Kasparek Family Memories: January 2014

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Tuscan Cooking Class

On Sunday night, the wonderful staff at our agriturismo organized a cooking class for us. Maurizio, our guest chef, has a cooking school in Siena.

Melissa started us off preparing the pork

We would like to recreate this meal sometime soon, so everyone had out their technology to capture the experience.

Sherri stirring the flour and water for the pasta

The key to rolling pasta dough: you have to be quick or it will stick!

Jen had a little dance as Maurizio showed us how a pro does it

Watching how you make a piece of spaghetti

Donita, Kim, and Melissa working hard. I am holding up my 1 spaghetti noodle. My talents were used to make bread crumbs. :)

Enjoying our dinner

My Iron Chef moment with Maurizio

The ladies and our teacher

An awesome impromptu dance party broke out as we were cleaning up. Nelly's Hot in Herre was the song of the weekend, so it had to be our dance music!

All good things must come to an end. Packing up the van was an event!

A Sunday in Montalcino

8 ladies on the loose on a Sunday in Tuscany: it is bound to be a memorable day!

The drive from Pienza to Montalcino was gorgeous. We pulled along the side of the road for a few photo ops.

Me and my camera trying to capture the beauty of Tuscany

BUMMER! During one of our photo stops, we picked up a screw in our tire. We pulled over and some very nice gentlemen helped us change the tire.

Did I mention that we pulled over to get our tire changed at a wine store?!

We had a private tour of Poggio Antico

Hiding out between the wine barrels

We are ready to taste some wine!

LOTS of laughter this weekend!

Kelli: the greatest hallway buddy a girl could ask for!

Guess who is sweet talking for some more free goodies...

Helping out with the wine purchases

Montalcino Castle

The ladies walking through the town

How I got the above picture :)

Tasting some of the famous Brunello di Montalcino

My turn taking a group selfie with Kelli, Madds, and Jen

A Saturday in Montepulciano

Where are the gals at today...Montepulciano!

Madds is the Queen of the selfie and managed to get all 8 of us in a picture as we were walking into town.

Our first of many wine tastings was at Fattoria Pulcino

Donita, Kelli, Madds, and Sherri hearing all about different pecorino cheeses

Jen's camera has some cool effects. Here is a picture of me in the main piazza in Montepulciano

Wine tasting at de Ricci

We came, we tasted, we bought

Hanging out in the wine cellar at Cantine Contucci

This sweet old guy was featured in Rick Steve's Italy book. He took good care of us!

One of my favorite pictures of the weekend: Madds sweet talking our new friend into throwing in some free wine openers. :)

Girls' Weekend in Tuscany

During the long Martin Luther King Day Weekend, I enjoyed a trip to Tuscany with 7 lovely ladies. We found a wonderful agriturismo outside the little town of Pienza.

Here is the cypress lined drive leading up to the agriturismo