Tuscany and a wedding

We fell in love with small Tuscan towns such as Cortona, Siena, and Montepulciano. First, seeing them up on the hills from afar…

…and then exploring their narrow, curving streets.

We went truffle hunting -

We tramped up and down hills and through woods after the hunter and his dogs for about an hour or two, and he had a very successful day.

That’s 335 grams of both black and white truffles. The white ones are much more valuable, as they are much less common and usually grow deeper than the black ones. At a restaurant, we were able to add very thinly shaved truffles to a dish for 9 euros a gram! (there are 28 grams to an ounce)

We then learned how to make homemade pasta…

… and got to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

shaved truffles on our hand made noodles

We visited Siena where there was a beautiful cathedral and bell tower.

We got to climb up into the dome and had fabulous views of the town -

and surrounding countryside.

We spent a week in a villa near Cortona, where our son got married, and had a marvelous time with family and friends, eating, drinking, and again making hand made pasta - this time, spaghetti:

During this trip we also learned the “correct” way to make tiramisu and biscotti…

…as well as saltimbocca (thin steak wrapped around a sage leaf and prosciutto).

The wedding was fun, festive, fancy and enjoyed by all!

(bride and groom in the middle on the right)