I swore I would never be one of those people on yelp who write ridiculously long reviews.. but that…read moreall changed until I experienced this place! In case you don't want to read everything, just know that you should go here. NOW! :)
I wanted to do something fun and different with my girlfriends this year for my birthday. I thought a cooking class would be fun so I turned to Groupon to see if there were any good deals. There were 3 in Seattle and 2 in Woodinville. I emailed each location to see if anyone had space for our group the weekend of my birthday. All (except one) were not very accommodating and the ones that I had spoke to weren't very friendly. I'm not sure if it was because I was using a deal on Groupon that was off putting to them, which has happened to me in the past.
Dona from Winery Kitchen called me after reading my email and she was so warm and friendly. She told me that the weekend of my birthday they had a class going on which was not the one on groupon, it was actually more expensive (mozzarella making class). BUT Dona was so kind enough to offer me that class at the groupon rate for the weekend I wanted and she even put an event on the website that had a cupcake picture and titled it "Vicki's Birthday Party" How sweet is that??
The location was easy to find with the directions and address she sent. Upon arrival, I saw two buildings, one was a house and the other looked like a detached garage with cute wine barrels outside for decoration and a large "Winery Kitchen" sign. There was a sign that said Kitchen on the side of the house and an arrow pointing you to go around back. There were a few garden beds and a table where herbs were growing on the patio. I entered in through the sliding door and saw the class. You could tell it was new, but it had a rustic and warm feeling to it. Dona and the wine educator, Katrina, were both very sweet and welcoming. They even had a birthday note on the chalkboard for me and made cupcakes and strawberries with a delicious fruit dip!
Since my friends are from Seattle and I am from the Auburn area, I told them I would just meet them there. I should have tried to meet with them before hand because sometimes they have a tendency to be late... and they were about 30 minutes late! Oh man.. how embarrassing. I felt so bad that we had to wait for them, but Dona was so patient and assured me it was ok. She waited for them to start. While we waited, she showed us around the small garden out back, we pulled out elephant garlic, and learned about the herbs she had growing. When my friends finally showed up, we began class. The class consisted of myself, 4 of my friends, and two other people. We were given name tags, aprons, and gloves.
First, we went to the tasting room for an olive oil tasting, which was interesting and different for me me since I have never done that. I probably won't be drinking olive oil again anytime soon unless I had bread and balsamic vinegar to go with it ;) but it was a good experience to taste it because I never realized how different they could all taste and how it could affect the food you cook. Oh I almost forgot to talk about the tasting room! It was so beautifully decorated. It had a rustic barn feel. A chandelier in the middle of the room, marquee letters, and a long dark wooden table.
We moved back into the kitchen to begin making mozzarella and pesto. We made two different kids of pesto, one with spinach and the other with basil. Dona kept assuring us to try to make our own recipe that fits our taste buds and it was so fun to try everyone else's food! When we were all done, we sat back in the tasting room, ate what we had made, and toasted with a glass of champagne. We also spent time talking and getting to know each other.
This class was amazing, I can't say enough good things about it or Dona. She makes you feel welcome, is always laughing, and just a great person overall. Winery Kitchen just opened not too long ago and she has big plans for future classes and gardening. I know they will be very busy, so book a class here! You won't regret it :) I will definitely be back!