Disney's CA F&W Fest - Final wrap up for 2010 see you next year!

[franandaj]

This is such an amazing event. People don't understand why we pay so much money to make our own food, but the people who do understand really get it and it is so much fun, I can't imagine not doing this class every year. In fact it is one of those highlights that I look forward to. Even now I can't wait for next year and what we will do!

This morning Jim Ames the Festival Coordinator was at the Napa Rose and I talked to him and thanked him for the Festival and told him to let his upper management know that after last year, I bought DVC points so I could stay during F&W! We also talked about how he still thinks that we are all crazy to pay over $400 to make our own food, but is glad that the event sells out before any others.

So that said, this year's cooking school started out like the rest, lovely pastries and cofffe to start and then Andrew Sutton gives us a briefing of what we are in store for.

This man is just brilliant in his recipies, teaching and how he puts this class together. Our menu was quite simple, but delicious,

1st course - home made pasta with shrimp & vegetables in a flavorful healthy sauce

2nd course - stuffed zucchini blossoms served over a bed of greens and bacon

3rd course - Roasted Chicken with a dehydrated strawberry, smoked paprika & herb rub

4th course - Scharfenberger Chocolate Souffle with Cherry Ice cream

He planned it perfectly so that we did all the "heavy lifting" in the beginning of the class and by the end we were just eating the food we made and drinking wine!

First off we washed our hands and then immediately got around to our whole chickens. We stuffed them with half a lemon, lots of salt and a rub that we made from dehydrated strawberries, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, and a couple other things, they had all the herbs set out for us, we just mixed them up and then coated them on the bird. Chef Sutton demonstrated them first and then we got down to business.

This is his bird.

I'm working on mine!

Next up he demonstrated how to send pasta through a press and make Papparadelle. By this pic, he's already put the pasta through like 20-30 times.

Here he shows us how you can put chervil in your pasta to make it more artistic.

Then he goes backwards and shows us how to make pasta dough.

Looks pretty easy huh? We'll see if I try this!

He cuts the already prepared dough into thin slices for the Paparadelle.

Next he demonstrates how to remove the stemen from the zucchini blossoms

They have this whole amazing tray set up for us to stuff our zucchini blossoms, and then make our pasta. Notice the piping bag with the blossoms, this is our next task.

Once we piped the goat cheese filling into the zucchini, we dipped them in flour, egg wash and pankow bread crumbs.

Chef Sutton began our demo of the pasta dish, the butter you see in his hand is the most amazing tasting butter.

He says cook the garlic to California Tan

OK going to post this and continue in another thread so I don't have too many pics!

 

[PrincessInOz]

If the recipe you're referring to in my PTR is the paprika chicken here, yes please. I'd like it!!

It looks YUM! Did the chef talk about substituting paprika with curry or chilli powder?

 

[franandaj]

OK, so where did we leave off, we still haven't actually cooked or eaten anything!

So we have just stuffed & breaded our zucchini blossoms. Now at this point just about everything we need to do is basically set. Next Chef Sutton demonstrates how to make our shrimp paparadelle pasta. They have already cooked the pasta enough so we have everything on our stations that just need to be assembled in our pans. Can I have someone come to my house and do this for me for all my dinners so that all i need to do is put it in a pan?

So we saute the garlic, cook it to California tan, add shallots & red pepper flakes, put in some wine, completely reduce it, add chicken stock and all the veggies, which I think are tomatoes, basil, fennel, spinach, and whatever else was on the plate (we did get a cookbook). shrimp and cook it down till the shrimp are cooked and let it reduce, add a little lemon zest. Then we add the pasta, heat it through and voila! A few tosses of the pan....

The first one was Chef Sutton's, this one is mine:

Here's the finished product, pretty darned good if I don't say so myself!

After we ate our pasta, Chef showed us how to cut up a chicken. Here's some of the chickens we made.

We were all in awe of how he carved this bird with such ease

The sous chefs gave us each plate of greens and bacon. Our stuffed blossoms were labeled with our names, we fried them in olive oil and plated them with our salads.

BTW what they did with this bacon was obscene, they coated it in maple syrup at least three times while they roasted it in the oven. OMG! It was the best bacon EVER!

Once we finished our squash blossom bacon salad, they brought us each a plate of chicken. Throughout the whole meal my DP and my friend Suzie's husband had been lurking around the table each of us shared our first two courses with them, but for the chicken, the staff brought them each a plate of the chicken. That was very nice, they didn't have to do that, but for the price we all paid to register and the fact that each student did make a whole chicken, well, it was just nice of them to bring them an entree too.

This is just a shot of the flatbread they serve, it is my favorite and I eat all of them in the breadbasket that they bring!

These are all the wines that they have been serving us with our courses so far.

I'm going to save dessert for tomorrow! It's already very late and I need to go to bed since I was up so late last night and on my feet almost all day today.

Still to come, dessert at the Napa Rose Cooking School and some of the Tapas plates from the Taste of California Marketplace!

 

[thmar]

I love this!! Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[franandaj]

After we finished our main course, we were again invited back into the kitchen. Chef Sutton does not make the desserts, they are handled by the Disney Bakery so Jorge Sotelo and his assistant Mario showed us how they made our dessert.

They started off by melting butter and scharfenberger chocolate over a double boiler.

They whipped some egg whites, combined the egg yolks and flour with the chocolate mixture, and folded it all together. Then they showed us the little molds that they cook the souffle's. Next they demonstrated the plating.

We also got to see them demonstrate how they made the little sugar flower you see on the plate.

They shaped each individual petal and then finally made this larger version of the rose we received on the plate. He said that they make about 40 of these every night.

Next we got to make a simple spiral in the kitchen. However at this point, my camera battery was dropping dead so I plugged it in to charge. My friend John took a picture of my spiral and when he gets me the copy, I'll substitute it in here.

My battery charged up enough to take these final pics for the day.

That's it for the cooking school. Next update, dinner at the Taste of California Marketplace.

 

[franandaj]

So for those of you who are familiar with the Epcot F&W Festival, the biggest draw is strolling around the countries and sampling the small plates. Well the California Food Police will not let that happen here, evidently the only thing you can serve out of stands are things like churros, popcorn, ice cream bars. Generally the stuff you see for sale throughout Disneyland and DCA. I guess if you have to actually cook it, the item needs to be prepared in a licensed kitchen. I'm only speculating as I have no idea!

The tapas plates served in DCA are just that, they are prepared in a regular kitchen. They are all served in one location. You place your order at a central register, turn in your ticket at the kitchen and they prepare your plates for you.

We needed a nap after the cooking school so we didn't get down there until 7:45PM, they told us they were closing at 8:00, so we ordered everything all at once (at least everything we planned on eating today). Here are the items that are offered:

We went with one each of the first four items, the berry cobbler, I got a glass of Chalone Chardonnay and DP got a glass of the Festive Ale.

The Halibut was YUM! We'll be back for another one of these (each).

The Quesadilla....meh, not so much....

The slider, it wasn't bad, but could have used something else. Maybe some cheese.

The Cheddar Soup in a Bread Bowl. Not very "sharing friendly". We are each getting our own when we come back!

The Berry Cobbler was tasty but should have been served in a Creme Brulee style dish so that there was a better topping to fruit ratio.

The Festive Ale

And Wine...it's a glass of wine....

Later today we'll be back for seconds on the two we liked, and we'll try all the other options as well. I'll also take some shots of the Marketplace itself. We were there so late and it was so dark last night we were just interested in the food. Today will be a much more leisurely day!

Thanks for reading!

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Thanks for sharing all your thoughts and pictures. I have enjoyed your report and this certainly gives me a better idea of what to expect on the tapas, etc. It sure is a shame that it can't be set up like EPCOT so you can stroll and eat and stroll and drink and then do it all some more, but then again in DL, you only have to wait in one line to order all your food and not a line each time. So, there are some benefits to each.

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Love your reviews! And I totally agree with you, the slider need something... cheese or carmelized onions... something!

Sadly my DH ate all the Cheese soup, so I just got a little taste from what was left clinging to the bread bowl.

The halibut was my most favorite dish.

 

[kaoden39]

That cheese soup looks amazing to me. Oh my.

 

[tinkermell]

Wonderful update!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[franandaj]

I just got back to my room after tootling all around the park, I'll post some more updates, I had to get the Halibut again it was so good!

Thanks for reading along everyone, I need to hit the pool, it's pretty hot right now!

 

[lulubelle]

I love it all, Alison, thanks for taking so much time to share everything with us.

I, too, was friends with Dawn and was supposed to do the NR cooking school with her this year. She talked Toocherie and myself right into it after her experience. We miss her dearly. I can see that they have won you over as well since this is your third year. Maybe I'll finally go next year....

I can't wait to read more - and your pics are awesome.

And I will look for you for sure at Taste.

 

[onelilspark]

Love it! ...I'm hungry now though...hmmmm....

 

[dizneedoll]

Fabulous F&W update! We were there last year and weren't impressed but this set up with the Marketplace sounds so much better and the offerings look delish. We'll be there next month! Can't wait!

 

[PrincessInOz]

I learnt my lesson from last time. This time, I checked out your updates and pics AFTER dinner

Great update Alison. You look like you're having a BALL!! I think I'm heading to your place instead of Walt's Wharf

 

[IleneF]

Amazing coverage of the DL F&W Fest. Thanks so much Alison for the gorgeous photos that have me drooling and wishing to return to DL

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I'm loving your report and all of the details! I was there at the Sweet Sunday with toocherie when we saw Keegan Gerhard. This year I don't think I'm doing any signature events, but did go to the Jonathan Rollo culinary demonstration and have tried some of the tapas and the chile relleno. We also saw part of the wine demo with John & Nancy Lasseter, did the CA wine walk, and some other stuff.

You have done and are doing so much! Thank you for the reports and all of the pictures. I'll be interested in hearing how you like all the food. My daughter liked the ahi tapa, and everyone at the table liked the halibut. I don't think they were impressed with the quesadilla.

 

[franandaj]

Thanks for sharing all your thoughts and pictures. I have enjoyed your report and this certainly gives me a better idea of what to expect on the tapas, etc. It sure is a shame that it can't be set up like EPCOT so you can stroll and eat and stroll and drink and then do it all some more, but then again in DL, you only have to wait in one line to order all your food and not a line each time. So, there are some benefits to each.

There is a small amount of strolling you can do. If you have someone to split things with you the CS restaurants have signature items too. I've found them all but one and will post on them later tonight.

Love your reviews! And I totally agree with you, the slider need something... cheese or carmelized onions... something!

Sadly my DH ate all the Cheese soup, so I just got a little taste from what was left clinging to the bread bowl.

The halibut was my most favorite dish.

So far I've had two Halibut and two Cheese soup. Not so sure, I'm going to order the cheese plates, maybe if I saw one it would entice me.

That cheese soup looks amazing to me. Oh my.

See above, it was

Wonderful update!

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks!

I love it all, Alison, thanks for taking so much time to share everything with us.

I, too, was friends with Dawn and was supposed to do the NR cooking school with her this year. She talked Toocherie and myself right into it after her experience. We miss her dearly. I can see that they have won you over as well since this is your third year. Maybe I'll finally go next year....

I can't wait to read more - and your pics are awesome.

And I will look for you for sure at Taste.

The cooking school is a really great experience. My friend Suzie had her first time and she was raving about it last night.

You might not recognize me by Taste, I'll be three sizes larger!

Love it! ...I'm hungry now though...hmmmm....

Don't you hate that?

Fabulous F&W update! We were there last year and weren't impressed but this set up with the Marketplace sounds so much better and the offerings look delish. We'll be there next month! Can't wait!

There's a few other moresels around the park as well...

I learnt my lesson from last time. This time, I checked out your updates and pics AFTER dinner

Great update Alison. You look like you're having a BALL!! I think I'm heading to your place instead of Walt's Wharf

Unfortunately we don't eat like that around here! Well sometiemes, maybe. You'd like Walt's better, it's a lot cleaner!

Amazing coverage of the DL F&W Fest. Thanks so much Alison for the gorgeous photos that have me drooling and wishing to return to DL

You're Welcome, I enjoyed reading about your trip too!

I'm loving your report and all of the details! I was there at the Sweet Sunday with toocherie when we saw Keegan Gerhard. This year I don't think I'm doing any signature events, but did go to the Jonathan Rollo culinary demonstration and have tried some of the tapas and the chile relleno. We also saw part of the wine demo with John & Nancy Lasseter, did the CA wine walk, and some other stuff.

You have done and are doing so much! Thank you for the reports and all of the pictures. I'll be interested in hearing how you like all the food. My daughter liked the ahi tapa, and everyone at the table liked the halibut. I don't think they were impressed with the quesadilla.

Thanks! I'm going to try and get in as much as I can. Staying more than one night really helps too. You need to rest up after all this eating and drinking!

 

[franandaj]

So on Sunday, the 2nd morning of our trip I woke at 7AM and thought about MM, I pulled the covers back over my head and thought, ”there’s Fast Passes or something else, I’m not getting up right now.“ I got a little more sleep finally got up and dressed while DP slept some and about 10:15 took off for DL, it was PACKED at least at the entrance. I headed off to Space Mountain.

When I got there, the display of wait time and fast pass was completely blank, but within about 10 seconds, it showed at 20 minute stand by and FP return times in about an hour. I got a FP and then got in the standby line, and was on the ride within about 15 minutes. This is a kickass ride! It is way better than the MK version! My FP was not good for another 15-20 minutes so I got on the train and rode for a trip around the Land. My favorite is the Primeval world and I haven’t seen it for years, so that was HUGE treat! By the time I got back to Tomorrowland and my FP for SM was up so I rode that pretty quickly. I was hungry, so I headed back to the room to get DP to go eat some more F&W treats with me. However, she was still dead to the world and I wanted her to have all the energy she could for the John Lasseter Dinner tonight, so I let her sleep more while I hit DCA.

On my way to the Marketplace the Jammin Chef’s were on their way out, but I was too hungry to watch the show.

I headed over to the Festival Marketplace and decided on another Halibut chunk, the Ahi Tuna and a Ghiradelli Chocolate Profiterole.

Here is the Ahi, it was really good, the tuna was seared just perfect, the underlying slaw was just perfectly paired with the tuna. The little chips that went along with it were great.

Then I ate the Chocolate Profiterole, this was incredible, but I wonder what makes it a profiterole and not a round chocolate éclair?

So I went around the Marketplace after eating the food plates. Here are some shots of the seating area and the shopping area.

Here is the Wine, beer & spirits tasting area

The Food counter

The Lounge

I’ll post this for now and some other pics later in the week.

 

[kaoden39]

All of your pictures and trip report have made me more determined to go next year.