How To Enjoy Your Italian Cooking School Tour To The Max
Topics: Italy travel, Italy cooking schools, Italian cooking schools, Italian cooking tours, cooking schools
You’re off to Italy on a cooking school tour you’ve been dreaming of for years, perhaps in the magnificent Barolo wine country in Piedmont or on the east coast in Sicily with views of the Mediterranean and snow capped Mount Etna.
You want to enjoy your sensual experiences in Italy to the maximum: the beauty, the countryside, food, cooking lessons, wine tastings, sightseeing excursions and visits with local people.
Here are four detailed tips on getting all the joy possible out of your Italian cooking school tour, gleaned from my 12 years of experience creating and leading cooking tours in Italy.
1. Many cooking school tour members tell me, “I’ve eaten too much! There’s too much food. I’m a food lover so how can I discipline myself when everything is SO delicious.”
Find out what is on your lunch or dinner menu so you can pace yourself. That way you avoid eating a lot of one course only to find three more courses are coming and you don’t have room for all the wonderful food.
Most Italian meals for special occasions (all cooking school tour meals are special occasions) have five courses: one to five appetizers, pasta or rice, meat or fish, vegetable side dish and dessert, so pacing yourself makes a big difference in your enjoyment of your meal.
A good cooking school tour guide will list all the dishes on the menu to the group before a meal. If she doesn’t, ask her to do so.
Sample a little bit of everything so you experience as many flavours and dishes as possible. That’s one reason you go on a cooking school tour, isn’t it?
Trying a bit of everything will also avoid offending your hospitable cooking teachers or chefs. Then you can smile and say, “It was absolutely wonderful, but I just don’t have the space.” I’m on the petite side, so this line makes perfect sense to my Italian hosts.
2. Some cooking school tour participants say, “The cooking classes were hands-on but I didn’t get enough time to cook hands-on during the lesson. The chef did too much of the cooking in the class.”
If you want to participate more hands-on in the class, get beside the chef and jump right in. If you hang back, waiting to get asked to do something, you may wait awhile and go away feeling disappointed you didn’t get a real hands-on class.
Some tour guides and chefs notice who is shy and hanging back in the kitchen and encourage them to “step up to the plate”, but others don’t. You have to be assertive and volunteer.
3. Some cooking school students wonder, “Will I gain weight during my cooking tour with the vast quantities of irresistible food?”
One woman told me she lost 10 pounds during her cooking lesson trip in Italy. No fried chicken or hamburgers, just healthy, natural, less fatty foods. Italians eat less junk food and more fresh, local foods than many North Americans. She drank water and no pop. She did much more walking than she ever does at home.
If you can find time on your cooking school tour to go for walks or hikes, you’ll go home weighing the same or less, and feel much more energetic while on your cooking tour.
Better still, choose cooking school tours that include some good walks perhaps along paths in the Tuscan or Piedmont wine country or along coasts in Cinque Terre, the Amalfi Coast or Sicily.
4. Communicate in a direct, friendly way with your tour guide about what you want.
Once you’re in Italy in the middle of experiencing your cooking school tour, you may want to change the tour itinerary slightly. For example, you discover many tempting leather shops in a Tuscan hill town and want to spend more time shopping and forego your spa treatments on the itinerary.
Ask your tour guide how you can change activities. Most tour guides try to be as flexible as possible. After all, their job is making sure you enjoy yourself!
If there’s anything you’re not enjoying on your tour, take your tour guide aside, give constructive, friendly feedback and work together to make changes. Don’t be like some people who say nothing about their disappointments until they fill out the tour evaluation form at the end of the tour when it’s too late to help them.
If you’re enjoying an activity tremendously, ask your guide how you can do more of it. “I loved that boat ride! Is there any way we can do more boat rides?” Tour guides love seeing you happy and will do all they can to delight you.
In conclusion, if you pace yourself at the table, try a small amount of everything, assert yourself in the kitchen, enjoy the healthy cuisine, get some exercise and communicate well with your tour guide, your Italian cooking school tour will give you all you dreamed of and more.
Margaret Cowan of Vancouver, BC owns a tour company, Mama Margaret Italian Cooking Holidays at www.italycookingschools.com.
They ran their first Italian cooking, wine and walking tour in 1995. Margaret and her local Italian tour partners offer cooking school tours all over Italy.
Previous Articles Highlighter:
African Safari Trips - 3 Ways To See Africa On Safari (1)
Self-Drive Safaris These may not be suitable for complete novices to Africa. However, a well orgainized self-drive safari would be a good choice for people travelling in a group with an experienced guide.
What Types Of Auto Warranties Are Available (2)
You need to know the price, how old the car is and so on. One really important thing that you want to make sure that you look at is the auto warranty that comes with the car.
Tips For Choosing A Bird Hunting Dog (3)
Topics: bird hunting dog, hunting, hunting tips, bird hunting, safe hunting, bird Choosing the right bird dog for a hunter's needs is essential. There are many options out there, from a puppy that needs complete training, all the way up to an experienced bird hunting dog.
Perfecting Your Golf Swing (4)
If you do that you'll naturally and automatically get into a great top of the swing position. Get more information at www.yourgolfswingtest.com. Read more articles like this one at shinglecreekgolf.com
Last Minute Cruise Deal - How To Find Them! (5)
If an online service is offering you the opportunity to get on their mailing list then it will pay to do so. This will enable them to keep you up-to-date on what deals are on offer as well as news on cruises in the future.
Recreational Fishing Versus Commercial Fishing (6)
Recreational fishing has been made popular through competitions and tournaments. Prizes are awarded to the winning fisherman of these tournaments on the basis of the total weight of a particular species of fish caught within a certain given time period fixed by the organizer of the tournaments.
Choosing Stylish Candle Holders (7)
Indeed, candles can be made to look much more attractive, when the right accessories are used. Accessories which are versatile enough to let your creativity run wild. Maya Matthews is the resident writer at Richly Scented Candles - the place when you can learn all about candle holders, including how to decorate your home using scented candles.
Things To Do In Cape Cod (8)
Some particularly well-known products from Cape Cod include shellfish, particularly oysters and clams; while lobstering is also a prevalent activity. However, if you don't like eating undersea creatures, but love watching them, you'll adore the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in Provincetown.
Important Things To Pack When Vacationing At A Tropical Country (9)
If you have plans of going snorkeling, you might as well bring you own. While you can rent them there, bringing your own assures you that you are utilizing clean and sterile equipment.
Improve Your Looks Through Aerobic Walking (10)
Aerobic walking provides the fluid motion that spares the jarring of the knees and spine, enabling even runners with chronic knee problems to get a good workout. 6. Presence Presence comes from among other things, posture, stride, self-confidence, energy and vitality.
Newer Articles Highlighter:
Play And Get Addicted To The FlyOrDie Checkers Match (1)
In addition to that, the board that both players will be using is also very well-designed all for your own viewing and gaming pleasure. You definitely won't feel bored for challenges from other players will fill your gaming time.
The Pacific Islands A South Sea Dream (2)
This is small in area and you can explore Rarotonga in a weeks' time. Rarotonga is very famous for the facilities provided to the visitors. Easter Island is best for hiking or archaeology.
Decathlon Secrets: World's Greatest Athlete (3)
Here are a few tips to throwing the Jav far. 1. Have a good, consistent, fast approach. This will help you increase the speed of the implement at release.
Are You Ready To Coach A College Sports Team? (4)
David Horne is a former professional tennis player who has created several online sports web sites including www.globalsportszone.com which is the Ultimate Sports Directory for all sports fans! Check out the global web site for Tennis Coaching at www.globalsportscoaching.com
How To Write Great Wedding Speeches (5)
The best wedding speeches capture the spirit of the moment and add zest to a great family occasion. To ensure a smooth flow during the delivery of your wedding speech, a good idea is to rehearse the wedding speech before the big day.
How To Choose The Best Urban Road Bike For You (6)
They might be able to go even faster but I am not a bike rider fan so I wouldn't know. Another thing that racing bikes don't have that a regular bike would is mud flaps to keep you from getting mud all over the back of your legs and bottom.
The Loyal Working Companion Dog: American Pit Bull Terrier (7)
Many people mistake them for staffies, which is short for Staffordshire terrier but this is not a staffie. An American pit bull terrier is a mix of two dogs, a terrier and bulldog.
Majorca To Have Spain's Top Hotel (8)
Siuated in Mallorca's Port de Soller it is only 10 miles from the Malloca hotel owned by Richard Branson. In Port de Soller two hotels have marketed themselves as boutiques recently, with Port de Soller and neighbouring Soller aiming to become the lucrative luxury area of Mallorca.
Constructing And Designing A Training Session For Sports Teams (9)
For example, would you take your basketball players out onto the football field to do some cross training knowing that there are pot holes on the playing area and thus leading to increased risk of twisting an ankle?
What Makes A Super Pocket Rocket Different From Regular Minibikes? (10)
Seat height. Super pocket motorbikes may have seats that go as high up as 28 inches or higher, when regular minibikes may have seats that go lower than 25 inches.
Permalink to How To Enjoy Your Italian Cooking School Tour To The Max