This was the theme of the cooking class that my husband and I attended this evening. We received a gift certificate for the class as a Christmas gift. With a title like "Valentines in Venice", one would expect there to be some attempt at making the atmosphere somewhat romantic, even if it is supposed to be a class.

Well, to make a long story short, we busted our asses preparing complicated dishes under harsh fluorescent lighting with little instruction and nothing but water to drink...not a drop of wine in sight...not even a glass with the meal. No coffee was offered with dessert, which included chocolate biscotti. And we left hungry.

However, I hate to only have negative things to say about a gift that someone put a lot of thought into purchasing for us. I did learn about how to "degorge" eggplant: Slice the eggplant into 1/2" slices and heavily salt both sides. Place slices in a single layer on a towel in a baking pan and put another towel on top. Lay another pan on top of that and place a couple bricks on top and let press for an hour or so. This removes some of the moisture and bitterness from the eggplant in preparation for making various eggplant dishes. KEY NOTE: rinse salt off eggplant after pressing. This little bit of information was not shared with us until we completed our dish, which turned out way too salty. So that just added to the experience.