Every summer Diane Kochilas, and her husband, artist Vassilis Stenos, escape to her ancestral village on the island of Ikaria,.  For several years they ran a restaurant together, but decided last summer to concentrate instead on private dining and cooking and art classes.  They invite people from all over the world to join them for a serene week of cooking, gardening, painting and more.  The island, a wing-shaped parcel of land named for the felled Ikarus of Greek mythology, is in the eastern Aegean, between cosmopolitan Mykonos and touristy Samos. However, it is a world apart.

Ikaria is untrammeled and pristine. The village, Christos, where Diane and Vassilis have their school, is on the north side of the island nestled among pine forests overlooking the sea. Life here still moves with the unhurried, timeless rhythms of an agrarian community. It is the perfect place for a truly holistic vacation, to forget about the world and immerse yourself in nature.

The cooking classes take place in a hundred-year-old traditional village home, surrounded by the couple's organic garden, olive and fruit trees, and sprawling, untamed nature.  As a result, most of the produce used in each class is organic, and guests are encouraged to help out (optional, of course!) in the extensive vegetable garden. 

The cooking school week begins with an introduction to Greek Food and Wine and a Welcome Dinner on Sunday evening.  Classes begin on Monday. They are both hands-on and demo and each session is organized around a full meal and menu, with wines and other Greek spirits. Guests dine with Diane and Vassilis in the garden, either at lunch or at dinner, depending on the time of the individual class. The remainder of the day is free to enjoy the pleasures of a remote Greek island vacation. 

Diane’s philosophy behind each of the classes is to promote the healthful, flavorful, simple foods of her beloved adopted land. The menus are geared toward home cooks and the ingredients are available in kitchens far away from her Greek-island retreat. Every class is taught in English. 

What the classes include:

• Daily 3 - 4 hour hands-on cooking session and meal with internationally acknowledged Greek cooking expert Diane Kochilas in her traditional Greek-island villa restaurant; in each class, students will prepare a full menu including mezethes (small plates or appetizers), savory pies, a whole range of wonderful, healthful, light vegetable- and bean-based dishes, meat and fish specialties, breads, and desserts
• A visit and class with a local, truly artisanal cheese maker for a glimpse of age-old island cheese-making techniques
• A cheese tasting and discussion of regional Greek goat’s milk, sheep’s milk and cow’s milk cheeses
• A visit with a local beekeeper and a tasting of regional Greek honeys
• An introduction and tasting of regional Greek wines
• An introduction and tasting of Greek olive oil

Students lodge in a cluster of studio apartments or bungalows within walking distance from the school.  Each space is a small apartment, outfitted with its own small kitchen and full bathroom.  

As part of the program, Diane also offers optional hiking tours of the island, along the many footpaths that thread through Ikaria’s mountains and valleys. And if you are staying in Athens, Diane also runs a Food Lover’s Walking Tour of Athens that will take you through three of the best markets in Athens. 

€ 2,050 per person for double occupancy

• Lodging in Athens and travel arrangements are not included. 
• Hiking tours are an optional 
• Optional lodging at beachfront hotel 

• Welcome to Ikaria!  Sunset Welcome Dinner in Nas; we all meet and dine together for the first time at a lovely taverna at sunset

• 9:30 a.m.  Pick-up at Hotel Cavos Bay
• 10 a.m.-2 p.m.  Cooking Session:  Introduction to Greek Island Cuisine
  • Students learn to make a variety of dishes culled from the vast repertoire of Island Cooking, full of fresh, robust flavors and simple techniques
  • Menu Selections (subject to change):
    • Greek-Island Roasted Eggplant Salad with Capers and Tomatoes
    • Roasted Eggplant Salad with feta and Herbs
    • Santorini Fava (Creamy Puree of Yellow Split Pea) with two garnishes
    • Cretan Barley-Rusk meze
    • Ikarian bread salad with fruit, vegetables and herbs
    • Ikarian vegetable medley "Soufico"
    • Ikarian potato salad with tomatoes and herbs
    • Fresh fruit
• Return to hotel--afternoon free.
• 9 p.m. pickup--dinner in town at a local taverna for grilled specialties and time in the village 

• 9 a.m.  Pick-up at Hotel Cavos Bay for visit to local beekeeper
• 12 noon  Stop at Villa Thanassi
  • Honey Tasting
  • Greek Cheese Tasting
  • Light lunch in our garden and return to hotel or stay in village, at will
• 5:30  Pick-up at hotel for cooking session:  Fearless Phyllo
  • Menu Selections (subject to change):
    • Basic homemade phyllo pastry
    • Zucchini and herb pie
    • Savory pumpkin pies
    • Multi-layered northern Greek cheese pie
    • Open-faced chicken pie
    • Small greens and cheese pies
    • Custard phyllo dessert
• Dinner in our garden with sampling of Greek wines. 
• 11-11:30 p.m.  Return to Hotel

• 9:30 a.m.  Pick-up from Hotel
• 10 a.m.  Cooking Session:  Recipes from a Greek Country Garden 
  • Menu Selections (subject to change):
    • Stuffed grape leaves
    • Stuffed eggplants
    • Greens and lamb avgolemono
    • Vassili's fries
    • Black-eyed peas with wild fennel and olive oil
    • Green beans with trahana
    • Yogurt mousse with sour cherry spoon sweet
• 2-2:30 p.m.  Depart for Hotel; Afternoon free
• 5:15 p.m.  Pick up from Cavos Bay for excursion to Theoktisti Monastery and wine tasting at Karimanlis Estate in Pigi 
• 9-9:30 p.m.  Dinner at Popi's taverna in Fytema, a local landmark for really good home-cooked local food
• 11:30-midnight  Return to Hotel

• 9:30 a.m.  Pick-up from Cavos Bay for the Hot Springs in Aghios.  Drive around island to see it in its entirety
• Lunch on great fresh fish at the port on Aghios Kyrikos
• 3 p.m.  Return
• 8 p.m.  Pick-up from Cavos Bay for Cooking Session:  Fish in the Greek Island Kitchen.  We will cook the day's catch as well as with other fish and seafood.  
  • Menu selections (subject to change):
    • Island fish soup
    • Shrimp with creamy ouzo sauce
    • Cretan octopus with fennel, orange and olives
    • Seafood cigars with spicy pepper sauce
    • Rice-stuffed squid
• We will enjoy our seafood dinner in the garden and sample a variety of Greek island wines.

• 9 a.m.  Pick-up from Hotel 
• Walking excursion to Diamanto Plaka's Home and Farm to see Goats, milking and cheese making.
• Light lunch on her Veranda
• Noonish return to Cavos; afternoon free
• 5:30 p.m.  Pick-up at Cavos for Christos
• Final Cooking Session:  A Meze Feast
  • Menu Selections (subject to change):
    • A not-so-classic tzatziki
    • Skordalia
    • Roasted tomatoes
    • Shrimp saganaki
    • Haloumi cheese pan-fried with ouzo and raisins
    • marinated grilled octopus
    • Light ground-meat keftedes
    • Kid roasted in the wood-burning oven with potatoes
    • Loukoumades (fritters) with honey and cinnamon

• Depart Ikaria.