A slow day today, Donny and I guarded the villa while all the girls went to the Sunday church service, yes that is right - they met the Father the other day so decided to pay him a visit, pity it was all in Italian. The church is called Santa Maria and dates back to the early 1200's. They also had a family christening as a bonus so lots of family involvement happening, Grandmon will be proud.

On the way home they stopped at the butcher, he is open on a Sunday, on this day he does up some ready to go cuts and other special "ready to go" dishes . We had warm rabbit pieces, crumbed beef and potato rolls plus a type of almond bread, yes in a butchers shop. Eating light in preparation for our date with Gloria, washed down with Vat no. 1 naturally.

We all saunter down to the local village square, our pre arranged meeting point with Massimo, he introduces us to Lucca who takes us back to his house which is up the valley road into the hills of Vicopisano, waiting there is his wife and cooking teacher, the much hyped Gloria. We sit around and break the ice while Lucca goes and picks up our new besties, Lisa and her husband Adrian, they are on their honeymoon from Dubbo and we asked if they would like to join in with us.

Gloria goes through the suggested menu and we add another course to have with coffee. That sorted we don aprons, so does Don and make a start - it is now 3.45 pm. The following May be a little long winded so like most of my other fine words just brush on by or better still don't read, for others who like this type of activity - suffer in your jocks .

Make up the Ragu as we are doing a lasagne which is totally different to the way that we used to make it. Vegetables very fine in the dice, little tomato purée and equal parts of milk to vegetable stock for the cooking period. Naturally the quality of minced beef and pork important. Mary-Liz told Gloria that the way she usually makes the meat sauce is to open a jar and pour it over some mince meat.

Next we do up the dessert which is Tiramisu, a straight forward desert and nothing to get too excited about. The lovers of this style of dessert go ape but to me it is not a dish of refinement, just a blob of creamy stuff with coffee infused sponge fingers. The next this we do was a type of biscuit that we are to have with coffee and sweet wine. It is a specially dish from the Naples region only and was from a very old recipe book that she has. It is something that takes a little bit of expertise to get right and I found it most interesting in the construction of the various elements . The biscuits are called Sfogliatelle Frolle and are a small half moon shape of pale looking pastry filled with fine diced dried glacé type citrus fruits mixed with a semolina mixture - really good. Again an item that you can make and be able to introduce a story to people when eating.

We then take on the sheets of pasta for the lasagne, again not rocket science but good to go through the steps and learn the finer points. Again some commentary from M-L, she was given by her husband a very good pasta machine over 25 years ago which I purchased from Artavillas Emporium in Cobram, John A who is still the head I Italian man in the area used to get this particular brand in for all of the Italians in the area. M-L told all that it was still in the original box and had never been used! A sad but true tale. Donny was getting into the production and we have photographic evidence. Kathy suggested a good shot for the lounge wall, the Don felt in the kitchen a more appropriate location . The sheets were places on and in between dry semolina then brushed clean in the construction stage.

Now onto the main course, filled pockets of bone on Port steaks. The prep is in the filling which is basically a three cheese mix and fried Aubergines, they are actually very good. The dish was good, when Gloria asked for a comment I said that it was over cheesed, she said that I has been her harshest critic to date. Best said as it said not the lip service marched out by most. I think she was more than accepting of constructive comments.

We sat down in the family dining room some 4.5 hours later and ate very well, after all we had prepared and cooked it. There was plenty of wine and good nattering, both Gloria and Lucca came and sat down towards the later part of the meal. I think it was a fantastic experience and certain ally well worth the 90 euros that we paid. By 11.30 we were ready to leave so taken back home by Lucca . Well done everyone.

A comment on the Lasagne - The main ingredient that brings the dish together is the Beschamel, this sauce binds all ingredients, the former star was the meat sauce. Our Ragu was spooned over the layer of Beschamel in very limited quantity, it more or less mixes in with the white sauce.

For those still reading, this Lasagne that we made is one for special occasions as it is not something that just comes together in a short time. It may sound rather plain and boring but the end result is one for regal eating, one day if you are very very very very lucky Mary-Liz may prepare it for you. For those that want to learn this particular style of middle Italy regional dish I could be swayed to take in a school of eager beavers. I promise from there after you will refuse to take lasagne any other way. It was a light bulb moment.