Happy Monday, all! I hope you’ve been enjoying the first few days of spring.
For those who don’t follow me on Instagram, I wanted to share a fun update! Last month, Bold Journey Magazine reached out to ask me some questions about blogging, brand building, the beauty of local tourism, and the challenge of staying disciplined and focused in a world full of distractions. Doing this interview was so much fun, and I’m so excited to share it! Click here to read the full conversation.
Wherever you follow me – on Instagram, the blog or both – you know I’m always on the hunt for unique and creative date night ideas. Don’t get me wrong – Tania and I enjoy going out for dinner and drinks – but we love doing something a little bit different, whether that’s a unique experience, event, class or workshop. Bonus points if food is also involved! At the place I’m writing about today, you can learn a new skill and enjoy a delicious dinner to boot. Sounds like a win-win to me!
Last month, Tania and I went to Chocolate Tales for their Italian Ravioli Feast and we had a pasta-tively amazing time! Chocolate Tales is a luxury chocolatier that hosts a variety of hands-on culinary classes and workshops – and it’s not limited to chocolate! You can learn how to make anything from pasta to pizza to croissants (and yes, they also host various chocolate workshops and tastings.) Chocolate Tales classes are held in Hamilton (at their flagship studio) and in downtown Toronto (at the Hotel Victoria.) We’d previously been to their Hamilton location for a chocolate tasting and wine pairing class…
…so we were excited to return for the pasta-making workshop! Once we arrived at the studio, we were greeted by Chocolate Tales owner – and workshop leader – David Levy. We parked ourselves at a table and chatted with our fellow “students” as retro Italian music filled the room.
The workshop started with David giving us a brief history of ravioli, which dates back to 14th century Italy. He then walked us through making our own pasta dough using flour, eggs and a little bit of water. Neither Tania nor I had ever made homemade pasta before, so we were excited to learn a new skill!
Admittedly, Tania was way better at it than me – must be all the years of experience making perogies with her family! The great thing about this workshop is David doesn’t just tell you what to do, he walks you through each step hands-on. I’m definitely a visual learner, so this helped me a lot.
After forming and chilling our dough, we moved onto the homemade tomato sauce. They say wine is the secret to a great pasta sauce, and I wholeheartedly agree… whether it actually makes it into the sauce is another story! Luckily, Chocolate Tales seems to have a similar philosophy when it comes to cooking with wine. David poured glasses for everyone to sip on while we chopped our tomatoes and got started on the ricotta filling.
After chopping up the tomatoes and combining them with spices and herbs, it was cooking time! The Chocolate Tales studio has multiple hot plates so each group can cook their own food.
Then came – in my opinion – the best part of the workshop: kneading, rolling and cutting out our pasta dough. David showed us how to use a pasta machine to roll our dough into thin strips – it was actually so much fun to use!
We dropped spoonfuls of ricotta filling onto the dough, used ravioli stamps to cut out our pasta, then crimped and sealed the edges.
And then it was cooking time!
After boiling the ravioli, we topped it with our homemade tomato sauce and lots of parmesan (when it comes to my parm preferences, I’m team #moreismore) and then we sat down to enjoy the fruits of our labour. There’s honestly nothing tastier than fresh homemade pasta!
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Chocolate Tales class without a little bit of chocolate! For dessert, we enjoyed their delicious affogato truffles. Chocolate Tales’ artisan truffles are handcrafted right in their Hamilton studio, using the highest quality ingredients – and you can taste the difference. I first fell in love with their chocolate last summer when we attend the chocolate tasting and wine pairing workshop, where we sampled no less than 12 of their delicious chocolates. (Apparently, my #moreismore philosophy applies to chocolate too!)
Bonus: all of their products are peanut and tree nut free, so they make the perfect gift for anyone. Their studio has a tempting selection of chocolate bars, bark and truffles available for purchase.
And their chocolates are seriously beautiful! Here’s a look at the ones we tried last summer.
Not only is Chocolate Tales generous with their truffles; they’re generous with their pasta dough. We’d made (more than) enough ravioli for the two of us to enjoy, but everyone in the class had lots of dough left over, so David provided us with takeout boxes. We made some extra ravioli to take home, and we also used the pasta machine to make spaghetti and fettuccine noodles. Not only did we enjoy a delicious meal onsite, but our next two dinners at home were covered!
Check out my Instagram reel to see the Italian Ravioli Feast in action. Chocolate Tales typically hosts these classes once or twice a month on Saturdays at their Hamilton studio, and tickets are $85 each ($101.15 with taxes and booking fees.) The next class with availability isn’t until May, so I’d recommend grabbing your tickets now – this is a popular class and it fills up quickly! You can view the Hamilton schedule here and the Toronto schedule here. If you don’t want to wait that long to try out Chocolate Tales (and I don’t blame you!) then check out one of their other workshops. Whether you want to learn the art of making chocolates, croissants, cream puffs, macarons, sourdough, or pizza… there’s a workshop for you!
What’s one cooking or baking skill you’d love to learn? Personally, I’d love to learn the art of croissant-making, but I’m also eyeing Chocolate Tales’ cupcake-decorating class. I can bake a delicious cupcake, but making them look pretty… well, that’s a whole other matter.
Thanks for reading, and have a great week ahead!
Our experience at Chocolate Tales was generously hosted by the owners. As always, all opinions and thoughts are entirely my own.
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