Friday.
We started off the day with a Lunch and Learn at the Odyssey Pavilion. The guest chef was Chris Prosperi of Metro Bis in Connecticut. We ran into another gay couple, not sure where they were from, but we sat with the people we've come to know as the "crazy crew," basically a group of Floridians who do just about everything at the Food and Wine Festival. One of the women and her husband actually move from their home in Ocala to the Orlando area (either DVC or a local hotel) and stay the entire 45 days. The husband works throughout the area, so he does business stuff in the morning and hooks up with the crew in the afternoons and evenings. What a life!
Anyway, Chris prepared three dishes: a lobster and avocado salad, braised pork in soy and a pear panne cotta. Yum, yum and yum! The recipes were very simple, but people would swear you slaved all day in the kitchen. Wines were from Mas de la Dame winery in Provence and co-owner Anne Poniatowski (she runs the winery with her sister Caroline) provided commentary. The wines were delicieux, especially the Coin Cache rouge (exquisite!).
In the afternoon we played mini golf again. The series now stands at 1-1 with one tie. That means another match has to be squeezed in before we head home Monday.
In the evening, we did the Exquisite Evening at Epcot, Romancing the Rhone. Three of the top master sommeliers in the world, including Doug Frost, one of only three people in the world to hold both master sommelier and master of wine titles, were in the room, along with Anne Poniatowski and the renowned French winemaker Jean-Luc Colombo. It was awesome. If not for the seven (!!!) wines we were drinking, my head would have been swimming from the proximity to such stellar company alone. And the food! We started off with a smoked honey-glazed pheasant salad with pistachio and date vinaigrette (the portion was huge! I couldn't believe it was supposed to be a salad; you almost couldn't find the greens for the pheasant); moved on to a sauteed turbot fillet and langoustines with artichoke-fennel ravioli and bouillabaisse butter sauce; then had roasted rack of lamb and ratatouille with truffle-infused parsnip mousselin. The cheese course was fourme d'Ambert with a pear and lavender jelly, tomme de savoie on a fig cake and comte with a chocolate persimmon chutney. Desert was crispy lime millefeuille with a lemon sorbet and key lime sauce. With the exception of the lamb (which was saved by the excellent ratatouille and mousseline), it was all as amazing as it sounds. I'm not even going to go into the wine and the starters we had during a pre-dinner reception.
We sat with a couple from Maine who come to Disney for three weeks during the festival! (We may seriously have to rethink our apporoach to this thing!)
Afterwards we watched Illuminations then headed back to the villa to entertain Mike's mom and stepdad who arrived during the afternoon. They had spent the evening having dinner and drinks on their own.
Next up, Party for the Senses, where Chris Prosperi has promised to do some sort of crab cocktail using Grey Goose vodka! It's a dirty job, but I'll try it and report back.
No sightings of the Turkish dancers ...
