“Happy Birthday To Me” and Cooking School Adventures

Birthday Surprises From Hubby

Part of this trip to Italy was in celebration of my ## birthday (you fill in the blanks). For the first week, I was a solo traveler.

As a treat, I was in cooking school at the International Academy of Italian Cuisine in Lucca for 4 days, learning as much as possible – all in Italian. Luckily, most of the words that I do know are food related.  Imagine that. Not a coincidence, you are thinking, right?

It’s tricky – all of the recipes and instructions are in Italian, the chefs speak only Italian, and all of the measurements are either in litres, grams, or “quanto basta” which means “enough”. My kinda cooking! And each day there is a new chef, so the method of teaching is different from the previous day. Way cool. Handy for me, two of the students speak English…whew! My own personal interpreters.

The highlight on May 8th was a surprise phone call from my Hubby to the cooking school to wish me “Happy Birthday”. To further add to the list of growing surprises, the entire class comes out of the kitchen with a plate of the dessert we made that morning, and sings “Tanti Auguri” to me in Italian. (That’s “Happy Birthday” in case you had not guessed!)

Surprise Birthday “Cake”

Later on, back at the hotel, there’s wine, a cake, and flowers in my room…that Hubby of mine…did I mention the other reason for our trip was to celebrate our 25th anniversary a bit early?? (it’s in June)

Birthday Flowers in Lucca, Italy

Hubby was on his way to Italy at the end of my cooking adventures…that’s when the photos get really good, since he has the Big Boy camera, and I use the Little Petite Camera!

More cooking school adventures to come…..