Another great day at cooking school. We met the other participants today in the township of Gaiole. We visited the local butchers and he showed us his separate building where all the prosciutto (pork legs) hang for curing until they are ready for cutting and selling. We also visited a vege market and a bakery.

Our menu for today was bruschetta, pasta (macaroni but more like extra large penne to me) with ragu ( a form of bolognese made with beef and pork mince), turkey scallopini with balsamic vinegar and almond biscotti.

For cooking many dishes here they use dried portobello mushrooms as these do not hold the moisture when cooking and add beautiful flavour. Everyone was laughing at me as I cringed at how much oil was used in preparing the bruschetta! Tasted sooooo good though. Think I can still hear the oil moving through my body ;-) When eating the biscotti we were served some extra strong wine (Holy wine?) and had to soak each piece before eating.

An afternoon siesta and walk down the local road to explore. Can't wait to see what is on the menu tomorrow!!!