Whisked Away

What a great experience!! My 13 year old daughter and I took a cooking class for Not So Traditional Thanksgiving Side dishes. Maggie has such great life experience in the food industry. She taught us not just how to cook, but how to prep, basic knife handling, and an interesting way to prepare garlic. The first part of the class we all sat with our recipes and watched Maggie in the kitchen while she explained everything. Then we split into groups of 2 and tackled one recipe for each group. When we were done, our reward was the amazing food we cooked! Every dish complimented the others spectacularly. I cannot wait to make these again at home. Thank you Maggie for a lovely evening!

A WOW Culinary Experience... We planned a cooking class for ourselves and 3 couples with Maggie and it easily exceeded all expectations. If you're looking for a fun, interactive and delicious way to add spice to your date night, look no further than Whisked Away! Dana & Marty, Surprise Date Challenge

Ok first off it's no wonder she's highly rated and tops yelp for "cooking classes for couples" - my wife had asked about doing a cooking class for a date night so I did a little research. We had already attended the frys on shea baking night making scones where we just helped the chef... It was more an informational class to sit across the bar because I suppose their insurance doesn't allow you to really get involved there. Other courses in the valley are larger scale classrooms with more students where you won't get as involved and you may as well watch a video online for free. I have to say when I talked to Maggie about how the structure was and if we cooked or helped, I was happy to hear that her response was "oh, I give you an intro and sample how to make things but you're doing the prep and the cooking." She gave an intro that is great for beginners and culinary experts alike. Pay attention during her review of recipes though, because the rest of the class will be sharing your dish when you are done preparing it. The kitchen environment allowed for plenty of room for six people in our class to both cook and move around safely as well as plenty of preparation knives, cutting boards, measuring and mixing bowls, A beautiful set of all clad cookware and a gorgeous Viking 6 top gas grill. If you're concerned that it needs to be a professional kitchen for classes I'd say she and her husband setup the kitchen in a professional manner. My wife and I absolutely loved our date night, the prep work together and with the other classmates, and the food to top it off was awesome! My advice to this : Be hungry- there will be a ton of food to enjoy! Bring wine :) Take notes so you can make the dishes again at home. Thank you Maggie!

We just finished up a cooking class with Maggie in her lovely Arcadia home. We had a private class with several close friends. First, she gave us a few prep tips which will save literally days of time over the course of my lifetime. The tips were the kind you think to yourself, "wow, why didn't I think of that?". The recipes we prepared was moderately complex, yet allowed all of us to greatly expand our culinary skill set. Really what Maggie does is demystify some of the aspects of cooking by first demonstrating the skills then immediately turning her kitchen over to the class to prepare an amazing meal. Maggie is a wonderful teacher, and a lot of fun too. I strongly recommend Whisked Away to expand your culinary horizons.

My in-laws gave my husband and I gift certificates to Whisked Away for Christmas (A no-brainer if you ever need ideas on a unique/fun gift!!!), and I finally got around to scheduling it for March 29. Maggie was very responsive to emails and even though she had to reschedule due to a personal emergency, she made sure when she reschedule our meal/menu it worked for us. As others mentioned, the class takes place in Maggie's charming home, and was not intimidating at all. Only 3 couples signed up for our night (Delicious Duck Dinner), and one didn't even show! Their loss - in more ways than one! That left 4 of us to tackle: Haricots Verts & Artichoke Salad with Hazelnut Vinaigretter, Polenta with Wild Mushrooms & Robiolo Cheese, Pan-Seared Duck Breasts with Red Wine-Raspberry Sauce and Meyer Lemon Shortcakes with Meyer Curd & Mixed Citrus.Maggie started the "class" by introducing herself and telling us about her career and background. Then we reviewed each recipe step by step, and she would demonstrate any tricky or unique ingredients/prep (artichokes, kumquats, etc). Since it was the four of us, she volunteered to take on a dish, and we happily obliged! Maggie got started on the mixed citrus marmalade/sauce for the dessert, and we split the rest up from there. She has all the measuring cups/spoons, utensils, bowls, cutting boards, knives, etc. all ready, so it makes the process a lot smoother. She even cleans up after you as you go - which helps to not destroy her kitchen in two seconds flat. I would consider myself a pretty good home-taught cook, but was really intrigued to learn how to prepare duck. I even picked up some other little tips and tricks along the way, surprising but very welcomed! She also has enough aprons for everyone, which was a very charming touch, and has since made me pull mine out more often at home! At the end, we sat down to a massive feast and had enough food to feed a small army!!! It was late by the time we finished since we were short on cooks, but she never rushed us even though we started to feel bad it was getting so late. She even sat down to enjoy the fruits of our labor with us and chat. You can't take the leftovers home due to Maggie's business license/regulations, so I hope she was able to use the leftovers somehow! She also allows you to BYOB - but, no drinking in the kitchen. Safety first people! She also gives everyone print-outs of the recipes so you can brag to people about the fancy pants meal you just made! Overall, a great experience and I hope to go back soon. In fact, I plan on setting up a private event with Maggie for my team off-site event at work!

A small group of friends and I attended Maggie's Dim Sum class this past week. My young children did Maggie's summer cooking camp a few years ago and I also attended a parent/child private class at Whisked Away, but this was my first time participating in an adult class. I can't wait to go again! Some details: - Whisked Away is in Maggie's adorable Arcadia home and she immediately makes you feel welcome. Her kitchen is set-up perfectly for her introduction, demonstrations, and hands-on work. - Classes are typically 3 hours long and start with an introduction of her background and culinary experience, overview of the recipes, and demonstration of skills and techniques you will need for the class. I feel like I learned more in this first hour than I have in all my years of cooking (did you know that cilantro and parsley are the only herbs you can chop the stems into your recipe too? ME NEITHER!). She also gave really helpful information about where to purchase unusual ingredients. You should attend one of Maggie's classes just for the first hour. - Maggie then breaks you into pairs to work through the recipes. We had a group of 7 at our class, so one person worked with Maggie's help but at the end we all chipped in and helped finish recipes. We were a group of 4 and it is fun getting to know the other 3 attendees. Everyone was so friendly and fun. Maggie has the kitchen throughly prepped before you start with all of your ingredients, measuring cups, bowls, etc. When the cooking starts, Maggie weaves her way in and out of the kitchen, doing the dishes, grabbing items from the refrigerator, gently providing helpful hints and working with you on your skills. She was a huge help with my knife skills (i.e. Prior to this class I had none, so what I actually mean by "my knife skills" is my zero knife skills). I left with a ton of helpful hints for the kitchen. - The last hour we all helped finalize our dishes, make the sauces, and enjoy the amazing recipes! We made four dim sum recipes with three sauces: traditional spring rolls, salmon money bags, golden shrimp balls, flower dumplings, sweet cilantro sauce, ginger soy dipping sauce, and sweet and sour sauce. Everything was awesome and it was so nice to sit down and enjoy a glass of wine (you can drink during the class to, just outside of the kitchen) and visit with our new cooking friends and Maggie. - I highly recommend one of Maggie's classes! You should go to her website now and sign up. You won't regret it.

I booked a team building event with Maggie at Whisked Away and it was amazing. There were 6 of us in our group and we each helped create a Taste of the Southwest menu for our lunch. I loved the cozy setting (you're in Maggie's home, which is beautiful) and general flow of the class. There was an introductory period where Maggie shared with us her career history, reviewed the the recipes we were making in detail, and demonstrated cooking techniques to get us started. We broke up in to pairs and had our lunch going in no time. It was fun, informative, relaxed, and ultimately delicious! Maggie is a great instructor - so patient and encouraging. I highly recommend Whisked Away!!

I was privileged enough to be able to join some friends in a cooking class, and I was completely blown away at how much fun I had. The food we cooked tasted wonderful, the ingredients were all fresh, the info we received about how to prepare the food, professional tips on ways of doing certain things, and the ability to learn from an incredibly knowledgeable Chef, was something that I will always be so thankful for. The atmosphere was very welcoming, friendly, and was a great way of learning new skills. I would wholeheartedly recommend any of these events to my family, friends, and anyone else thinking about trying it. Honestly, I never would have known about this place had it not been for some great friends. Thank you so incredibly much for the experience and I absolutely look forward to coming again!!

My Granddaughters had a fabulous time in the summer kids camp! They were both so nervous on the first day, but Maggie and staff do a great job of welcoming everyone. Both girls enthusiastically talked the whole way home about all they had learned and about the yummy food they made that they were unsure about, but then loved! It was a very positive and fun experience for both of them! Thank you Maggie!

Great opportunity for kids to learn how to cook and work safely in the kitchen. Always happy when these classes are offered.