Category: Destinations, International Cuisine

What’s New: Exploring the Global Food Scene

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Chef Jodi has returned from exploring the European Food Scene and is dishing out all of the details!

Continuing her mission to cook her way around the world, Chef Jodi has returned from a two-week Foodie tour, exploring the global food scene. Making stops in The Netherlands and Italy, Chef Jodi gained a number of delicious recipes and adopted new techniques to share with guests of Lajollacooks4u! To dish out the details of her culinary adventure, we’re breaking it down, Chef by Chef!

Hungry Birds and Streetfood

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Starting in Amsterdam, Chef Jodi hit the streets with Hungry Birds, a “streetfood” tour group, lead by a very charming woman, Zosia. The tour allowed Chef Jodi to explore the Asian influence of the local cuisine, while also sampling the many (comparably slower) “fast-foods” of the city, such as fried, handmade pies, which are purchased via heated vending machines.

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Chef Jodi had a lot of fun touring the vibrant city of Amsterdam!

Chef Mik of Mik Le Chef

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A Swedish Chef residing in an art community on the outskirts of Amsterdam, Chef Mik of his self-named cooking class company, Mik Le Chef, hosted an 8-hour cooking session for Chef Jodi, where the two steadily prepared a 7-course meal.

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The meals and presentation were absolutely phenomenal! For example, pictured above is a beautiful seared Mackerel with Fresh Sage and a Seared Scallop, paired with sauteed green cabbage. Below is a decadent dessert of a white chocolate mousse Florentine stack with a Walnut Tort,  Beer Sorbet and a Berry Coulis.

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Chef Jodi couldn’t get enough of Chef Mik’s quirky personality and his outstanding gourmet dishes.

Chef Rosie Gohres of Flavours of Singapore

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Chef Jodi had a wonderful time cooking with Chef Rosie, whose company, Flavours of Singapore, runs on a similar model to Lajollacooks4u! The two had much in common, except Chef Rosie specializes in Singaporean cuisine. Perfect example: the Thai Beef Curry perfectly captured below.

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Chef Jodi learned a handful of new techniques from Chef Rosie and gained the recipes for three mouthwatering sauces: a homemade chili-garlic sauce, a ginger dipping sauce, and a light soy marinade. They were exceptionally paired with Chef Rosie’s chicken entree, Hainese Chicken Rice (below).

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The tips Chef Jodi gained from this cooking class are sure to take Lajollacooks4u’s Asian cuisine to new levels!

Cristiana Bradley of LoveUmbria

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Traveling down to the Boot of Europe, Chef Jodi experienced the highlight of all of her culinary experiences so far: truffle hunting on a 200 year-old family farm in Umbria, Italy. After locating the truffles buried underground, Chef Jodi enjoyed an incredible home-cooked lunch accompanied with welcoming company.

Chef Francesco Mariani

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After finishing up their truffle hunting exploration, Christiana of LoveUmbria introduced Chef Jodi to the young and talented Chef Francesco Mariani, who is not excellent at preparing gourmet meals, but also has a passion for creating organic, imported wines which inspired his own label, Raína.

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In their three-course cooking class, the two developed a menu based on the theme, “Chicken Four Ways”, which took two whole chickens and created four delicious dishes (to break it down: three-courses, two Chefs, Four Ways for two chickens to make four dishes).

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One of the four dishes, pictured above, is a homemade Gnocchi with a Chicken Ragu. Pictured below: a Panzella Salad with Seared Chicken Breast in a Marinade. Fun fact: Chef Francesco informed Chef Jodi that the Italians prefer to marinate chicken breasts and meats after searing!

Each and every dish Chef Jodi made with Chef Francesco was incredible, and she can’t wait to recreate and share them all with you!

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From exploring the cool and charming city of Amsterdam, enjoying their progressive and unique cuisine, to experiencing a classic adventure truffle-hunting and doing culinary math in Umbria, Chef Jodi had a marvelous time.

She can’t wait to share all that she learned from her experience exploring the global food scene with groups at Lajollacooks4u!


Lajollacooks4u’s private and intimate setting provides a friendly environment where participants can relax, sip some wine, and laugh together, while engaging in our unique cooking and dining experience.

“The greatest gift to give and get is beautiful memories of times together”

Give the gift of beautiful memories in our kitchen with Lajollacooks4u gift cards- now available for purchase.

For more information about our team-building challenges, gift cards, and cooking with Lajollacooks4u visit www.lajollacooks4u.com 

Make your reservations by contacting Jodi at 858-752-4980 or email jodi@lajollacooks4u.com

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