My week-long stay in Padova, Italy in January 2015 gave me some of the fondest memories I have in Europe.
A and I took on a dessert making crash course with Manuelina Culinary and it was the best choice we’ve ever made!
(Not an ad ok)
The class was so comprehensive, and we came back totally inspired and enlightened.
We also met some of the nicest people whom we still contact regularly until now.

Let me take you to the beginning of the journey.
The night before the flight – which is always the most horrible night because of the packing
and the anticipation of the long flight (hate long flights) ahead. Pfft!

It took us 1 transit, 13 hours on Emirates to arrive at Malpensa in Milan.

Padova is just a couple of hours train ride away from Milan.
By the time we were on the train, we were already absolutely exhausted!

As soon as we arrived in Padova, Melina, the co-founder of Manuelina Culinary picked us up
from the train station and drove us to our hotel in Padova.
It was a nice and basic hotel, and we cannot be happier to finally settle down in our home for the next seven days!
That evening, we had the opportunity to have some free time to explore the neighbourhood!

And we found Grom! *thrilled*

When we were in the piazza, we also noticed confetti all over the floor.
After shopping around in the stores around the market square,
we saw several dollar stores selling huge bags of confetti!
The whole place looks very festive despite the slight mess. Heh!

– – –

Thinking back, the 7 days during the course went by in a blur.
All I can remember was how fun it was, and how I’ve never liked “school” as much as then.

This is the first time A and I attended classes in our chef uniforms together.
How do we look? Haha!

Because of our logo, our chef uniforms looked the most juvenile when compared with our classmates. :p
We were at first a little apprehensive about telling the Italians we were from The Tiramisu Hero.

Busssket.
“You are in Italy and you two Asian girls dare call yourselves The Tiramisu Hero?!”

HAHAHAHA! It turned out that our worries are totally uncalled for!
The classmates and chefs turned out to be super interested in what we do at The Tiramisu Hero,
and they even gave us a lot, a lot of constructive ideas and suggestions!

Our classes were in a commercial-looking kitchen at I-still-don’t-know-where.
Every morning, the chefs would pick us up personally, bring us for morning espressos,
and drive us 30 mins to “school”.
Hahaha! I usually just sleep the whole way so yup.
Anyway, school is beautiful! :p

Here’s the view right outside and around the school premises.

(MAN! I MISS WINTER!)

The course was much better than what I thought I was getting.
Rather than giving us lots of recipes, the chefs gave us a lot of background knowledge and
hands-on practise!
Now I finally know what are the different characteristics of the different flours, etc,
and know how important it is to have such knowledge if not even if a recipe fails,
I won’t be able to know what went wrong, or know how to edit a recipe to make it my own.

Check out my piping. So not constant hor? 😡

Check out my serious partner. Hahaha!

Now meet the brains – Chef Andrea, Chef Melina and Filip!

Some of the yummy stuff we made:

Crockenbush!! We made a freaking crockenbush leh!!! *stoked*

Now meet our new friends!!!!

Pila from Guatemala! *applause*

Ok fun fact. When Pilar first told A and I that she came from Guatemala,
we just went “Oohhh…” and smiled.
But actually, the both of us didn’t know where Guatemala is.
The only mental image that appeared was:

Anyway, we were super happy to finally learn about a new country!
SORRY PILA! Hahahahaaha.
We love you very much!

And then there is also Trudy from Canada, who is always eager to share her knowledge with us!
She also always share about her family and Canda!
Hope I’ll be able to go Canada someday too! 😀

There is also Princess Urshla!
She really is a princess. (Sorry Ursh, I just HAVE to boast about having a princess friend.)

And yes, you are a princess! Stop denying.
(We found out that Urshla is descendent of Chief Olo Letuli from Samoa towards the end of the trip)

Urshla is one of the most fun, most loud (in a good way!) person I know.
It’s always fun with Ursh around and I feel very comfortable around her. 😀

Other than the lessons, we also made trips to the local markets and around town for drinks and dinners!

Buying fresh mascarpone cheese!

It was also the first time I played in a snow fight. :3

This is the group photo we took outside the classroom on our last day of school.
I remember it was quite sad (despite the smiles). Heh.

On our last night before we split ways, we also went for drinks in town!
And my goodness, the drinks they serve in the bars are mad POTENT!
I only had TWO Russian Whites and next thing I know, I’m drifting around!!!

The standard of the drinks in the bars are generally pretty good I must say!

Now check out this series of photos, especially on that three on the left side of the photo:
(HAHAHAHAHA!)

The learning trip is such precious memory for me.
A and I cannot be happier to make these new friends!
Thank you Melina for organising such a great course and getting us an awesome chef like Andrea,
and Filip on the team!
Also a big thank you to Pila, Urshla and Trudy for being such patient and helpful friends!

For Pila and Ursh, can’t wait to see you girls in Singapore soon! (And Filip later this month!)
Or perhaps, Guatemala or Hawaii first? We’ll never know! :p

Keep in touch! ❤

Will be back with my very backdated updates about my visit to Sweden,
and my first encounter with falling snow!