Seasons of My Heart Cooking School

Seasons of My Heart was such a special experience. It’s part food tour and tasting, part cooking class, part dinner. Most importantly, it’s run by a trained, professional chef. Chef Kaylen has led teams at famous Napa Valley and vNew York restaurants, so to watch him work, his skill, his communication…it is awe-inspiring and a privilege. You can tell his professional kitchen instincts kick in as he cleans up work stations and effortlessly buzzes around from group to group making sure they’re on target. You end with a deliciously huge 5-course meal. The food tour begins with some small tastings and samples, and goes deeper into cultural significance and meaning, as he explains how crickets are used, the different type of Oaxaca cheese. We have food throughout the tour, sampling tamales, sitting down for barbacoas. Kaylen knows exactly what goes into each of these dishes and frames it as such. We pick up a few ingredients that we taste later on, and we deeply understand the chilis that we’ll be using later to cook a mole. We get to the kitchen to debrief, understand the cooking techniques, pair up and make several dishes. While you don’t get to see a dish end-to-end, the overview is sufficient to make you feel learned and confident in what to do at home. We get together at the end to share the 5-courses, plated beautifully and framed with professional-level dining ware. I was recommended to take this by my chef mentor and teacher, who cooks with Rick Bayless of Chicago; they both took Seasons of My Heart with Kaylen’s mom many years ago. It’s great to see that her legacy carries on, with a modern twist, through her son inside their beautiful family kitchen.

Our bunch thoroughly enjoyed this excursion from Yolanda’s amazing trip through the market to the actual cooking! Great food, lots of fun (and learning) doing the cooking and the food turned out deliciously

Loved the cooking class with seasons of my heart and Kaelin/the team there. Everyone involved is lovely and makes it clear the priority is to learn, have fun, and eat veryyy good food. The tour takes up your whole day but goes by so quick! You start at the market trying lots of local dishes and ingredients which is really fun and massive! Definitely somewhere that would be very intimidating on your own so I felt super lucky to get to walk around just observing (and eating). The school itself is beautiful and the recipes are amazing. Everyone gets to focus on one of the dishes but you all watch each other for the most important parts of each recipe. You don’t need to be a professional chef to do this but if you are you won’t be bored. 10/10 experience 😊

Oaxaca is known as the culinary capital of Mexico, but despite all the great restaurants in Oaxaca (and there are many), I had the best food at Seasons of My Heart Cooking School. How often do you go to a restaurant and everything single thing you order is a 10 out of 10? Every one of Susana’s recipes was a 10. She knows how to make great food, and is a very kind and generous teacher who goes out of her way to make sure our experience exceeds our expectations. I give the school an A++++. It is run like a fine-tuned machine. She has the best staff you could possibly imagine and they’ll guide you through the process of making authentic Oaxaca food using traditional methods. We made chocolate from scratch starting with the seeds, and different types of moles, soups, salads and desserts! It’s an incredibly supportive and fun atmosphere, and I learned so much. Susana has created a truly unique and authentic cooking experience in Oaxaca. I highly recommend it!

Seasons of My Heart Cooking School The 6 day Culinary & Culture Program offered a unique and authentic experience for one wanting to immerse in the Oaxacan traditions of food, unique ingredients, recipes for the home cook, and an education about centuries old origins of Mexican food and the history of its indigenous peoples. The program included interactive hands-on cooking instruction as well as many opportunities to enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes of this remarkable mile high city located in south central Mexico. The course overview barely scratches the surface of this meticulously planned, well organized, and professionally managed program; full of delightful ‘special ingredients’ and surprises within a rigorous interactive schedule of visits to artisan workshops, markets, artisanal food demonstrations by experts, and unique dining experiences within the gastronomy of Oaxaca. Renowned Chef Susana Trilling and her culinary team created a thrilling and seamless interactive culinary educational experience in the most unique of locations, Seasons of My Heart, her home, a short drive from El Centro into rural Oaxaca. Days began with tours hosted by Kaelin Ulrich, Chef Trilling’s son, a globally recognized chef and authority on all things ‘Oaxaca’. Our welcome dinner was hosted in tandem with another son, Jesse, who carries on the family legacy of their agricultural enterprise. A detailed and seamlessly choreographed daily schedule included traditional menus and well defined recipes culminating in the ultimate enjoyment of the multi course meals cooked by class participants assisted by an efficient and delightful culinary team. Chef Trilling’s remarkable knowledge, classic style and gracious heart was the gift wrap to this one of a kind program that continues to flourish after her original vision and passion so many years ago. You can take a cooking class in hundreds of kitchens around Oaxaca and no doubt learn something new. However, none will compare to what you will experience in Chef Susana Trilling’s kitchen at Seasons of My Heart. Most recently the Industries of Travel and Gastronomy have set their eyes on Oaxaca and its surrounding rural areas of artisan crafts and has designated Oaxaca a Top 10 Travel Destination. (Travel and Leisure, 2023). For me, I came to cook with Chef Susana Trilling and it was a dream come true. Johanna Lockhart Tucson, AZ October, 2023

Can’t speak highly enough of Calen and what their family has created. Many friends made, and so much learned throughout the day.

Truly an amazing day out! Starting at the local markets with Yolanda and learning about the local produce, then heading to the ranch to make a beautiful 5 course meal with the amazing chef Suzanna and her team made the day a truly memorable experience! I cannot recommend this enough!

My husband and I spent a wonderful day at this cooking school. From the tour of the market to the end of the day dessert, everything was well organized and fun. Yolanda, Emily, and Dulce as well as the great women at the school were all knowledgeable and friendly. We are now making some of the recipes at home. Highly recommend.