Cooking and Eating at Upstream

Thank you guys for all the concern about my neck.  I'm happy to report that it feels pretty much normal again.  Thank god, because that was a miserable couple of days! 

As you can probably tell, the neck issues threw me off my game this week.  There wasn't much note worthy stuff to report unless you guys want to see pictures of the cereal that I ate for dinner and self portraits of me lying on the couch with my neck propped up under pillows, which was basically what I did while in neck agony.  Yeah....

Anyway, I was absolutely psyched to get out of the house this morning and do something fun.  I had an invite to go with some girls to Upstream in South Park for a cooking class!  I joined Cindi, Jen, Ashley, and Sabrina to experience a Valentine's Day themed four course meal. 

Jen and I were armed and ready with our cameras...

We were given a menu complete with recipes and instructions for all the courses they taught.

First up was the Chilled Lobster Crudo.

Our chef had us laughing as he explained picking out and taking home a lobster and the subsequent preparations involved.

The class wasn't hands on.  We just watched and listened and then were fed a plate of each course.

We all loved the vanilla and lemon vinaigrette on the salad, and the lobster was buttery and delicious.  I also really loved hearts of palm, and want to go buy some and throw it in more salads at home.  The black stuff is caviar, if you are wondering, which tasted salty.

There was also a wine pairing, and the first was Cusamano Insolia (white).

It was kind of dry, but light.  I really liked it.

Next up was the course I was most afraid of, the Pickled Blue Point Oysters.  I'm not a big clam/mussel/oyster person, but I decided to just go for it. 

It was actually really delicious and I didn't mind the oysters when blended with the other flavors.  I loved the golden beets too, wow!

Our second wine was a Chateau Haut-La-Pereyre Blanc (unpictured).  It was kind of like a Reisling in my opinion.  A little fruitier than the first selection.

Our third course was Togarashi Seared Ahi Tuna with cabbage and sweet potato puree.

Loved it all.  The sweet potato was incredible.  How could it not be with all the butter and cream it was drowning in!  The tuna and cabbage were kind of spicy, but delish.  The tuna was seared perfectly. 

With that course we had a Antugnac Pinot Noir.

Then it was time for dessert....drumroll...... Chocolate Almond Tort!

I really wanted to lick the plate...

We had a Annalisa Moscato with it, which resembled champange only I think I liked it better!

At the end they did a drawing and I won this bottle of wine!  Score!

I loved the class and would happily do this again! 

The Harpers Group offers classes at Upstream, Zink, and Mimosa Grill.