Our 6:00 p.m. Italian cooking class in Milan on Thursday was three subway stops away from the Duomo subway entrance nearest to our hotel.  Trying to find an address in a city that is over 2400 years old can be challenging and so we planned to leave our hotel in plenty of time to get lost a couple of times and still arrive on time.  Since we would be heading out into the weather which was lightly raining at the time, Barb was able to extract a promise from Doug to be on his best behavior to avoid further thunder claps and deluges of water pouring from the sky on both the just and the unjust.  We were able to arrive at the subway entrance with only the occasional sound of thunder but no corresponding heavy rain.  We caught the correct subway train and rode it to our desired stop in no time at all.  Climbing up out of the subway, we hardly needed the extra time we had given ourselves and arrived at the appropriate address 30 minutes early.  We found a bench along the street to sit on and rest until it was time for our class to start.

It was only the four Wagnersons in this class which was taught by a retired master chef named Aurora.  Her husband Claudio greeted us and immediately got out wine glasses and started pouring us prosecco.  We knew immediately this was the kind of class we would fit in with famously.  This was not a demonstration class, but a hands on “you better do it if you want to eat” class.  The menu we would all be cooking included fresh mozzarella and ham stuffed panzerotti (dough filled wonder of fried deliciousness); ravioli stuffed with fried pork, nutmeg and parmesan cheese; eggplant stuffed with more deliciousness; and for dessert – panna cotta with cherries.

We made two different types of dough.  The dough for the panzerotti needed to rest at least two hours and that was what we made first with Doug being the primary dough kneader.  While Barb was heating the cream and sugar and gelatin for the panna cotta, Lynda was hollowing out and chopping up the eggplant, Doug was still kneading and I was tasked with frying up the ground pork and mixing it with parmesan cheese for the filling for the ravioli to be made later.  It was a literal whir of activity with an additional glass or two of prosecco thrown in along the way over the course of about two and a half to three hours.

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The four of us each had our 100 grams of 00 flour measured out perfectly thanks to Doug and one egg apiece.  At individual workstations we each took the flour and egg and kneaded it into dough for ravioli.  Aurora showed us how to make both ravioli and tortellini, and then left us to our own devices where we all chose to make only ravioli.  Then, with everything finally done and cooked, we sat down for an absolutely wonderful meal.  This memorable class will be a highlight of our trip I’m sure.

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Finding our way back from the class to the subway in the dark was another adventure that the four of us embraced with gusto….some more than others.  Once we found the subway entrance, the rest was old hat for us and we caught the subway back to the Duomo.  Emerging from the subway into the wide open piazza di Duomo, Barb and Lynda decided it would be fun to ride a lion.  Where would they find a lion to ride you ask?  How about in the middle of the massive plaza at the Duomo…yes that Duomo that has all of the Carbinieri (the Italian paramilitary force) with machine guns guarding all of the stuff.  There is a lion guarding each side of the statue of the King of Italy riding a horse.  That’s the lion they chose

Lynda and Barb did a “slow scamper” up a couple of walls and “tamed” that lion like it was nothing at all.  Climbing back down and apparently now safe from arrest, the two climbers high fived each other in congratulations.  What say you Ron Simmons?  Apparently they were following the example Doug set riding that giant bronze turtle you noted earlier.

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After a long and full day, it was back to the hotel for some sleep and we’re off to Venice Friday morning.