of Florence. The view was absolutely gorgeous! Then, we were welcomed with a plate of delicious and fresh bruschetta and a glass of Chianti wine. Let's just say, I had been there for less than 5 minutes and already they had won my heart. Who can resist good wine, good food and a nice view? Not me!

We started the class by learning the science behind gelato making, then each got our own recipe to cook. I got paired with another girl from Britain who was about my age and also traveling alone. We had met on the bus and already were having so much fun that everyone thought we were traveling together. We were making chocolate gelato, one of my favorites. We melted the chocolate and stirred with milk until it was smooth, then it was brought to the freezer and it was time for us to start our pizza dough.

I'm not gonna lie, I could never do this at home. There were so many steps, but we all had fun trying and that's what matters. We mixed the ingredients, added more flour until it had the right consistency and soon enough we were trowing pretty good looking dough onto the table repeatedly and then pressing and folding until it was perfect. 

While the dough "raised", it was time to make the pizza sauce. That part was pretty easy, just messy. I'm glad we each received an apron. We pressed the tomatoes and added a dash of olive oil (an Italian dash meaning a lot) and basil. We also went back to stir our gelato to make sure it stayed smooth through the freezing process. 

Then, it was time to flatten our dough and add the ingredients of our choice. While we took turns building our favorite pizza, we each were poured a second glass of wine and had some time to get to know each other a little better.

When it was finally my turn, I was a little nervous at the thought of throwing my pizza in the air, but finally decided to try it, why not. It's not like I'll get that chance again soon right? It turns out, I may have the Italian chef gene as I did pretty good for a first timer. I managed to throw it up in the air and not drop it, then added sauce, cheese, olives (yum!) and basil and some kind of leaf that I was told was really good and it was. Then into the wood burning oven it went for about three minutes and an eternity later it was ready to eat. Just in time as I had not had lunch that day and was starving.

The whole group sat together to eat the best pizza we had ever had. I admit that I might be biased because I made it myself with a lot of love, but it is truly the best pizza I have ever tasted.

And then, right when I thought it could not get better, they announced that they would put all the gelato out on a table and we would get to try all of them with every king of toping you can imagine including balsamic vinegar, lavender flowers, basil, nuts, grated chocolate, etc. I tried the strawberry, pistachios, vanilla, raspberry, lemon, had double helpings of our chocolate gelato and went for seconds. Needless to say, I wasn't hungry anymore way before I stopped eating. And surprisingly, other than our chocolate gelato, my favorite was strawberry with some balsamic vinegar. It seems disgusting, but trust me it is the most delicious mix ever.

​If you have the time while in Florence, I definitely suggest trying a cooking class. I had so much fun and would do it again in a heartbeat.