A feast in Florence

What a cooking class, what a dinner. Last night we were treated to a personal cooking class at Giglio Bianco followed by dinner cooked by chef Vary.

"Five PM and don't eat", those were our only instructions Vary gave us as we set out for the day. After having a very hot day in Florence we got back early, had a shower and made sure we were hungry.

Entering the kitchen for the first time I couldn't keep my eyes still there was so much to see. The centre of the room had a large wooden table where we would be learning a little Tuscan cooking. This was Vary's canvas where she would prepare her masterpieces and like a pallet, it was covered with the fresh product we would be using, cherry tomatoes, red onion, basil, sage, chicken thighs, bread dough, spinach, Parmigiano reggiano and '00' flour.

The walls in the room were covered with shelves extending to the ceiling that were bulging with every ingredient imaginable. There appeared to be no organisation in the kitchen. It was clean and tidy but only the chef knew the code to the filing system she had created over many years in this little Italian room.

This lady had passion for her food, her kitchen and her B&B. This passion drew us in further to her domain, it was not overpowering or intimidating. This passion was refreshingly pleasant in Florence; a city that has been cleansed of Italian culture by the brush of the international tourist.

During the next two and a half hours, Vary covered how to prepare and cook chicken caccatoire, Buffalo ricotta gnocchi with spinach and of course Tiramisu. These meals were all impressively easy to prepare and were created and modified by Vary to suit ingredients available to us back home. Of course what would an Italian cooking class be without a glass of Prosecco in hand? Which she kept topping up!

After the class we relocated to the dining room with its' 250 year old dining table. It is hard to imagine how many meals, conversations and moments of laughter this table has been a part of. If it could only talk.

The five courses that were presented to us were based on the meals we learnt in the course prior and a few extra surprises, like buffalo salami and purple potatoes shallow fried in a vacuum.

The evening was pleasant, the meal was delicious, fun and importantly served with correct portion sizes. When we retired for the evening we were comfortably full.

Thanks Vary and Edo