Oh, all right. If I must... (harumph!)
Thanks Lori, you're such a good sport!
BTW ... you want I should make the Blue Zoo ADR next month since I'll be calling for a few others as well? Party of 3, is that correct?
Wow, Brenda, great review.
You know, last year I never gave the Scotch Tasting a second thought. But, after reading your review, we might have to give it a try!! Hey, my maiden name is Stewart anyway!
Hi Jeanne - thanks for reading! I probably said this earlier but I'll say it again ... I hope I haven't jinxed the pairing if they offer it this year. It was so good that Jay and I would like to book it again, too!
And with a maiden name like Stewart, you have to give it a try!
Love your dress, very pretty.
Also, love the picture of the storm brewing. Living in Florida, I still think the neatest thing is when you are inside and have no idea there is something brewing outside and then you walk out and see it. At times, you could even smell the rain coming.
Thanks! The dress was one of those last minute steal-deals, as I like to call them, from Nordstrom. I do most of my shopping online and just wait until the stuff I like hits the sale listing. They usually have some really deep discounts - the only problem is finding it fast enough while they still have the right size.
I love that picture - it's one of my favorites from the whole trip. I remember Jay and I got caught in the downpour but the rain was actually warm! We're so used to cold, stinging rain around here that when we were getting drenched in the middle of this storm we were actually having fun because it just felt so good!
Hopefully this year they will add more Tastings. I have even noticed that the place where Marcel and I purchase our cheeses not only has Cheese and Wine Tastings, but now have added Cheese and Beer Tastings. They were the ones that did all of the Cheese and Wine Tastings last year at Epcot. Maybe they will do a few Beer Tastings this year. I wrote in a suggestion to them.
Again, we love reading your reviews!!
Oh and by the way, the other day we were at the Hallmark store and saw a baby plankton.
He was just so cute!
I've got my fingers crossed that Epcot adds more tastings this year, too. I'd like to see them offer a port wine tasting ... maybe then someone could tell me why I don't like ruby ports but go gaga for the tawnies.
Cheese and beer tasting ... yum! Oh, and I almost forgot ... we tried our wine lanyards out last night and they are fabu!! Can't wait to put them to the test come October!
A baby Plankton? I must investigate further ...
Another great review, Brenda. I'm not a whisky drinker, but I loved your descriptions which made the whiskys sound appealing even to me! That dessert looked amazing.
Laur's
Thanks for taking a read! Jay and I are still pretty new to whisky and we really thought they were all kind of the same - imagine our surprise when we found out how varied and tasty they are! Whisky tastings remind me a lot of wine tastings. The more you try, the more you find yourself experimenting and enjoying.
And that dessert should be against the law!
www.willamettevalleyvineyards.com/products/core/#5
Brenda, here is the link to the riesling I was drooling over. It was very good with smoked brie on crackers and the lasagna we had one night (I know, not recommended, but I have found if I am eating something I like and drinking something I like, I am a happy girl!
)
www.oakknollwinery.com/2003_riesling.asp
And here is the one we tried last year and loved, and brought back a bottle of this year. Haven't opened it yet, but I'm assuming it's still great, b/c Safeway was sold out of it all week. We had to find it in a wine shop in the next town over in Newport.
The mead was not overly sweet, like a muscadine sweet (yuk). It was something I think would be best on its own, but we'll try it with some different cheeses and snacky things and I'll let you know. Oh, and the hard cider was with blackberry juice, not cranberry, my goof.
You've never had Jack Daniels??
Maybe you need to come on a Tennessee tasting tour and we can throw in some (flavored) moonshine, to boot!
And you can just call me Jamie, no need to shorten the screen name--I need to get over my internet paranoia!
Thanks for the great info Jamie - I sure appreciate it! We defintely are going to have to look into some of these wines. Our wine rack is beginning to show open space again ...
White Lightning
and Jack Daniels? Does that mean you don't live in a dry county?
Brenda, I really had to laugh, because as soon as I read the caption above the preceding photo of the salmon, I couldn't stand it - I immediately opened another browser window and went straight to google because of course, the answer to your question was Yes! I must know what a lardon is and I must know it now!!!!
Google took me straight to Wikipedia, which very handily provided me with the following information:
Lardons are small strips or cubes of fatty bacon or pork that is cut from a pig's belly. Typically of 1 cm (3/8 inch) on a small side, lardons are frequently used in French cuisine to flavor salads, stews (Beef Bourguignon), quiches (Quiche Lorraine), potatoes, omelettes and other dishes.
Then of course, I came straight back to you, where I found the following:
I should never have doubted you.
Aww, I've eaten in that nook before - I love the R&C!
Glad you had such a good experience.
How ya doin Litebrite? You crack me up, as always! I admit it ... I copied wikipedia on the Lardon definition almost word-for-word! It just seemed like the easiest thing to do since I was defining it as a reference ... does this make me a bad person now? Should I start including internal citations in my trippies?
We are big fans of R&C, too, and had dinner in that little nook once when we first tried eating dinner there waaaaaay back in 2002. R&C has been good to us.
Thanks for reading!!
Aww Man! I can't believe that we could have booked that & didn't! Why?? For the very reason you were smart enough to book it! Not really knowing much about whiskey!
Well we missed out, but thank goodness, you & Jay were there to capture every little nuance & yumminess of it all!
The size of the servings, the details & info. provided, what a great event!
Of course, I'll look for this year, but with my F&W booking luck, there will only be one scheduled again and it won't be when we will be there!
Hi Sheryl!! This really was a great event, so if they offer it while you guys are visiting this year you should try to nab it - I think you'd both really enjoy it!
Glad you liked the review - I really wanted to do justice to this experience because it was just so enjoyable.
I would love to but this year is a no go, we'll be there 8/30 - 9/3 and then my Mom and I are going 11/30 - 12/7 to see the xmas decorations. Gotta love DVC
Maybe 2009.
Well, you've got two great trips to look forward to this year. And we can keep our fingers crossed for 2009, can't we?
Brenda...i can't even take how fun/good/fantabulous that scotch pairing must have been. i have recently fallen in love with scotch and a tasting like this would be so fun for me!
For christmas greg bought me teh sampler Johnny walker pack with red, gold, black and BLUE..i have yet to try the blue..but i agree that gold needs water and ice - great pics as always!
Hi Gina - thanks for stopping by to read! We have that same sampler pack - and the Blue is incredible!! We actually found a full size bottle of Blue in our favorite booze and cheese shop for $155 per bottle. That may be a bargain or a total rip-off depending on your perspective. Jay and I think it's probably a pretty good price but we haven't bought any (that's a bit much for us to shell out for a bottle of anything other than Utopias at this point in our drinking lives).
And the gold definitely needs ice - try it with some chocolate one day and see how much more smooth it tastes. You'll also find that the smokiness completely disappears with the chocolate. It's amazing!!
I haven't yet acquired a taste for whiskey/scotch yet but what an event.
