Day 2- May, 13th 2011- Evening at the Boardwalk and Meal at Kouzzina
And that is when we were just about to find out one of the big differences between the 2010 and the 2011 trip.
In 2010 Beatriz ended up falling asleep in her stroller at some point pretty much every single day. She even fell asleep when we wanted her to be awake!
Usually we took advantage of those quiet moments to have some adult time in the parks and just take it easy. We were even able to use that time to have our table service meals in the most civilized manner in a couple of occasions.
So silly me is convinced that we are going to be able to pull the same stunt this time around.
I could tell Beatriz was in desperate need of some down time so we put her in her stroller and started making our way out of the park. The hope was that she was going to hit dreamland by the time we were ready to board the boat to the Boardwalk.
Wel... that never happened.
That is when I knew super was going to be a challenge.
So we got to the Boardwalk with some time to spare before our meal and things were very quiet over there. Really. Not much going on.
While Joey takes off to explore the ESPN Club I sit down outside with her for a bit. I want to take some pictures but she does NOT want to be bothered.
I also tried to explore a gift shop but when Beatriz gets in the "zone" she stops listening and I just couldn't handle repeating over and over for her to stay near me and stop touching things.
I was officially ready for a drink (you know, because I can
).
So we checked in early for our meal and while we waited to be buzzed I brought her to the bathroom and changed her into some clean clothes. I also tried to bribe her into behaving herself during the meal. I will tell you right now, it did not work either.
Not sure if the hostess sensed trouble but she placed us in a booth in a little corner of the restaurant. We did not mind it at all. The only problem is, as we also found out in this trip, every time we are sat in a booth Beatriz has this uncontrollable urge to stand on it and it is really hard to keep her down.
Is it time for my drink already?? :yes please:
Joey and I ordered a drink called Cat's ouzzo-tine which was by far the best drink I had the whole trip.
Opa!
Can you tell someone is hyper??
So the waitress also brought us some bread and presented us with two samples of olive oil to go with it. While I do think it is a great idea and I do love olive oil I have to admit I couldn't really pay attention to her detailed explanation with a chid hanging on my neck AND I missed some balsamic vinegar to go with it. I did think about asking for some balsamic but I was afraid to offend the olive oil somehow...
On to the entrees:
Joey had the lamb with oven-baked gigantes beans and pepper sauce:
He said the lamb was cooked to perfection and extremely flavourful but he did not care much about the beans as a side dish. He thought it was too much protein and he could have used some potatoes, rice or other type of vegetables. I asked a good friend of mine who is Greek and also a wonderful cook (you can check her cook book
here - I know, shameless plug. Will that get me in trouble?) and she told me that this is a very traditional combination.
Fair enough. I guess Joey was not feeling very traditional...
At first I was conflicted about what I would eat. I was torn between the traditional whole fish (the presentation is just so beautiful) and the fisherman's stew so I asked the opinion of the waitress. She told me the stew was her favorite dish so I decided to go for it.
I did not regret it.
The stew was delicious and reminded me of a Brazilian dish called
muqueca. I would go back to Kouzzina so just I could have that stew again. It comes with 2 slices of hard bread to dip and it was finger licking good.
As we were about to eat my friend A. showed up to check up on us. He had finished his shift at Epcot and was on his way to a party (those CMs party a lot on their free time) and he passed by to say hello. I am telling you, he is the best. We told him about the highlights of our day, made some plans to meet up again, he took a picture of us and he was off...
I wanted Beatriz to get the Pastitsio (Greek lasagna) from the kids menu and she seemed to be ok with it until she saw the picture of the standard pasta dish they have at every kids menu. I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to try some of the lasagna myself but trust me, I was not going to argue.
For dessert Joey ordered the Galaktoboureko (semolina custard in baked phyllo dough and vanilla-praline gelato) and gave it a two thumbs up:
I had the chocolate budino cake (warm molten chocolate with whipped sweet cream) that was one of my favorite desserts from the entire week:
Beatriz had a "dress it yourself" type of cookie but she barely touched it. Beatriz is not a dessert type of person and this fact alone makes me question genetics sometimes.
All in all our meal at Kouzzina was a very positive experience. I recommend to every one who appreciates some Mediterranean cuisine. And who doesn't?
The picture of a satisfied (and very tired) family:
One picture outside for the record. If only she could stay put for a second:
Kalimera Kouzzina!
When we came out of the restaurant we noticed it had rained during our meal. Yay for dodging the rain.
The Boardwalk seemed to be a bit more alive at that point with more people walking around and looking for a place to eat. For some reason I was expecting a little more action over there...
We then took the boat back to DHS and I had to fight my instinct of walking back into the park. Instead we hopped in the bus back to Pop Century.
Now at some point during the day we had promised to bring Beatriz to the pool that night and she did not forget about that. Lesson of the day: Never promise something to a kid that you have no intention of fulfilling.
She fought her sleep all the way in the bus ride and was ready to redeem her swim card as soon as arrived at the hotel. So we changed and headed to the pool:
I didn't go in the water but instead allowed Joey to have another father/daughter moment with her.
By the time we told her we had to head back to our room for a shower and some sleep she was not happy. At this point Beatriz was beyond tired and it showed:
Finally we managed to put her down for the night and spent some adult time before going to bed ourselves.
**********************End of day 2********************
Next up:
Epcot Garden and Flower Festival (Pixar Weekend).
Anyways, we never saw the parade at DHS since we leave around 1~2pm after our lunch. It's much needed but wish we could watch the parade.
I guess I have a higher tolerance for heat than most people... 
You take wonderful pictures and your daughter is so adorable. I will be tuning in to hear more about your trip....take care 
