I dreamt about going to Italy for 5 years. Nothing in those dreams prepared me for the life changing adventure I had. I spent 7 days in Tuscany where I learned how to cook Italian food in a little villa. Each afternoon I would arrive at 4pm to start that evenings dinner. I was lucky to break bread with a new group of travellers each night who stayed at the villa.
On my first day they asked me what I wanted to learn how to make, and the first thing out of my mouth was pasta. I had tried and failed in the past and thought it was one of the hardest foods to master…I was wrong. But what was I missing? It turns out, patience and love.
Patricia my host and translator provided step by step instructions from the chef Maria – chef in the villa’s of Tuscany are the ones lucky enough to have their grandmothers and grandmothers, grandmothers recipes passed down.
This is how simple it was. “Heather, 100 grams flour, 1 egg, 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and pinch of salt…that’s it.” So where was I going wrong all those times before…I was moving to fast, thinking it was taking to long…basically being the hurried Torontonian I am.
Slowly mix the egg into the flour, then roll into a ball, then roll out. Again sounds simple and it is, when you let go of all your worries and concentrate on the task at hand. This can be held true for most things in life. On this day I learned how to be in the now.
That night I ate dinner with a family travelling around Tuscany from Germany. The pasta was loved by everyone but not the focus of the meal, no one was taking selfies with it (Not even me). We were all eating it, enjoying every bite as the conversation and the wine flowed.
Heather's Fowl Mouthed Kitchen 