A Day to Relax in Paradise

...at Villa Marina after the Bikini Baking.

Breakfast at Villa Marina

Ciao - Ciao!

Ciao -- Italian greeting for Hello and Good-bye. But Ciao-Ciao is simply "bye-bye."

Dinner is Served...

After all of the cooking, Walter, Alessandra, Chef Gianfranco, and Bikini Bakers Tai & Marissa sat down to feast. Wonderful wine flowed and the courses seemed endless. The most exciting part was having our food served after being "dressed" in the kitchen. A culinary feast at Villa Marina.

One Last Pass Through the Kitchen...

...before the meal is served.

An Aperitif Before the Meal

Thank You Gianfranco!

We were thrilled to cook in your kitchen and share a meal with you! Thank you!!!

Thank You Alessandra!

Thank you Alessandra for helping make this all possible -- and for having great friends who invited us to do something so wonderful!

Kitchen View...

Where else could the Bikini Bakers cook but in a kitchen by the sea?

Presentation is Everything...

The Freshest Herbs

It was so wonderful cooking with the freshest herbs. Gianfranco has his own herb garden just outside the door of his kitchen. Amazing...

Sous-Chefs

Both Gianfranco and the Bikini Bakers had amazing Sous-Chefs...

Bikini Baking at Ziqu' at Villa Marina in Capri...

First of all, our tremendous kudos to Chef Gianfranco Gallo and all of his staff for inviting us into their kitchen at Villa Marina -- it is a rare thing for chefs (especially in a 5-star restaurant) to do and we are so grateful for openness. Also we appreciate his assistance in making sure we had all of the ingredients he could find that we needed. We improvised on a few things. As I was making the soup there was no such thing as chicken broth. They had no idea what brown sugar was, nor baking powder. So we did the best we could with only one casualty -- the popovers popped. But the chocolate chip cookies, even without the brown sugar, were amazing!

Here are some highlight moments in the kitchen preparing.