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C was romantic this February and bought a voucher for us to experience the making of artisan pasta and sauce making in a 3 hour workshop. So after a one hour journey to Woolwich (we thought that the workshop would be in Central London), we arrived at Casa Grande.

Spinach tagliatelle

The workshop is run by Tatiana, the artiste. Although she is not Italian, her roots are. Brought up on traditional pasta made and cooked by her grandma, she was unhappy at the quality of pasta in the UK. She found it strange that UK, despite producing their own eggs and flour, imports tons of dried pasta from Italy. She aims to make the best dried home made pasta from her studio using only organic, locally sourced ingredients.

During the workshop, she explains how the pasta is the made and dried naturally. She then demonstrates a few traditional recipes using the fresh pasta that was just made and we got to taste them with wine.

Her products feature different types of flour from strong flour to spelt and buckwheat. She also mixes in beetroot or spinach for added flavor, and with a simple sauce such as carbonara, that certainly brings color to the plate.

She was definitely a fan of technology and the pasta machine is equipped with a bronze die. This allows the pasta to be more porous than the regular commercial brands; hence when cooked, the pasta will absorb the sauce much more to create a homogenous flavor.

It was a truly an enjoyable morning, and I have learned so much more about pasta than in my three hour practical in school. I am inspired to try my hand at making my own pasta again. Until then, I have some naturally dried pasta that is non chemically processed to enjoy.

To order your own homemade artisan pasta or to find out more about the workshop, please visit her website.

Pasta drying naturally

Last week, C & I stumbled upon a new patisserie on Haarlemmerstraat. It was one of those moments when you feel like buying everything in the shop. However what really caught my eye was the brochure saying "atelier". This little shop also conducts 2 hour workshops to make little french tarts so while C was away skiing, I decided to sign myself up for the Friday session on macaroons!

The classes are conducted in both English and Dutch. They provided all the ingredients and you get to bring home your creations. For me, the cherry on the cake was the apron which you get to keep!

To be honest, I don't quite get why macaroons are so expensive. Yes it is difficult to get each one to same size and perhaps the ingredients are expensive; but after 2 hours I went home with a box of vanilla, pistachio, raspberry and chocolate macaroons. So if I could do it, I am quite convince the Sprüngli's of this world is overcharging a little.


Anyway Petit Gâteau is the name if you are interested. The owner used to work in a Michelin star restaurant and after returning to The Netherlands decide to open the patisserie. They even have plans to open one in Singapore!

They have a weekly schedule. So do check them out.

Petit Gâteau

This year for my birthday, C surprised me with a voucher for a cooking class. It turned out to be a Singaporea cooking class, together with him.

The class was led by Rosie who moved to Amsterdam with her husband and instead of opening a Singaporean restaurant in Amsterdam, decided to teach Singaporean cooking instead. The lessons are given in her home. She has a fully equipped kitchen with 2 sets of cooker tops. The menu for the night was curry puffs, chili crabs, seafood hor fun and honeydew sago as a dessert. It was so fun! Admittedly, we started a little late in the evening and we only manage to sit down and enjoy the whole meal at 11pm.

Rosie also runs workshops for group of 6. You can find out more about her classes here.

Give it a try. You will find that cooking Singaporean is not so difficult.