Thursday, October 15th - When Your First Culinary Demo of the Trip Includes an Entree and a Dessert Served with Real Silverware, It's Entirely Possible You've Peaked Too Soon.
Ah, the culinary demos and beverage seminars, or as I like to call them, deminars. They have become a staple of the F&W Festival - this was the first year that Epcot started charging people to attend them and in retrospect maybe that wasn't such a bad idea. In the past people would line up for some of these things the way I'd line up for a ticket to buy the newest Harry Potter book ... hours ... days ... weeks in advance. I like this new system that allows guests to choose what they want to do in advance without having to spend all day waiting in line. Having said that, I do think that whoever is in charge of the beverage pours is getting a little stingy. I'm not asking for a full glass of wine, but for between $5 and $8 per person to attend we should all receive a pour that's equal to what we would be given for the same price at one of the booths lining the World Showcase.
To quote our buddy Gollum: "We be nice to them if they be nice to us..."
Anyhoo, I chose this culinary demo because Jay and I are big Raglan Road fans – we have always had terrific experiences with their food, service, and entertainment and we try to get over there whenever we vacation at WDW. I also booked this demo because I'd desperately wanted to attend the Raglan Road signature dinner that was being held at the restaurant on October 13th; sadly, there was no way for Jay and I to extend our trip by just one measly day and we were unable to attend what, from all accounts, was an incredible evening of food and booze. The man served suckling pig, for crying out loud; an entire suckling pig! Jay and I shed an envious pork-loving tear or two when we heard about that.
Ahem.
After we all finished our naughty sausages in Germany, Lori accompanied us over to the Welcome Center where all the Festival deminars were being held and she introduced us to a friend of hers who was also attending the Raglan Road deminar - the famous and very funny Improvgal! The three of us shared a table while Lori wandered off to do some shopping.
Festival MC Pam Smith and Chef Kevin Dundon
I know that Pam's a staple of the F&W Festival but honestly, she grates on my nerves. I just don't feel that she lends much to the proceedings; our favorite deminars were all the ones that didn't have a Pam because then the experts could just talk. As for Kevin Dundon, he seemed like a very personable, down-to-earth, famous chef-type person who, as Pam rather gushingly told us, has chefed not only for former president George Bush II, but for Bono. Now there's an interesting juxtaposition of personalities.
Hey! Don't look now, but someone is trying to learn for free!!!
Palmhenge does nothing to keep lurkers from lurking...
That's right ... you forgot your pith helmet!
Alright, enough with the theatrics, there's an eyedropper of booze to be sampled along with some food. This particular deminar was like a small luncheon ... We were given generous portions of Duncannon Seafood Chowder and a Classic Sherry Trifle with Bunratty Meade to barely wash it down.
Jay and I may be among the few people out there who aren't overly fond of meade. On its own it strikes us both as too cloying and sweet, but I will say that we were both won over by how nicely it paired with the dessert - it smoothed out wonderfully and was very tasty; for some reason it didn't seem nearly as sweet with dessert as it was by itself.
One eyedropper of Meade
Before we left for WDW I read everyone's F&W reviews here on the DIS and duly noted some of the grumbling about the size of the beverage pours but I didn't realize just how bad it was until we experienced it in person. That's it? No refills? That's barely enough to wake up our tastebuds, let alone make them sing. And so I asked Improvgal if I could borrow one of her signature moves to demonstrate to the audience here at home just how miserly the F&W folks have become with the alcohol.
This serving of meade must have gone through the de-bigulator!
I can't complain too much about the beverage portion at this deminar, though, because the food servings had obvioulsy been run through a re-bigulator. Look at the size of the Seafood Chowder we were each given ... in a bowl ... on a plate ... with cutlery!!
Color us impressed!
OK ... I don't even like chowder and I thought this was terrific. It was jam packed with seafood ... shrimp (my bowl had four big shrimpies), salmon, mussels, and some mixed fresh fishies like cod and haddock ... and also had carrots, potatoes, and leeks. What a wonderful, generous blending of subtle flavors and the broth was a dream - creamy without being thick or gacky. If Chef Dundon's goal was to make an impression I'd say he did that and more - this offering was amazing.
And if that wasn't enough then the man turned around and gave us all dessert. You had me at sherry trifle ... I'm yours to command.
Yes, he made us Classic Sherry Trifle served in cute little preserve jars tied with twine, or cornhusk, or something crafty ... awww, Chef Dundon was expressing his inner Martha Stewart!
We are not to be trifled with!
Holy crap on a cracker! This was the most delectable trifle I've eaten in years and the portion was huge. And even though I was stuffed like a bed tick, I couldn't stop eating ... and neither could anyone else. We all kept nodding approvingly at each other while licking our spoons and making ridiculous "Mmmmmmmm...." sounds.
All I can say is that for the remainder of our trip ... all nine days of it ... no other culinary demo came close to reaching the zenith of Kevin Dundon. If you see him on the agenda for next year's festival I strongly suggest that you book a seat in advance because he was worth every penny of the $10 we spent to attend. His cuisine was amazingly tasty and his servings were generous beyond belief.
Once we were all finished licking out the mason jars we went our separate ways ... Lori and Improvgal were headed to the Ditch while Jay and I were ready for a nap at the pool. But before we left Epcot we made a detour over to France so that I could pick up a bottle of wine that we'd tried last year at a French Regional Lunch and that we cannot get our hands on here in Stinktown. While waiting in an annoyingly slow line of one (it wasn't the CM's fault and that's where I'm going to leave it) my wandering eye fell upon this:
The featured booze of the month ... so spectacular that it had been placed on a pedestal!
Try me; you know you want to.
No one can resist my light gold liquid charms...
Who am I to resist the siren song of fine French booze? I don't know much about cognac, other than it seems to pair really well with chocolate cigars.
But I wanted to try some and Jay is a very loving and indulgent hubba, epecially when we're on vacation. What I learned is that Martell VS (Very Special ... haha!) Cognac was created about 150 years ago and it apparently has a worldwide reputation for being really tasty and has even won medals at alcoholic competitions and such.
The taste was pretty mild - some cognacs are as bad as whisky and just taste like burning - this was mellow with a hint of fruit ... think honey meade on steroids and half the sugar and you'll have a better idea of the flavor. Jay and I both liked it a lot, and it was a nice way to finish off our first day of F&W touring at Epcot. If you're curious, the bottle retails for about $45 in the real world.
Next up ... continuing the French theme with dinner at Bistro Paris!
Sounds like your sister is doing good - glad to hear it! 
Some day I hope to get rid of the pills, too. 
Glad the food made up for it!! The palm henge photo is too cute. 
I was at the Deen luncheon and Paula kept talking to people out "in the bushes" and at one point someone reached through to shake her hand and a couple of the palms ended up falling on people! 
