Jonny Bus

thanks for the link. it seems like a great course. I looked at the website and they only had courses starting in the fall, but i will definitly keep an eye on it. I am looking for anything between a one and six weeks. anything longer i dont know if i can do.

Hey all! I have been doing a little research trying to find cooking courses in Italy. I am at the tail end of a year abroad and figured that would be a nice way to finish the year. My problem is that it seems that most cooking schools/courses advertised online (at least the ones over shorter periods of time) are aimed at "couples on holiday" and people looking to say they "know how to cook Italian food." So what I would like to know is if any one here know of any interesting options for a more experienced cook to learn somemore about the food he loves in a serious but fun program. Thanks in advance!

can anyone suggest a place in Siena to have a nice lunch. I probably don't have a car, so preferable in the city itself. However, in the chance that I do have a car, a place to make a little day trip out of would also be appriciated.

Hello everyone out there! Just to keep you guys up to date, the tour of Italy is going great! I started off in Turino with no speacial food experiences, but after that it started picking up steam. I went from Torino to Alba, where I tasted some of the best wines in my life. From there it was on to Parma, where I had an decent meal. The hightlight so far, not surprisingly, was the lunch I had yesterday at Hosteria Giusti in Modena. That night I stayed in Bologna but was too stuffed from lunch to enjoy the meal. I now find myself in Florence and, after fasting most of the day to recover, find myself ready to get back to it! I will be here for 3 days, then I will go to Siena, Cinqua Terre if I have the time, and finally Pisa wher I catch my flight back to Paris. If anyone has any interesting suggestion, I am all ears as always. I am taking lots of pics and keeping a diary, and everything will be shared once I am back home and have some time to do it right. Good eating everyone, and wish me luck!

Thank you all for the help. These are all great suggestions that will help me while I am there. I do not have a car unfortunately, but maybe I will look into renting one, or maybe a motorcycle if it isn't too cold or expensive. I am more inclined, like Sampaguita suggested, to look for the great little restaurants in the country side. Where the food is rustic and tradtitional, and also won't kill the bankbook...lol As it stands right now I am going to head to Torino when I leave Chamonix. I will be couchsurfing, so will therefore get to meet some people from the area and will figure out where to go next from there. I will try to keep you guys updated if you are interested, and will take pics of anything I think you might like.

Hello everyone, I am sure that this type of post has been done a thousand times over, but the since the Italian form can be a little intimidating, i figured I would start my own thread and hope for the best! I will be staying in Chamonix, France for the winter to work as a chalet host, and considering the proximity to Piedmont and the Aosta Valley I will be making many day trips over to Italy, mostly to explore the food and wine. I am also considering taking 10 days to just wonder around the area in search of culinary adventures, because my job doesn't start till december. My problem is that I don't really have any frame of reference to start with. I have been to Rome and know Italian food about as well as anyone for outside Italy can, but wish to know it as you only can from being in Italy and taking part first hand. I am not trying to chase Michelin starred restaurants, but quite to the contrary, would rather go to small villages and find local (but presumably delicious) food that is unpretentious and steeped in tradition. As my Italian teacher once told me, Italian prefer things to be "less but good." In other words, simpler but done properly. And that is what I would like to find, places that may not be considered grand, but have a simplicity that is what makes them great. Has anyone though of doing or done this type of trip before (other than Mario Batali) or know of how to go about finding these towns, restaurants, wineries, hunters of all kinds (from mushroom and truffle to wild boar), butchers, and everything in between? I am just a lost culinary soul in search of new experiences, and hopefully someone will be able to help me out.

Hello all gulleters, I am new to the forms and this is in fact my first post! I am originally from Montreal, but am spending the year abroad in France. So expect to see more of me in the coling year. The other night in paris I went to Relqis d'Entrecote and enjoyed a very nice abd simple dinner. Steak Frite may not be the most sophisticated meal, but it certainly hit the spot, and was a bargain by paris standards (21 euros for salad, and Steak Frite). I am sure that most of you on the forms know the place, judging from the line in front when I arrived, so my question to you is: what is in the "secret sauce" (as the waitress put it) which they smother the steak in? I consider myself generally quite good at figuring out ingredients, but this time I was at a lose. So I submit to you, the egullers, who will hopefully be able to help me save face.