Friday, October 16th - A Little Breakfast & Some Random Food & Wine Snacking
We were supposed to try the breakfast buffet at Fresh this morning - our DIS-buddy Robert P had highly recommended it and he's usually spot on - but the weather was still really humid and warm and we'd decided the day before that we'd rather sleep in and have a light meal in the room. Fresh was just going to have to wait for another trip.
Jay and I really enjoy the various pastries from the Boulangerie Patisserie in France and stopped there after our dinner at Bistro the night before; we bought the last chocolate croissant and a cinnamon-raisin swirl bun and split them both in the morning while we enjoyed a nice pot of coffee brewed with some of the good stuff that we brought from home.
These were both good choices, but I liked the cinnamon-raisin swirlie more than the chocolate croissant - I'm partial to cinnamon rolls for one thing, and I'm a croissant purist for another. I'd rather have a traditional, flaky, buttery croissant than one with anything stuffed into it ... even chocolate. And if you look closely at the cinnamon swirlie you'll notice that they used more than one type of raisin - there are golden raisins in there as well as dark ones. I once read somewhere that whenever you bake with raisins you should use golden ones because they won't fall to the bottom of the batter while it's baking. Some day I will test that theory out and report back to you.
All I know is this was a fine and tasty start to a long, and for me, not very-feeling-good-kind-of-day. I won't get into the details - let's just say the Crohn goblin was toying with me - but I toughed it out because that's just the kind of gal I am on vacation.
Cinnamon-Raisin Swirlie
Chockie Croissant
We made our way over to Epcot by about 10AM that morning and a really nice Kim Possible CM took our picture on the bridge as we were poking fun at people who make it their vacation mission to arrive at the theme parks for the daily rope drop. Wouldn't it be funny, we said, if there was a mass of crazy-eyed foodie-boozies piled up at the ropes blocking off entrance to the World Showcase until 11AM? Let's pretend to be those people and have someone take our picture!
Remember this little blurb ... it's going to come back to haunt us in ways both ironic and scary.
Drop the rope and no one gets hurt - there's a squishee back there with our names on it!
We killed some time poking around Future World and discovered much to our joy that some of the food booths along the promenade area opened a bit earlier than the official 11AM Festival start-time. Hello Santiago, Chile ... you're our new best friend.
We started our snacking off with Chile's Rock Shrimp Ceviche, which they were serving topped with popcorn. According to various CMs, in Chile it is traditional to serve ceviche topped with popcorn (
topcorn???); while that may or may not be the case, in my exciting, unpredictable, living-on-the-edge digestive world popcorn is baaaaaaaaaad. Those diabolical little kernals are the shortest path to super-colon blow that I know of.
Luckily for me I'm married to a man who actually doesn't like popcorn, so it was no sacrifice for Jay to ask them to leave the stuff off our sample. Ceviche is typically comprised of seafood that has been marinated in a citrus-based mixture, most commonly lemons and limes. Not only does the fruit add flavor, but the citric acid actually pickles, or "cooks", the fish without any heat. Having never eaten ceviche before this trip I thought that was really interesting; and I can say that every time I did try ceviche I really enjoyed it as long as it wasn't overspiced or overly acidic.
Rock Shrimp Ceviche - profile shot.
Rock Shrimp Ceviche - aerial view.
While this did have nice flavor and just a bit of heat, I thought it was lacking in the shrimp department - too much liquid and not enough tasty crustaceans, if you ask me. As Jay and I were finishing up this first snackable of the day, a cute little old couple wandered by and stopped to speak with a young family at one of the tall tables next to us.
"Excuse me, but could you tell us where this Food & Wine Festival is that we've been hearing so much about?"
Jay and I gave each other the same look of complete and utter confusion followed by some quiet giggling. I give full credit to that young mom who very patiently explained to these people that they were standing smack dab in the middle of the very festival they were searcing for (
in search of???). She went on to give them some very helpful advice and probably deserves a medal, or at least a foodie-boozie letter of commendation. I'm not sure that Jay and I would have been able to stop laughing if they had asked us for assistance. In fact, Jay said that he would have told them to get on the monorail, head to the MK, take a boat over to the Polynesian, catch the monorail to the Transportation / Ticket Center, ride the monorail back to Epcot, and then head to Mexico for a margarita and a nap.
Our next stop was at Greece, where we ordered the Greek Salad with Pita Bread and the Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki. In past years the salad has been a safe bet and the serving size has always been a generous one for the price - this year was no different. This was a light and refreshing snack (even with the olives) and we were both happy that the pita bread was fresh and soft and warm. In the interests of trying something new we also ordered the Chicken Souvlaki and I admit to being quite surprised by the tastiness of this offering. While it was very messy to eat, the chicken was flavorful and tender and the yogurt sauce lent it a cool creaminess. I am not a big sauce person because they tend to bother my gut worm, but this wasn't bad. The only thing that could have made it better was if the sauce were served on the side - not only would it have been easier to eat but then patrons could go heavy or light on the sauce based on their personal preferences.
Chicken Souvlaki - it's new and it's good!
Greek Salad - beware the lurking olives!
We continued on until we stopped at the New Zealand booth. Jay and I have always thought that this booth had some of the tastiest and best priced items of past F&W Festivals so we were looking forward to some yummies from the other side of the globe. This year we were destined for disappointment ... sort of. We ordered the Lamb Slider with Tomato Chutney and the Seared Sea Scallop with Vegetable Slaw and Lemon Oil.
Let's talk about the slider first. If you look at the picture below you will see that it is not a slider ... it's a meatball on a miniature bun. Color me inconsistent but while I do like hamburgers, I don't like meatballs (I also don't like meatloaf in case anyone is keeping score). This was, as our friendie Chelsi so aptly described it, a meat clot on a bun. I would take it a step further and say that the meat clot was served with chunky plasma. This whole dish fell flat with me - I didn't like the taste or the presentation but the hubby thought it was very tasty and did not complain about having to finish it with no help from me.
Our second choice - the scallop - was well prepared and flavorful, but at $4.00 per serving somewhat overpriced, especially considering that it was served with oily, overcooked onions and peppers.
A lone scallop in some veggie strips and a lamb meat-clot
To make up for the bites of banality we purchased in New Zealand, Jay and I soon found ourselves at the Brewer's Collection where we purchased a suggestive Pretzel Stick with Cheese Sauce and a 12-ounce Affligem Blonde Ale. This was exactly what it looked like - nothing more and nothing less. The cheese sauce was not great and lost its warmth really quickly because it was spread out on a plate intead of being glopped into a wee container. This was good gut fodder for soaking up some alcohol but that's about it. The beer was a nice surprise - golden colored with a spicy aroma and a smooth flavor - we found ourselves ordering it again on another visit later in the trip.
Pretzel with processed cheese food and beer
I threw in this picture of Morocco's bathroom because it's one of my favorite Epcot toilet stops.
There are plenty of stalls, it's usually quite clean, and doesn't seem to get as much hard use as some of the other countries. All I know is that Morocco was a life-saver last year when I had yet to start medication for a new, annoying, and rather painful chronic health condition ... I used that facility so much there should be a stall with my name on it.
Get out of the way I've gotta pee!
From the beer stand and Morocco we made our way to Japan, where we chose a new item: the Tuna Sensation. There had been some commentary on the DIS that this particular offering was not worth the $5.75 being charged and Jay and I were curious to see for ourselves what Japan was doing. Since we had no desire to purchase pre-made sushi rolls, the tuna and avacado struck us as a tasty alternative and we were thrilled with our serving. Maybe we hit them on a good day or maybe complaints had reached their ears that they were being miserly, but either way we ended up with a heaping helping of tuna bits marinating in some soy sauce and crowned with avacado chunks. This ended up being one of our favorite samples from this year's festival - it was full of sweet, tender tuna that practically melted in our mouths.
Yum Yum Tuna Bits - profile.
Yum Yum Tuna Bits - aerial view.
After fork-fighting each other over the last tasty morsel of tuna bits, it seemed only logical that we should go poke around in Japan-mart and giggle at their foodstuffs before trying some sake. I know ... we're terrible, awful, immature, insensitive people for laughing like loons at the Japanese candy but it's a time honored tradition in this family. Can you imagine how sad we were to find that all the good stuff was gone? All that remained were correctly spelled and culturally benign items that could be found just about anywhere and while Pocky tries hard to be funny it never manages to generate more than a feeble chuckle. Where was the Milky? What about the Going to H-e-l-l Drops? And gawd help us all ... where is KRUNKY???
Gone.
All gone.
There is no more laughter in Japan-mart.
We consoled ourselves at the Sake Bar by sampling some Shirakawago Nigori Sake. Nigori is a cloudy sake, served chilled and it's usually a little sweeter than a clear sake. Jay and I thought this was a pleasant sake - slightly creamy with a slight taste of fruit, it wasn't overly sweet at all. We enjoyed it but not enough to buy a bottle.
Sweet CM getting ready to pour us some boozie goodness
We could stay here all day but we're actually scheduled to drink somewhere else very soon!
And this concludes our Festival snacking for the day - next up: A Tequila Tasting at the Ditch!!
. You may - RELEASE THE CORKS --- USE THE FANCY STEMWARE --- and have a fantastic holday. 
Thanks for the kind comments about the trippie and thanks as always for making time to read them. 
TMBG would be great to put on DS' iPod! I love that I get to influence his musical loves still...
Sounds like you had a great time with Chelsi & Jason and love the couple asking where the festival was 
