A European Culinary Adventure

Le Grand Aioli

I have been meaning to spend some time here on my site. I have been meaning to put up a recipe, to tell you what I have been up to on the cooking front. I have been meaning to share some news about a couple of amazing opportunities to do some cooking and learning and teaching in Europe this summer.

Somehow it just never happened. Now I am literally sitting at the airport waiting for my flight which leaves in 2 hours that will take me to Bari, Italy.

I am so excited about the next couple of months. Maybe that is why I never wanted to post about it here. I still can’t believe the people I will be cooking with and the places I will be travelling to. Perhaps I might have jinxed it had I written about it.

Now, the adventure is about to begin and since I am hoping to share the journey here through a few words and more photos I better fill you in on what is happening.

For the next two weeks I will be going back to Italy to volunteer with my good friends at Messors for their culinary tour at the Masseria La Selva in Puglia. You can read about my love affair with this place that started when I volunteered last July.

After the Messors  tour is complete I will be scouting locations and activities and meeting people who bake and make cheese and grow grapes around Puglia for my own culinary tour this September. I love this part of Italy and the amazing people so much. To be able to take people with me and introduce them to this inspiring region is a dream come true.

In mid June my husband will join me in Italy for eight days of eating, drinking and exploring before we meet our son in France. We will spend some family time in Paris before we make our way down to the Midi Pyrénées to go on another culinary adventure.

Once again, through the fine folks at Messors, I have been given an opportunity to learn and grow and be inspired as a cook. Messors is hosting their first ever, outside of Italy, restoration workshop. It is to be held at a chateau near Toulouse called Chateau de Gudanes. I can’t even begin to explain the beauty of this place, or the history or the rather extraordinary undertaking of one Australian family to restore this historically fascinating structure. You can learn more about the Chateau itself here and about the upcoming workshop here. I will be working hard in the kitchen to provide meals for participants and have been busy in my Vancouver kitchen recipe testing dishes that celebrate this region of France that I will be visiting for the very first time.

As I sit here, waiting for my flight to be called, I have such a mix of emotions. I already miss my family so much. I am nervous and excited in equal measure. I can’t wait to see my friends in Italy. I am trying not to think too far ahead but to remind myself to enjoy the moments on each of these adventures as they come. I’m looking forward to meeting new people, eating new things, stretching myself in kitchen, cooking with love, exploring new regions and making some beautiful new memories.

Wish me luck!

xo J