The Cooking Class
You’ll crack a coconut and make the cream yourself — the real one, not the can. That’s where the flavor comes from, and it’s the first thing most people have never done. You’ll press the juice too, from whatever’s ripe that week.
Then Chef Alecia sets everyone up with a job. You chop, you season, you taste as you go. She teaches the spice as you work — why those two belong together, why the pimento goes in when it does, what the ginger is doing besides tasting good. She learned all of it standing beside her grandmother over a woodfire, and none of it was ever written down.
Three hours, from 11:00 to 2:00. At the end you sit down together to a three-course lunch you made yourself — and you leave knowing how to make it again.
Good for a girls’ weekend, a family in town, a birthday, or a team that’s tired of restaurants.
$150 per guest · $750 minimum · up to 10 guests
How the three hours run
Whole coconut, machete, the way she does it in Negril. Fresh coconut water in the glass. The meat gets grated for later.
Whatever is in season — soursop, June plum, sorrel, ginger, cucumber, tamarind. Real fruit, no simple syrup.
Starter, main, dessert. Every guest is on a station. Alecia moves between you, correcting technique, tasting, adjusting seasoning.
Eat what you made. Ask questions. Get the recipe cards to take home.
Kitchen clean, leftovers boxed. You have three recipes you actually know how to cook now.
Technique you take home
The rub, the wet marinade, the smoke. Why almost every jerk you have had in the US is off, and how to fix it in your own oven.
Blooming the spice, not dumping powder in a sauce. Curry goat, curry shrimp, curry chickpea — same technique, different protein.
The coconut, the thyme, the scotch bonnet whole and pulled at the right moment. This is the dish most people ruin first.
How to cook a leafy green so it does not taste like a leafy green. Also good for spinach, kale, mustard greens.
Sorrel, tamarind, ginger, cucumber-mint. What you can grow in Florida. What you can only get frozen.
The whole pepper, no seeds. When to leave it in and when to pull it out. Nobody is running to the sink for water.
The details
All ingredients, coconuts, aprons, and recipe cards included. Sit-down lunch afterward.
Five guests or more clears the minimum. Below that, we bill the minimum.
Larger groups do not work for this format — there is not enough counter space to keep everybody at a station. For twelve or more, look at the live cooking show instead.
Three hours from coconut to coffee. Weekday or weekend, ask what dates she has open.
Within 25 miles of Sarasota. Free anywhere in Florida for parties of ten or more.
Balance due 48 hours before the class. Full refund up to seven days out. Short-notice bookings (inside 48 hours) are paid in full and non-refundable.
Who this is for
Confident but stuck in a rut. Want to break out of the same six dinners.
Date-night alternative that gives you both something to keep.
Girls’ weekends, book clubs, birthdays where you want to actually do something.
Kids cook alongside adults. The teenagers turn out to be pretty good.
Onsites, offsites, and any team-building where you would rather cook than trust-fall.
Same. Come learn.
Frequently asked
At the class, you do the work. She guides. At the live cooking show, she cooks and you watch, and it can seat up to thirty. Same food, different level of hands-on.
Up to ten guests. $150 per guest, $750 minimum. Larger groups than ten do not work for the class format — look at the cooking show for anything bigger.
Eleven to two, three hours, weekday or weekend. Crack a coconut, press fresh juice, cook a three-course lunch, sit and eat.
Yes. Printed recipe cards for each dish, so you can make it again the next week without guessing.
She brings ingredients, spice mixes, aprons, coconuts, and recipe cards. You provide the kitchen, a stove, and the people.
Send an inquiry with your date, guest count, and city. 30% deposit holds the date, balance due 48 hours before the class.
Staying the week? A class one afternoon and dinner another night is a good way to do it. Tell us on the form and we’ll quote both together.