Sunday, October 18th - Who Turned Off the Tropical Heating Element and Let this Arctic Clipper into America's Wang???
Considering the number of celebratory beverages consumed the day before, I woke up feeling just fine. We slept late since we didn't get back to the villa until after 1AM and enjoyed some leftover birthday cake and coffee while admiring our view.
Pretty....
Tastes great and it's filling!
We didn't have a lot planned for today, but it was still going to be busy. We had a cooking seminar scheduled for 1PM - Moonstruck Chocolate ... YUM! And the nephew and his wife were arriving some time ... they had given me such conflicting information about when their flight was and then wasn't leaving Stinktown that I threw up my hands in frustration and said call us when you get here. And then there was dinner at Victoria & Albert's later in the day with Lori, Catherine, Chelsi & her Jason. In the meantime, there were more food and wine booths for Jay and me to pillage and this seemed like a fine day to do so.
Until we opened the patio door and were met with a blast of cold air.
Mother of Pearl!
Who turned on the arctic blower???
We leave Stinktown in October to escape the cold, not to find it in sub-tropical zones. The temperature was in the low 50s but the dreaded wind was blowing briskly from the Northwest and that made it feel very unpleasant indeed. The funny thing about cold in Florida, though, is that I will wear shorts in that kind of weather at WDW but at home you'd find me bundled up in about three layers of clothing plus a coat and gloves and a scarf.
That kind of clothing is an obscenity in Florida and we refuse to participate in such a thing!
We braced ourselves for the long walk over to the F&W Welcome Center so that we could pick up the tickets for our deminar and then we decided that this was the perfect day to try all those "heavy" items that we usually think it's too warm to eat during the Festival.
Our first stop was Canada, ay. We usually skip this booth on principal since they don't change up their offerings very much and we don't think their cheddar cheese soup is all that. But those wily Canucks offered something new in 2009 ... Spicy Chicken Sausage with Sweet Corn Polenta ... and that was right up my lovey's ally. It was so cold we also ordered some of the cheddar cheese soup ... it had been a few years since we'd last had it and cold weather trumps boring when warm, warming liquids are involved.
Cheese Soup
Spicy Chicken Sausage & Polenta
The soup was fine - it actually hit the spot quite well on this day - it was creamy and rich, but nicely balanced and I do believe there was just a hint of beery goodness in there!
The real winner was the sausage and polenta. It definitely was spicy, so I only ate a little bit of it and left the rest for Jay to enjoy, but I think it was well prepared and a very generous portion size. The polenta was nice - it was a little too gritty for my taste - but had good flavor and the sweet / spicy combination between it and the sausage was really enjoyable. There was also some kind of bizarre jelly paired with this ... you can just see it on the side of the sausage underneath the peppers ... but I'm damned if I know what it's actually supposed to be. It almost looks like jellied fish eggs, but surely that can't be right!
Next stop ... Ireland, and the dish that was creating so much buzz at the Festival: The Lobster and Scallop Fisherman's Pie!!!
We'd been drooling over advance pictures of this little offering and many of our friends had assured us that this was a "must try" for this year's Festival. So we joined the queue and ordered one with a 12-ounce serving of motor oil ... er, Guinness ... on the side.
Fabulous!
The drink that eats like a meal!
Let me preface this by sharing something with you: I don't really like lobster. I will eat it if it is an ingredient in a dish but that's as far as I go. Having said that, this was one of the single best food offerings of the entire 2009 F&W Festival. That creamy, lightly browned mashed tater topping covered a wealth of lobster and scallop chunks swimming in a creamy sauce. It was wonderful and we gobbled it up in short order. We even considered ordering another one but decided against so that we could try some other things on our way around the showcase.
Our next stop was in Morocco, where we ordered the Beef Kefta Pita Pocket, the Falafel Pita Pocket, and some Sangria.
Beef pocket
Falafel pocket
Impervious to cold ... Jay models prior year F&W merchandise while playing keep-away with the Sangria!
I've always liked the beef pita pocket ... it's warm and tasty and large enough to share and we were both pleased with it. The sangria was also very tasty - a pleasant surprise indeed considering that it was being poured out of one of those scary juice dispenser thingees. Falafel, however, other than being a word that feels fun on my tongue, totally escapes me. I don't get it. Why do I want to eat a pita pocket filled with little crunchy bits of fried stuff? It didn't taste like anything at all.
Hello?
Hello taste?
I would like to see the Morocco booth offer up a nice serving of hummus with some pita bread and raw veggies ... that's what sounds good and tasty to me!
Our last stop of the day before we wandered back to the Festival Welcome Center to thaw out was South Africa. They only offered two food selections this year, but wow -they were both fantastic!
Seared Beef Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Puree and Mango BBQ Sauce
Mealie Soup with Crabmeat and Chili Oil
The beef tenderloin and sweet potato puree was another excellent entry into this year's F&W booth lineup - the beef was tender and tasty, the puree was super smooth and had just a hint of spice, and the mango BBQ sauce pulled it all together with subtle, fruity sweetness. I don't even like BBQ sauce for the most part (stupid goblin!) and I wanted to lick every drop of it from the plate, that's how good I thought it was.
Jason raved about the mealieworm soup - he loves hot and spicy and this selection had his eyes watering by the time he was finished. I did try a small taste and thought the flavor was quite good before my tongue burst into flame.
And so concludes the F&W snacking for today - stay tuned for the Moonstruck Chocolate deminar and a totally indulgent, over-the-top post-birthday dinner at Vickie & Al's!
Thanks for reading!!
Can I blame it on the humidity please?
Sorry we didn't have time to get it framed for you. When Jordan had it signed by David, she explained that it was for someone very special on their 40th B-day. 
I wish I could have been there for the party. Glad it turned out so well. 
We each want one with our favorite character on top.
