Celebrating 20 years at WDW - Bonus features, A few posts from May, Updated 9/11

[afwdwfan]

You could also buy wine in 1oz, 3oz and 5oz pours. Just take a card to the register and pay for it. Bring back your receipt, they would stamp it, push the button that corresponded to your size of pour, and your wine would dispense. I was pretty fascinated with this machine, and tried several of the selections from there over the course of the festival.

What? Wine out of a machine? Isn't that blasphemy to a wine connoisseur such as yourself?

Eventually he came on stage. The lady behind him “hosted” every demo on this stage and she got to be kind of annoying because she had the same spiel for every time she came out, and was so overly "bouncy" (and I don't mean like Tigger) and energetic, I kinda wanted to hit her over the head.

Ok, in your case probably more irritating than for most. I mean how many people see 10+ demos? Actually probably more locals there doing that than I'd think. In any case there's probably not much point in her coming up with fresh material, but that overly bouncy type stuff would get to me before the repetition would.

Obviously it was good otherwise I wouldn’t have made it at home!

Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it! And found your recipe...

As I was picking up my martini, Fran came over to the booth and made this preposterous statement. “They ran out of bacon.”

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!

How can you ever underestimate the demand for bacon??? Sheer stupidity.

Every one of these items were fantastic!

Because bacon.

Following the presentation we headed out and back towards home. We were giving Francisco some cat treats and a PP photographer stopped to talk to us. Fran asked to have her picture taken with one of her favorite characters at the park.

That's awesome. Fran looks thoroughly happy in this picture. She truly was in her element with her favorite character.

 

[franandaj]

Inconceivable!

They RAN out of bacon?

Surely they must know that's an American standard!!!

I know! Right?

Oooh, yum!

I can see why they ran out. They look amazingly delicious.

They also made every dish pretty much to order. Like the Mac was warming in an oven and when you ordered it, they scooped it in the tray, and then sprinkled bacon and onion straws on top. In fact everything was made like that, so I would imagine they should have known as the bacon was running low. It wasn't all that busy that day. Maybe they didn't think people like me would make a special trip to the park just to try stuff.

I would agree. I've never used sourdough for any sweet based bread pudding.

Fran still stands by the fact that she liked it.

Great pictures of Fran and Francisco.

Gotta love those PP photographers!

That was very interesting that Bacon Twist kiosk ran out of bacon when you were there. I thought Disney learned from last years F&W Festival where they need to have enough food so they won't make guests wait. There were times where I saw people waiting for their food which shows that they didn't have enough or running slow on serving.

I know! I remember you telling me that last year they ran out of tenderloin in the second day. This time at least they were able to fix it quickly!

Nice to see that you were able to do quite a lot of kiosks that day. The Baby Iceberg & Heirloom Tomato Wedge with Peppered Bacon & Point Reyes Blue Cheese Dressing looks good. I did enjoy the Smoked Bacon Mac & Cheese with Barbecue-Seasoned Crispy Onions along with the Maple-Bacon Whoopie Pie was good as well.

This and one other booth were our most revisited.

The Sweet & Sourdough kiosk which have the White Cheddar Lager Soup served in a Mini Boudin Sourdough Boule was one of my favorites which I can never get tired of the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup at Epcot's F&W Festival at the Canada Pavilion.

What I didn't like so much about the cheese soup was that the bowl wasn't deep enough. I wanted more soup, less bread. I make that Le Cellier cheese soup at home and it is really good.

Glad to see that you were able to see Francisco right by GRR that day. It was to see him last month. When I go the next time, I will try to stop by and see if he is there but I might have to bring cat food for him.

They actually frown on guests feeding them, their main purpose is to keep the rodent population down and if guests keep feeding them, they won't go after the rodents.

Can't believe they ran out of bacon! Fortunately they restocked quickly.

I'm glad it was a momentary outage!

I love the tang of sourdough, but I don't think it makes sense for a sweet dessert.

Yes I love sourdough, but it just had too much tang to go well with chocolate and the sweet topping.

Not one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor?

Not even close! I had a hard time taking two sips from what they poured us.

What a sweet pic of Fran with the kitty!

Her favorite character at the park!

Is there a resident cat at DL??? I did not know that? Love the photo!

They even have their own webpage!

http://disneylandcats.com/

How can that be so shortly after opening. They must have been swamped!

But they weren't when we were there, maybe it's because they ran out of bacon. It was just past 3PM. Maybe they didn't initially stock them with much. You would think they would have notified someone when they were halfway through!

It does look yummy! CG has a wedge salad like that at brunch which was so good.
The whoopy pie sounds interesting - everything gets more tasty with bacon doesn't it?

I love a good wedge, usually they are way too big for me. I was not sure about the whoopie pie last year when I tried it, but I remembered being pleasantly surprised. Fran got quite a few more of these over the course of the festival.

 

[franandaj]

Fun update! I never understand how they can run out of anything in those kiosks, let alone bacon.... it's not like it suddenly runs out, they can see it going...

I'm going to guess that since it the entire process to restock probably takes an hour if not more, they just didn't know when to say, "We need more!" I know you don't eat bacon, but to cook until crispy like that probably takes a good 35-45 mintues (I'm sure the bacon is cooked elsewhere in a real kitchen and cooked in bulk in an oven) and then deliver it to the kiosk. This spurred me to write a whole different section in my next update!

Great pictures of Fran with the kitty

I like those glasses at the tasting.

She does look happy. They were just pretty standard shot glasses.

So crazy they ran out of bacon in the first 4 hours...

I wonder if they just completely underestimated their demand or the people working weren't paying attention.

These look yummy though, the bacon looks nice and crispy. I can't stand it when restaurants serve the bacon barely cooked, l usually specify "VERY, very extremely well done, even if you come close to burning it, that's ok" and sometimes it's still floppy and really light in color. I usually give up at that point and my hubby eats it.

It takes a while to cook it to crispy, especially when you're making that much. I cook mine in the oven a pound at a time and it takes a good 25-35 minutes at 350 just to get browned. I don't cook it all the way, so that I can heat it up in smaller batches of 4-5 pieces.

That cheese soup in a bread bowl looked good too. Was it like the one in WS Canada

A little bit. The one in Canada has bacon, onions and celery in it giving it a bit of a chewy texture. This one was smooth and had more of a beer flavor.

Love this pic with the kitty, I have heard about the DLR cats. my SIL has a barn cat that looks a lot like this

We make it a point to look for all the kitties that we know about. So far we've found four of them.

Nope! Totally forgot! Will again too!

What were we talking about?

Not yet. The market is way downtown and not somewhere I go very often.

I can understand that. Now that I live on the East side of Long Beach, I don't get to downtown much either.

And had you?

Nope. We signed up for everything that we wanted already.

I don't know what they got... but I love it already.

Cute name.
Even though I don't care for olives.
Or like martinis.

Used to drink them all the time.
Because I was young and stupid and trying to look cool... but I didn't like them.

Well that's silly!

Who does that?
"We think we'll have over 1,000 people."
"Hmmm... better get two pounds of bacon."

Yeah, I'm really wondering why it happened.

Okay, seriously... Love the nail colour.

Thank you!

Looks good! Was it?

It was pretty good, difficult to eat and get the meat out of the claw. It was a little bit spicy.

Right there? I looked, but I just saw the dog sleeping by the window.

Huh?

well of course. You did say bacon.

Not surprised and... they must've been really good!

Plus the fact that for between $5-7, I could get a small nosh that wouldn't spoil my appetite for when we had another event planned.

Well, that bites!


pun intended?

I don't get the pun.

Another cute name.
Too bad the food didn't live up to the name.

Well the bread bowl with soup was good....

what is that?

I think you would like it. Conundrum is a White Blend, I think you'd like it. Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier, Sémillon and Muscat Canelli. The Muscat makes it sweet, but the others balance it out so that it's not too sweet.

Or maybe it was because they gave you too much tequila.

Hardly. I don't even think we got a whole shot. The speaker was actually fairly lackluster.

I remember seeing Francisco! Or at least we thought we did... Wasn't there two of them? Sleeping?

Yes I believe we did see both of them!

Did Fran have a little treat for him?
(Nice shot of her, BTW.)

She usually does carry cat treats in her scoot bag.

 

[franandaj]

Ran out of bacon at the bacon stand????

Blasphemy!

Michael would be all over that wedge salad. I think wedge salad is one of his favourite foods overall.

I'm totally all over wedge salads, I would have to say it's one of my favorite things too.

I have to say that I think those portions do look decent size for the prices. I remember that in 2011 at Epcot Katharina and I found portions and prices to not correlate as well as we thought they ought to. I will have a chance to see how it is this year. I am looking forward to another attempt at loving F&W at Epcot.

The items at Epcot were overall cheaper than DCA, but I think they have leveled the prices out over the years. I hope you have a great time there next year!

Ran out of bacon after 4 hours! Boy did they underestimate that! I would have loved all of those bacon dishes. Everything looks so delicious!!! Wish I could go more often!!!

I know. I was completely astonished when she told me they were out.

What? Wine out of a machine? Isn't that blasphemy to a wine connoisseur such as yourself?

Take a look again, you can see the bottles inside, and so it dispenses directly from the bottle, it was actually pretty cool to me!

Ok, in your case probably more irritating than for most. I mean how many people see 10+ demos? Actually probably more locals there doing that than I'd think. In any case there's probably not much point in her coming up with fresh material, but that overly bouncy type stuff would get to me before the repetition would.

Actually there are "a lot of us" who attended quite a few demos. Most are local, we also know each other from D23 as well. However one gal who will make an appearance near the end of the festival actually lives in Oregon, but I've come into contact with her at so many of these things I really thought she lived in So Cal.

Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it! And found your recipe...

Once we get out of the old house and I can start cooking again, I think I'll make it again.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!

How can you ever underestimate the demand for bacon??? Sheer stupidity.

Because bacon.

Exactly!

That's awesome. Fran looks thoroughly happy in this picture. She truly was in her element with her favorite character.

She really does! Doesn't she?

 

[franandaj]

The 50th Anniversary of Pirates of the Caribbean was March 18 of this year, and as a result merchandise was released to commemorate that event some of it was released on the Thursday (March 16) before and some wasn’t available until the day that the event happened.

So of course Fran had to go out and get some of that Limited Edition Merchandise, specifically the pins.

We stopped in for some of the special Pirates displays, festivities, and meet and greets. I tried to score me some pirate bounty!







The main mice were on hand decked out in their pirate finest.





There was also a neat prop display.









These were the LE pirates pins we purchased, if anyone who wanted one didn’t get one, there are some left.





When you lift up the top there is a different scene in each one.














After bought our limit of pins, we headed over to DCA to try a few more food booths. Our first booth was Garlic Kissed.





We got the Pork Bao, this was one my favorite dishes of the whole festival. How can you beat a pork belly wrapped in fluffy bun?



There was also a Tenderloin slider and we got one of those. Had I realized that it would be drenched in chimmichurri sauce, I think I would have ordered it without. I wiped that off.



The steak was perfectly cooked.



I also got a glass of the Murphy Goode Zinfandel.



Something that occurred to me while responding to everyone’s comments is that the “process” of the booths is not evident. Sure you order your food, pay, and go up to the window and they hand you something tasty. But in one of the comments I mentioned that everything was made to order. Now that doesn't mean that they were “cooking” in the booths. Like the last booth, I'm sure that somewhere backstage someone was searing tenderloins to very rare, and slow cooking the pork bellies. I saw CMs throughout the festival pushing carts (I never thought to take pictures because, I mean why would I?). They were the standard sort of warming carts, and that’s how they would deliver the mostly cooked food items to the kiosks. Once the food was at the kiosk it would be kept either warm or cold in the appropriate device. They would have large storage bins, (think like what you see at Panda Express, they have a wall of refrigerators full of bins of prepped veggies and marinated meats.) The bins might contain the tenderloin sliders, premade Mac and Cheese, bacon bits, etc. When an order comes in one of the CMs would assemble the ingredients into the dish according to a picture and directions on the wall, so everything was fresh. You didn’t have soggy buns, or onion straws that got soggy sitting on the Mac and Cheese waiting. But this is also why at super busy times, you might have to wait in a longer line.

By the same token the drinks were dispensed from a large jar of the concoction, everything was premixed, so you didn’t have a chance of getting an “extra pour” of vodka or tequila. But that’s OK, for the most part it was consistent!

So back to our day having “dinner” from the kiosks! Our next stop was The Onion Lair





We got the French Onion Mac and Cheese. I thought the topping was a little strange, the texture with the Mac and Cheese didn’t quite work so well with me.



We also got the Braised Wagyu Beef on Polenta. This time around I didn’t like it so much, but we did order it again during the festival and it was 10x better that second time.



I also got this glass of Ace Premium Craft Cider. It was really good, but the carbonation made me a little nauseated.



Our next stop was the Lemon Grove. We were after the Lemon Macaron.





They were out! As you can tell it was pretty late so I can understand that. Since the cider made me feel somewhat ill, we decided it was time to go home. We would be back the next day, anyways.

 

[Pinkocto]

They were out of the macaroon!???


The Pirates pins are very nice, and of course I loved the main mice pictures.

Fun picture of you getting ready to do a Smee with your pirate treasure!

 

[DnA2010]

Blazing in for some quick replies between baby wrangling

I know everyone has commented (just skimming the comments I can tell!) but RAN OUT of BACON! Madness! Glad you got to try the dishes in the end.

I think I saw you comment that the cheddar soup has more of a beer taste- I think I would like that...I do a beer and cheddar fondue that is super yummy.

Some great PP pics- Fran has a great natural smile

I will have to find our pics from our last DL trip (when you were in the world boo) as we saw a Disney cat hanging out over the exit of Indy- I'm sure Fran would know which one!

Great pirates pics! Nice to see M&M all pirated up.

Yum that pork bun looks great- I'm a big pork fan though.

That's a lot of sauce on the tenderloin.

boy all these mini DL updates sure make me miss the Land :sigh:

 

[afwdwfan]

Nice score on the pirate booty. Those are some neat pins. 50 years... hard to imagine. Such a classic attraction.

It's really pretty amazing the choreography the food & wine festival must take to make it all click. From having the right amount of products cooked in the backstage kitchen and getting it rolled into place at the appropriate booth in the right time to keep everything fresh yet keep from running out. I guess that explains why they came up short on bacon that first night. They were still making adjustments and failed to recognize the siren song of bacon.

 

[pkondz]

What were we talking about?

No one knows. This one of the mysteries of life.

I can understand that. Now that I live on the East side of Long Beach, I don't get to downtown much either.

I believe you. I checked. Long Beach to downtown Winnipeg is 2,000 miles. Long way to go for Soy Sauce.

Well that's silly!

You know what's stupider than a barely pubescent male?

Nothing.

It was pretty good, difficult to eat and get the meat out of the claw. It was a little bit spicy.

Why I don't eat crab. Too much work for too little reward. Give me a lobster tail (that's already got the meat out of the tail) and I'm much happier.

Huh?

I don't get the pun.

Okay... I went back... and looked....

I have zero idea what the heck I was talking about.
I'm going to say I had a mini-stroke right at that time and let's just move on, okay?

I think you would like it. Conundrum is a White Blend, I think you'd like it. Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier, Sémillon and Muscat Canelli. The Muscat makes it sweet, but the others balance it out so that it's not too sweet.

Hmmm... sounds interesting. Next time we're together and if you see it... remind me.

No way in heck I'm going to remember.

She usually does carry cat treats in her scoot bag.

Going back up to read the update...

 

[pkondz]

So of course Fran had to go out and get some of that Limited Edition Merchandise, specifically the pins

Of course she did! I would've been shocked if she hadn't!

I tried to score me some pirate bounty!

Okay... I just gotta say. I saw this photo out of the corner of my eye and already knew I was going to comment. "Aw. Cute. Alison pretending to grab some treasure."
But when I actually looked at the photo... and saw you holding your pants out to scoop the coins into...




omg, Alison, that's hilarious!
(well done!)

The main mice were on hand decked out in their pirate finest.

I should get an outfit like that.



Nah. The dress colour clashes with my eyes.

There was also a neat prop display.

When you say "prop display" were some of those items from the movies?

That's pretty risqué for Disney.

And I like it. Redhead pirate wench??? Hello!!!

These were the LE pirates pins we purchased, if anyone who wanted one didn’t get one, there are some left.

I don't collect, myself. But thanks for the heads up.

When you lift up the top there is a different scene in each one.

That's actually pretty cool. If I did collect, I'd definitely want.

Our first booth was Garlic Kissed.

Yum. Garlic.

We got the Pork Bao, this was one my favorite dishes of the whole festival. How can you beat a pork belly wrapped in fluffy bun?

Hard to beat! Looks good too!

There was also a Tenderloin slider and we got one of those. Had I realized that it would be drenched in chimmichurri sauce, I think I would have ordered it without. I wiped that off.

Cilantro?

But in one of the comments I mentioned that everything was made to order. Now that doesn't mean that they were “cooking” in the booths. Like the last booth, I'm sure that somewhere backstage someone was searing tenderloins to very rare, and slow cooking the pork bellies.

Sure. Makes sense. I assumed that's what they were doing.

They were the standard sort of warming carts, and that’s how they would deliver the mostly cooked food items to the kiosks.

Shoulda' hijacked one and run off with it.

Our next stop was The Onion Lair

Just slightly below garlic. Sautéed onions? Yes please!

We got the French Onion Mac and Cheese. I thought the topping was a little strange, the texture with the Mac and Cheese didn’t quite work so well with me.

Oh, too bad. I would've ordered that as well.

We also got the Braised Wagyu Beef on Polenta. This time around I didn’t like it so much, but we did order it again during the festival and it was 10x better that second time.

Hm. Wonder why the difference.

I also got this glass of Ace Premium Craft Cider. It was really good, but the carbonation made me a little nauseated.

I'd order that too.

Our next stop was the Lemon Grove.

Just stop! You're hitting all my top flavours!

We were after the Lemon Macaroon.

Hmmm... is that a macaroon (coconut... blech) or a macaron? (yum)

They were out!

Well... I guess I'll never know! (unless you went back.)
Were they affiliated with the bacon booth by any chance?

Since the cider made me feel somewhat ill, we decided it was time to go home. We would be back the next day, anyways.

Sorry to hear you weren't feeling well.

 

[tiggrbaby]

Cute pics with the props and pirates mice!

How great that you were able to get all the pins you needed.

 

[franandaj]

They were out of the macaron!???

Yes, but in their defense it was getting rather late, so I can understand how they might start to run out of things near the closing time.

The Pirates pins are very nice, and of course I loved the main mice pictures.

Yeah the pins are nice, know anyone who might want any?

Fun picture of you getting ready to do a Smee with your pirate treasure!

I'll have to watch Peter Pan again. I guess that's where I subconsciously got the idea.

Blazing in for some quick replies between baby wrangling

How is that going for you? Everything OK?

I know everyone has commented (just skimming the comments I can tell!) but RAN OUT of BACON! Madness! Glad you got to try the dishes in the end.

Yeah, it sounded crazy at the time, but I guess when you take everything into account, it was a rather large entity to manage and perhaps they hadn't figured out where the "cry for more" levels were that first day.

I think I saw you comment that the cheddar soup has more of a beer taste- I think I would like that...I do a beer and cheddar fondue that is super yummy.

It had more of a beer taste than Le Cellier's. I could have used more soup to bread ratio.

Some great PP pics- Fran has a great natural smile

Thanks!

I will have to find our pics from our last DL trip (when you were in the world boo) as we saw a Disney cat hanging out over the exit of Indy- I'm sure Fran would know which one!

No, we've never seen that one...

Great pirates pics! Nice to see M&M all pirated up.

It was very fun!

Yum that pork bun looks great- I'm a big pork fan though.

I like most kinds of pork, but pork belly is my favorite.

That's a lot of sauce on the tenderloin.

Yeah, it took several napkins to wipe it all off.

boy all these mini DL updates sure make me miss the Land :sigh:

I can't wait to be able to spend more time there guilt free!

Nice score on the pirate booty. Those are some neat pins. 50 years... hard to imagine. Such a classic attraction.

Yeah, and it even gets better!

It's really pretty amazing the choreography the food & wine festival must take to make it all click. From having the right amount of products cooked in the backstage kitchen and getting it rolled into place at the appropriate booth in the right time to keep everything fresh yet keep from running out. I guess that explains why they came up short on bacon that first night. They were still making adjustments and failed to recognize the siren song of bacon.

It really is, there are a lot of moving parts. Most of the kiosks did not share ingredients, and with 10 booths concentrating on food (as well as beverage) each with three dishes, and each dish has 5 or more components, that's over 150 ingredients that they need to stay on top of.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Nice to see that you were able to get some nice PotC merchandise during the 50th anniversary. After seeing that you got the PotC merchandise, I remember that DL is selling the 25th anniversary Fantasmic! AP shirts at Disneyana and Pieces of Eight. It will be nice to see the new version of F! this summer.

Nice selection of food and drinks from the DCA F&W Festival that day. The Grilled Tenderloin slider and the pork bao were good. Interesting that the macaroon was sold out later that night but it did make sense since it was late that night.

 

[franandaj]

I believe you. I checked. Long Beach to downtown Winnipeg is 2,000 miles. Long way to go for Soy Sauce.

I have a novel idea. How about you go to your downtown and not mine.

You know what's stupider than a barely pubescent male?

Nothing.

And evidently some don't change. I got a call this morning from the new tenant. My phone restarted just as the call came in, so it went to voicemail. He spent his first night in the place last night and had no hot water for his shower. His water heater is brand new, so that could be a drag.

I gave it a little while before, I called him back. When I did I asked him one question, "Did you ever have the city come out and turn on the gas?"

"Oh."

Why I don't eat crab. Too much work for too little reward. Give me a lobster tail (that's already got the meat out of the tail) and I'm much happier.

I agree. But if someone is going to bring me a bunch of Dungeness crabs to my doorstep, I'm going to eat them.

Okay... I went back... and looked....

I have zero idea what the heck I was talking about.
I'm going to say I had a mini-stroke right at that time and let's just move on, okay?

Momentary Insanity.

Hmmm... sounds interesting. Next time we're together and if you see it... remind me.

No way in heck I'm going to remember.

OK. I don't forget things that. If it involves food or wine, I remember.

Of course she did! I would've been shocked if she hadn't!

Well, yeah.

Okay... I just gotta say. I saw this photo out of the corner of my eye and already knew I was going to comment. "Aw. Cute. Alison pretending to grab some treasure."
But when I actually looked at the photo... and saw you holding your pants out to scoop the coins into...




omg, Alison, that's hilarious!
(well done!)

Thank you. ((((Takes a bow.))))

I should get an outfit like that.



Nah. The dress colour clashes with my eyes.

Well if you end up on a Disney cruise, you might find it useful at the Pirates in the Caribbean Party.

When you say "prop display" were some of those items from the movies?

No they are all from the ride.

That's pretty risqué for Disney.

And I like it. Redhead pirate wench??? Hello!!!

It's in one of the rooms that are unique to the DL ride. It's on the right hand side after the skeleton pirate piloting the ship in the storm.

I don't collect, myself. But thanks for the heads up.

You're welcome, always happy to help out.

That's actually pretty cool. If I did collect, I'd definitely want.

I'd be happy to sell you some...

Yum. Garlic.

Hard to beat! Looks good too!

It was very good!

Cilantro?

Sure. Makes sense. I assumed that's what they were doing.

Yes, but you are someone who cooks and would think that way. I was just trying to explain it in case anyone else hadn't thought it through.

Shoulda' hijacked one and run off with it.

Nah, I have trouble finishing the leftovers that we make here!

Just slightly below garlic. Sautéed onions? Yes please!

Yes, they picked some good flavors to zoom in on for the most part.

Oh, too bad. I would've ordered that as well.

It's not that it was bad, and I wanted to try just about everything at the festival. The texture of the bread crumbs and the sauteed onions was just weird to me with the mac and cheese.

Hm. Wonder why the difference.

I think the polenta was fresher the second time and the wagyu was more tender.

Just stop! You're hitting all my top flavours!

Hmmm... is that a macaroon (coconut... blech) or a macaron? (yum)

I fixed the typo. It was a Macaron.

Well... I guess I'll never know! (unless you went back.)
Were they affiliated with the bacon booth by any chance?

About the going back, what do you think?

Well all the booths were affiliated with Disney...

Sorry to hear you weren't feeling well.

Carbonation does it every time. I really have to watch that.

 

[franandaj]

Cute pics with the props and pirates mice!

How great that you were able to get all the pins you needed.

Thanks! We try to get out there on the first day, because a lot of that stuff sells out quick!

Nice to see that you were able to get some nice PotC merchandise during the 50th anniversary. After seeing that you got the PotC merchandise, I remember that DL is selling the 25th anniversary Fantasmic! AP shirts at Disneyana and Pieces of Eight. It will be nice to see the new version of F! this summer.

Yeah, I think I'm going to get one of those 25th Anniversary Fantasmic! Shirts. They're nice.

Nice selection of food and drinks from the DCA F&W Festival that day. The Grilled Tenderloin slider and the pork bao were good. Interesting that the macaroon was sold out later that night but it did make sense since it was late that night.

We ended up getting them again later in the festival and I forgot again to order it without the chimichurri!

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW! Fantastic to see the props out of the attraction. That would have been a real thrill for me to get that close.
Congrats on the LE pins. They look fantastic.

We got the French Onion Mac and Cheese. I thought the topping was a little strange, the texture with the Mac and Cheese didn’t quite work so well with me.

I spot the problem. The French Onion should have been Truffles!

 

[pkondz]

I have a novel idea. How about you go to your downtown and not mine.

Where's your sense of adventure?

And evidently some don't change.

We never do.


We never do.

I got a call this morning from the new tenant. My phone restarted just as the call came in, so it went to voicemail. He spent his first night in the place last night and had no hot water for his shower. His water heater is brand new, so that could be a drag.

I gave it a little while before, I called him back. When I did I asked him one question, "Did you ever have the city come out and turn on the gas?"

"Oh."

I agree. But if someone is going to bring me a bunch of Dungeness crabs to my doorstep, I'm going to eat them.

Well.... yeah. Okay. Valid point.

Thank you. ((((Takes a bow.))))

Well if you end up on a Disney cruise, you might find it useful at the Pirates in the Caribbean Party.

Sold!

No they are all from the ride.

Oh! Got it.

It's in one of the rooms that are unique to the DL ride. It's on the right hand side after the skeleton pirate piloting the ship in the storm.

And I missed that?!?!?!!?!? How?????

I'd be happy to sell you some...

Thanks, but.... like I said. I don't collect 'em.

Yes, but you are someone who cooks and would think that way. I was just trying to explain it in case anyone else hadn't thought it through.

Good point.

Nah, I have trouble finishing the leftovers that we make here!

Yes, they picked some good flavors to zoom in on for the most part.

My very first lesson in cooking. Learned it from a friend of my Mom's when I was around 5 or 6.
"You want to make people think you're a good cook? Make them wait."
And the second lesson I learned was. "Sauté onions. You don't have to serve them. Just sauté some. The smell will drive 'em nuts."

The texture of the bread crumbs and the sauteed onions was just weird to me with the mac and cheese.

I get that.
I don't like breadcrumbs on mac n cheese. I like smooth, not crunchy for that dish.

I think the polenta was fresher the second time and the wagyu was more tender.

Ah.

I fixed the typo. It was a Macaron.

Check. (And... good.)

About the going back, what do you think?

Okay... stupid question.

Well all the booths were affiliated with Disney...

Well.... yeah, that's true.
But.... did all the booths run out? Hmmmm??

 

[franandaj]

WOW! Fantastic to see the props out of the attraction. That would have been a real thrill for me to get that close.
Congrats on the LE pins. They look fantastic.

It was cool to see all that stuff right up close usually it's many feet away in the ride.

I spot the problem. The French Onion should have been Truffles!

Then it wouldn't have fit the theme of the onion lair!

Where's your sense of adventure?

I think I lost it a few chapters back....

Well.... yeah. Okay. Valid point.

And believe me, it happens!

And I missed that?!?!?!!?!? How?????

I don't know. Could it have been a pesky teenager taking your attention?

My very first lesson in cooking. Learned it from a friend of my Mom's when I was around 5 or 6.
"You want to make people think you're a good cook? Make them wait."
And the second lesson I learned was. "Sauté onions. You don't have to serve them. Just sauté some. The smell will drive 'em nuts."

Those are both good lessons, and as soon as you start to saute onions, everyone says, "smells so good in here!"

I get that.
I don't like breadcrumbs on mac n cheese. I like smooth, not crunchy for that dish.

But crunchy bacon is OK!

Well.... yeah, that's true.
But.... did all the booths run out? Hmmmm??

Well not for me. I think that was the last time I encountered it, but now I see where you are going with this. You'll have to forgive me. I'm a little slow.

 

[franandaj]

March 17

Today we had a reservation for two culinary demos. Saturday the 18th we were to see Robert Irvine for the Celebrity Chef demo. This is what I had planned on Day 1 when the bookings opened. So imagine my exuberance when I was on the DVC website (something I was doing daily from the time that they announced the festival until around mid March) and saw that a room was available at the VGC on the 17th, I booked it on the spot.

“Perfect,” I thought. “We have demos at noon and 6PM. If we're not full, we can always hit a few more kiosks and call it a night.” Then we can relax in the room until 11AM checkout, we'll just amuse ourselves until the 6PM demo and go home.”

I'm not sure if I told you all about the saga of 2017 DCA F&W, so I'll do it now. First off, the largest amount of DVC points that I own is at the VGC. I know that it sounds silly to have so many points at a place so close to home, but back in 2009 (before the VGC was even built), I used up a few of my SSR points trading them out for hotel rooms on three separate random nights. It was really nice not having to drive home after events involving drinking. Plus we never get up and out of the house early enough to get a morning start at the parks. By staying onsite, I could let Fran sleep while I go out and do my thing. On the last morning of staying at the GCH in 2009, I realized that I’d never be able to get in at the VGC during F&W at 7 months with my SSR points, and thus the idea of buying points in CA was born.

Last year when they brought back the festival I was ecstatic, (this was why I bought all these points!) but with the lateness when they announced it, there was no way i was going to be able to stay over, as the GCH books up way in advance. Plus we had been traveling so much back then we couldn't justify it to our cats, staying out there even if there was availability.

But for this year I was prepared! At 11 months, I booked us into the VGC for every weekend after Easter! Imagine my surprise when in January they announced it would take place in the six weeks before Easter. Doh!

So the first thing I did when I realized my mistake was cancel all my existing reservations. Then I checked every week of the festival and took every reservation for a one bedroom that I could find. I think I got three separate random nights. One was the second Saturday in April and when I found out the Jenny was planning to come to California that week, I waitlisted the Friday night for the weekend where I had already scored the Saturday night.

Eventually I ended up canceling the two other nights that I booked, especially when I snagged March 17th for one night. Then my waitlist came through for April 7 and I had the weekend in a one bedroom. When I was looking at the reservation details, I noticed that it was 76 points per night whereas March 17 was 88 points for the night. As I looked into it further, I realized that I had booked a 2 bedroom and not a one bedroom! Another doh! moment.

So here we are on March 17, with a reservation at the hotel, now for a two bedroom. I offered the room to my friends who are some of my only local Disney fan friends, they have two young boys, one is 6 and the other is nearing his first birthday. They would be meeting us down there later in the afternoon/evening.

Our first demo was a slight mystery. It was called “Meet the Disneyland Chefs”, so essentially we were playing roulette with who would be cooking for/entertaining us. I was OK with that.

So our first demo was at noon, we had packed ever so lightly, one bag! That's a first for us! We parked at the hotel, sent our bag to Bell Services and raced off to the demo.



We ended up lucking out. I'm sure I would enjoy any of the DL chefs preparing us a meal, but we got one with an especially impressive resume. His name is John State and I'll let you read his bio that I stole off another website.

John State is the executive chef of Food & Beverage for Disneyland Resort, leading the culinary talents at Disneyland Park, Disney California Adventure Park, the Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Central Bakery, Banquets and Special Events Catering.
State’s new post is a homecoming of sorts, as he started his Disney career in 1995 at the Flying Fish Cafe at Disney’s BoardWalk at Walt Disney World Resort, where he was tapped to join the opening team planning and designing the restaurant.
From Flying Fish Cafe, State was at the helm at California Grill at Disney’s Contemporary Resort from 2002 until 2006. He left Walt Disney World Resort in 2006 to open a JW Marriott hotel in Grand Rapids, Mich., then headed to Chicago in 2009 to work with as an executive chef with Darden Restaurants. His new post brings him back to Disney just in time for the launch of the 60th Anniversary celebration of the Disneyland Resort. ​

Not bad, eh?

The article goes on to list quite few more accolades, but I think you get the gist. We had a pretty good demo in front of us!

Don't mind the stern look, he was actually a lot of fun and a generally nice guy as I was to find out later in the festival.



What he explained to us was that he essentially was in charge of all the food and drinks at the booths and one restaurant that they had converted for a special menu. I love the idea of special menus, but why do they always have to mess with one of my most favorite quick service restaurants? The Paradise Garden Grill.

Anyways the dish that he was going to be making for us was the trio of sausages. I believe there was a bratwurst, a white wurst, and a keilbasa. They would be accompanied with sweet red cabbage and warm potato salad.



He started both dishes with bacon, and then made a vinaigrette to toss the potatoes in.



This is what they made.



This is what they served us.



They continued to cook as we ate. After rendering the bacon for each dish, for the cabbage, they added onions, chicken broth, caraway seeds, vinegar, sugar, and then the chopped cabbage, he covered it and cooked it low and slow. At the end he finished it with julienned apples and ground sage.

For the potatoes he rendered the bacon and added julienned onion and diced celery. This would become the “fat” component in the vinaigrette for the potatoes. The potatoes had been steamed on their own and were warm. To the bacon/onion/celery mixture he added two kinds of mustard and Cider vinegar, then he tossed the potatoes in the vinaigrette.

I was so inspired by this simple prep that about a month and half later I made my own variation of this dish. We had a bunch of sausages in our freezer. Some of you know that I had asked Fran to buy me a very specialized Moroccan sausage via the internet. The minimum order was 3 lbs, not only did she buy the Merguez, but 12 pounds later we had bacon cheddar wurst, English Bangers, fresh keilbasa, and a couple types of Bratwurst. I believe I used the keilbasa, and instead of making my own cabbage I substituted Sauerkraut. But here is my version.




On our way out of the demo, I was approached by a DIS lurker who has read my reports and said that because of reading my TRs she and her husband took their first DCL cruise. If you're out there reading, stop in and say “hi”!

Our little “snack” served as a appetizer for some heartier lunch. We had planned to visit the LA Style booth after the demo since it was right outside the festival center.





From here we were interested in the Korean BBQ Beef Short Rib Tacos. They were tasty but the beef could have been cooked until it was a tad bit more tender.




We were also interested in the Teriyaki Chicken Slider. This was great! Messy but great. We had another one of these before the conclusion of the festival.



There was another booth nearby called Wineology, guess what they served? I sent Fran over there to get me a glass of wine while I took the food and found a place for me to sit. There was a free demo going on at the stage where our band usually plays so I took a seat at the end of a bench there.

Fran came back with a Sangria flight. Turns out we both liked the Peach Sangria the best.



I don't even remember what this was, but most likely a Chardonnay.



While we ate our lunch the demo got started, and it turns out the pastry chef presenter was making the Maple bacon Whoopie pie!



Since we were eating I didn't take any notes. Besides early on it became clear to me that this was way more involved than I wanted to get. I'm not much of a baker. I have a few dessert recipes in my arsenal, but I'm mostly a boxed cake mix kind of person. Turns out this does rely on a Yellow boxed cake mix. I don't remember what modifications she made to the recipe. Perhaps left out an egg or two so that it didn't rise so high like a cake. But the first thing she did was make the candied bacon. She mixed sugar and water over heat and once it caramelized she added maple syrup. Then she added crumbled crispy bacon and put it on a silicone mat in the oven to harden.

Next she made the exterior of the pies by mixing the cake batter and pouring it onto a baking pan in small circles. They came out like cake like cookie sized pieces, if that makes sense.



Then she made a vanilla buttercream frosting and added maple syrup to it. She did say you could use a premade frosting. Then she put the frosting into a piping bag (that's where she totally lost me, I don't do piping bags) and topped the bottom side if the cake/cookies with frosting on one side. For the other side she put a dab of frosting on the top side of the cake/cookie and used that to anchor the crispy caramelized bacon on the top.



It was entertaining to listen to and watch during our lunch, but way more work than I want to put in for a dessert!

We were still hungry and we were all ready to head off to the Paradise Garden Grill to try the other menu items.





We decided to split the fish and chips. It was fantastic! We love a good beer battered fish.



She got a pretzel (which unfortunately I had to fish it's stale self out of the basket of the scooter. We were so full from the fish that she didn't eat it right away and then forgot about it.



In an update a few back, I mentioned that we stopped at the AP area and took some pictures, but that I couldn't find them. It turns out they were on Fran's Photopass account, so let's pretend that after we ate our Fish & Chips we took these pictures.









After this we were full and a little tired so we decided to go back to the hotel and hope that our room would be ready at 4PM. We had another demo at 6PM and I hoped Fran could get a small nap in. It was about 3PM when we got back to the hotel and the room was not ready. We picked a spot where Fran could sit down and rest, and I got a text from my friend Suzie that she was on her way from DTD.


[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

We checked on the room after 4PM and were told that the room was not scheduled to be ready at 4PM, but that it could be ready anytime after 4PM. What?????? That's bull….

Well nothing we could do. At 5:00 Fran and I headed off to our demo and just as we passed through the turnstiles into DCA, I got the text that the room was ready. Thanks.

The 6PM demo was Scott Hunnel. Those of you who have dined at V&A’s or Remy might be familiar with his name.



Our perky hostess was back, I seemed to cover her face in this picture.



He made us a crab stuffed crepe topped with Hollandaise and caviar. The crepe was cooking on the stove while he was showing us the batter recipe.



Then he mixed up the Aoli which would be used to make the crab mixture..



Then he made the Hollandaise in the blender.



They mixed the crabmeat in an aioli mixture.



And we were served our sample dish.



I did take notes on this demo, but I didn’t figure I would use them.



I already have my own recipes for Hollandaise and crepes which I have been making for years, plus I doubt I would want to try to recreate any of his recipes. Unlike in my college years, where I learned to recreate dishes from fancy restaurants, since I couldn't afford to pay for them myself. Now I'd rather leave it to the fancy chefs. But writing this post reminds me, when we get the old place cleaned out and I have the time to cook again, I should make my Seafood Crepes in Mornay Sauce. It been a while and that's one that I developed after a fancy meal I was treated to. But I digress.

After the demo we went back to the room. We found Francisco on the way and Fran gave him some cat treats.



The room, I didn’t take pictures of the second bedroom as Suzie and her kids were in there. The kids were winding down for bed.





The “extra” bathroom off the living area.



Our view.



The master bath.





And the Master Bedroom.





Fran immediately laid down and went to sleep. Suzie left her six year old in charge while the two of us went out for a glass of wine and some desserts. Sorry no pics!


Tomorrow does not go as I alluded in the introduction to this mini weekend.