As God is My Witness, I'll Never be Hungry Again - Finished w/lots of pics!!

[oybolshoi]

Kevin,

Hi there! Thanks for reading and as I type HP is begging for attention, so thanks for remembering him.

I don't know what the formal name is for V&A's fantabulous coffee contraption but Jason is going to take over now because I'm not technically proficient enough to explain it.

When they bring the coffee out, all the dry grounds are in the top section, and clear water is in the bottom. Then, they light a heat source/sterno and place it under the water to boil it. As the water heats up, it travels up the narrow pipe in the middie and brews the coffee in the top section. Once all the water has moved up into the top and the coffee has brewed, they remove the heat source. The coffee then makes its way back down the pipe, filling the bottom container with the brewed coffee, while leaving the used grounds in the top. The picture shows it as the coffee is making its way down, so part of it is already in the bottom, but part is still in the top waiting to move down. Once all the coffee has settled to the bottom container, that is used as the pitcher

Originally Posted by d'Isigny

Hey 'Molar Express' crusing buddy...

First, hope this finds jay and you well ....pass my "HI's" to HP - please.

The coffee pot used to brew at your table - i can't say I've seen anything like this...can ya tell me a little more about it?

Loving your trip report...still waiting for your book sigining....take care - my friend, K

[disneymom06]

I love the title of this thread.

[saffymom]

I just finished reading through your review (which is fabulous by the way), and I have to ask, what is "truffle foam"? It sounds nasty!

[oybolshoi]

Hi saffymom, thanks for reading.

A truffle is a type of mushroom - rather rare and hard to find (I believe they grow underground, but I could be wrong). Anyway, for lack of a better way of phrasing it, that truffle foam is like whipped mushroom sauce.

Yuck. Me no likum mushrooms.

Originally Posted by saffymom

I just finished reading through your review (which is fabulous by the way), and I have to ask, what is "truffle foam"? It sounds nasty!

[oybolshoi]

To quote my husband about the truffle foam:

The truffle foam is just white truffle oil and skim milk, brought to a foam/froth with a espresso-steamer-type-thing….


Still yucky in my book, but at least those of you wondering have a better explanation.

[oybolshoi]

Thanks! I was beginning to think that I was the only one.

I love Gone With the Wind, and this quote seemed like the perfect way to title the thread after ten days of stuffing our faces at WDW.

Originally Posted by disneymom06

I love the title of this thread.

[oybolshoi]

Welcome back to cold Tuesday. Before I get into the Food & Wine Pairing at Restaurant Marrakesh, I must confess something to you...I was not looking forward to this at all. I'd looked at the restaurant menu often enough during the never-ending planning stages of our pre-vacation to know that there was precious little on the menu that I would or could eat. BUT, I can be thoughtful sometimes (really, I can!), and I knew that my parents and my hubby would enjoy giving this a try. So, as I stated earlier, I took one for the team!

For those of you who have never been to Restaurant Marrakesh it is tucked way back in a little alley in the Morocco section of Epcot. It really did feel like we were winding our way around some ancient marketplace and then when we found it - wow! It's actually a pretty cool looking restaurant.

Check it out:


The guy doing most of the talking, I believe he was the winery representative, said that the interior of this restaurant was modeled after the inside of a palace in Morocco. I'd love to tell you what this very informative and engaging person's name was, but I don't know it. You wanna know why I don't know it? Because Restaurant Marrakesh didn't provide any information in writing at this food and wine pairing.

Yes, sadly for Restaurant Marrakesh, we had experienced the gold standard of Food and Wine Pairings at Coral Reef last week and they were already falling short. There was no separate waiting area, so we were all crowded together in the restaurant lobby. There was no one seating people by party, so it was another bum-rush to find a place to sit. There was no menu provided so we didn't know what courses we were going to be having nor did we know which wines we would be trying. And, there was only one set of flatware at each place setting...for three courses? Yucko!!

Some people didn't even have water and had to ask repeatedly for it (or in my case for refills). I was already disappointed and I hadn't even tasted anything yet.

The chef, whose name is also a mystery, came out and talked at us for a few minutes. At that time he told us about the three courses he was preparing for our tasting enjoyment. Brace yourselves for more disappointment...no dessert?!?!?!?

Bah! If I hadn't already paid in advance and if I weren't trapped at the end of a table for 14 with no means of escape I'd be outta here and on my way to the Boulangerie Patisserie faster than you could say chocolate eclair with a side order of profiteroles.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

I'm going to do my best to let you know what we were served, but I'm warning you now that my spelling is atrocious and some of these dishes have names that I had to guess at. As for the wines, all I know is a name and a region - no information about a specific winery was provided. Tsk Tsk Tsk.

Course I: Bell Pepper & Tomato Salad with Spices (served cold) and Seafood Bastilla, served with a wine called Masianco from Italy.


I think the seafood part of this was OK. Jason said that the entire dish was good - very flavorful and spicy - and he should know because he ended up eating most of mine, too. I did like the wine, which was a white similar to a Pinot Grigio (my favorite!).

Course II: Lemon Chicken with Couscous served with a wine called Ksar Blanc from Morocco.


This wasn't bad. I actually liked the couscous but the chicken was a bit chewy. Jason also says this was tasty - who am I to dispute his claim? As for the wine, I recall that it was actually the best of the three we tried, but I'm not sure why. Oh, for tasting notes like we had from Coral Reef!

Course III (AKA not dessert): Beef Shishkabobs with Marinade served with a wine called Condessa de Leganza Crianza from Spain.


I remember this being too spicy for me and I had to hand most of it off to the men in my party. As previously mentioned, when you have inflammatory bowel disease spicy food can be the kiss of death. I can drink like a fool and never have issues, but let me eat some over-spiced meat and it's time to pay the ER a visit. Again, for your reference, the husband liked this dish just fine. The wine was a red, and it paired well but I didn't really like it too much. Too strong for my taste - it was a man's wine!

To sum it up, this was all about trying something different. That's a good thing, I can do that. And since everyone else in the group seemed to enjoy this experience it was money well spent. Would I do another food and wine pairing at Restaurant Marrakesh? Nope; but that's not because the food was bad - it just wasn't to my taste.

I'd prefer France or Italy or even Canada. So I guess you guys know where we'll be heading when we go back to the F&W Festival some time in the not too clear future.

On our way back to the room we stopped at everyone's favorite French bakery and picked up...yes, you guessed it - chocolate eclairs!! We saved them for breakfast because we had tickets to Mickey's not so Scary Halloween Party and we had to get our costumes on for a night of trick or treating around the Magic Kingdom.

Don't Jason and I look cute?


I know that this picture really has nothing to do with food, but we were dressed up in the hopes of getting some food, so surely that counts in a rather obscure way, doesn't it?

I did eat dinner at the MK - I used a counter service credit at Casey's on Main Street. Best hot dogs ever! But I shocked the CM behind the counter when I declined dessert (I bet you guys are shocked, too, after reading my whiny commentary about the lack of dessert at our F&W pairing). When the choice is a box of cracker jacks or something pretending to be a brownie, I'll pass, thanks anyway. I had my dog and my cheese fries and I could feel my arteries clogging - what more did I need?

Besides, later than night while we were freezing our mouse ears off before Hallowishes Jason, Jon, and I went back to the Main Street Bakery and used a bunch of snack credits to get some cafe mochas and some yummy chocolate bundt cakes. And I failed to take pictures of any of it.

But I do have one last picture to share from the evening:


Plankton pulled in quite a haul - and look at that! He's wearing mouse ears! He's really starting to get into this "Happiest Place on Earth" thing. Wow.

That's it for today. Wednesday will bring a character breakfast at Cape May Cafe, late lunch at Beaches and Cream, a cancelled dinner reservation at Blue Zoo (still kicking myself over that one) and dinner around the world showcase - we're not done eating the world yet!

Thanks for reading!!

[auroralark]

I've really been enjoying your reviews, and Plankton is so cute! Where did you get him?

[Jennifer48]

Originally Posted by oybolshoi

For those of you wondering, Sam Adams actually offered a pretty good selection here: Cherry Wheat, Black Lager, Boston Lager, Light, Pale Ale, Hefeweizen, Cream Stout, Octoberfest, Brown Ale, and the 11th Anniversary Festival Beer.

Best part of living in Massachusetts close to Boston is that you can go to the Sam Adams Brewery and get FREE tastings. YUMM-O! Oh and FYI, its OKTOBERFEST, get it straight woman! The Cherry Wheat is pretty good. They have that on tap now around here. The Winter Lager should be out soon. They always put Oktoberfest away too early! They took it off tap before October was even over!

Originally Posted by oybolshoi

Thanks for sticking with me so far! And if you're wondering about Plankton, you can find out more in my still unwritten, multi-titled trip report: Plankton Takes on Disney World!

When can we expect this? Before or after Christmas? I would like to plan my shopping accordingly.

[oybolshoi]

Originally Posted by auroralark

I've really been enjoying your reviews, and Plankton is so cute! Where did you get him?

Thanks! We found Plankton over at the Universal Store at CityWalk back in May - that was the only place on the entire property that we could find him. And then it just spiraled out of control when we made him our WDW travel mascot.

We're just a couple of dorks, but I'm comfortable with that.

[oybolshoi]

Originally Posted by Jennifer48

Best part of living in Massachusetts close to Boston is that you can go to the Sam Adams Brewery and get FREE tastings. YUMM-O! Oh and FYI, its OKTOBERFEST, get it straight woman! The Cherry Wheat is pretty good. They have that on tap now around here. The Winter Lager should be out soon. They always put Oktoberfest away too early! They took it off tap before October was even over!

When can we expect this? Before or after Christmas? I would like to plan my shopping accordingly.

Jennifer, Ouch! I'm hurt, really, that you would somehow think after all that drinking Jay and I did a little thing like proper spelling would matter so much.

Actually, Epcot's Festival Guide is where I took the spelling from, so I will pass the buck and blame it on them. However, I will remember for future reference because it was a pretty tasty beer!

Hee hee hee ... the actual trip report. Ummmmm...I'd like to think that I'd have it finished by Christmas but I make no promises. It's a tough crowd over there on the Disney Trip Report board and I want to post a quality product...

Thanks for reading - hope you've enjoyed it so far.

[ANNABETH]

Thanks for the report; have been enjoying every installment.
I have to ask.... are you British ? Everytime I read your report, in my mind, you have a British accent. So, are you ???

[sarehm]

Brenda you are hilarious! And I just love Plankton. We sort of do the same thing with Phil the groundhog and we've had a few garden gnomes mysteriously show up on our vacations too

[oybolshoi]

Originally Posted by ANNABETH

Thanks for the report; have been enjoying every installment.
I have to ask.... are you British ? Everytime I read your report, in my mind, you have a British accent. So, are you ???

Thanks for reading, I'm glad to know it's entertaining to someone other than me!

Nope, not British...I'm definitely a homegrown USA-baby. But you know, I have been drinking a lot of hot tea lately...maybe that's been affecting my "voice" when I type these reviews. Hmmmmmmm...

[oybolshoi]

Originally Posted by sarehm

Brenda you are hilarious! And I just love Plankton. We sort of do the same thing with Phil the groundhog and we've had a few garden gnomes mysteriously show up on our vacations too

That's great! It was actually the Travelocity gnome that gave us the idea with Plankton - we thought Plankton was more entertaining, anyway.

May I ask where Phil has vacationed with you and if you have a picture or two you'd be willing to share?

Thanks for reading!