TASTE OF TULALIP

We were lucky enough to win the bid on a weekend away at the Tulalip Resort and Casino. We left  Friday on a much needed mini vacay! The best part Tulalip is a short 20 minute drive North for us. SO it is really like a little "stay-cation" This makes getting away much nicer for me. No worries of being too far from my kids and yet I still get to have fun and relax. 

We started out the festivities by arriving at the hotel only to immediately get to the T-spa for a 50 minute couples massage! I  know it is tough but someone had to do it. When we were done with that we got all ready for my favorite event the Taste of Tulalip Celebration Dinner. An 8 course meal of AMAZING food paired with AMAZING wines! Before that though a Pre-Dinner Wine Tasting. Since we obviously weren't going to have enough wine. I took pictures all night. Embarrassing Joe as always :)

I was going to go into great detail about everything but it is a bit overwhelming to sit down and do that so I will just post the pics for you to see! With brief descriptions :)

This is a GREAT wine maker. ZD Cellars of California. This 2010 Chardonnay was strong tasting but smooth, fresh and buttery. YUM!

 This is how the table was set for our 8 course meal.

 Our commemorative Plates.

 An Aromatic Experience! Each glass vile held a different smell. Fresh chopped Basil, Allspice and then a mixture of italian spices, Parm and Sundried tomatoes. When Chef Perry the Executive Chef for Tulalip Resort spoke and had all smell each one, he asked the question. What do these make you think of? The basil for me was a hot summer day, fresh tomatoes and balsamic. The Allspice, A crisp Fall day, Thanksgiving, Even picking out a Christmas tree. The Italian one is just comforting to me. I LOVE all food, but spaghetti, pizza, pastas those are go to comfort food meals I can always rely on! Funny how just a sniff can say all that :)

This is the menu!

Course 1

Course 2

Course 3

Course 4

Course 6- Palette Cleanse

Course 7

Course 8

Saturday: Cooking demo with Chef Marcus Samuelsson

Red Curry and Coconut Milk marinated Fried Chicken with Sauteed Bok Choy and Collard Greens

Sweet wine I never would have tasted, but delicious! Even Joe liked it!

Really good red from Local Woodinville Wine Cellars. Not there only great wine of the weekend.

Chef Marcus Samuelssons spread from the camera above his set up

Bought his book YES CHEF! So far a great read! So he can write and cook or shall I say create!

ALL ACCESS MAGNUM PARTY! Crystal anyone?

Yes please :)

Soup shots!

This sparkly couch was my best friend at last years Taste. I refrained from getting to comfy on it this year :)

Turkey sliders with mango chutney on mini biscuits

This was my view on the following day. For most of the day :) It was great fun. It was a lot of food, a lot of wine, new friends, old friends, and staying out too late! Then it was also a lot of gratitude to amazing parents/grandparents who took on 4 wild things, 2 who ended up being sick :( while we were gone. I felt very blessed!

enJOY!