Noodle Me

The travelling Gods must have felt bad that they treated me so badly because the hostel I'm staying at in Florence is pure heaven and when I arrived it was like a shining beacon of hope at the end of the bed bug road. I walked in and was handed clean sheets and towels, a map and brochures, as well as a little welcome pack that had mini toiletries in it. They also come fully equipped with a pool, sauna, restaurant, AC, and blowdryers in the girls rooms.

I found a cooking class that was offered in one of the brochures and went downstairs to book it immediately but couldn't get in until Wednesday (today) so I opted for a Tuscan wine tour in the Chianti region on monday and mulling around the city on Tuesday. The wine tour was excellent, I couldn't understand a word the tour guide was saying but she gave me free wine and I speak that language fluently. We went from place to place tasting and smelling until ending with a multi-course garden lunch at a lord's house up in the Italian countryside where we were given enough red wine to stain our teeth and then headed back to the bus where everyone fell asleep and snored...God bless the siesta.

Today I got up early to meet my cooking group in the heart of the city where we first toured the fresh market and purchased items for lunch, then headed back to the chef's apartment to make it. He gave us all little recipe books to write down what we were doing as we sat around a large marble island in the middle of his kitchen and prepared bruschetta (the true Italian way), homemade bolognese sauce, fresh pasta that we rolled by hand, and tiramisu all from things he had bought in the market. It was all fun and delicious games until the instructor decided to confess his affinity towards me and propose: a party, boat ride, dinner of chicken and risotto...etc. This was all done in an alarming public way and I chuckled a bit and sweated profusely while whispering to the girls next to me to make sure I didn't get left behind. At the end we all got certificates of completion and after I made sure I had made it out unfollowed by my new Italian lover, I promptly spilt hazelnut gelati on my diploma.

Side note: after ruminating on my plans to head to Greece, I decided it was too far out of the way and booked a ticket to Morocco instead, surprise! Africa, here I come.