I don't like tiramisu.

There, I said it. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.   I don't know why I don't like it, I just don't.  It seems almost sacrilege for an Italophile like myself to admit this.

While I am not a fan of the dessert, the process of making it is wonderful.  I love to cook and appreciate the time and precision of a dessert such as tiramisu.  Every cook has his or her own technique and recipe, no one does it exactly like another.  Last May I took 7 clients to the Villa di Riboia for a cooking class.  This is a private home nestled in the hills outside of Florence.  Milvia showed us how to make an exquisite sauce for pasta and in it she cooked our second course of involtini. While that was cooking she made us some bruschetta and a tiramisu that even I have to admit, was like no other.  The kitchen was the epitome of calm the entire time. It was incredible. Milvia whipped up some delicious spinach to serve with the involtini and while the pasta was cooking she took us on a tour of her villa. She was amazing, but very set in her ways. We sat when and where she asked us to, we tasted when she said taste, sipped wine when she said it was to be (even though it was only 10:30 AM) lent a hand when she asked for it. At one point while she was making the tiramisu, she said (through me as I translated), you can make this in the morning before your dinner party and put it into the refrigerator until it is   time to serve.   So one of the women in our group piped up and said "or you could make it the night before, right?"  I translated for Milvia and I have never seen such a horrified look on someone's face. So clearly, the lesson here is, you don't make your tiramisu the night before.

Check back here Wednesday for my word of the week.