El Masroig and Barcelona Spain Cooking

OK. Here is the dream. Fly to Barcelona, Spain get picked up by the Catacurian Cooking School, leisurely driven to their location, cook like crazy for 6 days, return to Barcelona and cook more.

The 6 day school school sounds intriguing, even though there are several "excursions". There is cooking every one of the six days.

6 - Day Gourmet Food & Wine Experience in El Priorat This culinary vacation program will really allow you to discover first hand why Catalonia and its food have become so popular. With six or seven hands-on classes of approximately three hours each and a combination of restaurant meals and class preparation meals, a very good knowledge of Catalan cuisine is attained. Four visits to local Priorat wine producers and vineyards, along with wine tasting will allow you to discover and appreciate the fantastic DOC Priorat and DO Montsant wines. An official olive oil tasting presentation will let you discover the incredible DO Siurana olive oils. A trip to a local ceramics producer, the Scala Dei monastery, and the Gaudi architecture in Reus will enable you to learn of the areas history as well as indulge in the landscapes of this beautiful and unspoiled region.

Sounds good. Then after that back to Barcelona and stay at the Barcelona Rambles Hostel. A single room is ~50 Euros/night. There is a cooking school, Cook and Taste, with half day courses at 60 Euros. Also, the Catacurian people also teach in Barcelona.
Now, the details:
Costs: pretend dates: Oct 18-25th for school ... Oct25-Nov02 Barcelona

• misc-$200
• flight ~$1000
• 3 cooking classes in Barcelona $250
• Catacurian Cooking School cost 3,400€
• hostel 350€
• Total=~$6,382

Yes, I could do New York for that.

Looking forward to next year

I don't know if I will be able to get to go anywhere, but I can dream. Check out the dreamers blog, about cooking vacations.

An Italian Culinary Glossary

The Italian Culinary Foundation saved my sanity with their Italian Culinary Glossary. I was trying to tag and label the pictures I took of the cooking courses in Florence and couldn't remember what the heck "faraona" was, and I had this picture of the market that I wanted to include. But how could I include it if I had no idea what that bird was. Not chicken ... what? Guinea hens. Thank you Italian Culinary Foundation.

Cooking in Mexico

 

This was the view from my room for a one week course at Mexican Home Cooking. This was an ideal cooking vacation for me. There were extensive hands on cooking courses every day, no pressure to attend "excursions", no fanciness, plenty of details, tequila to drink. Ahhhh. I love Mexican food, from the Yucatan to the Tex/Mex of the border. The small town of Tlaxcala, where the classes were held, is just north of Puebla. It was Puebla nuns who started mole. This is a rich culinary area. And there were oodles of lessons, great atmosphere, wonderful food and entertaining stories. If you would like to see the pictures of this trip go to Picasa

Naples cooking

Oh dear. I found another ideal one. In Sorrento, Italy. Mami Camillo's is a cooking school and B&B in Sorrento, Italy. They will pick you up and deliver you from the Naples airport. They have all kinds of cooking courses, including a whole week on pizza.

"You learn about the wood stove and it's function, how to prepare the oven and obtain the correct temperature for the cooking of the pizza. You will learn the proper preparation of the pizza dough, the correct way to make it and also how to manipulate the dough to make the perfect pizza shape and crust. The different toppings as well as the tomatoes and mozzarella used with basil in the making of the famous Margherita pizza. The correct method used for transporting the pizza into the oven, the use of the different size pala for either the long pizza or the transporting of several pizzas, and the ways of ensuring the complete cooking of that perfect pizza. This is a completely hand on course, in fact at the beginning students start by making 10 pizzas an hour. Three of the main practical activities in this class are manipulating the dough, shaping it, dressing, and the cooking time. Because of this the maximum numbers of students allowed per class is three. Basically in one week the students learn the basic knowledge of the Neapolitan pizza and its importance in our cuisine, as well as a complete range of pizza toppings, and how to produce a perfect pizza crust.

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Cooking school lodging

Here are the costs involved:

• To stay at the school is 50 euros/night (USD 1,365 for 15 nights) in a single room, with breakfast. The room doesn't look like great shakes, but there is wi-fi in the place.
• cooking course "camilla" intensive 1 week (30 hours)€583
• cooking course "pizza" 1 week €480
• transportation airport/school €164
• airfare $1300
• Miscellaneous expenses $400
TOTAL:~$4,290

Contact: Mami Camilla Cooking Class Italy Via Cocumella 4, 80065 S. Agnello di Sorrento Naples, Italy Phone: (39) 0818770667 Fax: (39) 0818774574 E-Mail: info@mamicamilla.com

Florence again?

COOKING COURSE AT "ALLE MURATE" This exclusive one-to-one cooking course is recommended to those not looking for a classical cooking course but for a real full immersion cooking experience. The cooking course "Alle Murate" is very practical and provides the opportunity to get trained in the upperclass Italian cuisine by participating in the daily work of a professional kitchen team. The cooking course at "Alle Murate" is very practical and open only to one student at a time. A rare opportunity is provided of getting to know the life of a professional kitchen by participating with the team of cooks in the daily preparation of the restaurant's menu, from preparing the ingredients to completing the presentation of the dishes. This program covers all the dishes of the menu: starters, first courses of homemade pasta and soups, second courses of meat and fish, and desserts. The cooking course is taught under the supervision of the restaurant director, a well-known chef and sommelier. The course has been designed to satisfy both the simple curiosity which some people have for Italian food, as well as the high motivation of those who want to learn the secrets of Italy's best traditional plates. The lessons take place from Tuesday through Saturday starting at 16.00 and continue with a dinner. There is some flexibility in the day of the week that a course can be started.

1950 Euros for 2 weeks 1200 USD for flight 1300 Euros for hotel (also cheaper, nearby, is a woman only b&b ) total=$4,123.86 one of the nice things about this course is that it takes place in a restaurant that I know from my last trip to Florence, and it is only 3 blocks away from the B&B I stayed in, and liked. that was the Tourist House Ghiberti

How does January 13 to Feb 2 sound?

Corander Leaf Cooking School in Singapore

"Cooking is like love, it should be entered into with abandon or not at all" - Harriet Van Horne
That is the "tag line" for the Corainder Leaf Cooking School in Singapore. What a great melting point for Asian cooking. And that tag line says much about their food philosophy. Examples of different cuisines taught are - South Asian : Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi South East Asian : Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Burmese, Malay, Indonesian. Middle Eastern : Eastern Mediterranean, Lebanese, Persian. Chef’s Interpretations : a mix of cuisines from individual & varied experiences. Number of students is 8 - 10 all classes include complete table & food presentation along with the meal. ~$130 for 6 classes in 2 weeks. The Summer Tavern Hostel is nearby with a double room costing ~$43/night flight costs around $1200, if I am willing to have only 40 minutes to transfer in Denver. Reasonable cost (under $2,000, not counting land transportation and food), exciting part of the world, and temperate climate. Sounds doable.

Martha Sherpa's Cooking School in Hong Kong

Full Day Hands-on Chinese Cooking Classes In this series of 1 to 8 days Chinese cookery course, you'll learn the genuine Chinese cooking technique which is different from those mentioned in the cookbooks or cooking shows. Class Schedule: From 10:30am to 6:00pm

The cost would be about $3862 for flight and hotel, then another $1200 for the course. There could be two courses, one on Thai cooking. Another $1200. Then there is transportation. Ride from the airport will be about $50. So tacking on another $100 brings the total to $6362. I know I have said this before, but I could do New York for that.