Halfway Around The World and Back Again - F&WF Report

[Mean Queen]

So there was no pre-trip report, because there wasn't a lot of planning to do. Two of my friends and I like to do a quick, kid-free, weekend getaway each year for the Food & Wine Fest. We stayed one night at the Caribbean Beach Resort. The only planning ahead we did was set up one special event, Sweet Sundays.

Day One - Saturday -
7 a.m. - my friends are set to meet at my house for the drive to Orlando. One friend calls to say she forgot her pass and had to go back. She shows up at 7:30. We take off, with a quick trip to Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice Latte.

8:40a.m. - we pull into Caribbean Beach Resort. Yes, I made good time on I-4. It had nothing to do with speeding. Nothing. We check in, but of course our room isn't ready. I had requested a room in Trinidad North. One, because it's near the food. And two, one of my friends is from Trinidad so I thought that'd be fun for her. Instead, we were put on the complete opposite side in Aruba. I tried to see if they could switch us, but they couldn't. No biggie. We drove over to park near where our room would be. I got lucky and found a space near our room and right by the buses. So we jumped out of the car and waited about 3 minutes for the bus to Epcot.

9:30 - We happily walk through the no bag line. Ahhh, the benefits of going kid-free. I grab my passholder from my lanyard then notice I only have DH and DD's passes! I check through all the junk in my lanyard again, but no pass. Good thing I brought my license. We run over to guest services and I have a new pass in less than a minute. As we go through the turnstiles, my friend D's pass gets rejected. My friend M and I had to go to the bathroom after that long trip so we headed in while she got her ticket fixed. The CM at the gate called someone over to fix the problem rather than making her go do it herself. What great Disney service!

9:45 - On my last trip, I bought a cute houndstooth cap with a diamond Mickey pin on the side. My friends both loved it so much, we had to go get one for each of them. Yep, three grown adult women looking like dorks all day in matching hats. Next year, we add matching shirts. I also had my friends put the money they owed me for the room and the Sweet Sunday event on a gift card. This little beauty was going to make our day much easier. They got matching gift cards, of course.

10 a.m. - We head for Soarin'. The sign in the middle says only a 30 minute wait! But when we get there, it says 60 minutes. We decide to go grab fast passes. When we're done, the wait says 45 minutes. We figure we can handle that. The wait was more like the 30 minutes originally promised. Ahhh. I love this ride.

10:45 - Almost lunch time! We decide to take a leisurely stroll to the World Showcase to start Food Fest 08!!! We look at the food map and head right towards Canada. This is when my recollection of time stops. Food induced, not alcohol induced. For the most part. I apologize for the severe lack of pictures of the food.

San Juan, Puerto Rico - We skipped this, hoping to get back when we had food in our stomach and could handle the Frozen Mojito.

Krakow, Poland - We tried both of the foods offered. The Creamy Wild Mushroom soup is very tasty. It has lots of chunks of mushrooms, so the mushroom is what you taste most. The Kielbasa and Potato Pierogies was good. But my friends said the pierogies tasted just like the ones they get at the grocery store, not that it made it bad. The kielbasa was sliced and cooked well. The carmelized onions added a nice taste.

Athens, Greece - We had the Greek Salad and Spanakopita. The salad was good but it wasn't a favorite. The Spanakopita had a big hunk of spinach and very little cheese. Again, good, but not as good as the ones in Tarpon Springs.

Montreal, Canada - We had everything here and loved it! The Cheddar Cheese Soup was perfect as ever. The Maple Glazed Salmon was nice and flaky, though I wish my piece had more maple glaze. At first, I was disappointed in the Maple Custard with Almond Crumble. It was so small! But one taste made me realize why, it was rich, thick, and creamy. This is one place I will go back to on our next trip.

Istanbul, Turkey - After a quick round of They Might Be Giants "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)", we got in line. Again, we tried everything here. The manti is like a ravioli filled with a small meatball. It was good, but a bit greasy. The meze is like an eggplant salsa, a hummus like dip, and a piece of pita. My friends love curry and loved this dish. Me, not so much. The pistachio baklava was good and interesting. I love baklava and thought the pistachios added a new twist.

Lyon, France - One of my favorite stops. But I was starting to get full. That's good and bad. Good, because I figured now would be a good time to start drinking. Bad, because we no longer felt we could try each item at the booths. So I grabbed a Goat Cheese and Leek Quiche, Milk Chocolate Creme Brulee, and Sparkling Pomengranate Kir. I will be going back for all three, plus the Escargot that I didn't try. The Creme brulee was a good size. We also grabbed a Grand Marnier Slushie from the nearby wine booth. I picked this over the Grey Goose Citron Slushie because it had a cute Grand Marnier stirrer. I'm a sucker for gimmicks.

Louisiana - This had something I was really looking forward to, the Praline Bread Pudding with Bouron Caramel Sauce. My friend grabbed the Crawfish Etoufee. She also grabbed a mini bottle of hot sauce to spice it up some more. I liked the Etoufee, but it doesn't sit well with me. She loved it. Now the bread pudding, I could have eaten that all day. So yummy, so rich.

Marrakesh, Morocco - We tried the Chicken Brewat Roll, Walnut Baklava and Iced Mint Tea. I loved the Brewat! I didn't expect to, but it was so good. It was like an egg roll stuffed full of shredded chicken. The baklava was good and traditional. The tea was not as sweet as I'm used to, but it was very refreshing. At this point, one of my friends started to feel not so good from all the food and the alcohol slushie. So we decided to take a break from the food for a bit.


NEXT INSTALLMENT - The Other Half of the World

 

[creativeamanda]

Yummo! Thanks for posting this!

 

[coles1mom]

Grand Marnier slushie.

Can we at least see a picture of the cap.

 

[kimmar067]

WIMP!!!

(...no Mojitos on an empty stomach???!?!? )

 

[Mean Queen]

After stuffing myself with the Brewat in Morocco, we decided to take a break from eating. So we shopped. And shopped. And shopped some more. It was so nice to be able to go into stores without hearing "I want that", "I'm bored", or worrying about something expensive being broken.

Once we shopped all the way back to Mexico, we decided to grab fast passes for Test Track. Then we headed back to Soarin' to use our fast passes from that morning. Yes, our feet were hurting at this point. And our hunger was returning. Since we were far from the main food booths, we grabbed some candied nuts. Insert your own jokes here, I know we did.

We were just about ready for our second go round, but we had a time limit. We wanted to see The Smithereens play at the "Eat to the Beat" series. So our trip back to the middle of the World Showcase was much quicker, and less filling.

Santiago, Chile - We had it all here. The shrimp with cilantro sauce was okay. I wouldn't go back for it. The spicy beef empanada was much better than I expected. I am not a fan of overly spicy, but this had just enough. I loved the flakiness of the crust. The dulce de leche was good, with chunks of I think cake inside.

Buenos Aires, Argentina - Hands down, my favorite stop. Actually, all of our favorite. The beef and corn pie was hot (not spicy, temperature). But once it cooled down, it was so good. Small chunks of beef, a good amount of corn. The grilled beef with chimichurri sauce was so good last year, I couldn't wait to have it again. It was just as good as I remember. There's something about that sauce that makes me want to lick the plate clean. My only complaint, there was no dessert to make it complete.

Vienna, Austria - I decided to try something I was worried about by going here. My friend got the beef goulash with bacon dumpling. The goulash was a good beef stew and the dumpling looked like a round cookie. Both good, much better than I expected. I got the Tafelspitz. I had no clue what it was from the name. It's boiled beef brisket with horseradish cream sauce and red potatoes. I liked it. I wish the sauce was a bit more horseradishy, but overall very good. The apricot cake was very interesting. It looked like a yeast roll, but was sweet and stuffed with apricot.

Time was getting tight, so we had to be more choosey to make it to the concert. We passed up a lot, with high hopes to make it later that night.

Cork, Ireland - We were close to the concert and I was not going to miss one of my favorites from last year, the Boxty and Frozen Irish Coffee. My friend wanted the Potato Leek Soup, but they were out. We'd have to wait 10 minutes to get some. So we just grabbed the Boxty and my drink. The Boxty wasn't as good this year. It was a bit dry. But the Frozen Irish Coffee was so good. If it wasn't $7.50 a glass, I'd go back over and over again.

It was 6:25, so we rushed over hoping to catch the 6:30 concert. There were still lots of seats. We got 5 rows back, near the middle. I was a huge fan of the band when I was younger. They sounded great. It wasn't a long concert, but it was still really cool to catch it.

It was getting later and we were still hungry. So we hit a few more booths that we missed.

San Francisco, USA - I had the seared beef medallion with cheddar cheese polenta. The beef was a small filet, cooked medium, tasty. The polenta seemed more like cheese grits. Good, but not great. The strawberry shortcake was good. The strawberries were fresh fruit, no sauce. The cake had a slight orange taste. Very good!

Tokyo, Japan - We tried both the sushi rolls. The spicy tuna roll wasn't too spicy like other spicy rolls I've had. The California roll was good, but a standard california roll. I really liked the Raspberry Sake. It was much smoother than regular sake, almost like raspberry water.

We checked out a few more places we missed, but decided we had enough. Since the boats had stopped running, we walked back around to the front of the world. We headed to Test Track to use our fast passes. It is really cool to do Test Track at night.

Since it was almost 9, we wanted to head back before the Illuminations crowd hit the buses or we passed out from exhaustion.

Next installment: How Sweet It Is!!!!!

 

[PaMom001]

Yea I'm here.

 

[Mean Queen]

Some pictures I should have put in the previous report.

My friends and me in our matching hats.

 

[kimmar067]

Yea I'm here.

....well, if you're THERE, where am I???

 

[PaMom001]

....well, if you're THERE, where am I???

You're at...."Exit 16W" of the Land of the Last! Duh!!

 

[noahdove]

Did you try any NY state wine? I am near 3 of the wineries offering their great wines..I need to be honest, I don't drink at all, I am just passing the message and comments on from those who do drink

 

[Mean Queen]

Did you try any NY state wine? I am near 3 of the wineries offering their great wines..I need to be honest, I don't drink at all, I am just passing the message and comments on from those who do drink

I did not get a chance to try any of the NY state wines. Quite a few others, but not that one.

I am currently at SSR, recovering from a second go round at F&WF. I will be happy to finish my last trip and add what I ate from this trip when I get back home. It was just so hot and exhausting. And the difference of going with kids and without kids will be discussed in detail.

 

[kimmar067]

You're at...."Exit 16W" of the Land of the Last! Duh!!

....always sooooooo, LITERAL......

 

[kimmar067]

Did you try any NY state wine? I am near 3 of the wineries offering their great wines..I need to be honest, I don't drink at all, I am just passing the message and comments on from those who do drink

....oooooh, I just LOVE those NY state wines - I go to our house near Cooperstown just to visit Bear Pond winery to git me some.....

 

[Mean Queen]

After our long day walking the world, twice, we headed to bed. This was my first time staying at Caribbean Beach. It was very similar to Coronado Springs in that it had a huge layout. The room was nice, but no DVC. Disney doesn't get TBS, so we couldn't watch the Rays game. Instead, we had ESPN on without any guys around. But we knew we had to call it a night so we could get up early for the next day.

The very little planning I did before this trip revolved around finding a special event we could afford, would like, and were there for. Sweet Sundays was the only one that fit that bill.

Here is the official description: Demonstration with a Celebrity Pastry Chef creating three desserts. Guests sample each demonstrated dessert. Includes breakfast buffet and sparkling wine. Cost: $75

Since I am all about dessert, and so are my friends, this was perfect. We got up early on Sunday to head to Epcot... again. We were there just in time for opening. But we were so far back, if something special happened for their rope drop we didn't see it. We headed back towards Test Track, but the wait was too long. We grabbed Fast Passes to use after our meal. We decided to head over to the Festival Center to check in and check out what else was there.

I had no clue there were a bunch of events and shops at the Festival Center. We checked out all the free stuff we could have done the day before, like food and wine tastings. But we knew today would not be a day for that. Finally, it came time for our Sweet Sunday, sponsored by Martini and Rossi.

As you walked in to your table, we passed one of the buffet lines.

I kept saying, I want that and that and oooooh, that. When we got to our seat, we saw a few nice gifts from Martini and Rossi. A note pad, pencil, and champagne bottle stopper. At the front of the room stood the guest chef, Alice Medrich.

While we waited, a very cheerful host introduced the chef and explained a bit about what was going on. We would have a new breakfast wine from Martini and Rossi while we ate from the buffet. Then we would get some Asti Spumante while we enjoyed samples of the desserts the chef was making. Hmm, guess we shouldn't have put that orange juice in the breakfast wine. We thought it was the Asti already and made our own mimosas.

It was time to line up for the buffet. While we waited, we noticed a lot of people coming back with their plates looking pretty empty. We joked about how we were going to overflow our plates because we wanted our $75 worth. And we did.

The food was very good, though the quiche probably was better for those at the front of the line. We did learn quickly why so many didn't pack their plates, we were full by the end of the breakfast portion. We still had 3 desserts to come. But we figured, no big deal. We were only getting samples, right?

Our first dessert was Bea's Apple Crisp. It had an interesting addition of orange zest and raisins.

Next came the spiced brownies. It was supposed to be a fudge like brownie, but mine was very cake like. Plus, I wasn't a huge fan of the fresh nutmeg grated on top. So it was good, but not great.

Finally, came the toffee peanut cookies. Oh so yummy. I plan to make these at home. Our goodies came with recipes for all the desserts.

I did forget to mention the many glasses of Asti I enjoyed while eating the dessert portion of the meal. Asti is my absolute favorite sparkling wine (aka champagne, but not really champagne.) My friends posed with their drinks, but one gave hers to me.

At this point, we were all so stuffed we felt like Violet Beauregard all plumped up like a blueberry in Willie Wonka's factory. We just needed a few Oompa Loompas to roll us out. Instead, we used our own legs to carry us on for the day.

Needless to say, we didn't feel like eating again any time soon. So we skipped the world. We took a break and visited Ellen's Energy ride. We really enjoyed that 37 minute ride (though they told us about 37 times it would be that long.) After some shopping, we finally headed over to Test Track to use our fast passes. We did a bit more shopping, but decided it was time to call it a weekend. We were too full to try the rest of the places we missed. Plus, we knew we'd be back in a few days for MNSSHP.

Next installment: MNSSHP and more F&WF

 

[PaMom001]

....always sooooooo, LITERAL......

Nice update. I loved the food porn.

 

[Mean Queen]

Nice update. I loved the food porn.

I felt very bad about not having pictures of all the other food I ate. But that would have been a lot of pictures.

 

[Mean Queen]

Since some people are heading to the F&WF this weekend (Anna & Amanda), I wanted to do a quick recap of a few other places that I tried during my next trip.

Melbourne, Australia - Pepperberry Prawns with Sweet Potato Hash. I liked the shrimp but I wasn't happy about the green peppers they put in the sweet potatoes. My friends had the Barramundi and Grilled Lamb Chops. Both were good. I really liked the Wattleseed Mousse. It is like a tiramisu made with the Australian version of poppy seeds.

Munich, Germany - This was one I was upset about missing the first time. I tried the Sausage with sauerkraut in a pretzel roll. It was very yummy, I recommend adding mustard though. My friend liked the spaetzle with mushroom ragout and apple strudel. She ate the ragout so fast, I didn't get a taste. So I'm guessing it was good. The strudel was yummy. I had the essence riesling. It was ok, but not as sweet as I like my riesling.

Hops and Barley (aka USA) - My husband loved the Lobster Roll so much, he paid the pricey $7 twice for it. I didn't like it because it had peppers in it that overpowered the taste of the huge chunks of yummy lobster.

Wellington, New Zealand - This was one I am still sad I missed. DH had the Bay Scallops and still is talking about the vinagrette it came in.

Lyon, France - I went back to try the escargot in brioche. It was good but very garlicy. If you don't want to smell like garlic for the rest of the day, don't try it. I also had the Milk Chocolate Creme Brulee again along with a Grey Goose Citron slushie. I liked that one better than the Grand Marnier slushie!

San Juan, Puerto Rico - I finally got my frozen mojito. Now I just wish I would have enjoyed a few more of these when I went kid-free. Yum-my! I also tried the Plantain and Beef Casserole. It was an interesting mix of sweet and savory.

Shanghai, China - I tried the Chicken Sha Cha, Pork Pot Stickers and Mango-Gingerita. This is the first time I found something I didn't like. The chicken sha cha was very salty with little flavor. But the pork pot stickers were good, I really liked the sauce on it. The Mango-Gingerita was also good and sweet.


I'll post more later about MNSSHP and the rest of our trip.

 

[creativeamanda]

Shay,

Thank you so much for posting all of these reviews. I alreasy have a list of things I really want to try!

 

[Mean Queen]

Shay,

Thank you so much for posting all of these reviews. I alreasy have a list of things I really want to try!

I'll try to work on my MNSSHP pictures later. I haven't uploaded them to my computer yet. I was a bit upset that there weren't many Photopass photogs around because I was looking to get the CD. So I didn't take a lot of pics of the event myself like I normally would have.

 

[kimmar067]

...I kinda expected to see EIGHT glasses of champagne raised....