IMBE's trip - "Eatin' to the Beat" .. or was that "Lickin' the Street"? (day 3,

[imbe@aol.com]

We all got ready pretty quickly, and headed over to the American Gardens Theatre. Our destination tonight was "Eat to the Beat" -this: Food and Wine Festival - Epcot 2002 (look near the bottom part of the page) On the way, I *think* it was this night that I was having a *little bit* <g> of trouble with my shoes on the Boardwalk - that might have been because they were high heels! LOL (hey, what else should a girlie wear with black leather pants huh?? I think Julie and Debbie were way more worried about me tripping than I was - I'm used to those shoes! LOL Debbie was talking to Nikki on the way, and I remember hearing her say something about being 5'7", and I said .. well, *I* am 5'7" ... right now ! (5'2" in 5" heels = 5'7"! <g>) It's fun walking through Epcot like that ... all dressed up!

We got to the American Gardens theatre, and took our seats for the show. The Fifth Dimension was playing tonight. I *do* remember most of their stuff, though some of it was from when I was pretty young .. like, in elementary school! LOL Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. aren't part of the group anymore, but there were two of the original band members there .. and the woman (sorry, I can't remember her name) was FANTASTIC!! She's a grandmother of 4, and she looked SO GOOD! I can only hope to look half that terrific some day! LOL The performance was fun - energetic, nostalgic ...a good time! They had an older man from the audience onstage dancing, and he did well! LOL I would've liked to have had Sister Sledge as the act (they were there about 2 weeks ago I think) because they were a little more my era, but the Fifth were fun!

The show lasted about .. a half hour - 45 minutes I'd say, and then we needed to get over to the old Millenium Village for "Eat to the Beat". We walked at a pretty quick clip, since I'd read it was a good thing to be in early, so as to get a table to sit at. In the shoes I had on, I DIDN'T wanna stand all night! LOL Dave kept darting in and out of people so quickly, at one point, I asked if he was trying to ditch me! LOL I'M usually the very fast walker, but heels can slow ya down some!

This is the old "Grand Tastings" renamed, and somewhat reconfigured. It's on a MUCH larger scale than when it was at the Odyssey - many,many more people, a larger venue, just a lot of differences. It was very nice, definitely, but .. I sort of think I preferred it when it was smaller. It was more intimate then, you had more time to chat with the chefs, vintners, other guests, without the crush of people waiting for food/wine. Besides, I STILL want to get to one of those damned Reserve Winemakers Dinners!!! LOL For YEARS .. literally!!, I have tried for the Winemakers to no avail, and then when the Reserve dinners came out, I wanted that even MORE, but no luck at all yet! I thought I had a way to secure a spot this year, finally, but .. as things went, I didn't after all Oh well ... there's always next year! LOL If I have to dress up as a big living grape, I AM gonna get into that one of these days!

At first, we didn't see the tables inside, except for the area when you first entered, where there were a couple of living room setups, so Dave went outside to where there were some tables and held one, while we took his glass/plate to get him started - I said to Debbie and Julie that I SURE hoped those few sofas weren't the only seating tonight! LOL When you walked in, on the left and right there were tables set up with the commemorative wine glass for the evening, along with your handy dandy plastic hooks on to the glass plate - honestly .. NOT the most secure way to hold your food when you are drinking lots of wine samples now!!! LOL Ahead of you, there were ... I believe 6 small areas where these living room set ups were - couple couches facing each other, with a cocktail and some end tables. Nice, but .. I dunno, just not the optimal way to have it organized, imho. In front of that were very large, sheerish white curtains, strung from the ceiling, that eventually lifted up to reveal the food and wine tasting areas .. and thankfully, a lot more tables!

We were at the front of the mob (I mean, I looked back and it was a virtual sea of people behind me, all the way to the door! ) so we did luck out and get a nice table about midway back. I ran out to get Dave and tell him, and the girlies got started on their 'rounds'. We came back in and Julie the sweetie had gotten us each some food! We did that all night basically - sorta switched on and off, with at least one of us at the table at all times. We didn't want to loose our spot.

I'll list the foods and wines below, and just continue with the story for now, if that's ok? LOL Easier that way, and besides, I'm typing this sitting in the car waiting for Evan to get out of drum lessons, and I don't have the ETTB booklet in front of me to know everything there was anyway! LOL

There was entertainment here, which was a new thing. The Living Statue was there, with a VERY cool twist - water, coming out of her head and fingers!! Really neat! You just stood there staring at this! There was a .. I don't know what to call her but Leaf Lady! LOL On stilts, covered in green paint, leaves, grapes .. awesome looking! Also, the candy maker girl from Japan was here - man is she talented! She looked so cute in her sassy hat, and she just chatted away, lots of times not even looking at what she was doing, but created the most amazing little things! Julie and I watched her do a shark .. incredible!

We rang up a few friends, to let them 'share' in the night, even though they couldn't be there .. heheheh .. wasn't that nice of us? <eg> We somehow got a lovely loaf of foccacia on our table too - the whole thing! ;o) Didn't see a nice tea box (to choose the after dinner beverages from, of course! <g>) like last year though.
Debbie made a new friend at the Iron Horse booth .. she was a quadrupler ya know! LOL I .. sniff sniff sniff.. was just a doubler - Julie and Dave were behaving themselves .. mostly <g>... and we were ALL having fun!!

Then, it was getting to be time to go. We grabbed a quintup... ahh hell, we filled our glasses to the brim! LOL before leaving, just to fortify ourselves for that walk back First though, we stopped to watch Illuminations.

While we watched Illuminations, we called around again, so we could "share" that too <g> We .. had to talk loudly though .. ya know, so they could hear us over all that noise! ;O

Then, when we got back to the Swan, I am told that I said I was hot ...and thus decided to cool off in the fountain in the lobby!! bwhahahah *I* contend (with help from Julie and Dave) that I only stuck my arm in .. but Debbie seems to think that I stuck my whole head in! LOL

LOL Some night it was indeed!!

 

[Marla Hellwig]

Sounds like a good time was had by all - thanks for posting!