Dr. Linda Elrod and her daughter, Bree,
spent a week in heaven recently.
"Heaven" for Elrod, distinguished
professor of law at Washburn University, and her daughter, a graduate
acting student at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, was
the
Toscana Saporita
Cooking School in
Camporomano,
Italy. From May 12 to 19, the mother and daughter learned to cook
using only fresh, local ingredients, sampled wonderful Italian wines
and toured the Tuscan countryside.
The school is housed on a 70-acre
hilltop estate with a 15th century villa. In the morning, the Elrods
would enjoy a breakfast that included fresh ricotta, focaccia,
homemade granola, fresh fruit and very strong coffee. They would cook
after breakfast, learning to make a salad, a main dish and a dessert,
using what fresh produce was in season. Best of all: The staff at the
school did all the cleanup.
The Elrods then enjoyed a leisurely
lunch outdoors under a tree, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. The meal included the
foods they made that morning, with unlimited wine. In the afternoon,
they were free to roam around the estate, swim in the pool, go
shopping or go on a field trip. The Elrods went on the trips, seeing
such sights as a 2,000-year-old olive tree, the city of Pisa, and
Porta Venere, where English poet Percy Shelley drowned.
In a brief telephone interview from New
York, Bree described the week as "an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime
experience," and said she particularly was impressed with how the
Tuscans lived "in beautiful harmony with the land." "All of the food
was fresh; it wasn't pre-packaged or preservative-laden," she said.
Despite the plentiful food and wine, the Elrods were told most people
don't gain weight while at the school. The weather was perfect -- 70
degrees and sunny -- and they did a lot of walking. "It was just a
little piece of heaven," Linda Elrod said.
