Friday has arrived and our last day of cooking school! We had the morning off before we began our final preparations for our farewell meal on Friday evening. Holly, Beth, myself and a new friend that we met named Erica decided to go into the town of Poppi to visit the castle of Poppi. You know, it really amazes me how much history there is and how well things are preserved and not bulldozed down when they are 100 years old. We spent all morning in Poppi just touring the castle and going up in the tower. Most of you that know me know that I am deathly afraid of heights. I was determined to go up to the highest point in the tower and I did so but I will also say that my breathing level changed drastically in the process. I made it—I looked around, shot some photos and decided to head back down before the rest of my group as I KNEW it would take me a while to get down. The stairs were extremely steep and very narrow. Once we were all down, we wandered around the grounds for a bit and down into the town. We didn’t have a lot of time so we wanted to make the most of it. The thing that stood out the most in my mind about the castle was the fact that there are still beautifully painted frescos (originals) still there. They were absolutely beautiful!
Back at Casa Ombuto, we arrive just in time for our lunch. Laura, our chef, has prepared a wonderful lunch for us. Beth has come down with a really bad headache and decides during the middle of lunch to go and lie down. I was worried that she was coming down with something. It was so hot that morning, I thought she may have been overheated. We couldn’t seem to get enough water.
Preparations for the farewell dinner were beginning. Each of us were making something different as our dinner was a buffet. My item was a Tarte Tatin, or an Apple Tart (French). It turned out absolutely beautiful I must say. Holly was making Tomato Farcies (stuffed baked tomatoes) and they too turned out beautiful. Beth was to help one of the other students with the lamb skewers. When she was well enough to get up, she came down and helped with the final preparation of them. Dinner was to be at 8:00 and we finished up about 7:30. Talk about having no time to get cleaned up and presentable—
We did it though; rushed back to our room, cleaned up a bit, changed and headed down to dinner. We were dining under the stars and the weather was just perfect. We thought we might get rained on as a few sprinkles came down but it held out until we were done eating. At the end of our meal, Laura got up to do the presentations to the students. Each received a diploma. She saved the best for last (in my opinion of course) and presented myself, Holly and Beth our diplomas with a little story to go along with it. She was so sweet the first night when we were sooooooooo very late arriving due to all the rental car issues that she said she felt like we had made such an effort to arrive that it was the least she could do to stay late and serve us a hot meal. She is a new lifelong friend to all of us. You couldn’t help but just fall in love with her. She didn’t think her English was very good but she did a great job. She even got in on the act of “joking” when the olive oil guy Francesco was trying to become friendly with Erica. We kidded her about that the whole rest of the trip. Laura even got in on it as well. Of course Beth was putting her up to it as well.
Dinner was over, presentations were made and it was time to take a class photo and say our farewells. I’ve never been good with them and never will be so people should know that about me up front. When people mean something to me, I cry. No, that’s not even a correct statement. Shoot, sometimes I even cry at a McDonald’s commercial!! However in this instance, these people had become new friends and I hate leaving friends. Many tears were had and many hugs and kisses. To the following people I’d like to say I truly had a wonderful time and I so enjoyed getting to know each and every single one of you:
Thomas & Ivana, Linda and Elizabeth, Nan, Sally, Erica, and Vinita, I hope to see you all again and if not see you, at least hear from you from time to time. You will forever be etched in my mind and heart. Last but not least to Laura: the most wonderful lady I think I have ever met. A person so genuine, true, caring, loving and beautiful!!! You are an inspiration to me and I’m sure to all who attended the school this week.
We have a rental car to return and a drive ahead of us back into Florence so an early evening it is for the three of us. Early by standards of how late we had been staying up all week. I believe we were in bed by midnight and we were to pull out at 7:00AM. I am feeling very sad about leaving Tuscany. Most of my adult life I have wanted to go there and I only got a small taste of what it was like. Tuscany is somewhere I will definitely return to!!! Good-bye Casa Ombuto. Ciao----.
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