Focusing on your personal passions, picking up a new skill or hobby, call it what you want, but all of the above are popular with career breakers. In my case, I learned Spanish fluently, learned to ski and got to develop my photography skills. When I went to India with Gap Adventures, I saw that one of the optional activities on our Rajasthan tour was a cooking class. I jumped on the chance to film this class. The class involves food, travel and passion, the perfect combination for career breakers. Check out the video and see what we learned and more importantly, what we cooked!

What We Learned About Indian Cooking In Our Class at The Spice Box

1. Store all your spices in a traditional Indian spice box to keep them fresh and handy.
2. Cook with oil, not butter. Butter not only adds fat, but also prevents the full taste of the spices from coming out.
3. Cook your spices first to really bring out their flavors.
4. Use fresh ingredients, always. 
5. Have a good attitude in the kitchen, always

My B-Side Tips for Taking a Cooking Class During Your Career Break Travel

This video isn’t about tips. It’s about showing you an alternative way to get more out of your career break trip. Cooking classes can be found in many countries. Some are for an evening like this one, others last a full day, and others are even more formal allowing you to obtain formal certification. Here are some additional tips to finding a class wherever you’re traveling.

• Get the recipes…ALWAYS This is fairly standard and shouldn’t be a problem.
• Take a market tour, when possible. It’s not offered with all classes. But, if you can go to the local market with your chef-teacher, take advantage. You will learn even more about the local cuisine.
• Find a class that allows you to participate. There are a few courses out there that merely show you how to prepare the dishes. You will have much more fun and get more out of the class if you are the one doing the cooking.
• Here are links to some of the recipes from my cooking class in Udaipur at The Spice Box:
• How to make Indian Chai
• How to make Kadhai Paneer

Check out the other topics covered in the Gap Adventures Career Break Video Series

1. Introduction
2. Packing Tips for a Career Break
3. Money Tips for Your Career Break
4. Security 101 While Traveling
5. Discovering A Country Through Its Food
6. How to Get Around Like a Local While Traveling
7. Why Consider a Small Group Tour Operator on Your Career Break
8. Cooking Class in India: Learn Something New on Your Career Break
9. Solo Travel: How to Travel Alone Without Feeling Lonely
10. Getting to Know Our Tour Leader in India

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Disclosure: I am serving as the Gap Adventures media spokesman for career break travel. While this series is part of a broader campaign to raise awareness about career break travel, all opinions, tips and advice are mine.

Tags: career break advice, career break travel, Ditch the Cubicle

This entry was posted on Monday, September 12th, 2011 at 7:00 am and is filed under Ditch the Cubicle, Home Page Show Updates, India, Jeff's blog, Learn Something New, Life on the Road, Planning, Smarter Travel, travel advice & tips, What to do on a career break. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.