Moving to the Country, Gonna eat a lot of Peaches.

This weekend Lorenzo and I made our way out of Toscana and into Emilia Romagna where his family have a house in the countryside. In winter it is all snowed in, so we wanted to get out there in Summer while the fruit is plentiful and the sun is shining... and it was beautiful! The house is actually the train station-house for the town Strada Casale-  a “town” with a population of around 100- and is surrounded by fruit trees, vineyards and rolling hillsides.

 

 

It was such a relaxing weekend with a walk through the hills (stopping to pick figs, plums, grapes, walnuts, apples and what we think was a cross between an apricot and a peach- yum), an afternoon at the pool, local delicacies at a nearby country festival (as well as dancing with the locals- who, I’m pretty sure, thought we were those young hooligans who didn’t know the steps) and stargazing (my first shooting star in years).

We also stopped to get some milk... One vending machine sells either plastic (20c) or glass bottles (50c) and the other machine- with the drop of a coin and the push of a button- fills your bottle with super cold, delicious fresh milk (500mL=50c, 1L= €1). I love the (technically advanced) country.

Big City Lights.

First and foremost... I'M SORRY! I know it has now been some ridiculous amount of days since my last post, and there is just no excuse that will cut the mustard. So I won't even bother...
So anyway, since my last post I have been working in the pastry section at the hotel from Monday to Friday (9am to 2.30pm) then for 2 or 3 of those days I also work at the pub from 9.30pm to 2.30am, which then means that I have the weekend free- yipeee!! Now that Simone- the head chef at Hotel Brunelleschi- is back from holidays I am exclusively in the pastry section and am finally doing the work I want to do! Breads, gelati, petit fours, creams etc etc. Simone is full of knowledge and, luckily for me, is a really good teacher so I am really enjoying my mornings there.
I don't yet have any photos of the kitchen or the Hotel or anything yet (though I should be going there for dinner on Saturday, so I'll have some soon) so I will leave you with a few photos I have taken of Florence at night with MY NEW CAMERA! (Nikon Coolpix P300- it's a light compact camera but is equipped with some great settings and (in my opinion) takes a pretty decent photo!)

 

Elba

I kinda forgot to mention that 2 weeks ago, just before I started my stage at the hotel, Lorenzo and I made a trip to Elba Island - the biggest island in the Tuscan Archipelago - for 2 days. Unfortunately most of the fist day was pouring with rain, but we made up for it by eating ourselves into near coma states with delicious fresh seafood, and by the next day the sun was out and I was able to enjoy beautiful Elba as one should.

We may have also taken a super fun train ride with the kids... you're only as old as you think you are!

Keeping Occupied.

With working at the pub, my new stage, a friend coming to visit and my school friends leaving town, this past week I have definitely been keeping busy.

My good friend Jenna, who I used to work with in Brisbane, has spent the last 3 months travelling around southeast Asia and the UK and has now made her way into Italy, so for the past week she bunked with me. We took a trip up to Fiesole, drank in some of my favourite bars and I managed to give her a quick tour of the city, but unfortunately I was working a fair chunk of her stay so she had to entertain herself. I must say that she is a must more motivated tourist than I am and I think she has now seen more touristy things in Florence than I have!! Even though it was only a week It was so nice to have a friend like Jenna come and stay and she even cooked us dinner!! Thanks JJ…

I have officially completed the first week of my stage with Hotel Brunelleschi. I am holding my opinion for now because I know that this is one of their slowest months and until the 16th of August the head chef (who I organised this whole thing with) is on holidays. So I my update is that I have survived the first week and that there is a lot less to do than I was expecting… other than that you’ll have to check back in after the 16th!