We had a little time between the planning session and the food tasting, so we made a mad dash to the hotel and to MK. We bought the Million Dreams ears for my nephews, and had their names put on them. (My mom, miss thrifty, made us do this mad dash to save $6 on the embroidery. Apparently it is cheaper in MK than in DTD.)
Anyways, back to Francks we go to meet with Marion again. She drove us over to Epcot to meet with catering. We got to drive backstage. I have been backstage at Epcot before, but for my mom this was a new experience. She was pretty amazed at it all. Well, we walked into the kitchen, and had two of the Epcot catering staff join us. I think one was a chef and the other was coordinator of sorts. They started to bring out the food. First they brought out the appetizers. I had requested hummus, flatbread pulled pork bbq, and the chicken skewers. I was up in the air on which I really wanted. The first appetizer was hummus. They added a little tomato flavor to it, and it was fantastic.
They told me that they would serve it with the regular hummus, and I think a garlic hummus as well. Next I tried the chicken skewers with the mango salsa. I tried the chicken by itself which was ok. I really didnt like the mango salsa. They told me that they could change the sauce to a teriyaki if I wanted. I tried the pulled pork and it was pretty good. I decided to stick with the pulled pork and not with the chicken. I might still remove that too depending on the BEO.
I will also be having shrimp cocktail and the cheese and bread spread for the pre-reception. Next up was the soups. I had two soups down to try: Canadian Cheddar Cheese and Italian Wedding. The Italian came first. It wasnt the typical Italian Wedding soup you would get, but still good. The Canadian Cheddar Cheese soup was next, and that was really good. Taste wise I would prefer to have the Cheddar Cheese, but it was rather heavy. I went with the Italian Wedding instead. I was looking forward to the salads, which were coming up next. I put down the Caesar salad, and requested that they make a salad with Fuji Apples and Spinach. They brought out the Fuji Apple and Spinach salad first. It had balsamic vinaigrette dressing and blue cheese crumbles on top.
OMG this was the best salad ever. The mix of the sweet apples with the sour dressing, and the slightly salty cheese was fabulous. I tried the Caesar next, but there was really no need. The Caesar was good, but it was something that you can get almost anywhere. Next up was the main courses. I requested the Filet Mignon, and to try it with the red wine sauce and the maple bbq glaze (which is how they serve it a Le Cellier). I tried a little of the bbq, which they put in a side cup; and it was a normal bbq sauce. I asked the chef how they serve it. They would cook the Filet with the sauce then add sauce on top of it. It was way too much for the Filet. The red wine was light and really brought out the taste of the filet. They also served it with mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes rocked. Next was another special request, Chicken Cordon Bleu.
They made it in a rather interesting way. The ham was cut up into small pieces and added to a cheese sauce. The outside of the chicken also had some seasonings on it (a mix of Italian and something else I think). It was pretty good. I will admit I have had better, but I liked the variation that they did. They had a chicken broth on the side for it, and that was gross. He told me I could change it to a cheese sauce, so I did. They served it with rice pilaf. The rice was ok, but the mashed potatoes were far better. We had now finished. We all went over what I had chosen again to make sure everything was correct. They also asked on the presentation of the pulled pork and how I wanted the filet cooked. I also asked about having rock candy stirs for coffee and such instead of just packets of sugar. The chef went and got one of the stirs that they had to show me.
He told me that they normally come with a coffee upgrade package with other stuff to add to coffees, teas, etc. It is normally $3-4 per person. Since I only wanted the stirs, he priced it at $1 per person. He also said that would include some chocolates. We were finished with the food tasting, and Marion took us to view the Parlor. Finally, we headed back to Francks.
Up next
Randy, rain, broken pirates, and going home.