With our first two days completed comprised mostly of travel and one fun evening here in San Sebastián it was now time for our first full day in this marvelous country. And of course there is only one way to get into the culture and style of this Basque region than through cooking! Our first full day would start at the Mimo San Sebastián School of Cooking and a 4 hour cooking class followed by dinner paired with Basque wines from the region. Nothing like starting this at 10 am!!! http://sansebastian.mimofood.com/en

We started the day waking up to a beautiful moon set on one horizon and a lovely sun rise on the other. We grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and then a nice ten minute walk through San Sebastián to the Hotel Maria Cristina where we enjoyed a quick café con leche and water and then it was time to get the aprons on and get down to business!

I love to cook as you all know. Architecture is a slow process many times taking years while a meal can be prepared and enjoyed in a few hours! So many similarities between the two however, from planning, executing, key ingredients, composition and patience.

Our menu today consisted of delicious langostinos, seared steaks, peppers and sausages with tortillas, and a sous vide hake. All fabulous. I highly recommend the Mimi School of Cooking as a way to appreciate the culture of the Basque region. This is gourmet cooking at its best and what is wonderful is how fun they make the experience. Definitely nothing to be intimidated about. They explained the techniques, science, and traditions of this amazing cuisine which only made our subsequent meals so much more meaningful.

With our cooking class completed we were all free to enjoy the day as we chose. Some (actually most) of us went back for siestas – a well practiced tradition here in Spain! What was crazy was when we laid down for our hiatus it was sunny no 85º and when we woke up from our three hour rest it was cold, cloudy and ready to rain! I thought maybe I had slept through the entire day. But that’s how fast the weather can change here on the north coast of Spain!

With a little catch up on the rest we did a little shopping and time to take in some of the fabulous architecture and then of course it was tapas time again! Nothing quite like the roasted beef cheek on mashed potatoes or the duck foie gras served with white chocolate foam and vanilla toasts! Heaven. Our final two travelers arrived after their two day excursion and then the party was really on. Our Candelaria Design Tour Spain was fully underway!