Publix Cooking School and Dakin Dairy Farm

 March has been a busy month....lots of visitors and lots of fun. Friend Karen came for a long weekend and we started with a Publix cooking school. If you've never been to one, and you love to cook, or eat...it's a must. We've been to 3 other classes and loved them all...this was Karen's first.

They have demo and hands on classes.....We've only been to demo classes but I'm sure the hands on would be great....

There are usually 3 chefs...one will cook and demo the course....while.....

The other two are prepping the plates for the students to sample.....this was our first course...
Grilled Asparagus. Romesco Sauce, Serrano Ham and Hard Cooked Egg....yum, and we just started

Next came Panko Crusted Grouper, Carrot Puree, English Peas, Radish and Preserved Lemon Oil....with each course there was a wine pairing...lovely. ...

These classes have for sure made us try foods we never would have, and you come home with all the recipes....woohoo. Next was Spring Lamb Chop, Ragout with Rosemary New Potatoes and Fava Beans.

DELISH!!!!!
Our last course was ............Grilled New York Strip, Balsamic Glazed Red Onions, Swiss Chard and Creamy Polenta

When a class has this much heavy food there is not a dessert...but then you don't really need it....and the wine makes you not care!!! It was a wonderful evening, time to head home and collapse on the couch. We'd been to see the Lippizan Stallions, been out to lunch, done a little shopping and ended our day at a cooking school....tomorrow....Dakin Dairy Farm and the Fireman's Rib Cook-off!!!

Leaving the Lippizan show Karen and I saw a sign pointing to a Dairy Farm...so we took a quick detour. We found Dakin Dairy Farm but they wer about to close, but we knew what we were going to do on Saturday. We arrived and signed up for the 1.5hour tour. This is a "sustainable" farm and the tour was great.

We visited the "barns" where the cows hang out during milkings...they are milked 3 time a day....wow!

A few little Cow facts....

Then it was on to the milking area....that's a bunch of cows......

Once all the cows were locked in it was time for a bath.

Then we toured inside a building that allowed us to look down on how and where the milk is made and bottled. We watched a short film about the farm and the milk process....like....just how do you make skim milk......?????
After this we got into a hay wagon for a tour around the farm.....

This little calf was only about 30 minutes old...we alsmost got to see it born....he stood up later and was a little wobbly but really cute.

After seeing the duck pond and a pig race,we got to feed the baby cows. This farm is not in the breeding business so they sell the bulls and keep the cows....they are so cute...

After this we all rested at a picnic table and were able to taste Dakin milk. I got chocolate and it was delish..... then we shook a jar of cream so much that it made butter...I'd have never gussed we cold make butter like that. We were given crackers to spread it on to taste it. For my taste it needed a little salt...but it was very creamy. The tour was over and we were invitied to go inside the country store, grab a basket and fill it with things to create a picnic. Cheese, milk, sandwiches, pizza, hotdogs....then go sit under some shade and enjoy. As cool as this sounded, and we might come back one day to do this, we decided to go across town to the Fireman's Rib Cook-off......wow was that good.

It was $12 pp and you got 8 tastings.....that was plenty....what a great lunch!!!

Another busy day....time to head home and crash.....

Sunday brought a great Sunday brunch at Ophelia's on the Bay after church and then some great beach time. We'd had a few busy days, so some beaching was great.

Karen had to head home on Monday...so glad you came....we'll see ya next time!!!