Thanks everyone for your patience waiting for the next installment. This little cold knocked me for a loop yesterday, so it was off to bed early for this camper. Feeling a bit better tonight, so we'll try to move along in our report.
Following the Pam Smith demo, we decided it was time to nosh a bit more around the world, so we headed back out to the booths. Since we had left off at Barcelona the day before, we moved right on over to Austria where we tried:
Beef Goulash with a Bacon Dumpling
The goulash was delicious, the dumpling was actually a bit non-descript (which was really disappointing because I had high hopes for it. How can you possibly go wrong with Bacon?)
Tafelspitz (basically boiled beef served with a sour cream sauce and boiled potatoes)
This was just okay. And actually a bit of a pain to split in three (since knives were at a major premium throughout the world -- which would be my #1 hint for those planning to nosh and share, if you find a knife at one of the booths,
keep it and guard it with your life!!!)
So to this point, we've had Mofongo and Tafelspitz! There's only one item left to complete the silly-named foods trifecta -- Bobotie!
Therefore, onward to South Africa (we skipped China, which really didn't have anything of interest, and India, which did but the line was wicked long at the time). Here we had both the Bobotie with Mango Chutney and the Durban Spiced Chicken with Coconut Milk-infused Root Vegetables. I, of course, forgot to take pics.
Next came, in our opinion, the best booth of the entire festival -- Australia.
Grilled Lamb Chop with Caramalized Onion Jam -- This was delicious, despite the fact that the lamb was overdone (which I was willing to forgive given that it was still very tender and that I'm pretty sure they had to serve it medium well due to some kind of health regulations). The onion jam was a great complement
Chilled Barramundi with a Fennel Slaw -- Very good, as I enjoy both barramundi and fennel. I was surprised that it was served cold, and actually found it very refreshing. The crushed peanuts gave a great texture contrast and worked really well with the firm flesh of the fish.
Pepperberry Prawns on the Barbie with Sweet Potato Hash -- Two large, succulent grilled shrimp with a hearty sweet potato hash. What is there not to love? The only thing we could come up with was that there were only two shrimp and three of us. We almost came to blows!!!
3-for-3 by the Aussies! It didn't hurt that we chatted with a really cute CM from Melbourne for about 15 minutes or so.
(Psst, don't tell my wife!)
Following Australia, we bypassed Germany (I love spaetzle, but nobody can beat my mom's), Italy (baked ziti?!?!? come on people, you can do ALOT better), Ireland (since we had just eaten @ Raglan Road the night before), San Francisco (the beef medallion with cheddar cheese polenta did NOT look appetizing and, while I would have enjoyed it, neither Ken nor Will were interested in the beet salad) and Japan (hmmmm, let's see, sushi....hot 85-degree sun....several hours sitting in that booth....think I'll pass).
Which led us to New Zealand and one of our favorite dishes of all the booths.
Lamb Slider on Brioche -- Wow, this was yummy with a Y. It was all about the gravy. So we went back for seconds. We also had the:
Bay Scallops with Baby Greens and Cranberry Vinaigrette -- I really enjoyed this dish. Light and fresh, the scallops were firm and the vinaigrette worked very well (even though there was a bit too much of it).
By this point, we were starting to get a bit full, and I was determined to make it over to the World Showplace for the end of Day 2 of the Bocuse d'Or competition. This of course meant that I wouldn't get any Crawfish Etouffee. Oh the sacrifices I make!
We arrive at the competition, and the chefs have already begun presenting their trays. There is a huge throng lined up at the ropes, and the stands are full. NOOOOO!!! I can't see! So I sneak around the back of the stands and cut through between them right up to in front of the tables!!! Of course, I'm not supposed to be there. So between running away from angry CMs, I was able to snap the following pics (warning: webray's shots are better than mine):
Not great, but not bad, given that I very nearly got kicked out twice trying to get them. The funny thing is that I was working so hard trying to get the pics -- and not get kicked out -- I totally missed that Al Roker was there announcing. Too funny.
So after snapping a few illicit photos, we decided to head back to our rooms and rest up ahead of that evening's Bocuse d'Or Grand Gala!!!
Full update, with pics, stories, Besh-iness, Bocuse-ification and, unfortunately, a really bad headache, to come tomorrow!
Brad
John Besh = eye candy. 
or do we head straight on over to Epcot to attend the day's first free Culinary Demonstration. Well, let's see who it is...ah, Andrea Zelen, owner of the American Brownie Compan....wait a second. Brownies? FREE brownies?? For breakfast?!?!
These were dense, rich, uber-chocolately and amazingly delicious. For all those interested, their website is americanbrownieco.com and they have (I think) over 100 different types of brownie.
I'm pumping up with vitamin C now since we're leaving next week. 
