Cooking Class on the Amalfi

When I am traveling, I'm often surprised by how open I am to talking to strangers.  Does this happen to you too?  Maybe it's because I'm on vacation, maybe it's because the people are different but I definitely let my New York guard down.   Which is how cool things like this happen: on our first day on the Amalfi Coast, Skye and I went down to our favorite village market while our friends were napping.   We were getting supplies for dinner, contemplating the basil (for the bufala mozzarella and tomato salad we were planning, duh) and this nice American man overheard us, reached into his bag, pulled out a huge bunch of basil and offered us some.  He explained that he had to buy the whole bunch but that he didn’t need it all (it was his last night on the Amalfi) and as he didn’t want to waste it, would we like to have some?  Now, whereas in New York I would have been somewhat wary, without hesitation we took it enthusiastically (and thanked him, of course).

As we continued talking, we discovered that his name is Maurizio Malfeo, the chef and mastermind behind Carpe Diem, a Chicago-based catering company.  He comes from an Italian family and still has a lot of relatives on the Amalfi Coast, where he brings people every summer for Italian cooking classes.  He arranges renting the villa where everyone stays, and then they spend a week or two cooking and eating.  Fun, right?  Skye did something similar in Tuscany in 2008 and had an absolute blast.

Skye at cooking school in Tuscany in 2008

Normally, we wouldn't write a post about something we haven't actually done, even if it did give us the opportunity to relay a basil-gifting anecdote (something you would not find on any other blog, right?)   But Chef Malfeo seemed knowledgeable and nice, and from our brief interaction, someone we would like to take a cooking class from.  So if learning to cook in a villa on the Amalfi Coast is up your alley, you should contact him.  Ph/fax:  312-786-9013 or email.  Tell him you got his information from the travel blog girls he gifted with basil in the Amalfi market.