Another successful date night!
September’s date night took us to Whole Foods, but not for grocery shopping…
We were there for a Greek cooking class that featured a three-course dinner with appetizers to boot!
The class was only $10 a person. Who says a fun and delicious date night has to cost mucho dinero?
Ryan and I arrived and took our seats at a long table with the other class participants and were immediately served a glass of wine.
I love a good glass of white wine! I much prefer white wine to red because I like my wine to taste like juice and that’s harder to come by when enjoying red wines.
Once everyone was happily sipping on their glasses of wine, the class began.
It started out on an interactive note with some hummus-making!
The homemade hummus contained chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice and tahini (sesame seed paste).
Guess who was our table’s designated chickpea crusher?
That is Ryan’s “I’m really into this chickpea crushing business” face.
As he crushed away, I couldn’t help but quip “a food processor would be pretty great right about now.” The instructor said that a food processor would take all of the fun out of the hummus making process.
False.
It would take all of the lumps out of the hummus-making process. 😉
Once Ryan was done making the hummus, we enjoyed it spread on fresh pita bread.
Ryan and I thought the hummus was okay… but in some serious need of seasonings. Sue recommended adding roasted red peppers if we recreate the hummus at home which I think we would really enjoy. I think this less flavorful hummus would be delicious on a sandwich, but when enjoyed on a pita alone, it was a bit bland.
Luckily the other appetizer was very flavorful.
Grape leaves stuffed with rice and seasonings. So good! I had three while Sue prepared our salads with another Whole Foods team member.
It’s rare that I will say a salad is the best part of any meal, but in this particular situation it really was!
The salads were comprised of a very unusual combination of foods:
- Watermelon
- Olive
- Endive
- Feta cheese
- Mint
- Olive oil
- Balsamic vinegar
We were all a little skeptical about how the flavors would taste together, but they were unbelievably delicious! My favorite bites were the ones with the watermelon, feta and mint. YUM.
We basically licked our salad plates clean.
Then it was time for the main course.
Chicken gyros were served with pita bread, cucumbers, tomato, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and a yogurt-based sau
ce known as raita sauce.
My favorite part of this dish was definitely the raita sauce. It was cool and creamy and I cannot wait to try to recreate it at home.
Dessert was also delicious.
We were served plates of stracciatella gelato, which is essentially an Italian sweet cream flavor of gelato with chocolate shavings. It was topped with mint leaves and orange blossom honey (so good!) and served with watermelon, cantaloupe and sliced, frozen grapes.
Ryan and I finished our respective desserts very quickly and were able to share a second scoop of the stracciatella.
Clearly the gelato sparked our sweet tooth, because once the class was over we headed to Whole Foods’ bakery and nabbed some chocolatey goodies.
I am seriously in love with Whole Foods’ bakery. Their oatmeal chocolate chip cookie is unreal. I could eat those bad boys all day every day. Ryan shares my love of these cookies and we spilt a big one between the two of us (it looks small in that bag, but it was the size of my hand).
I also nabbed a chocolate twist from the bakery which I planned to save for tomorrow.
It didn’t make it out of the parking lot. 😉
Good food + Good company = Great date night
The rest of our evening will be spent cuddled up on the couch with the dawg. My kinda night!
See ya in the mornin’, friends!
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aw what a fun night, you two are adorable
i wish there was a whole foods where I live =(
Awe, it looks so good especially that salad!
Looks like such a fun night – we have a Whole Foods right by us in Arizona so I’m hoping they have something similar! Also, Sadie is too cute… we have a black lab and one of his best friends is a vizla and they are crazy together! Our dog tries to play with any animal he sees… birds, lizards, rabbits, even bugs! Haha 🙂
Looks like a fun night. I would definitely add something to that hummus!
All for only $10/person? That’s amazing. Who woulda thunk form Whole Foods too 🙂 Love the chickpea crushing face!
That’s one heck of a deal! I need to look into that around here. I love feta and watermelon salad! Especially when the watermelon is REALLY cold!
Looks like such a great date night! I’m glad you and Ryan enjoy each others company so much 🙂
Ryan’s face is hilarious while he’s crushing the chickpeas! So into it!
Looks like a fun date night. I had no idea Whole Foods had those types of classes! I, on the other hand, am fully aware of their wonderful bakery selections. 😉
Oh my goodness! Only 10$? WOW! What an incredible deal! Jealous! =)
I love cooking class dates. My husband and I went on one last month and we both had so much fun!
Amazing! 🙂 Oh my gosh! I haven’t been to a cooking class before but now I am dying to go! What a great deal! You are so creative with your date nights! What a fun tradition!
Aww that sounds like the perfect date night!! I wonder if any grocery stores in my area offer cooking classes like that one? All the food looks delicious!
What an amazing date night!
I would so love to do something like that. Greek food is fantastic btw, isn’t it ? 🙂
yes, so, so good! i need to make more mediterranean-inspired dishes.
Wow! What a perfect date night, and looks like so much fun! I wish we had a whole foods here in Northern Michigan. And, the food does look delicious!
Our blue top/dress looks adorable… though I want to see the whole thing =]
thanks! it’s actually the same calvin klein dress i wore in our save the date pictures. you may see the whole thing here: http://peanutbutterfingers.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/save-the-date-pictures/
what a fun time! i am signed up for an indian cooking class.. can’t wait!
what?! whole foods has cooking classes, and for so cheap?! How am i not aware of this….
That is such a good date night activity! I’ve actually never been to a cooking class before…I would LOVE to go. We have a Whole Foods in our neighborhood, but I’m not sure if they have classes like that…I’ll have to find out!!
That looks like a really fun date night. I love the picture of Ryan mashing the chickpeas, hahaha! His face is so funny! Great job with planning the date night Julie!
That was such a good idea! Looks like you two had a ton of fun. 🙂
What a great idea! I’m going to look into taking one at my local WF! 🙂
FANTASTIC!!! bet this was really fun <3 perfect date night idea 😀
xoxo
Look like you guys had an amazing time! I’m gonna check out these classes at the Whole Foods by me and see if they offer anything similar. 🙂 THanks for the thought!
Our Whole Foods quit doing these classes. It made me really sad because they are so much fun! Plus, you can’t beat $10!!!
Date Night looks like so much fun! With an especially delicious ending too…oatmeal chocolate chips are one of my faves!
how fun! i love WF’s cookies too but have never tried oatmeal chocolate chip! yum!
looks fun and yummy!
How fun! 🙂 Greek food is always sooo good! They have a sushi cooking class here that we want to try out some time!
oooh! i love it!
i didn’t know that there were things like that at whole foods…i think i should go look into my whole foods to see if they offer things like that. goodness knows, i could use a few cooking classes!
That sounds like a fun date night!
Gosh I couldn’t agree more about the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! They are so scrumptious. Seriously awesome stuff. You’re making me crave some Whole Foods now! I’ve always wanted to do those cooking classes there
Whole Foods bakery is toally my weakness, especially the fudge brownies!
Just saw this post now — if you liked that watermelon salad, you should try the combo of watermelon, feta, fresh basil, balsamic and olive oil — it’s heavenly 🙂
Me and my husband are going there this Wednesday…..they have a ‘Health Starts Here’ cooking class making yummy healthy food!!
Have you gone to that one?
i’ll be there! 🙂
Wow what a good idea!! The class looked so easy and healthy! The cooking club that I belong to at my University takes monthly trips up to our local Whole Food for $5 cooking classes! Can’t beat that!