The Unexpected Beginning of Cook Eat Live Happy

How Online Cooking Classes Turned Into Culinary Experiences in Sicily

Cook Eat Live Happy didn’t begin as a business plan. It began as a way to stay connected.

Like many people, the early days of Covid felt disorienting. The rhythms of everyday life stopped almost overnight. Restaurants closed, travel paused, gatherings disappeared.

But one thing remained constant: people still needed to eat. And more than that, they needed to feel connected.

Cooking became that bridge.

What started as a few Instagram Live cooking classes, quickly turned into something much more meaningful than I expected. People logged in from their kitchens across different cities and countries. Some cooked with their partners, others with their children, some simply wanted a friendly voice and a shared activity during a strange and uncertain time.

For a few hours, we cooked together.

We laughed when things didn’t go exactly as planned.

And we sat down to eat the same meal, thousands of miles apart.

Those evenings reminded me of something simple but powerful:

Food has always been about connection.

Not perfection.

Not appearance.

Connection.

But there was still a part of me that felt restless.

Like many people in the years following Covid, life had shifted in ways I hadn’t expected. Relationships were changing, priorities were being questioned, and I found myself in the middle of a personal reset. A separation was unfolding, and with it came the quiet realization that the life I had carefully built no longer quite fit.

I had spent years cooking professionally and developing recipes, yet something deeper was pulling at me.

A desire to start again somewhere unfamiliar.

To see the world with fresh eyes.

To reconnect with the parts of myself that had been quiet for too long.

And that pull had a very specific name.

Sicily.

What’s funny is that I had no family ties to the island. No grandparents from a small Sicilian village. No childhood summers spent here.

My connection to Sicily began much more simply: curiosity.

Within the span of four months, I found myself returning three times.

The first time was curiosity.

The second time was confirmation.

By the third trip, I knew something had shifted in a way that was impossible to ignore.

Sicily has a way of doing that.

It’s not just the beauty of the coastline or the layers of history that sit quietly in the architecture. What struck me most was the relationship between the people and the land.

Mornings often began with a quick espresso with Mario, standing shoulder to shoulder with locals starting their day. From there I would wander the markets, where the rhythm of daily life unfolded in front of me.

Fishmongers calling out the morning’s catch.

Crates of tomatoes stacked in impossible shades of red.

Bundles of wild fennel perfuming the air.

Vendors insisted I taste everything.

A slice of orange just picked from a nearby grove.

Warm bread torn open and drizzled with olive oil.

Almonds drying in the sun.

The ingredients themselves were telling the story.

And slowly, I began to understand that food here isn’t something separate from life.

It is life.

Lunch stretches into the afternoon. Conversations linger. Recipes are passed down not through measurements but through memory and instinct.

The more time I spent here, the more I realized that Sicily hadn’t just become a place I loved to visit.

It had quietly become a place where I felt like myself again.

The cooking followed naturally. Simple dishes. Few ingredients. But each one deeply rooted in the land around it.

That’s when Cook Eat Live Happy began to evolve.

What started as online classes during lockdown slowly transformed into something much more tangible: experiences that connect people directly with culture, with ingredients, and with the places those ingredients come from.

Not just cooking recipes. Understanding where food begins.

Today, when guests join me in Sicily, we start the same way I did... walking through a market. Listening to vendors call out the day’s best produce. Choosing eggplants still warm from the sun. Smelling fresh basil and citrus.

From there, we cook.

But what we’re really doing is something deeper. We’re reconnecting with something that modern life often makes us forget.

That food isn’t just nourishment.

It’s memory.

It’s culture.

It’s land.

And when shared at a table, it becomes community.

Looking back, it’s funny to think that Cook Eat Live Happy began through a computer screen.

Because today it’s rooted firmly in real places, real ingredients, and real human connection.

And in many ways, that connection continues to evolve.

For three years, I’ve welcomed travelers into Palermo for market tours and cooking classes, a few hours spent discovering the flavors and traditions of Sicily together.

But recently, that circle has grown wider.

This year I've partnered with Santi and Dara, and am pleased to announce my role as Tour Director of Gems of Sicily It’s a natural extension of what I’ve always loved most: connecting people with this island through its food, wine, and culture.

Instead of a single afternoon in Palermo, I now have the privilege of guiding guests through Sicily over nine nights and ten days, traveling across the island, meeting producers, cooking together, sharing long meals, and experiencing the rhythms of daily life that make this place so special.

In many ways, the intention hasn’t changed at all.

It’s still about gathering around a table.

Only now, that table stretches across an entire island.

Cook well.

Eat slowly.

Live fully.

And if Sicily is calling you, I’d be honored to share it with you.

xo

Priscilla