Laura’s Blog

It’s the final morning of our retreat. I woke at 5:30 this morning, feeling sluggish from last night’s wine and final feast. I decided I needed to move, to go for a walk. I haven’t had much time to myself this week. My hours have been filled with teaching, eating, going on outings, visiting my

This is what I read at our final dinner, the last night of our retreat: Since I’ve come to Tuscany, I’ve been surrounded by birdsong both gentle and soothing, raucous and loud. I’ve drunk more wine in ten days than I do in a year. Eaten foods I never consider eating at home and have

This meal was truly over the top. It began with two salads. Mozzarella buratta was the first: soft and liquid in the inside served with a special tomato from the region called mule’s heart: Cuore di Bue. And with it was panzanella, a bread salad with tomato, a special mild onion that’s only eaten raw,

We had a great pasta class with chef Rosanna Passione. The pasta we made ended up being one of the courses for our last supper at the Villa. The tag line on Rosanna’s cooking brochure is “Invitare qualcuno alla propria tavola vuol dire prendersi cura della sua felicita.” Or in English, “to invite someone at

For years as we travel, Karyn Bristol has posed for headstands all over the world. Here’s the latest in the series: Tuscany. If you don’t want to wait for the email digest version of my virtual vacation posts, you can follow me directly on social media where you can also find short posts, videos and

We had another fascinating tour of the Villa with Gigi’s husband, Rodolfo, the youngest of thirteen children of the Budini-Gattai family. Graseilah translated for him as he showed us private parts of the Villa that we hadn’t had access to before. First, Rodolfo took us into a locked chapel, which he opened with a huge

At this time last year, I was approving the final audiobook files of The Burning Light of Two Stars and seriously ramping up to promote my soon-to-be released book, ten years in the making, for an October pandemic launch. Now the book is launched and it’s a year later, and here I am, savoring the

You might think that this whole trip is filled with long leisurely conversations over unbelievable food (check, yes, that’s true), senses drinking in verdant peaceful surroundings (yes, true), shared intimacies between new friends (yes true), and the pleasure of being surrounded by the sensuality of Italian being spoken around us (yes, true), but this Write,

Between the hills of Chianti and Valdelsa, a few kilometers from Florence, we went today to visit a family whose business is to harvest and create delicious products from truffles, a wild mushroom that thrives in the region. We began our visit by going out in the woods for a truffle hunt with Giacomo—not the

Yesterday, we had an extensive tour of the three olive oil mills at the farmhouse, one of which dates back to the 16th century. Our guide, Giacomo, the farm manager, is from the Bodini Gattai family that has owned and run this working farm for generations. Giacomo began his tour by showing us the tiny