How I learned to cook like a chef

I always dreamed of learning how to cook and by cooking I’m not referring to frying a few eggs on a pan or boiling a bag of pasta. I mean really cooking – like a chef!

So what to do when you have a busy life with long days at the office and a packed weekend full of activities? You simply take a vacation to go to cooking school. Okay, it’s not gonna be your cheapest holiday ever but on the other hand you don’t have to win the lottery either and it will for sure be one of your most fun and entertaining ones!

Italy – the home of authentic cooking

Italian food has always had a special place in my heart. I just love the smell of real quality pizza and homemade pasta not to speak of Italian ciabatta bread dipped in olive oil and freshly cut herbs. So it really wasn’t difficult for me decide on Italy as the destination of my first ever cooking class.

The internet is full of option for cooking classes all over Italy from down to a few hours while staying in Rome over the weekend to several days or a week for the more serious learner. I figured I might as well go all the way now that I was at it anyways! So I booked a one week cooking class at the charming villa Casa Umbuto in Tuscany with the most amazing view of the surrounding country side, lots of fresh air and very nice and comfortable private rooms.

The first thing I learned when I entered the big kitchen of Casa Umbuto is that cooking like a chef is really difficult, requires a lot of hard work and takes time to learn, the second thing was that it’s lots of much fun and that the Italian kitchen is so much more than just pizza and spaghetti!

What you learn stays with you after the vacation ends

I had an amazing vacation in Italy emerging myself in the art of the Italian cuisine and slept like baby every night drained from a long day in the kitchen and the fresh country side breeze. Although the cooking class was only a week long I still managed to take most of what I learned back home with me in form of my newly acquired cooking skills that come back to life every weekend when I have family and friends over for an evening of Italian food amore.

I can now bake a truffle pie almost as good an Italian mama, I make great lamb chops with fresh vegetables and panna cotta or tiramisu for dessert as if I had been doing it my entire life. So what’s next? I don’t know but I heard they know how to make great Paella in Barcelona.