Third Time's a Charm PTR - May 2012 - I should give up on planning trips.

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

Sadly, I knew I didn’t have a lot of appetite left, so I passed on these things.

Cheese Platter

Chicken Satay Skewers

Pheasant and rice Pilaf

But I DID have

Some Beef Tenderloin

Lamb Chops

And Mashed Potatoes

The thing on the left of my plate is some kind of a cheesy roll, it was good.

The thing I love most about the private events, is that the same food laws and regulations do not apply when the general public is present. Now I had all these to choose from, but sadly enough I didn’t have a one.

Why? Because I could have those things any day on the lunch buffet. Instead I went for the thing that was unique and special.

The Chocolate Fountain is my true love! For so long it was on the lunch buffet and then the nasty people from the board of health came in and said that they could not have it on the buffet, unless they had a “spitscreen”. Evidently this was either too costly, or too much trouble because the fountain never came back to the daily buffet. Do you think that I put my fruit on skewers and let the chocolate drip on to it. Heck no! This is my solution!

I just filled up the little sushi tray with the melted chocolate and took it back to my table!

Throughout the night they had entertainment tableside. This woman made us little origami figures as keepsakes.

These are kissing penguins.

This guy went around to various tables. He never made it to ours, but he ended off the night with a very corny show for the whole room.

This is where the evening starts to go downhill. Fran has been feeling awful all day. By 11:30 she declares that we need to leave. Doesn’t she remember what the crowds were like at 7:30? So we try to make our way down Main Street, but midnight hits and the fireworks start. I turn around to look at see them and I can’t even see the castle it’s so foggy! You can just barely make out faint streaks in the sky. We have barely got past the arcade when they end, and all of Main Street starts to walk out. FAST! We are caught up in huge crowds with Fran and Arline in scooters, and practically getting trampled. We pull off to the side into a small alcove and let the bulk of the crowds pass us before finally exiting.

Well it wasn’t my ideal NYE, but I have my Jacuzzi tub waiting, and I forgot to mention that before going back to the room in the afternoon, we stopped at Marceline’s Confectionary, so I’ve got Chocolate Marshmallow sticks, Smore’s and a new favorite a Peppermint Patty!

After my tub I fell fast asleep, forgetting that I wanted to put my breakfast casserole in the oven on delay bake. Luckily I woke at 7:30AM, put it in the oven and when I woke back up at 9;00, it wasn’t burnt. Fran still didn’t feel good, so Arline and had this with a cup of coffee and a glass of juice.

While not an ideal trip, it was nice to get away, take a hot bath and eat some very yummy food. And one month from today, the three of us will be back at the VGC for 3 nights. This time, no gourmet food, this is a “let’s go on as many rides as we can” trip!

 

[rentayenta]

I'm sorry Fran wasn't feeling well. I can't even imagine the crowds.

<------Got the chills looking at your dinner pics. I really like Arline's sparkly Ears.

What's in your breakfast bake? I make one every Christmas morning. Yours looks more exciting!

We like Naples. The calamari looked good.

Your pics of the GCV make me miss it so much. I swear, I could live there.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Looks likea rear party! Sorry you needed to leave. I now look at this yummy food and I am hungry.

 

[PrincessInOz]

That's a shame that Fran wasn't up to staying an extra 45 minutes to avoid the crowds. Still, I hope she's better now??


Thanks for sharing your pictures of the night. I always sit here really envious checking out your posts at DLR. Wish I were there!
I like your breakfast bake too.

Not long to go before your 3 night stay.

 

[franandaj]

I'm sorry Fran wasn't feeling well. I can't even imagine the crowds.

<------Got the chills looking at your dinner pics. I really like Arline's sparkly Ears.

What's in your breakfast bake? I make one every Christmas morning. Yours looks more exciting!

We like Naples. The calamari looked good.

Your pics of the GCV make me miss it so much. I swear, I could live there.

I can tell you it is definitely not kosher! buttered toast cubes layered in the bottom of the pan, swiss cheese, ham and green onions sprinkled over it. Repeat. For that size pan, 3 eggs, one cup milk, 1 tsp mustard, salt & pepper. Let set overnight (I made it at home before we left), and bake covered 45 min, uncovered for about 10.

I left it in too long and didn't have to bake it uncovered at all.

Looks likea rear party! Sorry you needed to leave. I now look at this yummy food and I am hungry.

Don't worry you will get full tonight!

That's a shame that Fran wasn't up to staying an extra 45 minutes to avoid the crowds. Still, I hope she's better now??


Thanks for sharing your pictures of the night. I always sit here really envious checking out your posts at DLR. Wish I were there!
I like your breakfast bake too.

Not long to go before your 3 night stay.

She's better from what she was suffering from that night, but she is still very weak. After viewing 1st st yesterday, she got wiped out. I haven't even got her out of bed yet for her shower. Meeting Usnuz and her DH will be all the activity she can handle.

 

[rentayenta]

Kosher or not it looks delicious. We don't keep kosher. We do our best and don't eat pork or shellfish in the house but to keep real kosher we'd need two kitchens. Impossible. I like to tease on the scrollie thread about bacon but honestly, I love it, I miss it, but it's something small that's easy to give up.

I hope Fran is on the mend. Being sick is no fun.

 

[franandaj]

Kosher or not it looks delicious. We don't keep kosher. We do our best and don't eat pork or shellfish in the house but to keep real kosher we'd need two kitchens. Impossible. I like to tease on the scrollie thread about bacon but honestly, I love it, I miss it, but it's something small that's easy to give up.

I hope Fran is on the mend. Being sick is no fun.

You could always substitute spinach for the Ham or use a turkey breakfast meat. It really doesn't matter, my recipe says bacon or ham, and I don't think you were reading my PTRs when the freezer went out and I had to cook two hams, three turkeys, two bone in rib roasts, a couple chickens and 7 steaks in about 4 days. I had a lot of ham to use up!

I wasn't sure if you did the "no meat and cheese together" thing. I had a boyfriend in HS, whose parents wanted him to keep kosher, but every time we'd go out alone in my car, he'd beg me to take him to a deli for a ham and cheese sandwich and not to tell his mom!

 

[rentayenta]

You could always substitute spinach for the Ham or use a turkey breakfast meat. It really doesn't matter, my recipe says bacon or ham, and I don't think you were reading my PTRs when the freezer went out and I had to cook two hams, three turkeys, two bone in rib roasts, a couple chickens and 7 steaks in about 4 days. I had a lot of ham to use up!

I wasn't sure if you did the "no meat and cheese together" thing. I had a boyfriend in HS, whose parents wanted him to keep kosher, but every time we'd go out alone in my car, he'd beg me to take him to a deli for a ham and cheese sandwich and not to tell his mom!

Holy, that's a lot of meat! Way did you do with it all after you cooked it?

Your ex sounds like Chloe. Every time we go our for food, she will choose bacon or ham if it's an option. Gabby chooses the crab/shrimp. We used to be much better with the no milk/meat things avoiding the obvious like cheeseburgers etc but again only in the house. Out to dinner is a different story. I don't think Utah has a kosher restaurant.

 

[Leshaface]

Oh my. Your dinner looked fantabulous! The chocolate fountain!! What are those rolled up things next to the fountain on the right hand side?

Too bad Fran wasn't feeling well.

Good Gravy that breakfast bake looks good. How easy and simple!

 

[Pinkocto]

What a fun and delicous way to spend NYE! Too bad you had to leave early though. I'm glad Fran was well enough to go to dinner though, it would have been pitzy for her to have to stay behind.

29 days and you'll be back for some fun!

 

[lisaviolet]

Yeah! Coming over soon Alison. Loving the pictures. Suddenly I feel famished. You're killing me with delicious all over the place.

 

[franandaj]

Holy, that's a lot of meat! Way did you do with it all after you cooked it?

We sliced it up into sandwich slices or bits to use for casseroles, egg foo young, or turkey and dumplings, and put it back in the freezer in 1/4 lb packages. Well I sliced it and Fran put it in the baggies, she wouldn't use my scale, so eyeballing they might be closer to 1/2 pound increments. We're almost done with the first turkey and first ham. I'm making turkey Egg Foo Young for dinner tonight, that reminds me I better get a pack out of the freezer.

Oh my. Your dinner looked fantabulous! The chocolate fountain!! What are those rolled up things next to the fountain on the right hand side?

Those are little rolled cookies, they're one of my favorite things to dip in the chocolate!

What a fun and delicous way to spend NYE! Too bad you had to leave early though. I'm glad Fran was well enough to go to dinner though, it would have been pitzy for her to have to stay behind.

29 days and you'll be back for some fun!

Now it's even less time until we're back again!

Yeah! Coming over soon Alison. Loving the pictures. Suddenly I feel famished. You're killing me with delicious all over the place.

Welcome Lisa! I seem to have that effect on people. Most of the people reading here know to eat something before they look at my reports!

 

[franandaj]

So back to the task at hand….Planning our WDW trip. We have just enjoyed a fun filled day at AK and are taking the bus back to Kidani. Now this day is Wednesday since we arrived last night on Tuesday. I just found out in the last couple weeks that they have a wine and cheese tasting at Jiko for $25 on Wednesdays at 3PM. I’m not sure if we want to do this, but I will keep it in the back of my mind for future reference. It looks like fun, but we will have been going since 8AM, do we cut our day short at AK or just go till we drop?

Fran told me to go ahead and book this if I wanted to do it, and it sounds good to me. Here are some photos that I stole off the Disney blog. These are the wines that the reviewer tasted back in June of 2011.

From what I understand, you are seated and the wines are prepoured for you. The chef comes out and describes the cheese and then the plates are passed around amongst the guests, and once the cheeses are served the wines are tasted. Here are the cheeses:

Fiore Sardo – Italy (Sheep)

Bijou – US (Goat)

Fromage d’Affinois de Brebis – France (Sheep)

Cashel Blue – Ireland (Cow)

Pleasant Ridge Reserve – US (Cow)

star anise wafers and fig almond croutons

Evidently they encourage you to taste each wine with each of the cheeses and they will refill your glasses until the bottles allocated are depleted. I’m assuming that it lasts about an hour and hopefully once the tasting is over, we can join the culinary tour of Jiko and Boma that takes place daily at 4PM. This report below if from another DISer Abby

After a day at AK, what more appropriate place for dinner than a restaurant at AKL?

We had a 5:00 ADR at Boma, but we decided to go around 4 to take the culinary tours or Boma and Jiko I found out about through Shenanigoat's DR. (Thanks for sharing!)

You just show up at the Boma podium at 4 and tell them you'd like to do the culinary tour. That's it - no reservations or payments required!

We were led in the tour by a guy from....oh darn, his country of origin and name escapes me...but he was at Disney on one of those 1 year cultural immersion kind of programs. He was very friendly and did a great job.

They tell you about the design inspirations behind the decor and how different sections represent different African countries.

Notice how the columns look like clay pots? Pretty nifty, huh?

Our guide was really informative and the information was interesting. But sorry, I didn't take notes and I don't recall much of it. Maybe I was just excited about the sampling I'd heard about!

Soup Sampling time!!

Our guide showed us the different 'pods' for the food at Boma. He told us about some of their signature items and how they're made. Then we got to try the soups! He let us go back several times and have a few spoonfuls of each kind.

Mmmm cookies...

After we told our guide we'd see him in an hour, we were dropped off to our Jiko guide, who again, I can't remember a name. I do however, recall that he was from Swaziland!

Here is he, explaining that rings around the columns in Jiko resprent the African tribes like the Ndebele, where the women wear rings around their necks according to their status - the more rings, the higher up she is in the tribe.

We got the same type of spiel at Jiko about the restaurant decor. I remember more details from here, maybe because I thought our guide was cute!

The things hanging from the ceiling are obviously birds. The back lighting on the walls changes color throughout the evening to mimic a sunset. A lot of the tables in Jiko are made of imported African Zebra wood. Our guide even showed us a hidden Mickey in the rocks outside the window at Jiko.

The wine list is exclusively South African. While we were having our culinary tour, most of the Jiko CM's were doing a wine tasting - so you can really trust your server's wine advice here!

Wine Tree -

Next we got to do some food tasting! We sat at the counter up by the huge wood burning ovens -

They had prepared for us the trio of dips and African breads appetizer. There were only 3 of us on the tour, and they had made 3 fullk servings, so we had lots to munch on!

Mmmm noms.

There were 3 different kinds of bread - Lentil Papadum, Flax Seed Naan, and Whole Wheat Lavosh. I wasn't wild over the Lavosh, but the Naan and Papadum are quite amazing.

Then there were the dips -

The left bowl is a Kalamata Olive Hummus. In the middle is Durban Tikka Masala. On the right is a spicy Malay Lentil and Spinach Dip.
I really liked all the dips, but the Tikka Masala and Lentil and Spinach are both quite spicy. I think the Lentil and Spinach also has some cilantro in it. I enjoyed dipping the Naan the most. The papadum has spices in it, so I enjoyed it best plain.

While we ate our bread and dips, this Jiko chef was pulling Naan out of the wood burning ovens.

He was talking up the restaurant and telling us how badly we needed to try it. He claims Jiko is the best signature. You could tell he really liked his job. I assured him I would be making an ADR for Jiko on my next trip, and that he better have some Naan for me. Well buddy, I'll be there in about 2 weeks!

I also had a long conversation with our guide from Swaziland. He was impressed I had heard of and knew where the country was located. We talked about the cultural differences and how he was adjusting to life in the US. I told him I could relate, having lived in France for a while! We both agreed that everyone should spend some time in a few foreign countries. We think it would make the world a more peaceful place.

Around 4:30 we finally got ourselves to stop eating the bread and left so the poor guys could get back to work.

I highly recommend doing this tour if you're around AKL at 4pm! Great thing if you need a snack.

Following the tour we would definitely head back to the room for a rest. I would most likely take this time to upload photos and update a TR, however with wine in my tummy I might just lie down and take a nap. We have dinner reservations at Jiko that night at 7:45 so we’ll have a little bit of time to nap before dinner.

 

[PrincessInOz]

It sounds like a great cheese foodie's delight. At a 3 pm kick start, the thing I would consider is whether you need to build in some down time for Fran or not. If you think you'll go all day at AK, then I'd do that instead. But if Fran gets tired, you might need to cut short your day anyway. With or without the cheese foodie's delight.

 

[franandaj]

It sounds like a great cheese foodie's delight. At a 3 pm kick start, the thing I would consider is whether you need to build in some down time for Fran or not. If you think you'll go all day at AK, then I'd do that instead. But if Fran gets tired, you might need to cut short your day anyway. With or without the cheese foodie's delight.

We'll have to play the whole day by the seat of our pants. If we make EMH, then we should leave a little early and give Fran a break before the tasting, but I'm pretty sure she would choose to bow out on the culinary tour. That's more up mine and Arline's alley, she might even bow out on the tasting. At $25 she might decide to forfeit in lieu of a nap. One never knows with Fran, she'll change her mind at any moment.

The other thing is that she told me a little while ago (and I know a lot of you will *gasp* at this) that Jiko is her least favorite restaurant on property! She never shared this with me! We've eaten at Jiko three times, as many as V&A's, Teppan Edo and maybe even Flying Fish. I think those are the TS places we've eaten at most and used to be my favorites. 'Ohana is going to be high up there now and who knows about others. R&C used to be up there, and may come back if they are nice to us about Illuminations, but she also recently told me she doesn't enjoy Illuminations! All these places and shows I've been making her do that she doesn't enjoy!

 

[PrincessInOz]

We'll have to play the whole day by the seat of our pants. If we make EMH, then we should leave a little early and give Fran a break before the tasting, but I'm pretty sure she would choose to bow out on the culinary tour. That's more up mine and Arline's alley, she might even bow out on the tasting. At $25 she might decide to forfeit in lieu of a nap. One never knows with Fran, she'll change her mind at any moment.

The other thing is that she told me a little while ago (and I know a lot of you will *gasp* at this) that Jiko is her least favorite restaurant on property! She never shared this with me! We've eaten at Jiko three times, as many as V&A's, Teppan Edo and maybe even Flying Fish. I think those are the TS places we've eaten at most and used to be my favorites. 'Ohana is going to be high up there now and who knows about others. R&C used to be up there, and may come back if they are nice to us about Illuminations, but she also recently told me she doesn't enjoy Illuminations! All these places and shows I've been making her do that she doesn't enjoy!

At least you know now. We are going to need to factor in her likes and dislikes for our DisMeet. Maybe the Yatchsman Steakhouse might not be a bad option for an all-together meal instead of the madness of the parks.

 

[franandaj]

At least you know now. We are going to need to factor in her likes and dislikes for our DisMeet. Maybe the Yatchsman Steakhouse might not be a bad option for an all-together meal instead of the madness of the parks.

We do love the Yachtsman, but Dana has already suggested Raglan Road. We're going there on this trip and I see no reason why she wouldn't like that place as well, what's not to love, bangers and mash, fish and chips, she loves all that. It's the weird flavors of Jiko that she doesn't like, much like I don't think she'll like Sanaa. I have a feeling I'll be making her a cheese sandwich or some other kind of sandwich the first night. In fact, I think i will just order a pack of lunch meat ow about bobbi.and offer her the option not to go to dinner the first night and Arline and I can go by ourselves. She can sleep and eat a sandwich and we can eat the "weird food".

Also on the DisMeet we'll have a "cookout night" and we can make steaks and seafood because I know your DHs preference, but Dana doesn't do seafood, and who knows about Kitty, Unsnuz and her husband are meat and potato folks, so we have a lot of variety. I don't know about bobbi.

 

[Leshaface]

Omgosh, omgosh, omgosh!

We are SO going to look into the wine tasting whenever we make it to WDW! I never even heard about it! I'm excited now!

 

[usnuzuloose]

My DH is meat and potatos. I will try just about anything but sushi. I like fish as long as I cant smell it. We have only eaten in one resturant in epcot, the italian one. DUH, I cant remember the name of it. To me everything looks great. If I had all the money in the world it would be hard to choose what tours to take, there is only so much time. But looks like the Jiko tour was excellent.

 

[Pinkocto]

That's too funny, I did audibly gasp about Fran disliking Jiko! We love Jiko so much I've made us two reservations for a four day trip.

Thanks for including the Culinary Tour posts. That looks like it could be worthy.