If you read my “vino in my veins” post you’ll know that when we arrived at Borgo Argenina in Chianti, Italy (Tuscany), you’ll know we were so exhausted I could barely stand. We had flown from Paris early that morning, through Austria, and got to Florence, picked up our rental car, and then drove through the rolling hills of Tuscany, and arrived at Borgo Argenina just in time for dinner. I was so tired I barely remember that day. Only that Elena and the dogs greeted us, and as Sean brought the car around to unload our bags, she took me to the apricot tree (in a garden of other trees and bushes and bees and butterflies, overlooking what seemed like all of Tuscany), and kept handing me these fresh apricots and speaking to me in Italian. My “pre-Europe” me would have wanted to wash them first, but then I realized, this is WHERE fruit comes from. There is nothing to wash. We are at the source. This is Italy and I am eating apricots FROM the trees. They were the best apricots I’ve ever had. She just kept handing them to me and I kept eating them, tired and sweaty, and I remember them tasting so good and flavorful.
As I was eating them all I wanted to do was have my camera with me to take pictures of what I was seeing. It was like my eyes were never opened until then. (sounds corny, I know, but it’s true.) I wanted to start taking pictures, but I told myself that Tuscany would be there tomorrow, and I should just enjoy “this moment” of Elena and fresh apricots.
After we brought our bags into our cottage, we met with Elena over a glass of red wine and she gave us a map (and me an Italian cookbook), of all the places to go and see during our stay: restaurants, the town of Siena and Montalcino, the castle at Brolio, etc. She asked us about ourselves, like what we did for a living, and it wasn’t until days later when we were cooking with her that I remembered I told her I was a journalist. She was telling me how she got started 15 years ago with Borgo Argenina, and explained it was her “passion” to run the bed and breakfast, just as I was “born to write.”
The first day at Borgo Argenina we rested. We both needed a day off from sight-seeing. We slept in, had a leisurely lunch (this was the lunch where I mistakenly ordered the “salad” with only a few leaves), and I sipped wine overlooking the hills of Toscano.
Each day that followed, we would pick one activity for the morning (one day we went to Siena, one day to the castle, etc.), and then in the afternoon we’d come back and take a nap. And then go out for dinner. Our favorite restaurant was called Malborghetto. Sean got gnocchi, and both times I got the salted cod with chick peas. We ate there the first night, and again later because we liked it so much.
The night we cooked with Elena was my favorite night at the villa. We cooked with another couple, from Ohio, who were also on their honeymoon. Elena’s kitchen, with the windows open, overlooked the rest of the villa and the rolling green hills. She had garlic hanging from the walls and bottles of wine and olive oil everywhere. First we made the lasagna. This involved cutting carrots and zucchini and then cooking them, and then frying eggplant. I got to put the fresh mint in with the eggplant, and Elena taught me exactly how to pick the mint leaves. Never break them, she said; put them in whole. We also made chicken and tiramisu. For the tiramisu I helped stir the cream, and then soaked the cookies at the bottom in liquor. (I won’t say which kind in order to keep in a secret!)
For Sean, who we told her was Kosher, she brought out extra fresh mozzarella because he couldn’t eat the chicken.
She let us lick the tiramisu batter (well, TOLD us to, actually), and gave me fresh parmesan to taste as I was stirring the zucchini over the stove.
All the while we were laughing and taking pictures and sipping wine and I couldn’t believe I was in Italy cooking an Italian dinner. Making the dinner took about three hours. That was probably one of the highlights in Toscano: the hours we spent with Elena in her kitchen.
The smells of garlic. The fresh apricots on the table. The ever-flowing red wine. Getting to know her. Her passion, her story, her life. Finding out why she does what she does. Finding out firsthand. By being a part of this special, memorable experience in her kitchen. The color, the smells, the passion, the love. Three hours wasn’t enough. For me, I discovered, it’s never enough time when it comes to Toscano. That is my heaven.
After we were done cooking we set the table, which Elena described as “Bella!” And then she brought down the China and we sat and ate. The sun set behind us as we sipped wine and laughed with Josephina and Pasquelina at our feet. Did I mention this is my heaven? Elena, if you’re reading this: Borgo Argenina is heaven to me.
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