Kevin and I headed to Tampa for Christmas to see the family. It’s becoming our annual tradition – now our 4th year doing so. And each year, we’ve manage to do some type of fun activity together. A lot of places are closed in Tampa over the Christmas holidays, which makes planning a little tough. But this year, we managed to find a cooking class at Sur La Table. Best of all – no clean up! This is my kind of cooking.
Brushing up on our Culinary Skills
Kevin and mom are ready to start cooking!
Sur La Table, the fancy-schmancy cookware store, recently opened in Hyde Park Village located in historic South Tampa. Kevin and I live right by a Sur La Table in Los Angeles and have always wanted to take one of their classes (which they host nearly every day of the week). The hands-on classes include instruction and carefully measured out ingredients (making us all wish cooking could be this simple!). But easily, the biggest hit was the free coffee and the crackers and dip. That blue cheese dip is worth it for the class alone!
I think most of us could have just eaten the hummus and blue cheese dip for lunch. Clearly, I couldn’t snap this photo fast enough before someone scooped the hummus!
We originally were signed up for a “Flavors of Thailand” group class. However, due to a computer glitch, we ended up getting a private course just for the family. But this allowed us to pick whatever menu we wanted. In order to “appease all tastes” (i.e. one particularly picky eater – who will remain unnamed!), I selected “A Taste of Tuscany” as the course theme.
Dad, Christa an enthusiastic Mark, me and my mom start prepping our first Tuscan dish
We separated into two groups and made my personal favorite dish — bruschetta with slow roasted shallots and goat cheese. It’s a pretty simple dish (especially when you have all the ingredients measured out in cups for you!). Even if all the ingredients weren’t prepped, it would be a pretty quick appetizer to make.
My favorite dish of the class – bruschetta with slow roasted shallots and goat cheese
We then moved onto the main course where we made seared rosemary pork tenderloin with red wine mushroom sauce. Clearly selecting a good cut of meat is critical to this dish. Sur La Table provided a really tender cut.
My mom slices the pork at an angle to make it even more tender – against the grain
My mom is convinced this is the first time that dad has ever sliced pork. He’s a natural! Looks like someone will be cooking more often (maybe… okay probably not!)
Finally, the topper of it all — dessert! We made a vanilla custard with olive oil drizzled over the top. Though, I start wondering if I shouldn’t have eaten so much of that blue cheese dip (which I’m sure all of us were thinking!).
Vanilla custard with olive oil drizzled on top
The class takes about 3 hours. Though, I think we ended up going over that time. And had a delayed start due to some of our “fashionably late” family members! Best of all, once you finish class you’re back in the shop and get a 10% discount off all items. A good activity to burn off all that food you just ate.
We did it! And nobody lost a finger. A fun time had by all.
LOWDOWN:
Individual classes range from $59-$85 per person (most in the $69-$79 range)
Sur La Table is located at 711 S Dakota Ave, Tampa, FL 33606.
The store is open Monday-Saturday from 10 AM – 9 PM and Sunday from 12-6 PM.
Full list of classes can be found here.
No Comments, Be The First!