you all know how much i love to travel! the top two most amazing things about traveling are trying new foods and engaging with the Locals. for me, this is the way to a true authentic travel experience no matter where in the world i go! but what if you want to bring that experience home? in your own house? with your besties?! well my friends, i’m happy to report that now you can.
The Chef and The Dish is the next best thing to teleportation. y’all, i’m not kidding when i say i felt like this incredible Italian Chef was IN OUR KITCHEN. WITH US…..COOKING! i still can’t get over the fact that my girlfriends and i whipped up this incredible Italian feast, ourselves, while learning from a private chef over a live video chat. i mean, what?! it felt so futuristic in all the best ways…especially when we got to actually eat the dishes.
here’s how it works….. pick a class, any class, or a region of the world you want to try out in the kitchen. feeling Asian cuisine? perfect, take a virtual trip to Japan or Singapore. want to up your Turkish Kebab game? no problem, there’s a chef in any area of the world waiting to cook with you! how freaking cool is this concept?! we chose to cook with a private chef in Italy, this darling girl named Paola who cooked alongside us in her magical Italian kitchen.
at first i was a little nervous, like how is this going to work? we aren’t the best cooks in the kitchen and this nice Italian lady is gonna catch on real quick. the jig is up! man, i was so wrong. with the help of Paola, our private chef, she walked us through the recipes step by step, and also cooked alongside us in her kitchen in Italy so we could watch her and ask questions. she would ask us to tip the computer screen this way or that so she could check out our food’s progress and critique our form. i caught myself many times during the cooking class, tasting incredible food, looking at my friends and saying, “whoa, WE made this!” we chose the Parmigiano Reggiano Italian cooking class and made strawberry risotto. (sounds weird but it’s actually a traditional dish to Paolo’s hometown and SO damn good, and pink!)
the next best thing to actually going to Italy, was bringing Paola into our home wirelessly. while we waited for a few things to cook in the oven, we both took our laptops outside to show each other where we lived, check out each other’s homes, and get to know one another. after 2 hours with her, i truly feel like i have a new friend in Italy! and the best part was plopping our computer on the end of the kitchen table when we finished so we could all eat our meal together. seriously, how fun is that?
the Holidays are coming up and i fully plan on gifting these classes to family and friends. the perfect gift for a wedding gift or even a group of friends! visit The Chef & The Dish for a full list of classes and try it out yourself – it was truly one of the cooler cooking experiences i’ve ever done.
thank you to The Chef & The Dish for sponsoring this post – we had so much fun!