OK everyone....I'm back from my trip! I kept this excursion while my parents went horseback riding and I'm so glad I did! It was a great excursion that I would definitely do again should I ever be in Cozumel.
First off, I did take photos of the excursion but have not loaded them to my computer or to photobucket, so once I do, I will post pics of everything.
We met at 10:45 at Sessions, and were led off the ship to meet someone from the Playa Mia resort. There were 6 of us on the excursion from Disney, as well as more from other cruises. All together, there were (I think) 17 people in the entire class. After a short taxi ride (about 20 or so minutes), we arrived at Playa Mia. It was quite a beautiful resort. Since the class before us was not quite done, we waited in the buffet/bar area under a huge tent (which reminded all of us Disney dorks of the Cirque du Soleil building at Downtown Disney). We were told that we could get drinks from the bar, but we weren't sure if we had to pay so we all skipped it.
Once we finished waiting (about 15 minutes...we spent the whole time taking photos of the area and talking) we were escorted to the building where we were to cook. It was a very nice room with windows on 3 walls overlooking the ocean and beach area. We were broken up into groups of 4, since each table had room for 4. One quick thing to mention...if you have trouble standing for an extended period of time, you should pass this excursion. We stood the whole cooking time (about 2 hours). You might be able to use a chair or stool, but I didn't see any available while we were there.
The very first thing you do in cooking is...........(as all the Disney people screamed) wash hands!!! WRONG!!! We silly people were all trained on the Magic that we cleaned up before eating. Nope...you place your drink orders! They had rum punch, pina coladas, margaritas, beer, etc. All were included in the excursion and they offered refills. After we finally cleaned up, we started cooking. The first thing we did was dessert, since it had to cool in the fridge before serving. It was a sweet rice pudding layered with sugar cookies with rum and lime zest in the dough. After preparing that, we started on the entree. It was grouper with a mango-chilie sauce, garneshed with a stuffed pepper. We only partly cooked the fish in the pan since it needed to finished in the oven. If you don't like fish, they offered chicken. However, as I was talking to a couple on one of the Carnival cruises, the wife told me she hated fish but loved the grouper. It was the first time she ever actually enjoyed fish.
After finishing the fish, we moved back to the dessert so that we could plate it. They brought back out the rice pudding (which was cooled) and the sugar cookies (which were baked). We learned about decorating with sauces and creating designs with them. Again, once we finished, the took them back to the kitchen to place in the fridge to stay fresh until we ate them. Lastly, we worked on the appetizer. We created sopes, which are very thick tortillas that are hollowed out and filled with beans and other ingredients (can't remember off the top of my head) and topped with lettuce, cheese, and cream. Once we finished plating, we were led upstairs to the dining area (again, overlooking the ocean and beach) were we ate the sopes. All the dishes were paired with Mexican wine. I must say, they were very good. After that, the entrees were brought out. After the finished the fish in the oven, they added rice to plate as well. Again, a very good dish. Lastly, the dessert. And again, very good.
During the actually cooking time, a picture was taken of all the people at your table, along with the chef and sous chef. In typical Disney style, the photos were printed out and available for puchase (as they were pouring more wine in your glass, no doubt). However, I did purchase the photo and frame, which came out to (I think) $21. So after the workshop and tasting (which is very filling), we had full use of the resort. We had about 45 minutes until the taxi came to take us back to the port, so 5 of us headed to the beach to lay out. Needless to say, after 2 rum punches, a tequilla shot, and 2 glasses of wine, all I wanted to do was lay down. After the nice rest, we all headed back to the front where the taxi was waiting for us and we headed back to the port.
I am so glad that I did this excursion. It might be that we were all Disney dorks, or maybe it's the magic that Disney brings, or maybe I'm just niave, but I really believed the 6 of us from the Magic bonded somewhat on the excursion. And that's something that's important to make any excursion enjoyable. I would highly suggest this excursion to anyone visiting Cozumel who is even somewhat interested in cooking. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.
