Nani offers hands-on culinary experiences, 3.5 hours each, during which you will enjoy preparing your own meal along with fellow cooks. Classes take place at La Cocina Que Canta, our culinary center on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 4pm.
Tuesday Hands-On Cooking Class 4:00 PM Sign Up
Each class $145 (tax included). Class subject to change, check your weekly planner and schedule for updates. The maximum number of guests per class is 14.
Wednesday Hands-On Cooking Class 4:00 PM Sign Up
Each class $145 (tax included). Class subject to change, check your weekly planner and schedule for updates. The maximum number of guests per class is 14.
Thursday Hands-On Cooking Class 4:00 PM Sign Up
Each class $145 (tax included). Class subject to change, check your weekly planner and schedule for updates. The maximum number of guests per class is 14.
Romney Steele is a cook and the author of My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family and Big Sur (2009, anniversary edition 2019) and Plum Gorgeous, Recipes and Memories of Living in a Big Sur Orchard (2011). She is also the chef and co-owner of The Cook and Her Farmer, a cafe, oyster and wine bar nestled inside the historic Swan’s Market, in Old Oakland, Ca. She grew up at the legendary Nepenthe Restaurant in Big Sur, started by her grandparents in 1947, where she opened Cafe Kevah, and later became the pastry chef at the renowned Sierra Mar Restaurant at Post Ranch Inn. She has since authored recipes and articles for numerous food magazines, worked as a chef and food stylist, and currently runs her own kitchen and manages the business in Oakland. Part of the mission at The Cook and Her Farmer is to nurture the growth and development of young cooks and farmers; she works closely with local farms and the surrounding community and strives to bring a sense of beauty and place into her work on a daily basis.
Romney brings an artist’s sensibility to her cooking and teaching, encouraging students to come with an open mind and belief that anyone can cook. Drawing on her love of cooking from the garden, and a deep attachment to culture and place as inspiration, she invites everyone to join her at the table.
Pamela Smilow grew up surrounded by art. Her father was a modern furniture designer, sculptor and painter. She was raised in a unique cooperative community founded by Frank Lloyd Wright, where all the modern homes were integrated into their natural surroundings. New York City, with its myriad museums and cultural opportunities, was her backyard. From a very early age, she knew that she wanted to be an artist. Although primarily self-taught in art, Pam did attend the University of Michigan (B.A., 1978) and spent one year studying ceramics at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Aix-en-Provence, France. She had her first one-woman show in Ann Arbor, Michigan when she was twenty-one and has continued to paint and exhibit ever since throughout the world, including exhibitions in Spain, France, Denmark and Japan. Her paintings are full of life, color and child-like primitivism. No surprise, since she draws on childhood experiences and memories for her vocabulary of symbols. Her work grows out of abstract expressionism but has a variety of other eclectic influences. Her interest in language brought her to Europe during the 1980’s and 90’s and she spent quite a few years living and painting there. This added a new Mediterranean and Nordic perspective to her work. Pamela met her husband, Danish artist Gert Mathiesen, in the late 1980’s and thus began a collaboration that lasted for many years. She works in a variety of different media including clay, printmaking, collage and painting. She also writes a popular weekly inspirational blog entitled “Things We Love.” Smilow’s work can be found in many private and corporate collections throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
Sometime in the mid-80s, Chef Cody Requejo had his first sushi meal experience. What followed was an obsession that has turned into a full-fledged career for the past 3 decades. At 18, he quit a college culinary program and knocked on his favorite sushi joint’s backdoor hoping for an opportunity. An apprenticeship was offered and immediately he accepted. For several years he honed his skills, learned the ins and outs of Japanese restaurant culture, fish selection, and butchery, and eventually made his way behind the sushi bar. From there his career continued to grow, and in 2002 he opened his first restaurant, Tuna Town in downtown Huntington Beach, CA. There, he met Van Vu, who would later become his wife and business partner. In 2012, Chef Cody and Van invested in Roe Seafood and Fish Market in Long Beach, California, where Chef Cody’s passion for sustainable aquaculture began, as wild capture was expensive and difficult to source. In 2016, a new form of distribution was created that incorporated telling the story of sustainable aquaculture products coming out of Baja. Now, Chef Cody works for the Baja Kanpachi farm, 
