Tuesday, October 24th - I said Food and Wine, not Phooed and Whine...
You may be wondering at this point "what's that pesky Plankton fella been up to while you and Jay were stuffing your faces?"
That's a perfectly good question.
And we actually had to ask it of each other because the little bugger slipped away from us on more than one occasion in his efforts to build an army of mindless minions to further his scheme to take over the World.
Here he is in a display cart near the Mexico food booth, pretending to be a jalapeno pepper:
Be careful! I bet his rating on the Scoville Scale would be higher than a Habanero; if you factor in extra pungency for the black unibrow he might actually score higher than standard grade US pepper spray.
After our snack in Chile we spent some time in Norway, which is one of our favorite areas of Epcot. Today we re-visited some attractions that we hadn't seen for a while including the Stave Church. We'd forgotten about the Viking exhibit inside the church, which is really cool. I've been a huge fan of Norse mythology since reading
In the Morning of Time in junior high, and Jay and I both think Viking history is fascinating.
**Did the needle on your dork-o-meter just jump off the scale?**
Plankton enjoyed the weaponry display (of course) and was delighted by the Viking ship - he refused to leave until we took his picture.
Every time we bop around Norway, Jay and I have to ride Maelstrom - this attraction hasn't lost an ounce of charm for us since we first experienced it in 1996. It's goofy, but it's so much fun and we love the trolls!
After we skip the tourism movie we always browse in the Scandinavian stores - my personal favorite is the area in the back that sells all the Nordic sweaters. I have wanted to buy one of those babies for as long as I can remember but even someone as spendthrift as me has a hard time justifying $200 for a sweater.
Today's weather had given me the perfect window of "just charge it" opportunity. And I did look...and I found one that I really liked...and this great guy I'm married to actually told me to go ahead and buy it since it was so cold outside...and...and...and...
I walked away from it.
To understand what an achievement this is...just picture me going to Borders, picking out several choice books I've been aching to read, getting in line to pay for them and then suddenly putting them all back, only to walk out of the store empty-handed.
If only I could exercise that much self-restraint all the time.
Before moving on in search of more food, we had to take advantage of one last photo-op, which was just too good to be true.
We call this:
I Will Hug Him and Squeeze Him and Call Him George...
This has to be my favorite of all the Plankton pictures we took during the week - I still laugh like a loon every time I see it. And if you could have seen the looks we were getting from other guests and CMs while we were taking this picture...I'm surprised Disney's Mental Health Brigade didn't capture us in America-town and ship us off for counseling.
Our next stop was China where we once again failed to take a picture of the food booth.
Food Choices: Chicken Sha Cha Skewers with Peanut Sauce; Pork Pot Stickers; Caramel Ginger Ice Cream.
Beverage Choices: Green Tea Plum Wine Cooler; Hua Xia Cabernet Sauvignon; Tsingtao Beer.
We ordered the Chicken Sha Cha Skewers with Peanut Sauce and a Green Tea Plum Wine Cooler.
I'm not a big fan of Asian foods, but I must go on record saying that this was an outstanding entry from our one billion-plus friends on the other side of the Great Wall. The chicken was tender and juicy, and the peanut sauce was very subtle. Too much peanut flavoring and they could have run the risk of this sample tasting like a chewy boiled peanut, but yummy in my tummy - it was just right. And if there is a single drink that you try at next year's F&W Festival it should be this wine cooler. I admit to being skeptical of this mix of flavors but it was very good. We probably would have enjoyed it just a bit more if we had tried it on a day when the temperature made it out of the 50s, but hey, you take the good with the bad and then you order another wine cooler!
We used the massive China-mart as a means of restoring our body temperatures to normal once we finished our yummy food and booze samples. On our way out we found Plankton working on his recruiting spiel:
And then I spotted a very pretty young woman posing for pictures primarily with young boys and men. I nudged Jason. "Hey, you should go get your picture taken with that Geisha."
**SIGH** Sometimes I'm just not the sharpest tool in the shed. It took another five minutes for my brain to start working, by which time we were practically in Germany. I realized two things...no three, yes three things, in quick succession:
1) Geishas are from
Japan, not China, dumba$$.
2) Regardless of the country of origin, there's no way that Disney would have a Geisha wandering around the Walt Disney World Resort - that's not exactly a family-friendly promotion.
3) That was Mulan.
for you and Grimmie, too! I am sure you are the coolest, funniest aunt your brother's kids could ever have. Just know I am thinking about you...
I know that's almost sacreligious, isn't it? This year I'm way more into wine (that doesn't sound quite right
, but so true!), so I'll be on the lookout for the perfect Riesling, or close cousin. Can't wait for the next update!
for Brenda, from everyone that luvs you on the "internets".
Looking forward to reading more of your adventure.
