Improve your Cooking Style!

It was a Wednesday class because that is market day in Etla, a small town outside of Oaxaca that is near the cooking school. We started off the day with a market tour that was well worth the price of admission alone. Susana was a wonderful guide, taking us through the market on a tasting extravaganza.
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Cooking School

Welcome to
” Seasons of My Heart “
Cooking School !

Susana Trilling, teacher, chef, writer and television host will teach you to work with the native foods of Mexico.

Seasons Of My Heart Cooking School offers a host of opportunities for everyone interested in food. Our comprehensive courses and tours to give you an insider's knowledge of Mexican culture through its cuisine and an experience of Mexico most visitors never see. The classes, culinary tours and lectures focus on pre-Hispanic foods, traditional culinary, medicinal and spiritual herb usage, as well as Spanish influences on the contemporary Oaxacan kitchen. Some are based on the book and PBS Series Seasons Of My Heart; A Culinary Journey Through Oaxaca, Mexico. The participation-based classes are combined with market tours and demonstrations in local homes and cottage industries to immerse the students into the Mexican culture.

Join the group at 1:00 p.m. at Rancho Aurora for the lecture on Oaxacan cuisine, the hands-on cooking class, and the five-course meal. Return to Oaxaca at around 6 p.m.

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Day Class with Local Market Tour

We start at 9 a.m. at a designated pick-up point. The classes are usually held on Wednesdays to enjoy the Etla market. The students are taken on a tasting tour and buy some ingredients for the class menu. After a light lunch, we head out to Rancho Aurora for a lecture on Oaxacan cuisine and a presentation of the day's ingredients. Then everyone grabs an apron and we create and enjoy a five-course meal. (transportation back to Oaxaca City at around 6 pm).

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Chefs Intensive

Hard core study and party with renown chefs Alejandro Ruiz of Oaxaca, Silvio Campos from the heart of the Yucatan, and Susana Trilling. Learn the secrets of Oaxacan, Pre-Hispanic, Yucatecan and Gourmet Mexican cuisine. Visit markets, bakeries and farms. Forage in the forest for mushrooms and enjoy intensive hands-on classes in our beautiful kitchen.

This intensive is for chefs and advanced students only.

GUELAGUETZA

This tour is for those of you who want a more intense cultural and well-rounded culinary experience - really exploring the foods of the seven regions and seeing how the locals celebrate a festival that is uniquely Oaxacan. It is always a lot of fun and a hit with family groups, restauranteers and chefs. In this 6 day course, we study the foods of the seven regions, complete with one day of foraging for and preparing wild mushrooms in the mountains, walking in the colorful

calendas (parades) and attending a Gueleguetza Festival on Lunes de Cerro. Oaxaca City comes alive as it welcomes people from all nations and we cook our way around the state in our hands-on classes while sampling the culinary treasures of Oaxaca.

These are designed to immerse you in the cuisine, culture and many aspects of pueblo life. We visit local markets, molinos, chocolate and cheese makers. Artist demonstrations, archeological and culinary tours are included with three hands on cooking classes at the school. These specialized long weekends cover a specific theme or region of Oaxaca State:

• Escape the Winter Blues and Explore Oaxacan Gastronomy and Culture
• Welcome the Summer Rains
• Guelaguetza course
• Vegetarian Summer Harvest and Wild Mushroom Hunt
• Anniversary Course - Chefs' Intensive

This is a rich, intense experience, which explores a region or a theme with four full participation class days and three days of culinary and cultural touring. The focus is on pre-Hispanic food and its modern adaptations.In addition to cooking, we may visit a mountain village home where we will rediscover the lost art of grinding chocolate for mole on the metate.

DIA DE MUERTOS

Seven-days of learning about this wonderful traditional holiday that is literally a feast for the eyes as well as a gastronomical experience. We do hands-on classes in traditional chocolate, bread and mole making, plus build an altar. Trips to a few small village homes, graveyards and a lot of dancing with the “muerteros” to fully participate in this mystical and magical fiesta.

Or we might visit markets, a mezcal factory, cheese or bread makers, archaeological ruins or my neighbors' kitchens.
Six person minimum, fourteen person maximum.