{"id":2619,"date":"2020-04-09T19:57:13","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T17:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/?p=2619"},"modified":"2025-08-14T19:36:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T17:36:24","slug":"fugiti-ca-vine-chef-mladin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/2020\/04\/fugiti-ca-vine-chef-mladin\/","title":{"rendered":"Run, Chef Mladin is coming!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During this period of\nstaying home, the cooking fever has caught everyone, so I have to make a\nconfession: I was not caught in this\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still make my fast\ndishes, like during the times when I did not have time and I was always on the\nrun, plus the food ordered online and a lot of chocolate, instead of any meal J.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now I could have\nproven that I can be a Chef, especially after the experience I have lived some\ntime ago, in Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COOKING CLASS<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I do not have a paper to\nprove this, but the truth is that I went to a cooking class in Tuscany!!! For\nthe first time in my life, which made me fear I would cut my fingers during the\nproduction process\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody asked me to do\nthis, but according to my tourist custom, if I repeatedly go to a town, I\nreally have to see something new, to live something new. This way I got on my\n“Florence again!” list the wish to cook J. (I have to tell you that I am a fan, a\ngreat fan, a huge fan of the Italian cuisine!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MENU OF THE DAY<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Using my acquaintances\nthere (Ioana, my former University colleague), I got to some people who, among\nother things, have these cooking classes. I met and talked to Costanza online\nand she gave me all the information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually, they organize\nthe classes for more people, but I was going to be the only one. Just my luck!\nShe sent me a big list, like a book, with types of food divided into\ncategories, asking me to choose three of each of them, according to my wishes\nand my taste. From my short list, she would see what we could cook, depending\non the fresh ingredients she could find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started studying the\nlist\u2026 God, how my mouth watered reading about each dish there J)). There are 18 appetizers, first course\n\u2013 13, second course \u2013 12, 13 side dishes and 8 desserts. I choose three from\neach category, according to my taste and I send her the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are going to cook 5\ndishes, she tells me in an e-mail \u2013 all of them recipes of the Florentine\nfamily, with ingredients from the garden and from the local producers. Mainly,\norganic products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I will cook a whole\ndinner, from the appetizer to the first course, the main dish with meat and a\nside dish, plus a dessert. Yammy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

200 Euros \u2013 this is the\nprice of having a private, one day, class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this price, the drink\nis included \u2013 a glass of prosecco, to warm up, then a glass of the house wine\n(red wine) for the steak and, for dessert, either a sweet wine or a cup of\ncoffee. Well, if I drink all these, I will fall asleep on the door mat and I\nwill never leave that place J)).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VILLA IL PARADISINO<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The day comes\u2026 I take\nthe regional train from Florence and, after only 10-15 minutes, I get to Sesto\nFiorentino. (You can come here by taxi too. It costs some 40 Euros from the\ncenter of Florence.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A nice man takes me by\ncar from the station to Villa Il Paradisino, where he leaves me in the hands of\nthe host, Costanza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"..\/de%20lucru\/IMG_0253.jpg\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"..\/de%20lucru\/IMG_0249.jpg\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After I pass the gates,\nI live the amazement of the person who wants to shout: “I would move here\ntomorrow!” This is a place where your eyes and your nose are charmed by\nthe flowers, the fruit, the vegetables and the herbs, by the house that has a\nhistory scent, by the stone oven where they make pizza usually and a yard\nhidden away. The Zen Zone, I would say, because I suddenly feel that my tourist\nengines stop\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costanza, like a good\nhost, shows me all the corners, the gardens and all the places that I did not\nnotice from the beginning, she tells me about the history and about what we are\ngoing to do today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her family has had this place for six generations! The villa was built sometime in the 18 century. And, starting in 2004, they decided to\u2026 show it to the people, more specifically to host people here. I did not ask about the prices for rooms, as I am staying in a hotel in Florence, but I made a note to myself to study their site<\/a>, for a possible coming back here as a tourist, not as an apprentice J.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GET TO WORK!<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The cooking class starts\nat about 2:30-3 p.m., not in the kitchen, but in the garden! We start to gather\nall we need for the cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We came out with a small\nbasket and, after just a few steps, she tells me: Let’s get some rosemary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"..\/de%20lucru\/IMG_0268.jpg\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And some tomatoes\u2026\nCareful, you have stepped on a\u2026 I have no idea what it is. But we do not need\nit now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Damn, no matter where I\nlook and where I step, there’s a herb, a flower, a bush or a tree that has\nsomething edible J.<\/p>\n\n\n\n