Tuesday, October 16th - Chilirechinitalhopaley...BEER BEER BEER!!!
Before jumping into a partial review of our first full day of food, I wanted to share something with all you fine DISers. We were grocery shopping on Saturday afternoon and as I turned toward the liquor aisle at the store, Jay asked, "Do we need something?"
And I replied, "I'm just looking...you know I like variety."
Jason smirked at me. "Yeah, I know. Variety has completely filled the wine rack and two kitchen cabinets."
"Well, I'm drinking as fast as I can."
Sometimes, even at the grocery store, we stumble across some really interesting and unexpected stuff and it needs to purchased because
someone has to try it. And this leads me to our newest discovery:
Kajmir
The description on the bottle reads: A smooth blend of premium brandy, fine vodka, and natural vanilla flavor.
$20 can buy many peanuts or one bottle of this
Now, I'm not typically a fan of vanilla flavored drinks because the vanilla tends to overpower everything else but I thought that if it was blended with the brandy and the vodka some of that cloying sweetness might be neutralized. And I was right ... mostly.
The stuff smells divine ... almost like caramel, and the color is lovely. The taste is very smooth and there is a hint of sweetness - for some reason the vanilla taste was more pronounced when we paired the drink with cheese. We drank this straight up - no ice and no mixology - and thought it was very good. Give it a try if you have a chance - it's pretty darn tasty!
I bet I know what you're thinking. You think I'm snuggled up to the computer with a glass of this stuff right now, just waiting for the alcoholic inspiration to reach my stubby little fingertips. I have not...
yet...had any Kajmir this evening. I've limited my intake to a single 12ounce serving of Kronenbourg 1664 beee-yah.
BriarRosie... are you out there? Do you know what we found today? A bottle of Royal Tokaji 5 Puttonyos Hungarian wine that we were served with our foie gras at V&A!!! I'm thinking that is the drinking of choice tonight.
Excuse me for a moment...
stage right: a refrigerator door opens...there is the sound of clinking glass as bottles are shifted, and then the door closes.
A cat lifts his head hopefully as the sound of tearing foil reaches him, but then blinks disdainfully when it is followed by the distinct *pop* of a cork being removed from a bottle.
Glug...glug...glug...
"Oooooohhhhhh....pretty!"
OK - I'm back; thanks for waiting. I have my glass of Mad Hungarian and it's a lovely shade of orange-maple and is it ever yummy! I'm not dunk but I'm on my way to a pretty good bizz.
And now ... back to the food!
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Tuesday was a morning EMH at Epcot, so we dragged ourselves out of bed, brewed some coffee, and enjoyed a couple of eclairs that we had purchased from the Boardwalk Bakery the previous evening.
Start the day off right with a heaping dose of refined sugar
I don't actually recall much about these eclairs, which means that they weren't very good or I was sleep-chewing and my food memory had not yet been engaged for the day. I think they were filled with a chocolate pudding-type substance and my hubby just told me that while these were OK, the eclairs from France are much better. Well, that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone... no one does pastry better than the French. I'm convinced that French babies are born with a rolling pin in one hand and a daub of butter in the other.
As for the coffee ... I never used to like coffee, except for a random cafe mocha when the weather turned cold. And then we visited New Orleans a few years ago and I discovered the caffeinated joy that is Cafe du Monde, and then it was just a matter of time before Jay was ordering pounds of freshly roasted gourmet coffee beans to satisfy my java addiction. There was no way we were going to drink that swill Disney tries to pass off as coffee, so the night before leaving home Jay ground enough beans to provide us with good-smellin' fine-tastin' coffee for the length of our stay. And we even brought sugar cubes to sweeten the brew.
We were so proud; so prepared; so stunned when we unpacked and discovered that we'd neglected to bring coffee filters.
We could be forgiven this lapse because our coffee maker doesn't use paper filters, but I wrote it down on our grocery list so that we would remember to buy them on our way to the resort. And then I promptly forgot all about filters because I got distracted by the very small liquor aisle at Publix. And it's not fair to pass the blame off to Jay - I am the planner of the trips; the maker of the lists; the buyer of the stuff about the things.
I think I need to start taking Geritol.
Right about now you're probably all wondering, "Where is the
food?"
I was just trying to demonstrate how long three hours can seem in FutureWorld when all you want to do is devour the World Showcase.
The dietary destructors...
Our first stop:
Chile.
Last year it was too cold and this year it's too hot - someone please fix the weather
We ordered
Shrimp con Pebre Salsa; Tomatican with Manchego Cheese; and Santa Rita Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon.
Who Moved My Cheese?
Shrimpie goodness with a shot of plasma
First of all, I must thank Chile for its generosity. That's a big honking plate of beanie-cornie-salsaey-saucey stuff. I think the cheese was hidden somewhere deep inside a mound of beans. This was not bad... it wasn't my favorite item that we tried - too many things happening on one plate for my taste, but I managed to choke some down while Jay took care of the bulk of it.
I spent most of my time basking in the shrimp love - there were 8 shrimpies resting on a wee little bed of salsa piled into that little plastic cup. The shrimp were chilled, completely peeled, and lightly dusted with some pepper - they were perfectly cooked and tasted great by themselves or with some of the mild salsa spooned over them.
The plasma, I mean wine, while strong, had a nice aroma and flavor with a very smooth texture and minimal aftertaste and it paired well with the invisible cheese tomato-bean-mound. I didn't really care for it with the shrimpies - I prefer white wines with most of my seafood.
One new thing that Epcot introudcued this year at the festival was a wine tasing booth that featured Chilean and Argentinean wines. There were more than 20 wines available for guests' tasting pleasure (for a price) and sadly we didn't stop to try any of them. We were planning on coming back for a drink or two later in the week, but once Jay became ill our alcohol intake took a dive (it's no fun to drink alone, especially on vacation). And it was so hot during most of our stay that we really didn't want to drink too much alcohol anyway.
Vinoteca De Los Andes
Next stop, the angry booth:
Ireland
The thatched roof is entirely lost on this man
Here we ordered
The Irish Cheese Plate and Brown Bread with Apple Chutney and Kerrygold Irish Butter; and a 6-ounce Guinness.
Just say no to Chutney
There were three slices of supposedly different types of Irish cheese on our plate. It would have been nice if the menu board had actually listed what these cheeses were because they all tasted pretty much the same to me. As cheeses go, these weren't bad but I thought they were pretty bland. The brown bread was very good - fresh and soft and very tasty smeared with the Irish butter, which didn't taste any differently than the butter I buy here at home. And the Guinness, which I have only recently begun to appreciate in very small doses, really paired well with the bread and butter.
And then there was the trail mix ... or chutney. I tried it, because that's part of our October F&W Festival vacation contract, but I thought it was like eating dried fruit that's been drizzled with sweetened slime. Bleaarrrgh - gimme some more beer to wash that foul taste out of my mouth!
It's my beer, you sniveling baby
From Ireland it only makes sense that our next stop would be
China.
China decorates our table ...
We ordered
Chicken Sha Cha; Pork Pot Stickers; and Tsingtao Beer.
I actually tried to order the Green Tea Plum Wine Cooler and was told that it wasn't ready. Whut? It's noon o'clock...it's beverage time... how can it not be ready?
Plate o'pork lips, dancing chicken, and singing toe beer
I don't like pot stickers ... too thick and chewy ... so Jay got to enjoy most of this without sharing. And don't they look like a deformed pair of wax novelty lips lying there on the plate? Yuck.
The dancing chicken (cha cha cha) was tasty - we've had it before so we knew what to expect. I thought the portion size was pretty generous, the chicken was well cooked and tender, and I liked the peanut sauce, which did not strike me as overpowering.
As for the beer, which we like to call Singing Toe, it was not very good. I'd say that it was skunky but then I wonder ... does that make me a beer snob or a capitalist dog? Regardless, it was worse than drinking Bud Light. We finished it - because it helped wash down the food - but I wouldn't recommend this beer to anyone. Just say no to Singing Toe, which is I think is actually pronounced "Ching-dow."
I do feel bad for those CMs who have to man the tourist trap booth in China all day long. You know the one I'm talking about it - it has all those animal puppets and knick-knacks and breakables. Every 75 seconds a family pulls up to this stall and proceeds to have the following conversation:
"I want this! Can I have it?"
"No. You already bought such-and-such. Put that back."
Parents turn away to gaze at food booth or ooooh and ahhhh over the China Pavillion while the child continues to play with the puppet. The child quickly becomes adept at manipulating the puppet so that the strings don't get tangled and begins walking off, intoxicated by its newly discovered puppet master powers.
"Come back here! Put that away! What did I just say to you?"
**Commence screaming tantrum**
Not pleasant. We blame everyone for this situation - China should not display such brightly colored, irresistable, furry items for purchase so close to the World Showcase thoroughfare; Parents should not stop and let their little darlings play with these items so long that they become emotionally attached, especially when the parents know they won't be buying said item; and Norway needs to cut back on the character meals.
Actually, now that I think about it, maybe that's why we finished the skunky Chinese beer.
OK, OK ... I'm off my soap-box. The real reason I was barking is that our little darling wanted a chance to play with the puppets, too, and the other kids wouldn't give him a chance.
The East is red, the sun is rising... Chairman Plankton loves the people!
Did you know that the puppets could sing? And since there was a Communist party puppet in the mix, it seemed prudent to ask them to sing a "party" song. Plankton may be diabolical, but he's also pretty shrewd.
The thing that I always notice is that these puppets all look like people of Western European descent ... none of them appear to be remotely Chinese. Made in China but not
of China - I think those two white-haired puppets on the very end of the bottom row have realized it, and that is why they are so sad. That, or they just finished drinking some Skunky Singing Toe beer.
On that note ...
... I'm going to have to pause. It's late and Jason needs the computer to check up on some stuff for work. I will continue this segment tomorrow and apologise for the break in continuity.
Thanks for reading!
We had a fun time hanging with y'all for the Party for the Senseless! I know was pretty Senseless by the end of the evening!
That little bitty skinny girl must have a tape-worm!!!! 
I am so sorry that Jay fell ill and I hope it didn't ruin your trip (or gastronomic pleasures) too much.
I'll take two servings - one for each hip. 
