CozyMeal is a national brand seeking to directly connect us with local professional chefs and…read morecaterers. Whether it's for cooking classes, team building activities, or catering services, it's a great way to enjoy a night out with loved ones or new acquaintances. Instead of the typical dinner at your everyday restaurant, why not go behind the scenes in a relaxed atmosphere and directly engage the Chef? Better yet, you'll find yourself cooking and picking up tips along the way. Chefs are vetted and come from a diverse range of culinary backgrounds. Hosted at their place or yours, you're able to choose from variety of experiences. They've recently expanded to Philadelphia and Chef Renee Weigel is one of their brightest stars. She was awarded the James Beard Scholarship and will soon graduate from the Drexel Culinary Arts program. But don't let the fresh face fool you. Her experience in the restaurant industry starts from a young age. With local Pennsylvania Dutch roots, she's worked in numerous restaurants and has a passion for sustainable agriculture and sourcing ingredients from local farmers. She's also involved with LocalStove, which provides subscription-based meal prep planning or catering. For CozyMeal, Chef Renee's base of operations is the open kitchen at Good Food Flats. With a gorgeous tablescape and place settings all ready, I knew all I had to do was pop open a bottle of wine and relax. After a brief introduction, Chef had us join in on the prep for the meal. My friend Sembat got to work on chopping up some shallots while I went after the onion. This was all for the base of a nice red sauce, with both fresh vine-ripened and canned tomatoes. Touch of sugar, salt, and herbs and it was good to go. There was also plenty left for us to take home in several jars! Chef Renee then cooked up some arborio rice to make risotto. With this cooled, we helped roll out some rice balls with bread crumbs, which were then deftly fried to give us our first course - arancini with homemade red sauce. Delicious! I was excited for our next dish. Having had Vetri's spinach gnocchi several times, I actually attempted a recreation a few months back. That was definitely a fail, with the gnocchi turning out rock hard. But having Chef Renee provide me with proper instruction, we were able to create a rustic and fluffy iteration, with ricotta and fresh spinach coming through. The browned butter and Parmesan helped to create a salty bite that was simply delicious. Definitely helped myself to seconds of this. For dessert, a quick 15 to 20-minute baked olive oil cake was all we needed. Crispy on the outside and fluffy within, we had a lot of fun plating our own dishes. We even made homemade whipped cream and topped it all with powdered sugar and slivered orange slices. Bellisimo! Be sure to check out the CozyMeal options available in Philadelphia. Apart from the Italian Recipes cooking class with Chef Renee, she also has cooking classes for Dim Sum, Mexican, and French fare as well. CozyMeal is expanding quickly and appears to be a great way for folks to amp up date night or provide a creative way to host friends.

Our asian fusion class with chef Huda was amazing. We had so much fun learning and the food was…read moredelicious from the appetizer to the dessert. We can't wait to do it again.

Marilyn has such an incredible wealth of knowledge when it comes to healthy eating. I have learned…read moreabout so many new foods that I would never have tried before! I really never knew that healthy cooking could be so tasty! I highly recommend taking one of her classes, even if you aren't vegetarian. She also knows how to cook for a wide variety of diets, so her classes are extremely helpful if you have a family member who is struggling with a food allergy or illness that requires a special diet.

What a fun and informative class. Great recipes, good friends. Helpful ideas to use at home. Highly…read morerecommend!

I've taken three classes here with my mom and sister and every time we love it! Food is delicious…read moreand we learn helpful tips and tricks.

The cooking school in the Willow Grove Giant is one of my family's favorite places to go. They…read moreprovide classes for kids and adults. We've done the kids classes and most recently had my boys' birthday party there. Chef Dan who runs the school is excellent! I cannot say enough about him. He is great with the kids and makes the class entertaining and delicious! My children love going there! I highly recommend a birthday party with Chef Dan. He took care of everything and there was no stress! I even had to throw in a few last minute guests on him and he handled it like a pro. He made the boys birthday party a special one to remember!

I don't even know where to begin. My husband and I, along with some friends of ours, went to Onna's…read moreadorable space for dinner last night. This was one of the best culinary experiences I've ever had. We enjoyed a Spanish tapas themed menu, along with a cooking lesson. The food was out of this world, and it was fun to learn new kitchen tricks. My husband and I are huge foodies and cook all the time; even we learned new techniques! Onna is so kind, and easy to engage with; we just loved her! We would have stayed all night (we practically did) if we could have. Her mom assists her in the kitchen and she is just as sweet! We will be back for sure. We are already planning to her Onna cook for us again!

Full & Happy is a great space ! I took a cooking lesson with Onna, who is such a breath of fresh…read moreair. The food she cooks is delicious and definitely do-able at home. She gives you recipes and pictures of your lesson. She is a great teacher, always knowing or finding out the answers to your questions and she does a great job of not getting frustrated. I would definitely gift a lesson to a friend or do a lesson with a bunch of people again !

We had so much fun here learning how to cake decorate! The buttercream frosting was the best…read moretasting I've ever had, as well as the fondant. It was such an amazing experience and recommend it to everyone! P.S. I am not a cake fanatic but I ate it all by myself within 12 hours. It's VERY good!

From the owner: Ella Vanilla is a unique cake decorating supply shop, offering professional cake decorating tools…read moreand ingredients as well as hosting hands-on cake decorating classes for Adults and Kids.

This was my first experience with cocusocial I am happy to say it was positive!…read moreI have been on this 'try new things' this year and I take this challenge 1x/month! The Spanish Paella class appealed to me because since my trip to Spain I have dreamed about the paella I had there. I invited (2) of my friends and we all were excited to have fun! There was another group of (3) that signed up and this was the perfect class size so our instructor could provide and answer 1:1 questions! The instructor Iesha was so patient and informative! We all liked her energy and the information that she had to share! Let me say this..I am a novice cooker so I enjoy adding new skills to my cooking toolkit! The ingredients and food for our lesson was laid out and easy to use for 'step-by-step' directions! The end result was AMAZING! We had a good time cooking it and of course eating it was the bonus! Great time! I will return to take future classes!

So fun!!! My husband and I were able to make gnocchi today with our instructor Aisha in Philly! She…read moremade us feel comfortable and made sure everything step was explained carefully! The gnocchi turned it to be sooooo delicious too!! It was surprisingly easy to make after getting given the instructions, and I'm so excited to make it at home now! Aisha told us about the future meals she's teaching and I'm especially excited for ravioli and Pad Thai!

Tucked away on Old Lancaster Pike in Hockessin, Delaware is Chef's Haven, a small gourmet prepared…read morefood shop where Chef Mark has been teaching the local populace how to make really great food for the last 20 years!!! In the rear of the shop, past the fine cheeses, freshly baked baguettes, and clam chowder that is to die for, Chef Mark has a small kitchen area and raised settings for 10 lucky people to sit, watch and learn as Chef Mark and his Sous Chef Ethan prepare a themed menu upon which the class participants get to enjoy. And enjoy is truly an understatement!!!! I've taken three of the classes and have booked three more. My first class was Italian steak which began with a hearty white bean, escarole, and sausage soup, followed by a fresh and balanced panzanella salad, which the class dined happily on while Chef Mark prepared the main event. It was a 2+ inch thick steak topped with Gorgonzola cheese and a caramelized onion sauce. The taste, size, and quality of this steak was not to be believed!!! Chef Mark must have some deep connection to the Beef Gods themselves. In short, a magnificent meal where I met some very nice people, learned a lot from Chef Mark who is low key but very personable and full of entertaining stories of his life and career as a chef including tips on buying quality, healthy, ingredients!! My last class was a Greek themed class. It began with a tasty starter of slices of his fantastic, and freshly made baguettes and a dipping sauce of whipped feta, topped with finely diced green onion, garlic, and sundried tomato!! The Chef does not play when he is tempting your taste buds. It was delicious!!! This was followed by a Greek Lemon Chicken Soup which tasted so fresh, clean, and healthy, I designated it as the first new recipe I will try and make myself. The chicken, carrots, and soft rice in a yummy lemon tinged chicken stock was pure heaven!!! And if I hadn't already had a fork stuck in me, I'm done feeling the main course is ready!! 2 inch thick lamb chops sourced from the Greek Gods themselves, over crispy, browned roasted potatoes which were also covered with the pan drippings!!! Just kill me now so I can die a happy man!!! Or maybe just wait till after dessert!!! Once again, a fantastic meal taught simply by a fantastic Chef, and Sous Chef and enjoyed completely by a nice group of people who wanted to learn and expand their culinary horizons. Chef Mark and Sous Chef Ethan without a doubt nourished our minds and even more importantly our bellies!!! Take a class and savor the experience!!!!

Lovely evening watching Chef Mark prepare winter soups. Food was delicious and I learned plenty of…read morenew things!

An amazing experience in an awesome, creative, zen atmosphere with delicious food catering to our…read moreneeds. We had fantastic meals of homemade granola, cashew yogurt, peach, basil breakfast pizza and veggie tacos. We stayed in her bnb for two nights. The room was large, very clean and comfy. What a great place. Emily currently has 29 5-star reviews on Airbnb and now I know why. If your planning to visit, eat, stay in Athens, Hudson or Catskill give this place a call ahead of time and plan a stay, an experience or even catering for your special needs even. You'll be glad you did!

I wanted to have a diner party to celebrate my husband's retirement but was dreading having to plan…read moreand cook the meal. I really wanted to be able to enjoy the evening with our company. Mrs Pleasant to the rescue! Emily and I planned the dinner from her many options. She is just as excited as I am about fresh and healthy eating so the menu was full of wonderful seasonal produce. The evening of the party Emily arrived at my house then proceeded to create wonderful appetizers followed by a delicious dinner. She was very organized and it all went so smoothly! Emily is so... well, pleasant! A absolute delight to be around. Thank you Emily for giving me a relaxing perfect celebration dinner.