Want to master scallopine? Write a best-seller? Play the violin like a virtuoso? You can learn the basics from world-class connoisseurs without ever having to leave home.

Through the online magic of MasterClass.com, you can study screenwriting with Martin Scorsese or acting with Helen Mirren. Learn the art of photography with Annie Leibovitz, or the art of magic and sleight of hand with the fabled Penn and Teller.

You can play the violin with Itzhak Perlman, perfect your jazz piano with Herbie Hancock, or learn to write a best-selling thriller with Dan Brown or David Baldacci. Its all there, at surprisingly low rates, with curricula ranging from the art of the deal to the art of cooking with Wolfgang Puck.

If cooking is your thing, you can also take lessons live in your own kitchen from culinary experts”chefs who will come to you in New York, Chicago, D.C., Los Angeles, Connecticut, New Jersey or San Diego. Find them online at TableAtHome.com, invite a few friends over and dine in. Brush up on barbecue, brunch or international cuisines, with live instruction among your own pots and pans.

Or maintain your privacy and learn to cook one-on-one via Skype with an internationally based chef. Just hang up your keys, open a bottle of wine, andvideo-call a chef from around the world. Master the art of paella with step-by-step instruction from an executive chef in Spain, carbonara from an Italian chef, or jambalaya direct from New Orleans. Choose your faves at TheChefAndTheDish.com, and get personal attention with a 90-minute lesson.

Personal training has new meaning these days. So indulge, and follow your passion.

Published with permission from RISMedia.