yankee hill winery and cooking school

My friends and I planned a 'girls weekend away' in the Gold Country last fall and we had two pregnant women in our group to keep in mind when deciding on the activities to do during our weekend. Instead of doing the typical wine tasting tour of the area, we decided to take a cooking class at the Yankee Hill Winery and Cooking school. The class we attended was focused on Indian cuisine. There were about 15 students (my group plus other students) with aprons on gathered around the prep/teaching area. One by one, "chef" would call us up to help him prepare the dishes. He was very flippant and non-detailed in his directions to the students and in fact, ridiculed me in front of everyone for not following his VERY poorly given instructions to the tee. Throughout the "lesson", he gave us nuggets of wisdom that maybe, I'm guessing, he learned while he was a cook at a local Denny's or Marie Calendars. "You don't need to make the Naan bread from scratch, just use flour tortillas instead." Or... "who needs to buy expensive marinated olives when you can just buy the 79 cent can of black olives from Grocery Outlet and add spices to them"? When responding to a student's question about buying organic chicken.... "why would you want to spend all of that extra money when you can buy non-organic chicken for half the price"? And lastly, "olive oil is a sham. Just use vegetable oil". bleh....Needless to say the outcome of the dishes we prepared was less than satisfactory. Boring, bland, & tasteless. It was a disgraceful representation of Indian food. I do not recommend the cooking school.

I got less and more than I expected. I thought the low price might be supplemented by selling other things like wine and/or cooking supplies. Not so. Many recommendations were give about how to stock our pantry and supplies in the most practical way possible. What I expected was a good time and good food. I got more than I expected. I came home really wanting to try the things I learned. We were given a packet of the recipes, many tips and enough hands-on practice to feel comfortable going solo. I'm going back again.

While visiting friends in the Central Valley recently, I was informed I'd be their guest for a unique Saturday morning - cooking. We drove up to Columbia, in the foothills of the Sierras. The Turkey Hill Winery and Cooking School, run by master chef Ron Erickson, was just as fun and interesting as my friends had bragged. We started the morning at 9, and all the ingredients for our 'Cajun' meal were laid out on the big work table, where 12 of us were gathered, participating and onlooking. Ron has the gifts of a teacher, entertainer and expert, all rolled into one. We looked, laughed, and and learned, and in a few hours enjoyed our delicious creations. A nicely printed collection of our recipes was prepared so that the dishes can be recreated at home. Our meal together at one of the many long tables set up near the cooking area was jovial and fun, and of course, we talked endlessly about food - the recipes we prepared together, and our cooking experiences over the years. Each class is dedicated to a specific topic or cuisine. Also, Ron runs the oldest operating winery in this part of California. Read the comments on their website, and you'll see this could be for all categories of visitors, from children to couples, individuals and friends.