Pack your knives

Boulder, Colorado
The Rocky Mountain state isn’t all skiing, all the time. The Culinary School of the Rockies offers five-day classes, such as Basic Cooking Techniques, where 12 students prepare multicourse meals in each five-hour session. Lessons include hands-on topics such as knife skills and chopping techniques, fundamental sauce making, as well as basic approaches to sautéing, roasting, braising, grilling and poaching. Menus from previous sessions have featured spice-rubbed roasted chicken and the yummy but tough-to-master dessert bananas Foster. Each class runs from 9:30am–2:30pm, so you can spend your afternoons and evenings exploring Boulder or hitting the slopes. A course dedicated to pastry techniques is also offered. The next basic-cooking course is scheduled for April 27–May 1.
Cost $645, includes classes, breakfast and lunch (culinaryschoolrockies.com).
Getting there American, Frontier and United offer round-trip flights for around $167 to Denver, which is about an hour from Boulder.

Oakland, California
You’ll never again have to worry about delivery fees when you get a craving for pad thai after spending a week with Kasma Loha-unchit. In July and August, the Thai cookbook author (It Rains Fishes: Legends, Traditions and the Joys of Thai Cooking and Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood) teaches about eight recipes (including spicy calamari salad, steamed jasmine rice and, of course, pad thai) per day in her Oakland kitchen. The last day of class includes a field trip to Chinatown. These summer sessions are extremely popular—Loha-unchit is already adding names to a waiting list.
Cost $600, includes food costs and a collection of written recipes (thaifoodandtravel.com).
Getting there Southwest flies to the Oakland airport, and summer round-trip flights are currently around $350.

Providence, Rhode Island
This New England city is home to the Culinary Arts Museum—a must-visit destination for foodies. While you’re in town, book a stay at Jacob Hill Inn, where you can take a class at the inn’s Italian Center for Culture and Gastronomy. Upcoming topics include healthful cooking, sauce workshops and a tapas and sangria course. The Inn also offers wine classes as well as recommendations on the best local food shops, farmers’ markets and brewery tours.
Cost $75 for most classes, room rates start at $179 per night.
Getting there Southwest flies to Providence, with flights starting at $99 each way.

Barcelona, Spain
Let’s face it, you probably don’t make it to Barcelona very often, so you don’t want to be slaving away in a kitchen during the entire visit. Epicurean Ways offers the perfect mix of cooking and sightseeing on its Bold Barcelona trip, allowing you to channel your inner Gwyneth Paltrow and Mario Batali. The four-day itinerary includes two days of cooking in a chef’s private home, in addition to tours of local food markets and a tapas tasting. Students also partake in private cheese and ham tastings.
Cost $1,175 per person for a group of two, lower rates are available for larger groups. Includes classes, meals, three nights in a four-star hotel and a private walking architecture tour (epicureanways.com).
Getting there Round-trip tickets on American are currently around $672.

Sicily, Italy
Picture it: Sicily, present day. Chef Luciano guides you through the traditional Italian recipes passed down from his grandmothers during this weeklong vacay, which is available year-round. In addition to learning how to make handmade cavatelli, egg pasta, Sicilian sauces and more, the week also includes architecture tours and visits to local cheese makers and vineyards. You’ll come back to Chicago not only having classic Sicily stories like Sophia from The Golden Girls, but you’ll be able to cook like her, too.
Cost $2,995 per person, includes a seven-night stay in a four-star hotel, most meals, day trips and transportation to and from the Catania airport (cooking-vacations.com).
Getting there Round-trip airfare from Chicago to Catania, Sicily, is around $1,229.

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