birthday dinner with a special chef

Last weekend was Alessandro's birthday. I really wanted to give him something special and unusual and since he loves to cook why not buy him a cooking lesson. Because of the Covid it was hard to find classes, so I decided to contact Chef Ilaria Castelli, founder of Chef and the City, and invited her to come to our home (we kept our masks on the entire time) for a private cooking class for Alessandro's birthday dinner.

She sent me a few menu options to choose from, a few days before his birthday.  We decided on “orange risotto with avocado and marinated ginger lime tuna”   and as second course: “citrus sea bass laid on a white and green zucchini cream and teriyaki gin sauce”. As a surprise she also thought us how to make Samosa appetizers and dessert.

Ilaria’s attention to detail went way beyond expectations. She even brought flowers which we used to decorate the dishes, an excellent Prosecco and gifted us with a very special Cherry Liquor made by her.

Alessandro was super happy and surprised (I think).

Ilaria was wonderful. You could really sense her passion for food and flavors and colors throughout the entire lesson. Isabella was also captured by Ilaria’s enthusiasm, so much that she got super involved and became Ilaria’s special helper.

I just made the Birthday cake: Orange Cake with a special Pink Citrus Glaze on top.