From the Topeka Capital Journal, July 11, 2001.

Highlights from "Carpe diem" by Lisa M. Sodders:

Dr. Linda Elrod and her daughter, Bree, spent a week in heaven recently.

"Heaven" for Elrod, distinguished professor of law at Washburn University, and her daughter, a graduate acting student at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, was the Toscana Saporita Cooking School in Camporomano, Italy. From May 12 to 19, the mother and daughter learned to cook using only fresh, local ingredients, sampled wonderful Italian wines and toured the Tuscan countryside.

The school is housed on a 70-acre hilltop estate with a 15th century villa. In the morning, the Elrods would enjoy a breakfast that included fresh ricotta, focaccia, homemade granola, fresh fruit and very strong coffee. They would cook after breakfast, learning to make a salad, a main dish and a dessert, using what fresh produce was in season. Best of all: The staff at the school did all the cleanup.

The Elrods then enjoyed a leisurely lunch outdoors under a tree, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. The meal included the foods they made that morning, with unlimited wine. In the afternoon, they were free to roam around the estate, swim in the pool, go shopping or go on a field trip. The Elrods went on the trips, seeing such sights as a 2,000-year-old olive tree, the city of Pisa, and Porta Venere, where English poet Percy Shelley drowned.

In a brief telephone interview from New York, Bree described the week as "an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience," and said she particularly was impressed with how the Tuscans lived "in beautiful harmony with the land." "All of the food was fresh; it wasn't pre-packaged or preservative-laden," she said. Despite the plentiful food and wine, the Elrods were told most people don't gain weight while at the school. The weather was perfect -- 70 degrees and sunny -- and they did a lot of walking. "It was just a little piece of heaven," Linda Elrod said.