There are several guidebooks on vacation cooking courses. One of the most comprehensive, Guide to Cooking Schools 2002 (ShawGuides, $24.95), provides information on 632 vacation cooking courses worldwide. ShawGuides also publishes updated listings at www. shawguides.com.
Fine Cooking, Bon Appetit, Cooking Light and other cooking magazines regularly advertise cooking classes and tours. Some tour operators now specialize in culinary travel; one is Food & Wine Trails, a recently launched subdivision of HMS Travel Group in Santa Rosa, Calif. For more information, call 800-367-5348 or visit www.foodandwinetrails.com.
The Cooking School of the Rockies in Boulder, Colo., offers five-day vacation cooking classes that cover the basics, from soup to butter sauces, from braising vegetables to roasting meat. The school also offers more advanced courses in pastry and French, Indian and Asian cuisines. For more information, call 303-494-7988 or see www.cookingschoolrockies .com.
Cultural Homestay International, a nonprofit cultural-exchange program, sponsors cooking-class vacations, most recently in Provence. For more information, call 800-395-2726 or visit www.chinet.org.
In the Baltimore area, community college professor and tour operator Peter Adams leads culinary expeditions to Provence, Tuscany and elsewhere in Europe. Adams teams up with his wife, Donna Crivello, owner of Donna's coffee bars and restaurants, to arrange cooking classes, sightseeing, wine tasting and walking tours. For more information, call Peter Adams Tours at 888-420-4242 or visit www. peteradamstours.com.
A Cook's Table, a gourmet cookware shop in Baltimore's Federal Hill, also sponsors cooking tours to such places as Umbria and Ireland. For more information, call the store at 410-539-8600 or see www. acookstable.com.
Several Maryland inns offer getaways during which guests learn to make - and then get to enjoy - multicourse meals:
At the Inn at Buckeystown, south of Frederick, chef Kattie Smallwood and pastry chef Michael Perrou are the hosts of seasonal cooking weekends. The inn also offers a popular "Chocolate to Die For" mur- der mystery and cooking get- away. For more information, call 301-874-5755 or see www. innatbuckeystown.com.
The Kent Manor Inn on the Eastern Shore offers three-day, midweek sessions that feature hands-on lessons by chef Dennis Shakan in the preparation and presentation of modern American cuisine. For more information, call 800-820-4511 or visit www.kentmanor.com.
At the Deer Park Inn, by Western Maryland's Deep Creek Lake, French chef and owner Pascal Fontaine teaches two-day cooking classes. For more information, call 301-334-2308 or see www. deerparkinn.com.