Thursday, October 15, 2009:
This morning started fairly light on the gluttony scale. I was meeting up with a DISer at the Beach Club Marketplace for breakfast. I did not take a photo of the Uncrustables peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
I figured that was light enough not to interfere with the serious gluttony taking place for the rest of the day.
My DIS friend and I took a lap around Crescent Lake and said our goodbyes. She said she would think of me while she ate at Kouzzina, as I was doing the signature dining event at Flying Fish Cafe.
World Showcase wouldn't open for about another half hour after I got into Epcot, and I was going to be meeting up with Brenda and Jay in France to start a new round of gluttony. As I passed the time walking around Future World, I regret not taking a photo of the Queen of Hearts hanging out near the fountain plaza, twirling around out of sheer boredom. It was a rare moment to see a character without visitors.
I ran into Brenda and Jason as we headed back towards World Showcase, and we did indeed start in France. Brenda said she would buy me my first slushie drink, but the permanent stand that sells the Grey Goose lemon or the Grand Marnier orange ones were not open. But the festival kiosks were. So we compromised by getting the "Parisien" cosmo slushie as my first one.
Ok, I drank some of it. It was melting faster than I could drink it! But I thought it was like having a Kaki Gori. But made for adults. I would definitely get this again if available. It gets an Excellent.
I couldn't drink it without food, right? So I continued on with my evolutionary theme from sea to land. What creature could I eat to represent the first critters to crawl onto land from the primordial ooze? As if that description didn't sound appetizing enough, I'm sure it wouldn't matter that I mention the snails.
Yep, I had the Snail Poppers. Ok, Disney doesn't call them that, I do. Disney prefers the much fancier
Escargot Persillade en Brioche.
I popped the top on one of them to show what it looks like inside the cute li'l buttery brioche bread cups. The French people serve them covered, so you don't have to look at them. They are still snackable with butter and garlicky goodness. Excellent.
I have to mention one thing. You should be able to recharge your festival gift cards at any kiosk. I asked the French girl at this kiosk. She said she couldn't recharge my card. I think she probably could have done so if she was trained properly, because I was able to get it recharged at kiosks that were stationed by non-International Program cast members.
Now that I got my snails, I could now do some land based critters. I didn't have to go far, because there was a short rib dish at France, too. Here's the
Braised Short Ribs in Cabernet with Mashed Potatoes.
Looks like mashed potatoes and no meat, but the meat was hiding under the tater pile. And they were good! I had Anton Ego Moment as I ate them. If you've seen "Ratatouille", you might recall the moment Anton Ego, the food critic, took a bite of the the titular dish created by Remy. And then you'll remember he had a flashback moment of himself as a young boy having that dish at home. I had that moment with the short rib meat, because it tasted a lot like the way my mother prepared brisket. Because this dish felt like a warm hug from home, I have no choice but to give it a Glutton rating. It would have been an Excellent rating otherwise.
We stopped into the wine store in Italy, and I had to get a limoncello because I hadn't had one before. They served it properly chilled, and the shot glass was also chilled.
It tasted like Lemon Drop candy. Very much a Good rating.
On to Germany, where we all had the Judgement of Nuremberg sausages. Ok, they were really called
Nuernberger Sausage on a Pretzel Roll, but we all had to be snarky about the name we wanted to call it.
Bow chicka bow bow. Yes, this is what I call food porn.
There are so many jokes I could make, but this is a family forum, so the jokes will just make themselves. In your minds.
Oh, it was tasty, and everything you'd want in a sausage. Get the minds out of the gutter now! I'd give it a Good.
Grilled Lamb Chop with Red Wine Sauce and Murray River Sea Salt was up next from Australia.
Yum! Tender and delicious. Gotta love a lamb lollipop. Good rating.
I have liked the
Beef Empanada with Tomato Salsa in the past, when it was just the empanada without salsa.
I thought the empanada was just ok when I ate it, but the addition of the salsa gave it a Good rating.
Brenda and Jason had a culinary demo to go to, so I headed to the Festival Center with them. I was going to hang out and have some cheese while they were at the demo. As we were walking from World Showcase past World Showcase Plaza, I was stopped by a survey cast member. You know. the ones who carry the electronic boards with stylus pens? She asked me if I had been enjoying the food and wine kiosks. She apparently didn't know who I was to even
ask such a silly question. So I told her yes, I did eat at the kiosks, so she asked if I was willing to give my email address to give opinions on a survey about the festival.
You bet! Brenda was doing her best Arnold Horschack "ooh ooh! Mr. Kotter pick me!" impression. The survey taker acted like she did Brenda a favor by allowing her to also leave her email for the survey. I still think my red hair was a beacon for the survey taker. I always get picked.
Anyway, we headed to the festival center, where I found another friend going to the same demo. I said my goodbyes and had some cheese from the Wonders Bar. I found out that for about 50 cents more than the Mouse Catch kiosk, you still get the same cheeses, but some fruit as well.
Piave from Italy,
Mahon from Spain, and
Dorothea from Holland.
Not much to say about cheese, other than they were Excellent.
Brenda and Jay went back to the hotel for pool time, and I had decided to go to the Ditch for another margarita to try before I headed back. I decided on the Aguacate, which had some avocado in it.
Wow! This was refreshing! The avocado was subtle, as I thought it tasted more like a basic margarita. But it was still fantastic. The avocado gives it an extra "oomph". Excellent.
I headed back to Beach Club Villas to get a bit of pool time and clean up for the Flying Fish Cafe signature dinner.
Mom and I were sharing and we didn't try that many
Can't wait to read more!
But I think I'll have to pass on the snail poppers 
I guess we won't be hungry just broke! 
