current classes : winter 06 : spring 06 : summer 06 : fall 06 : winter 07

Spring 2006

April 2006

An Italian Passover Dinner - $ 65 - April 4, 2006, 6:30-9:30pm
Instructor Susan Dunphy Mall

Felice Pesah! Rome has had a Jewish community since at least 50 BC. Over the centuries, Italy's Jews were often isolated from other Jewish communities, so they developed their own style and traditions of cooking. According to Evan Kleiman, Los Angeles restauranteur and cookbook author, Roman Jewish food does not conform to the traditions of the Sephardic Jews of Spain and the Middle East nor to those of the Ashkenazy Jews of Northern and Eastern Europe. On the other hand, it has heavily influenced Roman cuisine. Many distinctive local dishes such as carciofi alla giudea are of Jewish rather than Italian origin.

Eh? A Traveler’s Primer to Italy and the Italians - $45 advance $50 door - April 13, 2006, 6:30-8:30pm

Instructor Douglas Kenning

A holiday in Italy for the tourist can be a hilarious misadventure of mistakes. Well, hilarious to the Italians. If you want to amuse the Italians with your charm more than with your faux pas, then arrive knowing something of the Italian way. This short primer is about all that stuff you know about Italy that isn’t really true, and about what is true that you would not have dreamed. It is about what to do and not do, and about why the crazy things the Italians do are not so crazy at all. We’ll even get in some practical advice about your trip to Italy. Come with questions.

Brought back by popular demand, Presenter Douglas Kenning spends half his year in Sicily and the other half in Northern California. If you are contemplating a trip to Italy soon or just want to reminisce about that last one, you will enjoy this humorous and informative class.

Italian History for Travelers - $45 advance $50 door - April 20, 2006, 6:30-8:30pm

Instructor Douglas Kenning

Italian history is nothing if not daunting and complex. But the art and architecture you will be looking at are living things only if you know something of their birth and cultural language. So, if you are not sure how to distinguish the Romans from the Lombards, the Medicis from the Etruscans, drop in. We will take a whirlwind tour, but you will have a rough sense of the flow of things when we are done.

Back to top

May 2006

The Classical Epic: The Story of our Personal Journey- 3 part Series $45 advance $50 door/$120 series - April 27, May 11 and May 18, 2006

Instructor Douglas Kenning

The Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid. All centuries before our own have recognized Homer as the father of Western literature. The anonymous tale of Gilgamesh was his ancestor and Virgil his progeny. In this course, we will enjoy these tales as stories, illustrated by a great parade of master works of art.

Part 1: The Iliad - Thursday, April 27, 2006, 6:30-8:30pm

We begin with the Iliad, an operatic sweep of the struggles of god-like men and childish gods, lust and betrayal, incredible brutality and absurd tenderness.

Part 2: The Odyssey - Thursday, May 11th, 2006, 6:30-8:30pm

The Odyssey continues the story, combining the bizarre adventures of arrogant men, monsters, sex, angry gods, hair’s-breadth escapes, and magic. But more, it is the delicate story of one man and one woman’s loss and longing, of fatherhood and absence, of growing up and growing old, of the journey that a couple goes through in growing apart and then coming again together.

Part 3: The Aeneid - Thursday, May 18, 2006, 6:30-8:30pm

Finally, we will look at Aeneid, the epic journey of the individual that Virgil used in hopes of becoming the Homer of the Roman Empire, the father of the national myth. Like Odysseus before him, Aeneas must cross the face of the world, and descend into the underworld, before rising to found Rome and hence the modern Western World. With the story unfinished as he lay dying, Virgil ordered it burned. Emperor Caesar Augustus saved it. Come find out why.

Italian Vegetarian Cuisine - $65 advance registration only

Thursday, May 11th, 6:00-9:30 pm or Saturday, May 13th, 6:00-9:30pm Note: Different menus each date
Instructor Chef Duccio Bagnoli

The famously healthy Mediterranean diet of pasta, vegetables, fruit, olive oil, and bread, never relied on meat (not even poultry or fish). Strict vegetarianism might seem strange to an Italian, for whom all of life’s experiences are to be embraced, but equally strange is the Anglo-Saxon meal with a meaty main course as a star performer surrounded by a supporting cast. Vegetables are stars in their own right and the Italian cook turns to them, not meat, to express his full creativity. Come and join Florentine Chef Duccio Bagnoli in creating six Italian vegetable classics—three on each day, making on each day a complete vegetarian meal. Come either day or both!

Menu for Thursday, May 11

Risotto allo Zafferano - Risotto with saffron
Zucchini flan - Zucchini Flan
Melanzane gratinate con pomodorini e balsamico - Marinated Eggplant with Cherry Tomatoes & Balsamic Vinegar

Menu for Saturday, May 13

Fiori ripieni - Zucchini Flowers Stuffed with Wild Mushrooms
Involtini di peperoni alla Barese - Stuffed Pepper Rolls
Arancini di Riso e Ricotta - Rice balls stuffed with ricotta cheese

Note:Menus subject to change, based on local market availability and quality.

Gelato Workshop - $60 advance registration only

Friday, May 12th, 6:00-9:00pm and Sunday, May 14th (Mother's Day!), 2:00-5:00pm
Instructor Chef Duccio Bagnoli

Gelato!--universally considered the best ice cream in the world. Come and find out why. Chef Duccio Gagnoli will take us right down to the basics and into the traditions. In class, we will make a traditional cream-based gelato, which then becomes the basis for chocolate gelato and leads to a fresh fruit sorbet; an espresso granita; and a parfait of carmelized pine nuts with a Vin Santo zabaione sauce. Join us for a “hands-on” learning experience that you can take home, where you will be able to make a fabulous frozen dessert any time you want, even without a machine. What a great idea for Mother’s Day!

Fresh Pasta Workshop - $65 advance registration only

Saturday, May 13th, 11:00-3:00pm

Instructor Chef Duccio Bagnoli

Who doesn't love pasta? And fresh homemade pasta is a thing apart. In this pasta workshop with Florentine Chef Duccio, we will make maltagliati, orecchetti, and ravioli. He intends that you will learn the skills to make these pastas at home. We will crown the class by using our freshly made pasta to make Maltagliati with Sweet Red Peppers, Cannellini Beans & Basil, Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Gnocci Roman Style. Of course, we will all dine on these delights during the class, with lovely red wine from Chianti. This class is back by popular demand.

Food Photography Weekend Workshop – $150 advance registration only, class size limited

Saturday, May 20th, 1:00-4:00pm and Sunday, May 21st, 10:00-3:00pm (includes 1 hour break for lunch, which will be provided.)

Instructor Cosimo Bargellini

This workshop will be a gateway to enter into the world of food photography. Students will learn the basic technical and compositional skills for this specific field of photography, which is becoming one of the most commercially successful for the photo professional. The workshop will introduce students to the most updated techniques in digital photography, the study of basic food lighting - indoor and outdoor - and basic special effects techniques. The workshop will be geared to digital shooting. Students will produce a final selection of photos on a digital media support CD/DVD. Bring your digital camera. Blank CD or DVD will be provided.

Day 1: Slide show: “An Introduction to Food Photography”. Composition and colors.
Basic food lighting techniques & food shooting.

Day 2: Using natural/existing light in food photography.

Materials for the set: bases and tricks for food presentation, burning the selected pictures

on a CD/DVD.

Back to top

June 2006

"Men of Honor and Other Nice Guys" The Roots of Mafia's Power – 2 Part Series $50 advance/$55 door/per class or $90 series

Instructor Giuseppina Lucia Ortisi

The Mafia lives: in Sicily, in America, in the movies and on TV. Lucia Ortisi teaches a semester-long Mafia course at the Mediterranean Center for Arts & Sciences in Siracusa, Sicily, where she is also Director. She will bring us a potent and particularly Sicilian viewpoint to this controversial subject.

Part 1: Friday, June 2nd, 7:00-9:00pm – Background and History

This seminar will begin with the historical, political, and economic reasons for the rise of the Sicilian Mafia. Professor Ortisi then will focus on the 20th Century, when the Sicilian Mafia’s reach into America determined its evolution from a rural to an urban organization and from being a local, quasi-populist shadow authority to a web international syndicates profiting in extortion, gambling, and drug dealing.

Part 2: Sunday, June 4th, 3:00-5:00pm – Cosa Nostra Criminal Organization & the Anti-Mafia Movement

This seminar will continue the story into the Cosa Nostra and the Mafia war of the 1980s, leading their unprecedented bloody collision course with the Italian state in the 1990s. The class also will discuss the growing anti-Mafia movement in Italy, recent developments, and the different types of Mafia networks, such us La Camorra in Campania, La Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia and the Ndrangheta in Calabria.

Traveler's Italian Class Session I - 8 weeks - $115

Tuesdays, 6:00-9:00pm starting June 6th

Instructor Giacomo Bardazzi

Being able to communicate with folks while traveling means using the most simple grammar and very limited vocabulary. Thus, we will learn present and imperative tenses, those most needed to communicate needs and intentions, while remaining, of course, always polite and gracious. The rest of the course will be spent practicing specific situations, such as in hotels, restaurants, shops, traveling, and social situations. And, if you like, bring your own questions about situations you would like to learn how to navigate through.

Back to top