Alterna Tours by Dan Toniolo

11/02/2024

If Wile E. coyote were a winemake, he would love Mount Difficulty :-)

14/06/2020

The Middle East is a crossroad of flavors, colors, perfumes and stories and it was great to celebrate stimulating diversities at Cook & Meet “Middle Eastern Meze party”! Thank you all for a great evening preparing Persian saffron chicken “Joojeh Kebab”, Turkish “Borek Peynir” mint & feta "ci**rs", creative hummus & baba Ghanouj rolls and “1001 delights nests” with geishas’ apricots topping :-) Paired with the best Libanese wines presented by an experienced sommelier in our dehor & delightful Maltese and Puglia wines . See you all on 25.6 for a special “Fresh pasta & Cocoa party”, we have the last 2 places available!

The Middle East is a crossroad of flavors, colors, perfumes and stories and it was great to celebrate stimulating diversities at Cook & Meet “Middle Eastern Meze party”! Thank you all for a great evening preparing Persian saffron chicken “Joojeh Kebab”, Turkish “Borek Peynir” mint & feta "ci**rs", creative hummus & baba Ghanouj rolls and “1001 delights nests” with geishas’ apricots topping :-) Paired with the best Libanese wines presented by an experienced sommelier in our dehor & delightful Maltese and Puglia wines . See you all on 25.6 for a special “Fresh pasta & Cocoa party”, we have the last 2 places available!

31/05/2020

Cooking is taste, perfumes, traditions, stories and .... colors! At COOK & MEET, with a touch of creativity we turned a simple daily dish into a fun happening for kids and friends . Fresh, home-made pasta with a sprinkle of natural squid ink turn your “tagliatelle” and “orecchiette” into an artist’s palette to decorate with colorful dressings like prawns, oranges, asparagus, “burrata” creamy mozzzarella and much more. A filo pastry basket becomes a nest of delights, filled with delicious super-fresh “ricotta” and pistachios, rum-marinated apricots, amaretti, strawberries and even caramelised celery sticks for an unusual, refreshing topping. With 12 international friends we paid homage to 8 bottles of noble wines, this week’s favourite being a noble Primitiva di Manduria Riserva (Puglia) and crisp, aromatic Malvasia from Parma hills. “Middle Eastern Meze & Wine Party” on 11.6 is fully booked, so see you soon on 25.6 for a special “Cocoa & fresh pasta" party with noble Italian and Spanish wines!

30/11/2017

The Italian Film Festival "MittelCinemaFest" in Prague starts today in kino Lucerna ! A showcase of the best recent productions with Czech and English subtitles, we will give you free tickets for Mondays' "The Place" these days so stay tuned! Courtesy of the Italian Cultural Institute of Prague

08/08/2017

A tasty calendar of Cook & Meet events is ready for you on Thursdays in Prague ! Meet new international friends & learn to prepare together tasty, creative and easy dinners in a cosy environment with good music & great vibe.
10.8: "Middle Eastern Meze"
24.8: "cocoa & wine party" with fresh home-made pasta
31.8 "world wine challenge" & Mediterranean tapas
7.9: "taste of Puglia" with heavenly cheese & home-made pasta

Limited places, cost-sharing so contact us asap to book.All info: http://www.cook-meet.com/prague-cook--meet.html

13/05/2017

A cosmopolitan community with a calendar of events to meet new international friends in a cozy envir

19/04/2017

sipping Prosecco and Amarone with nice friends overlooking stunningly beautiful wine hills after a canal food tour in Venice, what do you think as program for your Czech national holiday in early May? So join "Venice & Prosecco" gourmet tour by Cook & Meet on 5-9 May, only 4 more places available so contact us soon!

03/09/2016

Top-quality ingredients and a bit of creativity are the key to a gourmet adventure. Small effort and big result is what we like at Cook & Meet, and the „truffle menu“ is a classic example about how to prepare a quick, simple and great-value dinner with old and new friends. We are off to our Italian gourmet, so see you all on 30.9 for a full-scale „Italian Classics“ at Cook & Meet !

Top-quality ingredients and a bit of creativity are the key to a gourmet adventure. Small effort and big result is what we like at Cook & Meet, and the „truffle menu“ is a classic example about how to prepare a quick, simple and great-value dinner with old and new friends from Brasil, England, Romania, Italy and the Czech Republic of course. We started from fresh figs roasted in „pancetta“, „mortadella“ rolls and „stracciatella“ creamy cheese with truffle-flavored Aceto Balsamico di Modena, a nectar so irresistible that we even dipped our grissini straight into the bottle! A crisp white by apulean Cardone winery and a delightful sparkling „Malvasia“ from Parma hills are perfect dinner-openers, before enjoying a robust „Valpollicella Ripasso“ red from Amarone´s wine heavens. Fresh egg tagliatelle dressed with mushroom & black truffle sauce are always a guaranteed success, especially when topped by the „36 months Gran Speciale“ cheese from Parma and white truffle olive oil from Alba, the capital of truffle hunts. The classic „chocolate truffles“ praline from Piemonte are even better with a coffee scent, and paired with endless shots of herbs liqueur from the Alps,Elixirs from Bohemian monasteries, Sicilian Marsala fortified wine, delightful „oloroso“ sherry and even „eau de vie de figs“ brandy from Tunisia. We are off to our Italian gourmet, so see you all on 30.9 for a full-scale „Italian Classics“ at Cook & Meet !

14/07/2016

Cook & Meet will be with you for the whole summer every Thursday, but in the meantime let´s have a look at your program for January 2017... a new and exclusive "GOURMET SKI" in the scenic Alps of Trentino, on world-class resorts and an incredible "Slope food" itinerary to taste Michelin-star recipes on ski or snowboard! We booked 5 rooms for you on 25-29 January 2017 and just a few places are left, so hurry up as soon as we send you the invitation :-P

20/03/2016

The backstage of a haute cuisine dining event is filled with the excitement of a Formula 1 pit stop, buzzes with the harmony of a well-trained philharmonic orchestra and at the same time the mystical concentration of a heart-surgery operation. A temple of taste in which the maniacal choice of the ingredients meets the fine art of the decorative plating ... one final blessing by the master chef Jiří Král and buon appetito! Febiofest Michelin Nouvelle Cuisine Menu. Images by Cook & Meet 18.3.2016

The backstage of a haute cuisine dining event is filled with the excitement of a Formula 1 pit stop, buzzes with the harmony of a well-trained philharmonic orchestra and at the same time the mystical concentration of a heart-surgery operation. A temple of taste in which the maniacal choice of the ingredients meets the fine art of the decorative plating. And when the real masters come into play, you realize that you can´t even try to "try to do the same things at home"!

13/03/2016

​An Icelandic waterfall? A Patagonian glacier? A sneak preview of “Game of Thrones” set? Nope , much easier : “Panská skála” or “Manor Rock” also called “Varhany“ (organ) is an...

04/03/2016

Thank you dear friends for joining Cook & Meet “Mediterranean Meze”, a celebration of the flavours, colors and stories of the Mediterranean cuisine & wine excellence. See you all next Thursday 10.3 for our special "A perfect date" menu: a choice of easy, quick, affordable Italian recipes for a perfect dinner !

A celebration of the flavours, colors and stories of the Mediterranean cuisine in our “Mediterranean Meze” at Cook & Meet with cosmopolitan friends. We travelled from the Moroccan chicken with olives and lemon (with a generous help of Spanish chorizo for extra kick), to the Greek tzatziki, the Lebanese hummus, also in a variation with tasty sundried tomatoes, and a delicious cauliflower, cranberries & chickpeas salad. The grilled aubergines with Georgian topping became an instant success, like the truffles with real Tunisian dates. South Italy offered the wine pairing with a crisp “Catarratto Trefilari” & a robust “Nero d´Avola Syrah” from Sicily, “Locorotondo Il Castillo” and a full-bodied “Mescula” from our beloved Puglia. After seeing the bottom of a bottle of “Limoncello di Sorrento”, we all agreed that one of next Cook & Meet will be a special home-made pizza party, can´t wait!

12/02/2016

Scuba divers dancing with oversized geishas, the pope pouring rum to a bishop on the staircase of the cathedral, a d***o fishermen procession, chicken eating fried chicken and all sorts of mess and booze and fun: welcome to the Carnival of Cadiz ! Andalusia Gourmet by Cook & Meet

Scuba divers dancing with oversized geishas, the pope pouring rum to a bishop on the staircase of the cathedral, a d***o fishermen procession, chicken eating fried chicken and all sorts of mess and booze and fun: welcome to the Carnival of Cadiz !
The starting point of Christopher Columbus´ epic journey towards “India”, Cadiz was for centuries the main Spanish ports and extensively traded with Venice, from which took inspiration for a lively and creative Carnival. Countless associations and groups spend the entire year rehearsing for the next carnival, which will turn into a good 10 days of street celebrations and complex shows hosted in the Gran Teatro Falla.

An endless scenic, windy beach reminding me of Rio de Janeiro is the perfect place to refresh your neurons after the party, before heading to the maze of ancient cobblestone alleys and elegant buildings for a well-deserved tapas session.
THE place to be on a Saturday night in Andalusia!

10/02/2016

With Tarifa was love at 1st sight: sunshine, energy, atmosphere, relaxed but not sleepy, active but not frenetic. And as soon as we started to explore the scenic area nearby, the feeling grew even deeper.
The king of local hikes is undoubtedly the 18-kms coastal trail of “Colada de la costa y del camino de Algeciras” in the Natural park of the Strait: a 5-hours endeavour rewarded by breath-taking views of Gibraltar rock and the Moroccan coast, the discovery of a line of WW2 bunkers and very unusual slabs of gigantic and almost vertical rock formations. To complete a perfect day, finish your hike with the delicious tapas and a few chilled Cruz Campo “El Tapeo” back to Tarifa. Hard to leave this place! "Andalusia Gourmet Experience" by Cook & Meet

With Tarifa was love at 1st sight: sunshine, energy, atmosphere, relaxed but not sleepy, active but not frenetic. And as soon as we started to explore the scenic area nearby, the feeling grew even deeper.
The king of local hikes is undoubtedly the 18-kms coastal trail of “Colada de la costa y del camino de Algeciras” in the Natural park of the Strait: a 5-hours endeavour rewarded by breath-taking views of Gibraltar rock and the Moroccan coast, the discovery of a line of WW2 bunkers and very unusual slabs of gigantic and almost vertical rock formations. To complete a perfect day, finish your hike with the delicious tapas and a few chilled Cruz Campo “El Tapeo” back to Tarifa. Hard to leave this place!

04/02/2016

The word „sherry“ always brought to my mind images of old English ladies clad in blankets sipping an ultra-sweet alcoholic nectar while out of their Edwardian windows, a Wuthering Heights thunderstorm rages. After visiting Jerez the la Frontera, the birthplace of this noble fortified wine, the indelible memory will be quite opposite: lively music bars and cosy cobblestone streets packed with a relaxed youth enjoying chilled wines with all possible shades of colours and flavours. "Andalusia Gourmet Experience" by Cook & Meet

BODEGAS y TABANCOS aka the Sherry world in Jerez de la Frontera
The word „sherry“ always brought to my mind images of old English ladies clad in blankets sipping an ultra-sweet alcoholic nectar while out of their Edwardian windows, a Wuthering Heights thunderstorm rages. After visiting Jerez the la Frontera, the birthplace of this noble fortified wine, the indelible memory will be quite opposite: lively music bars and cosy cobblestone streets packed with a relaxed youth enjoying small (don´t forget it contains up 16 percent alcohol content... ) glasses of chilled wines with all possible shades of colours and flavours. Finding your way through the many varieties is metaphorically as complicated, and at the same enjoyable if you are not in a hurry, as understanding the intricate maze of streets of the convoluted medieval city center.
Downtown Jerez hosts more sherry “bodegas” (wineries) than you can handle in even a week of furious and fanatic tasting, from the giant global enterprises with flamboyant visitor centres and cathedral-like halls lined with tens of thousands of barrels, to picturesque “tabanco” bars.
The choice depends on your interest in wines and your general style of travelling: beginners and cruise-holiday fans will enjoy the red tourist train of Gonzales Byass and its ubiquitous “Tio Pepe” silhouette, while a Bodegas Fundador Pedro Domecq grants a slightly deeper understanding of sherry culture thanks to a small museum and the usual cornucopia of giant barrels signed by international celebrities and dedicated to blue-blooded including the last king of Italy. Founded in 1730, this winery is located in the heart of the medieval quarter and it is the oldest in town, embellished by shady patios and lush gardens around charming historic cellars, the most notable of which being the mighty “bodega mezquita” or “mosque winery”: an overwhelmingly colossal and at the same time elegant storage hall built in 1974. Originally called “La Gran Bodega", it contains all types of soleraje produced by Fundador in over 40.000 barrels with 600 litres each, meaning a stunning 2.4 million litres of sherry and countless daily refills with the solera system. Thanks to the hundreds of single and double horseshoe arches typical of Moorish medieval architecture and to its extraordinary dimensions (over 25.0000 sqm or 4 football pitches), the cellar was quickly nicknamed “the mosque” and truly reminded me of the famous mosque-cathedral of Cordoba, an experience in itself.
For the true wine lovers, we warmly recommend Emilio Lustau, winner of many international awards for “Best Spanish Wine Producer” and “Best Sherry Producer”. Mr Juan Mateos Arizón, who accompanied me in an exclusive private visit to the elegant, atmospheric cellars and offered a complete wine tasting, greets me with these magic words: “here we make great wines, not gadgets for tourists”. Music for my ears. The creator of their extensive range of true oenological gems is the oenologist Mr Manuel Lozano, holder of the title of “Best Fortified Winemaker” for 6 consecutive years, a true authority in the field, and we will soon discover why.
The beginning of a sherry career is quite easy: the local Palomino and Pedro Ximenez grapes cultivated in a scenic region bordered by the Quadalquivir river and the Atlantic Ocean are turned into still white wines and aged for 2 years by the local producers, called “almacenista”, and then sold to the major exporting sherry producers. The origins of bodega Lustau are exactly there: Mr Ruiz-Berdejo in 1896 started to make wines in his spare time as almacenista, until his son-in-law, Mr Emilio Lustau Ortega, in 1940 moved the bodega into the present buildings which formed part of the ancient Moorish city walls. Inside these shady vaults, the complex system of “Solera y Criaderas” and the expert addition of extra alcohol turns winemaking into art.
Wines of different levels of aging rest inside endless rows of oak barrels adjusted in 3 levels: the wine ready for bottling is taken from the lower range of barrels (the “solera”), and is replaced by hand at regular intervals with wine from the row immediately above, known as “first criadera” and so on with the upper level. According to the amount of alcohol added to the wine, the type of ageing can be “biological”, when the wine is covered by a natural veil of yeast (the typical “flor”) encouraged by the damp coastal climate preventing the contact with the air, or “oxidative” when the action of the air generates different levels of oxidation and consequent colour, taste, aroma.
The most prominent characteristic of the dry sherry wines (which are by far the most appreciated by the locals) is the sharp contrast between a promise of intense, even excessive sweetness suggested by the delicate aroma, and the remarkably bone-dry, almost sharp taste, especially if drank without food pairing: an experience which many beginners might find unpleasant, turning them to easier wines or to the sweet variations, which are reserved almost exclusively to tourists and for export markets.
The pungent aroma and mildly acid taste of pale straw-coloured “Fino” is very peculiar and, to be fair, should better appreciated chilled at 7-9° and paired with fish dishes and seafood. “Fino” is by far the most popular of varieties all among the locals, straight or diluted with lemonade to make 'rebujito' at ferias, while the elusive “Manzanilla” is aged only in Sanlúcar de Barrameda and retains a hint of sea aroma due to the proximity of the ocean: a specific feature which is quite remarkable in Lustau´s “Puerto Fino”, deserving a dish of oysters to be fully appreciated.
“Amontillado” starts its life as Fino or Manzanilla with 3 years of biological aging, then the subsequent oxidation donates a deeper amber colour and richer and nuttier aromas. Served slightly chilled at 13-14° with dried fruits, consomme´, white meats, artichokes, truffles, is a perfect match for spicy Asian cuisine.
“Palo Cortado” also undergoes both types of ageing for 12 to 15 years, and its great complexity would deserve a chapter in itself, since many producers proudly maintain that its origin is mysterious and basically can not be produced under control: “”it just happens” starting out as a Fino, but the flor yeast fails to develop. Less popular and rarer than the other variations, it offers the richness in the mouth of an Oloroso with the delicate aromas of an Amontillado, recommended with red meats and dried fruits.
My personal favourite among the dry sherries is “Oloroso”, which acquires its caramel colour and intense aroma through years of ageing in barrel and natural air oxidation. Paired with jamon Iberico, stew, game dishes or aged sheep cheese, it can easily accompany your whole evening in a lively bar from pungent aperitif to refreshing digestive. Lustau´s “Oloroso Imperatriz Eugenia” was established in 1921 to commemorate the visit to Jerez of the last Empress of France and is rightfully rated among the best in the world.
Entering the realm of sweet sherry means crossing the threshold between a youthful music bar and a cosy patisserie: “cream” is a blend of dry Oloroso with very sweet “Pedro Ximenez” wine, reserved almost exclusively to export and best appreciated as a chilled aperitif with ice and a slice of orange. In some bars you can find something called “vermouth” poured out of unmarked bottles, and I had the clear feeling it came from mixing all the leftovers from any bottle around, a reminder of the epic hysteric crisis scene in “Sideways”.
At the sweetest end of sherry family we find 2 wines made from peculiar grape varieties: “Moscatel” blessed by a remarkable floral aromas with citrus notes, a perfect match for fruit-based desserts; and “Pedro Ximenez”, whose grapes are laid out in the sun until they practically turn into raisins, generating a very rich, for someone excessively sweet nectar recommended with foie gras and creamy desserts.

25/01/2016

The first food we see in the morning in Tarifa are baskets full of super-fresh sea urchins sold at street corners, but it´s a bit too early for an orange spoonful; we prefer a local bakery already showing clear, sweet signs of vicinity with Morocco in the sheer amount of honey and almonds used for the cookies, and we venture along a magnificent landscape of rolling hills covered with ridiculously green pastures where placid cattle spend a quite enviable existence under vigorous windmills: the whole horizon looks at the same time peaceful and surreal, like a human outpost in an alien although welcoming new planet.
Many times I ventured towards a place just following the evocative charm of its name, like “Babilonia” in the Czech Republic (not as memorable as my school memories had suggested) or “Batman” in eastern Anatolia (the few local shepherds being unaware of the batcavesque potential of their rock dwellings). A road sign pointing to “Atlanterra” triggers images of muscular giants and pounding waves and fierce whalers and off we go: we cross the sleepy village of Zahara de los Atunes, and if “tunas” are in the name, it must mean something positive for my crave of a proper seafood lunch! Again, that scary, bone-shattering suspicion of being in the right place at the wrong time: many inviting restaurants look at me from closed shutters, I feel like Clint Eastwood´s Blondie in a deserted ranch of “The good, the bad and the ugly”. Even a straw ball rolls towards me. Ennio Morricone plays his tunes. I sharpen my eyes towards the horizon, dazzled by the blast of light surging from the beach, and I spot the silhouette of a galleon: an hallucination, the ghost of the mythical 4th lost caravel of Christopher Columbus? Getting closer, the ship turns out to be the signboard of “El Galeon”, a delightful beach restaurant (open!) where we indulge in what so far is the best meal I ever had in the Peninsula Iberica: a rich, colourful, delicious “arroz marinero” blessed with shrimps, octopus, tuna, cod, clams and mussels and served with the best side dish of the planet: professional courtesy and an unbeatable beach panorama. They don´t call it “paella” since the term is rightfully reserved to the Valencia dish prepared with local and seasonal farmer´s vegetables, rabbit and chicken. And served rigorously only for lunch.
The abundant rice pan, deep fried (of course) “tortilla de langostinos”, sweet wine from Malaga and the aftermath of Soul café´s drinks invite to some afternoon hike towards the “faro de Trafalgar”, a windy beachhead dominated by a scenic lighthouse made famous by the naval engagement fought in 1805 by the Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the Napoleonic wars. The same waves once crossed by Lord Nelson´s “Victory” flagship slashing enemies hulls, are now the playground of dozens, hundreds of kite surfers looking like doped butterflies. Wind, sun, sand, a clear feeling of having reached the end of the world from where “those magnificent men on their sailing machines” ventured towards the light.

25/01/2016

With my eyes closed, “the day after”, I still see the blast of friendly light from the Atlantic when we approach the beach of Tarifa: the ocean shines like liquefied steel, the wind blows endlessly for the exhilarating joy of dozens of surfers riding the waves like scooters and looking with (I assume) deep envy at the centaurs zipping by, pulled by their kites. The shore is barren, no sign of sunbeds and of the usual paraphernalia of facilities catering the lobsterized skins of the north European pensioners flocking the Mediterranean coast nearby like tired migrating birds.
As soon as I mentioned the name of this southernmost corner of Europe, an old friend replied “ah, Tarifa, our youthful myth… is it true that every hour a ship loaded with “smoke” arrives from Morocco”? Well, actually the elegant and quite futuristic ferries arrive at regular intervals and they smoke a bit, but most probably the cultural reference of at least 2 generations of a certain alternative Italian sub-culture does not lie in pistons or propellers: maybe it is just a coincidence, but while strolling on the endless empty beach we stumbled across a small plastic envelope containing a piece of “surfer´s bud ”, which we politely left in the sand.
And judging by the number of Italian pizzerias and restaurants in the maze of alleys of the city center, I am sure that many a visitor decided to spend their post-adolescence years in this sunny Riviera. We enter “BarAonda”, a friendly-looking bar just off the shabby remain of a bunker – fort and we even the taps of the day are suspiciously Italian “parmigiana de berenjena” (aubergine parmigiana style) and “carpaccio”, and we indulge in a few Alhambra beers which we judge to be quite stronger than the omnipresent Cruzcampo.
There are plenty of ways to spot tourists from locals, like the single eyebrow of Spanish men and the “too many colors” of their ladies´ clothes, however the funniest is their look of dismay and confusion while looking for a place, any place, to eat at the normal non-Spanish hours. They frenetically check their watches and stare at the closed shutters of the many restaurants laying elbow to elbow, covered inviting seafood menus and piles of empty chairs, and think “what the hack, it is 1 pm and there is no chance for lunch? Not yet, or not any more?” . Understanding the concept of “siesta” sounds easy to say, but a few times we passed in front of a restaurant packed with people having lunch at 5 pm, then (maybe) opening for dinner from 10 pm or not opening at all, trying to get a beer in the afternoon when all the bars close down like in an improvised profane Ramadan.
The choice of the tapas bar is as usual dictated by the vibe of the place, and “La Antigua” turns out to be a cosy spot for filled jalapenos (deep fried, as everywhere, it defies my understanding the stubborn habit of getting some fresh and tasty ingredients, and drown them in burning oil), “twister de langostinos” (a shrimp roll looking like a Nosferatus´ finger) and some delicious mini-choritos served swimming in orange honey.
We migrate to the liveliest pub in town, “Soul Café”, where apparently everyone spends a noisy and alcohol-fuelled night in this ancient Moorish court with live music and dj sets, and it is time to crash in the bed, still with the blaze of the ocean under my eyelids.

14/01/2016

The view from your room in our "Tuscany delights" gourmet tour by Cook & Meet available from March 2016, in the heart of Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino wine paradise. Not bad :-)

30/12/2015

I plan to stay in this life for quite a long while, but the last earthly taste on my way to nirvana or walhalla shall be a heavenly trinity of supercreamy panna cotta, chocolate bunet with amaretti & hazelnuts and a creme brulee with rosemary blessing. I could live with antipasti and desserts, especially when "starters" mean a sublime veal tartare "battuta di fassone", delicate vitello tonnato, a rich and eggy insalata russa, cardoon flan, "zampone" with lentils and chestant puree and the king of them all: "uovo in pasta", aka a giant raviolo filled with liquid yolk and drowned in butter & parmigiano reggiano. All paired with a noble Barbera superiore by the heavyweight of local wine excellence. One more round of delightful "agnolotti del plin" and off we go for a digestive stroll among the sleepy vineyards overlooking Barolo and La Morra. Can´t wait to be back in our next Italian Gourmet tour by Cook & Meet !

I plan to stay in this life for quite a long while, but the last earthly taste on my way to nirvana or walhalla shall be a heavenly trinity of supercreamy panna cotta, chocolate bunet with amaretti & hazelnuts and a creme brulee with rosemary blessing. I could live with antipasti and desserts, especially when "starters" mean a sublime veal tartare "battuta di fassone", delicate vitello tonnato, a rich and eggy insalata russa, cardoon flan, "zampone" with lentils and chestnut puree and the king of them all: "uovo in pasta", aka a giant raviolo filled with liquid yolk and drowned in butter & parmigiano reggiano. All paired with a noble Barbera superiore by the heavyweight of local wine excellence. One more round of delightful "agnolotti del plin" and off we go for a digestive stroll among the sleepy vineyards overlooking Barolo and La Morra. Can´t wait to be back in our next Italian Gourmet tour by Cook & Meet !

20/12/2015

yes, Christmas is coming, but my mind is already halfway to Andalusia and the sunshine, the colors, the taste, the perfumes ... will you share them with us on Cook & Meet "Andalusia Gourmet Tour" 28-31 January 2016?

12/12/2015

COCOA RULEZ! Thank you dear friends for a lovely "cocoa party" at Cook & Meet, the last of this year with fresh home-made tagliatelle in a magnificent duck & red wine ragu´. A taste of my homeland Piemonte with "electrical tomino" fresh cheese, truffle-flavoured "robiola" and "salame cotto" all paired with Prosecco, Sangiovese and supertuscan "Poggioncino" by Andrea Bocelli´s family winery.
The classic dessert “bunet” from Piemonte is a typical example of tasty, easy, quick delicacy to complete your dinner with many, many rounds of Barolo grappa, Alpine “amaro” and “limoncello digestives . See you all next Thursday 17.11 at our MEXICAN STANDOFF party with Marek Schovanek´s artwork at the Dancing House!

03/12/2015

For those of us who love Prosecco wine, a pure joy is the announcement that the town of Conegliano Valdobbiadene (the heartland of Prosecco Superiore Doc) has been proclaimed "EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF WINE CULTURE 2016" thanks to the uniqueness of the local wine culture. A rich calendar of cultural and gastronomic events will take place in the 15 municipalities of the consortium, one more reason to join our "Venice in a bubble" gourmet tour by Cook & Meet in March 2016!