We had an early morning lesson at Dolce Forno, and so for breakfast we started with cornetti (croissant) and moved from there to a tray of chocolates, licking the bowl of the cake batter for Mantovana, tasting a pure nocciola (chocolate and hazlenut butter) with massive spoons that were closer to small shovels, some crunchy cantucci and a pastry cream infused with a few coffee beans and a strip of fresh lemon zest; Monica’s nonna’s secret of how to add a little love.

The beautiful thing about eating sugar is that you are hungry in a minute and you can eat all over again.

For dinner we’ll have pasta with fresh arugula, garlic, fresh ricotta, a little lemon and toasted croutons, all added after the pasta has been drained, then eggplant al forno with fresh tomato and mozzarella di bufala, and pork chops grilled over a wood fire, and artichokes sliced ever so thinly and sauted with the oil from this November. For dessert, the infamous chocolate Jonty.

Last night I fed them too much; I went right over the top; I have to remind myself to slow down, that there is a week to get through, it’s just that what is a week, a week is nothing, no time at all to taste all the miracles that lay in wait.