Parma – Lesson with Chef Micaela

We liked that it was just us for the cooking class. It was also interesting and enjoyable to be taught in Micaela's own home. We enjoyed eating our creations with Micaela. It felt like having a meal with friends. Micaela made the lesson special because she was so welcoming and interesting to talk to. The meal we cooked was delicious and a recipe that we can realistically recreate at home regularly. Sam L,, United Kingdom

Chef Micaela in Parma is a delightful woman; articulate, energetic, and positive. It was fun shopping with her and discovering the shopping areas of Parma, a previously unknown city for us. Her menu was not terribly innovative or interesting: we already knew how to make gnocchi, saltimboca a la Romana, and tiramisu. All delicious dishes, but not new to us. If we had known the menu ahead of time, we would have asked to change the gnocchi and tirimisu to something new to us. It was fun having her open her home and kitchen to us and her stories of her nonna's cooking and cooking lessons were appropriate to the cooking class. Patricia, CA

The cooking experiences I had were out of this world. Chef Micaela was wonderful. Our first stop with Micaela was at the Parmesan Reggiano factory. The pride the people have that are involved with the cheese making is unbelievable. Everything is done by hand, no machines. After the tour, we went to Micaela's home and made... pasta and sauces and Tiramsu. Once again the food was fabulous and Micaela made us feel very much at home. I would love to go back some day and spend more time with her. This trip was educaational as well as enjoyable. The International Kitchen's staff did a great job. Sue C., IN

I THINK MICAELA WAS WHAT WE LIKED MOST. SHE WAS WARM AND FRIENDLY. WE HAD A LOT OF TIME TO CONVERSE WITH MICAELA WHILE WE COOKED AND HER ENGLISH WAS PERFECT. SHE WAS ACCOMODATING...WILLING TO DO ANYTHING WE WANTED TO DO. GOING TO THE MARKETS AND FOOD SHOPS AND GOING TO SEE HOW THEY MAKE PARMAGIANO REGGIANO CHEESE. [Note from TIK: Clients did custom trip including tours of a parmigiano reggiano factory.] NOT SURE HOW YOU COULD HAVE MADE IT BETTER. NOTHING ELSE. TO SUMMARIZE...YOU AND MICAELA WERE GREAT. WE HAD A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE. Chuck W., FL

The class with Chef Micaela was one of the highlights of our trip. The city of Parma is beautiful, and somewhat less "touristy" than many we saw, and only added to our pleasure in the class itself. Chef Micaela was knowledgable, friendly, and fun. She was able to help with suggesting what we might find or use as substitutes in the states for some of the ingredients we used in the class. I look forward to preparing several of the menu items we cooked with her at a luncheon here in a few weeks. Susan and Bob S., AZ

We enjoyed visiting the market with Micaela. As she cooked in her home, it was interesting to see an Italian apartment and what a home kitchen was like. Good food and good company. Christine M., CT

[Note: these clients did 3 different one-day classes: in Assisi, in Siena, and in Parma.] I especially loved that Letizia in Assisi emailed us prior to the class & gave us a choice of menus. She also spent alot of time with us in a gourmet store teaching us about the local products. Elisabetta's class [in Siena] was wonderful becuase we were with her family. And thank God for Micaela because Parma was not a very friendly town & she was a breath of fresh air. Karen L., Hackettstown, NJ

Micaela was knowledgeable, skilled, friendly, and fun. Our day spent at the Parmesan Reggiano factory and cooking with Micaela was one of our favorites during all our time spent in Italy. Clinton H., KS

The first part of the day of our cooking lesson was a visit to a Parmigiano Reggiano factory with a tour guide, Christiana. There was just the 2 of us and our chef Michaela for our tour which was great and felt very personal.The tour was extremely interesting as Christiana was very knowledgeable on the workings of the factory, the cheese maker and his staff and the daily process. Most informative and enjoyable for both my 15 year old daughter and myself. After the factory visit we returned to Michaela's apartment in Parma for our cooking lesson. Michaela has excellent english skills but was also very happy to speak in Italian to continue my daughter's immersion in the language (she had just finished 6 months of an exchange program in Rome). There was only my daughter and myself and it was a very personal lesson with lots of tips on perfecting gnocchi and a basic tomato sauce as well as Saltimbocca and our dessert of Tiramisu. We were hands on for the 3 dishes we made and then the 3 of us sat down and enjoyed what we had made for lunch with a great discussion on life in our different countries, family and the benefits of exchange programs which Michaela had also done as a teenager. Michaela was very efficient in providing us via email copies of her recipes which we have tried with great success back at home! This was exactly the cooking experience I was looking for. I definitely didn't want something in a large commercial kitchen with a group of people. Jan G., Australia