We arrived yesterday afternoon to the Poppy Farmhouse, our final destination, in Piedmonte, Italy!
I will post later our Tuesday walking tour of Florence and the Effizi Gallerie and then of course, the rest of Florence and the Galleria dell' Accademia~ home to the incredible DAVID.
But for now, a few shots of the Farmhouse and the kitchen, where we cooked with Gino for the first time last night! The owners, John and Robyn, have "retired" here and have a love of Pilates, so they are realizing their dream!
John picked us up at the train station in Asti and drove us to his beautiful home!
We were greeted by some other guests who had been here last year and had just come back for a visit and some lunch. Carol, Allan, Eileen and Nick, were staying in a rented villa and just wanted to see John and Robyn.
We all enjoy lunch and each others company!
Frankie and Audrey relaxing!
View from the terrace, late in the afternoon!
Yum... The rest of our group arrived by train from various points and we welcomed Trudy, from Dallas, Darryl and Debbie, who had been in Milan, and Julie, our Gyrotonics instructor arrived from her own 3 days in Florence! We unpacked, had some vino and then Gino was calling for us!!
Meigan and Debbie peeling carrots and potatoes! Audrey, Julie and Bonnie taking directions from our Chef Gino!
Debbie and Meigan preparing the bread sticks!
Julie, Trudy, Ellen and Frankie preparing the cornish hens...
Gino started hollering "Decorations" and I jumped right over to help out!
We took carrots and Gino showed me how to carve a rose! Ok... so I ate a few rejects, but for the most part, they turned out lovely!!
See? Frankie and Julie decorated the first course dishes with cooked leek leaves, some finely shredded cheese and oranges... then the risotto was served on those!
Julie decorated dessert plates with chocolate! On these plates, we had a Chocolate Souffle!
From left to right, John, owner of Poppy Farmhouse, Frankie, me, Julie, not looking at camera, Julie, (instructor), standing, Bonnie, Debbie,(standing), Darryl, Debbie's husband. Missing from this photo... (still in kitchen) Robyn, owner, Trudy, Ellen, Audrey, Meigan!
John picked us up at the train station in Asti and drove us to his beautiful home! 
We were greeted by some other guests who had been here last year and had just come back for a visit and some lunch. Carol, Allan, Eileen and Nick, were staying in a rented villa and just wanted to see John and Robyn.
We all enjoy lunch and each others company!
Frankie and Audrey relaxing!
View from the terrace, late in the afternoon!
Yum... The rest of our group arrived by train from various points and we welcomed Trudy, from Dallas, Darryl and Debbie, who had been in Milan, and Julie, our Gyrotonics instructor arrived from her own 3 days in Florence! We unpacked, had some vino and then Gino was calling for us!!
Meigan and Debbie peeling carrots and potatoes! Audrey, Julie and Bonnie taking directions from our Chef Gino!
Debbie and Meigan preparing the bread sticks!
Julie, Trudy, Ellen and Frankie preparing the cornish hens...
Gino started hollering "Decorations" and I jumped right over to help out!
We took carrots and Gino showed me how to carve a rose! Ok... so I ate a few rejects, but for the most part, they turned out lovely!!
See? Frankie and Julie decorated the first course dishes with cooked leek leaves, some finely shredded cheese and oranges... then the risotto was served on those!
Julie decorated dessert plates with chocolate! On these plates, we had a Chocolate Souffle!
From left to right, John, owner of Poppy Farmhouse, Frankie, me, Julie, not looking at camera, Julie, (instructor), standing, Bonnie, Debbie,(standing), Darryl, Debbie's husband. Missing from this photo... (still in kitchen) Robyn, owner, Trudy, Ellen, Audrey, Meigan!