Hi there! Pickle Deli Square is a collection of my experiences living, eating, and traveling the world. Currently an expat based in Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
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All in Cooking Class & Food Tour
Learning to make Puglia’s special pasta under the watchful eye - and hands - of the resident chef, Vita.
When I was choosing where to spend my weekend after Milan Design Week, I originally had decided on Cinque Terre. It was a place I missed visiting on my Pisa/Florence/Bologna trip a few years ago, and it seemed like a relaxing place to be for just a couple of days.
When I looked into it more, though, it seemed like a combination of cute buildings, stunning scenery, and a bunch of tourists. Which isn't bad - Lake Como is kind of like that -, but I thought back to my Pisa/Florence/Bologna trip and remembered another part of the region that I missed: learning more about the vinegar of Modena ("balsamic vinegar" as we call it in the US), Parmesan cheese, and Parma ham.
I investigated doing a tour of my own, looking up different cheese factories and their opening times, seeing how much it was to go by taxi to the different spots. I quickly came to the conclusion that a food tour would be much more convenient, relaxing, and potentially cost-saving. The food tour from Italian Days had wonderful reviews online, so I just booked it and didn't think twice about it.
The first day was devoted to traditional Basque cooking, while the second focused on avante-garde pintxos...
In the fishing village Palamós north of Barcelona along the Costa Brava, is a museum where you can take cooking workshops...
The day after my gelato-making class in Bologna, I took a pasta-making class at Il Salotto di Penelope...
Bologna is not one of the big tourist destinations, but it is an important region for food and industry. Combining the two led me to the Carpigiani Gelato University cooking class...
Blue Bottle Coffee, one of the boutique coffee roasters in the Bay Area, hosts public "cuppings" every Tuesday and Sunday...
Though everyone was very friendly here, and the founder himself was the presenter, this was one of the more disappointing tours I've been on...
I signed up for a cooking class presented by Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats, a purveyor of meat-based creations like sausages, turducken (during Thanksgiving), and hamburgers (at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market).
The second foraging tour I signed for, via foragesf.com, was the Wild Seafood Tour...
I'd always wanted to learn how to make chocolates and confections, even buying a big, expensive book from Amazon once. So when I saw the opportunity to pay someone to explain at least the chocolate part to me, I jumped to sign up!
I signed up for one at the Sydney Seafood School, part of the Sydney Fish Market...
There are a few restaurants in Luang Prabang that offer cooking classes, and I just signed up for the one at Tamnak Lao...
The one activity I planned for Chiang Mai, besides seeing the temples in the city center (which took all of 3 hours), was a cooking class. I chose Baan Thai Cookery School, and signed up for a full-day course...
I like the idea of learning something new in my different ports of call (like Spanish in Buenos Aires), so I decided to sign up for 2 half-day cooking classes with Cooking Alaturka...
