Cooking Vacations - Phoenix Arizona

Phoenix Arizona Cooking Vacation

Executive chef Warren Weekes offers a weekend's worth of what he terms "extreme cuisine." On Saturdays he leads a culinary tour south of the border, stopping for traditional meals at two restaurants. The five-hour tour includes a trek through a Mexican grocery and offers insight into the surrounding communities as the group drives past the border's ubiquitous maquiladora (manufacturing) plants. Sundays, Weekes teaches a four-hour hands-on cooking class that moves from the resort's garden to its commercial kitchen. Participants are outfitted with hats, aprons, knives, and cutting boards, then tackle everything from regional Mexican cuisine to mole sauces to dessert.