Needopedia

We had just a day and a half in Naples, and focused on two things: Pompeii and cooking classes. Wes was excited for the pizza margherita class he and Dwayne were signed up for, and the girls and I were excited to learn how to make fresh pasta.

The famous pizza is named to honor Margherita, the queen of Italy, in 1889, which is probably about as true as anything I write here. I’m pretty sure everyone but me already knew this, but the point of pizza margherita is that it is Red, White and Green (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil), the colors of the flag of Italy. And it is now famous for being another pizza besides pepperoni that Wes likes to eat.

Piper loves cooking and baking and Kyla is always excited to learn new things. We learned how to roll gnocchi from a fork and make double cheese ravioli. We started with the same dough, and I managed to make mine hard and unappetizing with minimal effort. Brunella took over for me while I drank my wine, which is my ideal cooking class. Kyla and Piper did an excellent job, and Piper was happily shocked when, asked if she wanted wine, was poured a nearly-grown-up amount. When in Naples…

Note: Cesarine.com is a loosely organized group of home cooks across Italy (and maybe beyond) that give informal cooking classes in their own home, or in our case, the lovely roof terrace in uptown Naples.