updated 4/22/13
EPCOT FLOWER & GARDEN FESTIVAL ROUND 3
i was really excited to be returning to epcot for the flower & garden festival. this is my third visit to the festival & rachel's first. we had breakfast at 1900 park fare so we explored epcot for a bit so that we could become hungry again.
my first purchase was here:
emme really wanted a strawberry ice cream. i had no idea where i could find plain strawberry ice cream at epcot. needless to say, i was super excited to find this for emme:
HUGE Vanilla Ice cream
we waited about 20 minutes for this icre cream. the line moved so slow. it was so inefficient but emme was happy with the ice cream & it was ginormous.
after the ice cream, we found ourselves at the OZ portion of the festival. i was not able to see this the last time i was there.
the oz portion was perfect for children. it was a really awesome playground with so much to do. i will be posting pictures in my
TRIP REPORT if anyone is interested.
after some play time at oz, we began our eating festivities. i wanted to have a special beer in canada (trois pistoles) but was disappointed when it's only offered during food & wine. so we continued to walk and found ourselves in england and at the "cottage".
i've already tried the
Baked Goat's Brie with Kumquat Chutney & nothing else appealed to me so i settled for this:
STELLA
the stella was from the outside beer cart of rose & crown. this is such a nice pour especially for $8.50. the beer was icy cold & so delicious. it's a very large pour for a great price, especially by disney standards.
then we crossed the bridge & made our way to france.
throughout our time at epcot, emme kept saying, "who took their eyes mommy?!" & "where are their eyes?!"
it was so strange to see the human topiaries have no eyes. pooh & company had eyes but none of the humans did. kind of creepy.
last time i was in france, i had the terrine. this day, i chose:
Tarte á la Ratatouille et frommage de chévre - Zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, onions, and tomato tart with goat cheese $4.50
i didn't expect this tarte to taste so much like pizza. i guess it was a "tomato tart" but i wish there was more goat cheese on this thing. also the pastry was a bit too hard which made it really flaky (but not in a good way). it was seasoned nicely but the tomato overpowered the entire dish.
then we saw our friend:
sleeping beauty in her new dress! i'm so glad we saw her as rachel had shown me a picture of the dress already. this was great timing as we went to MK the next day and sleeping beauty wasn't present at the princess meet & greet. she was a very pretty aurora.
we continued to stuff our faces and made our way to italy.
look how cute:
my last trip to italy was the most expensive & biggest disappointment for me. i spent $20 on two things that i absolutely hated. the two things were the lobster/asparagus dish & this really terrible carbonated rasberry beer. i'm still bitter about the lobster/asparagus dish. it was cold, puny asaparagus, 3 small pieces of lobster & a whole mess of sauce. rachel got this dish & this time they put some salad on top of it. just looking at the dish made me slightly perturbed. HA.
i ordered this:
Lasagna Primavera - Spinach Lasagna, green peas, zucchini, mushrooms, broccolini, béchamel and fresh tomatoes with garlic and basil leaves $6.00
this lasagna was delicious & it was a very generous portion. the pasta was chewy & had great spinach flavor. it had so much filling inside of it. this was right up my alley and was worth the $6.00. i loved everything about this lasagna. very very very good.
after italy, we made our way to germany.
Krombacher Hefeweizen $3.50 6oz.
i ordered this beer on my last trip & i ordered it again. it was very light & refreshing. two thumbs up.
by this point, i think emme had fallen asleep so it as officially margarita time. we arrived in mexico & i ordered this:
Tostada de Jaiba - Crab Tostada with Chipotle mayonnaise and Valentina Salsa $5.50
MMMMMMMMMMM! this was better the first time i ordered it in march. on this taste, the tostada was fried to hard and tasted a bit stale. there also wasn't as much crab meat as before but it was still a good amount. i loved the chipotle mayo & the salsa with the lime on top. it was worth for me getting it a second time.
we had to wash it down with this:
Rosita Margarita on the rocks - tequila, triple sec and rose infusions $8.50
it was still very strong & very tasty. definitely worth getting a second time.
after emme awoke, she was hungry so we headed over to sunshine seasons as we had fast passes for soarin. emme got two of her favorite things: rice & mashed potatoes.
emme is using her rice bowl & chopsticks we purchased in japan. she's quite good with her chopsticks & we use them every day at home.
would you pay $400 for this??
for my dinner, i went to tangerine cafe & got this:
Shawarma Platters - served with side of Hummus, Tabouleh and a Tangierine Couscous Salad with fresh Moroccan bread
Chicken & Lamb Combo $14.99
i was so looking forward to this. i love "middle eastern" food. however, i was pretty disappointed in this platter. i get really really good middle eastern food in town & after the reviews i've read online, i really expected more. first, my pita bread was cold as was the lamb. the hummus didn't have much flavor. i liked the taboulleh but they didn't give me enough. it was a teeny tiny amount. the couscous was too sweet for my liking. i won't be ordering this any time soon. after eating this, i wished i would have gotten the veggie platter.
after dinner, we saw illuminations. my camera was a hot mess (emme accidentally kicked it off my bed) & was having all sorts of issues. but i did get this semi-decent shot:
rachel got some gorgeous shots as she was smart enough to find a flat place for her camera & fancy new lens! her pictures are stunning!
one gripe: we found our place 20 minutes before the show started. emme & i were on the railing but there was a little bit of space because of her stroller. there was a brother pair standing next behind us & they were complaining they couldn't see. so they thought it would be a bright idea to walk right in front of us & squeeze their way in. i mean, COME ON, REALLY?! i then said, "my daughter can't see" and they scurried off. so rude.
it doesn't look like i ate a lot but i also shared with whatever savory rachel got. i will let her post her delicious offerings & tell you all about it.
we had an AWESOME time at the flower & garden festival. it was so nice to be with an adult this time around & eat & drink our way around. i didn't feel like a total degenerate like i normally do when it's me with beer in my hand trying to push emme in her jogging stroller. i've actually hit the curb a few times by myself. oops.
another great time of eating @ epcot!