So…. I’m still in a wee bit of a food coma. You see, last night I feasted on a 5 course dinner. It was a South by Southwest dinner hosted by the amazing crew at Chobani. The chefs at Parkside Austin put together an incredible menu full of chobani flavors (hence the JUST ADD GOOD hashtags).
Yes, it was crazy good and we were spoiled. But I’ll get to that in a minute.
First of all, I just have to say how great Chobani (and company) is. As soon as I walked into the room I was greeted with a big hug and “Hey Cotter Crew.” I brought my mom so she was part of that crew, hehe. Anyway, Emily, Hilary, and Emily S. (just a few of the amazing gals representing the Chobani communications team) were the best hostesses and we had a blast eating, laughing, drinking, and enjoying good conversation.
The funny thing about the whole night was that I really didn’t know any other bloggers, well maybe one. All the other 15 plus bloggers there were REAL FOOD bloggers. I mean, the FOODGAWKER kind, and all of them were lovely and oh so talented! I don’t consider myself a food blogger, just a blogger who shares good food, nothing fancy. I guess you could say I was the food squawker out of the whole crew. Yep, Crazy Cotter, Kiwi Cotter, Sherpa Wife, Gluten free, Strange but Good creations, yada yada yada. Ha ha.
So here we go. Like I said, I am no pro, just a food squawker. 
Four hours and Five courses of deliciousness. The Chef (who I adore and wanted to kiss after this meal) based each dish on seasonal food, 2% chobani flavors, and fresh ingredients.
Appetizer was an avocado soup, blood orange, smoked trout caviar, and chili. I wanted to lick the bowl at the end but I restrained myself. It was hard.
photo source: Kitchen-Concoctions
First course was a beet salad with yogurt jerky. Think dried yet creamy yogurt with delicious beets on top. Coriander and celery root were the perfect seasoning!
2nd course was seafood. Grilled prawns and caramelized yogurt. The yogurt made the dish. Caramelized yogurt? Impressive. Again, wanted to lick the dish.
3rd course was short ribs with a cherry sauce, green garlic, and yogurt farina. I couldn’t eat the farina since it’s gluten, but the ribs…. heavens yes. In fact, I don’t even like ribs that much but this dish made me change my mind. The meat was so tender and paired perfectly with the cherry sauce and my red wine. It was my favorite part of the whole meal! Well, besides dessert.
And last but not least………DESSERT. No matter how full you were at this point, you couldn’t pass it up. And you didn’t want to. The salty almond soil tasted like a graham cracker crust, but without grain of course. The basil ice cream was fresh as could be! Yogurt custard and compressed mango balanced out the herbs and left your whole mouth and body full of happy memories. Goodness gracious, roll me over, put me to bed, and let me dream of this again tonight!
Photo above courtesy of Chobani
Thank you Parkside, thank you Chobani, thank you SXSW. It was wonderful and FULLfilling experience. Nothing But Good!
Have you been spoiled by a great company before?
Have you experimented with Chobani at every meal?
I highly recommend it!
cheers,
Food Squawker Cotter
This makes me miss yoghurt!!
can you make coconut kefir? I know that’s yummy!
OMG!!!! I am late but WOW! Honestly, how do you have time to reply to all. I am having issues with that right now! 😉
i had extra time that day to reply. Don’t worry, you never have to reply to my comments. I feel ya! hehe
Chobani is the BEST and I’m so glad you had a fabulous time with your Mom! PS: loving the early beach hair you’ve got going on. 😉 And hope this dinner was a nice break from house sitting! Enjoy the weekend…XO
girl, you should have been there. Gah, another great restaurant to visit when come back!
p.s.I always rock the beach hair… lazy here
whoa nelly!!! this look freaking delish!!! carmelized yogurt?! wow wow wow. what a treat!!
Oh! Ok, I will admit a little bit of jealousy here, food looks amazing! Glad you got to enjoy such awesomeness!
oh yes, jealousy is a okay here. I mean, we were SPOILED! hehe
ahhh what an awesome dinner!! Chobani is my favorite company to work with!
oh i wish you were here just a month earlier!
When Maddy and Alex from Love Grown picked us up from the airport in Denver for Blend last year, and gave us giant boxes of Colorado goodies, took us to tour the plant where the granola is made (and where we got to meet Mr. Nut Butter, Justin, himself!) then helped us make our way to the retreat AND carried our bags? I could not have felt more spoiled or more loved.
Now, any time I receive anything from Love Grown, Chobani, or Plant Fusion I never quite know what I have done to deserve such kindness. Of course, they are my favorite companies to work with, but I still feel blessed every time I receive ANYTHING.
(If only I still lived in Austin. You would have known ME at this dinner. ;))
oh i so wish you were there!!
Wow, can we be BFFS and live close to each other so I can come with for the next one? 🙂
yes please do! I need more BFF’s!
So glad you could join us! Bummed I didn’t get a chance to meet you, but hopefully we’ll get to hang soon. Will you be at Blend!?
Amy, @Chobani
i sure will! Do i get to meet you at Blend? Hope so!! Wish you were here Amy! thank you for everything
holy smokes – everything sounds and looks amazeballs! thank goodness its almost time for lunch over here!
i have no other words other than… UNREAL GOOD
avocado soup? why have I not had this before? ooooooh yum.
That’s so awesome friend!! I have to try & go to SXSW next year b/c I heard how awesome it is! And Chobani in every meal??!! YES!! I love that and looks absolutely delish. And ya know… you’re one of my favorite food squawkers HEHEHE. have a blessed day girl!! 🙂
yes come!! that would be a blast!
Hi Lindsay! It was so awesome to finally meet you! You are just as beautiful and sweet as I had imagined you to be ^__^! It really was good times, wasn’t it? Now I can say I was spoiled by a great company hehe..and I must say it was quite nice. I can def get used to it. I want some more yogurt custard!
oh i feel the same about you! we must grab coffee and catch up more soon. K?
hugs!
Fun! Everything looks delicious!
I LOVE Chobani!! What an amazing opportunity!
i know, i wish i could do this weekly! LOL!
That looks like an amazing meal!! So fun and yes! You are an awesome food squawker!
Everything is DROOLtastic. The Basil Ice Cream has me intrigued.. Thanks for sharing!
girl it was UNREAL! i make basil smoothies but basil ice cream was just heavnly
Looks like it was a religious experience! My word! that food looks creative and oh so delicious! Certainly a night to remember… I need to start working with and creating recipes with Chobani!
you sure do! then invite me over.
Sounds delicious and fun!
ahaha, and I just saw the food squawker! love it. me too man. and every dish looks amazing I wouldn’t be able to pick only one to try from that menu
we got to eat all of them! stuffed with goodness!
Jealous!
That looks SO good!
I’ve heard SXSW is awesome. I hope I get to go one of these days 🙂
yes! come visit! and bring baby next time!
Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor and wipe the drool from my chin. I want to be jealous and hate you (especially because we don’t get Chobani up here in Canada), but you deserve all the spoiling in the world and it’s great to hear that you had such a good time.
Also, I’m quite convinced that we have a second stomach devoted to dessert alone. No matter how full I am, I’ll never turn down a sweet treat.
you deserve to be spoiled with me. It’s more fun that way!
I went to a 10 course avocado based dinner last year at a place called Fonda and hosted by Amazing Avocado.! It was so good and crazy amounts of food. Even avocado based cheesecake <3
Chobani is quite the amazing company though – they spoil us bloggers too much.
that dinner looks so delicious!! So nice that you got to go and bring your mamma!
i know and she was the life of the party! haha
Love this sooooo much!!! Aren’t they the best company ever? I went to their dinner when I was in Boston… it was heaven.
oh no way! so fun! love that you got to go to one, just wish it was with me!
LC…we don’t even have CHO here yet!
What a fabulous event!
Looks amazing! So jealous and hope your week is going good! <3
i think you and baby would have been well fed! hehe
I’ve already expressed my love for your eyebrows, so instead I’ll focus on how LUCKY you are to attend the Chobani event! Yogurt Jerky!? I did not even know such a thing was possible. I would love to try these dishes because they use yogurt in such a unique way – like the caramelized yogurt. SUCH A LUCKY GIRL
i know! i need to learn how to make this jerky!! It was delicious!!
HA I love your voice in this post, you are just the cutest most fun person I know, I swear. I love it!! I was SUPREMELY jealous when I saw your insta pic of the Chobani menu the other night, and I definitely should’ve been jealous, this meal looks AMAZING!!! LOVE Chobani!!!
oh you know me well. It was fun and you would have loved it!
Looks and sounds like fun!! Fancy dinners like that are always interesting–so many things to taste!
it was fun to be wined and dined! hehe
AWESOME! i would love to get invited to one of their dinners – they look like such a blast with amazing food!!
we would have so much fun together too!
I was following along with your Instagram posts last night — everything looked so delicious! Chobani is great. Looks like a fun evening!
i know you would have loved it! and we would have had a blast together! My fellow CHOBANIAC!
The dessert and beet salad would be my two top picks from the menu. I love prawns, but I have a thing about seeing those beady little eyes looking at me from the plate… Obviously I am not a food connosiour but I definitely love GOOD food! Yogurt jerky sounds very interesting…
the beady eyes were a bit eerie but I love prawns so i devoured. LOL!
That’s so awesome my friend!!! Super exciting.
You are my favorite food squawker! 😉
I am seriously drooling right now. Everything looks incredible! Please tell me you got the yogurt jerky recipe.
i know you were there in spirit! and i must get the recipe for the jerky. I’ll email them!
How cool! I am jealous!
That looks and sounds like so much fun! What a cool event.
I’ve never really had experience with a company like this, maybe one day in the future:)
And I’m embarrassed to say, I’ve never tried Chobani before! We don’t have it where I live, sadly.
we need to change that! I wish i could ship you some!