Our Food Photography Retreat in Florence, Italy - Day 3
On the third and final day of our food photography retreat in Tuscany, I woke up first of all. When I realized the weather was clear and the sun was just rising, I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped the first photo of the day from my bedroom window (top left photo). Then I tiptoed down to the kitchen to make some strong black tea for me and Carolina who joined shortly after. She's also an early riser and was just about to head out for a run. Sneaking around the property snapping pictures of the morning light and drinking several cups of tea alone or with Carolina in the kitchen is how I spent every morning at the retreat. That first, quiet hour was so important to me in order to manage our busy schedule for the rest of the days.On this particular day, we had plans to go to Florence and visit the big Farmer's Market where Veronica always buy her produce. We've spent the entire weekend solely at the house, cooking and photographing like crazy, so it felt like a much welcomed change of scene. Even though the landscape around La Quercia Estate takes your breath away each morning when you wake up and look out. I mean just look at this sunrise!
Missed the previous posts in this series?
Our Food Photography Retreat in Florence, Day 1Our Food Photography Retreat in Florence, Day 2Veronica's Chocolate Cake
At the market, all stands sold pretty much the same things. Or at least that's how it looked. But Veronica had her favorite stands she always went to, which she claimed has the best and most affordable produce.
We bought heaps of padrónes, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, Tuscan kale, onions and eggs. All to be turned into a classic everything-I-got-from-the-market-lunch (aka Frittata) later.
After the market we had a look at a nearby flee market. I found some beautiful art cards to put on my office wall. I like to keep a good mix of food photography, nature, art, quotes and random gems up there :-)
A quick stop at this gorgeous little coffee bar stopped for a cappuccino.
Can you imagine how lovely Florence must be in the spring? I wish I could go back there now and have a proper look at Santa Maria del Fiore. This time I only had time for a quick look inside and a brief stroll through the neighboring quarters. But I bet there are plenty of cute coffee places and restaurants to explore in the area!
Back home Veronica put us to work with cleansing padrónes and washing potatoes. A rustic Frittata with fried piementos de padrónes and cherry tomatoes was on the menu. Our last cooking class for this weekend. At home I always make Frittata/Omelette with both milk and cheese, a habit that caused several pairs of raised eyebrows among my Italian and Spanish friends :'D
For the rest of the afternoon, we sat down by the large round table to eat, drink and share love stories. We talked about lovers and children and family and of course food. We all have a relationship to food, and I love how it has the ability to bring all kinds of people together. Food is fundamental to life, and that is the reason why I blog about food, of all things. Because it essentially means blogging about life.Meeting all these people, full of life and creativity, must have been the best part about this workshop. I left feeling happily exhausted and filled to the brim with inspiration and new stories and fresh perspectives from all around the world. This is the last post from La Quercia Gathering, but if you've enjoyed these posts - you're in luck! There will be more. In just a couple of days I'm heading to another food photography workshop! This time in Sweden. Stay tuned!Thank you once again to Veronica & Margherita of La Quercia Estate for having us, to Tania & Maria of EaTravel for organizing the trip, and to all the amazing participants I met: Valentina, Zaira, Ingrid & Carolina <3Until next time,xx AgnesDisclaimer: I was invited to join this retreat and stay at La Quercia Estate free of charge (except for the plane tickets, which I paid for myself). I haven’t been paid to write about the estate, but I chose to do so anyway. All editorial choices and opinions are 100% my own :-)Ps. If you like this post I would be very grateful if you wanted to hit the heart-button at the top or bottom of the post. That way I know which content you love and wanna see more of :-) Thanks!
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