This is Shilpa, the director of Organic Tuscany. I thought I’d wait to comment until you’d posted your third cooking course entry.

Thanks so much for giving our program the highest rating – 9 out of 10 is fantastic! I’ve told all the team about it, sent them the link to your blog, and they’re delighted.

I’m pleased you likes so much about the week you spent with us, but wanted to clarify a few points:

- Due to requests such as yours for recipes during classes, we actually give them out now as a matter of course. Thanks for helping us improve!

- People alarmed by the bathroom comment need to know that 2 people sharing a room are allocated rooms with a private ensuite bathroom. There are 4 of these in the villa.

Singles are charged no supplement, but have a bathroom outside their room. In all our courses in 2009, only once (unfortunately, when you attended, due to the large number of single participants) have 3 people had to share a bathroom. Of course, if there is room and a single would like a double room with ensuite bathroom, they can request one and pay a €200 supplement.

- We have found that the kitchen and recipes we use mean that we can have 9 people in the kitchen at once. We have changed out website to reflect that. As for performing prep tasks, unfortunately, much of cooking *is* prep work. As you commented, we have a staff member to wash vegetables, bowls etc, so you don’t waste time with those things, so I would say that everyone gets a good chance to try the techniques learned.

- Since you mention how much you were charged by Convivio Rome for your husband to stay, I think it would have been fair to mention that he joined you at Organic Tuscany for two evening meals (the farewell dinner in a restaurant and the welcome dinner at the villa) and stayed in your room for two nights for absolutely no extra charge.

Anyway, thanks again for the great rating and I hope you enjoy cooking the winter recipes in our book – the bread soup is particularly good!

What were your impressions of Florence and Siena? Personally, I loved every bit of Tuscany and remember it fondly. From my hotel balcony in Cortona I could see in the distance the place where Hannibal beat the Romans at Lake Trasimene (217 BC). In Cortona they found so many artifacts from the Etruscan (pre-Roman) period while working on their water mains that they opened up a museum in the town.

I would go back to Tuscany in a heartbeat. I’m sure I only scratched the surface. I wish I had had the time to take a cooking lesson or two. Thank you for sharing part of your visit there.

Thanks for the time you took to write a clear and seemingly fair review.

There are so many things Ienjoy in this thing called life and I appreciate it when someone writes a review to assist me in my decision making.

Merci! Bon Appetite!

~Kate