An easy way to learn the City Living recipes...

I did it a couple of times. It takes diligence, and a good chart of when they appear and where. :)

After a few times, I just stopped and made a mod that gives all the recipes to the active sim. A cheat command basically. When I get a sim to level 10 cooking and gourmet cooking using normal methods, I use the cheat to give them all the CL recipes. I use it as a "reward" for getting to the highest cooking levels.