Detouring from the Menu in Lagunitas (Feb 20, 2011)

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Spontaneity makes any cooking class even better! Howie and Dave specialize in hosting fun cooking classes with a good mix of guests – and their own additions to the menus I send on ahead. This year the day before the class – my second time at their cozy home off a road through the woods in Lagunitas – Howie called to tell me that the eggplant I needed for one recipe and the green beans required for another did not meet her standards.
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Umbrian Bounty in Belmont (Feb 18, 2011)

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Again this year in Belmont, CA., Nada generously opened her home and heart to an enthusiastic cooking group drawn together by Anne – who I first met in 1971 when she brought her (then!) second-grader Katie to meet me, “the new teacher” on the first day of school! Anne, who ever thought we would be cooking together years later?! Three other mothers of my beloved 1971 second-graders joined in on the class this year, too (our second time re-connecting “around the burners”)….and a couple of fathers joined in the feasting at the end of our class. Che bello!
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Portland Women Create a Banquet (Feb 13, 2011)

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I’ve loved acting as guide for Kathy Weeks of Tesoro Travel’s Umbria trips. What a joy to re-unite with Kathy and some of her tour group over the burners as we prepared yet another feast in Portland, Oregon. Our February 13th cooking class was hosted by Chris who had toured with me in Umbria on one of Kathy’s trips. She opened her home and heart to all of us. Che bella serata!
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From Treviso to Portland (Feb 12, 2011)

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Last time I saw Shannon was in Assisi where I toured with her, husband Tom and their three bellissimi bambini during the two years they were living in Treviso, north of Venice. How odd to share Italian food once again – in Portland, Oregon – while cooking together with Shannon and a group of her friends! Not only Shannon’s friends joined in our feast but also one of mine: Tom and I had studied together in Rome in 1968. Il tempo vola…!
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Truffles Top Off Seattle Cooking Class (Feb 10, 2011)

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The last thing that I expected from my February 10th Seattle cooking class was the incorporation of black truffle into our menu! Yes, truffles are certainly a highlight of Umbrian culinary specialties but they do not figure in the menus I teach at my U.S. cooking classes of Umbrian rural cuisine. Betsy, owner of Seattle Caviar, was an enthusiastic participant in a recent Seattle class and brought me a good-sized black truffle as a gift! Mamma mia! Che sorpresa!
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