What did WE celebrate? .. 30 days of Disney fun and food! Update 04/02

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Thank you!

You are going to love CSR! We stayed there last February and it was wonderful!
Sea World is fun - be sure to see all the shows!
We LOVED MVMCP (went to 3 of them during our 8 day stay! ) Be sure to get lots of photos! They have so many characters out. It is just amazing - are you planning on getting photopass? If yes, don't forget to pre-purchase - 99$ instead of 149$! So worth the money!

I remember that I packed a lot more for our December trip. In the end I wore a light jacket in the morning and evenings and was able to wear a T-shirt during the day, but then we come from a country where it is really cold in the winter and Florida seemed warm to us. Floridians wore hats and gloves in the evening!

I'm so glad you liked CSR. We are excited to stay there.
We are going to buy the photopass cd...we have gotten it the last 4 trips. I love pictures and it seems photopass is the only pictures I'm in...

 

[Schoolbread]

Your sons are so going to like it ............... NOT!!!!!!!!!!! But I guess the Christmas presents will do the trick!
Did I send you the link for the photopass CD? I think so, but I can't remember for sure!

Yes you did and thank you very much!!!

 

[dizneeat]

Karin, that meatloaf looks fabulous. I have GOT to try that sometime....in fact, we were just discussing what to do for dinner tonight.

So, .............. what did you have for dinner on Wednesday? Did you drive to your local Wolfgang's?

I'm so glad you liked CSR. We are excited to stay there.
We are going to buy the photopass cd...we have gotten it the last 4 trips. I love pictures and it seems photopass is the only pictures I'm in...

We were so impressed with our stay at CSR! Might have been that we were upgraded to a "double" water view too. (We had a view of the quiet pool AND the the lake)
And I can't agree with you more on the photopass CD. We both have a nice camera, Tom has the same as the photopass people have, but we only take photos of the scenery or the characters and only sometimes with one of us in the photo. Since we buy the photopass CD we have loads of photos of the two of us and we regularely ask for magic shots, which makes it even more exciting!

Yes you did and thank you very much!!!

I am glad I could help you - you must get more and more excited! How many days left? Have you told your boys yet?

 

[englishrose47]

Had abusy day yesterday with cooking Turkey and all the trimmings, watching the Macey's Thanksgiving day parade and checking the ads for Black Friday shopping !! I was the designated babysitter sooooo I got to sleep, while the others spent the whole eveing and night at Walmart !!! But they got just about everything on our list

 

[DaveInTN]

So, .............. what did you have for dinner on Wednesday? Did you drive to your local Wolfgang's?

Sadly, we did not. We didn't feel like going out so we ordered pizza.

 

[dizneeat]

Still Day 10, August 23

Dinner at Kouzzina

We spent the afternoon and EMH at the Animal Kingdom

After a quick change of clothes we headed over to the Boardwalk for our dinner ADR at Kouzzina.

We were a bit late, but were greeted very friendly at the door and handed a buzzer which went off after exactly 15 minutes.
We were then led to our table, a four top at the back of the restaurant. They took our drinks order right away and left us to study the menu.

There was one thing we wanted without looking at the menu

Kouzzina House-blend Sangria

We had decided on a starter and went for something we had loved when he had ordered it the last time we were there.

Crisp Calamari and Lemon – Coated in Three Flours with spicy Yogurt and Garlic Yogurt. Unfortunately it wasn't quite as we remembered. Some pieces of the Calamari were cut rather thick and were really chewy. The thinner pieces were still tasty and soft.

While we were still nibbling our starter, the server brought out some bread

and butter with Hawaiian Seasalt. We love the denser bread as it reminds us of the bread we have at home.

Then they brought out Tom's main course.

Traditional Whole Fish – Pan-roasted with Braised Greens, Greek Olives, Fennel, and Smoked Chili. It was HUGE! And it was a WHOLE fish! And it was delish!!!!!!!!!!
They offered to filet the fish, but Tom was quite happy to do it himself and I stole a few bites of this heavenly dish! Very moist, cooked exactly to the point and the veggies and "juice" in which the fish was cooked were just out of this world.

It took him a while, but he was able to finish the whole thing!

I wanted to try the Kouzzina Trio – Tasting size portions of Greek-style Lasagna, Char-grilled Lamb Burger, and Cinnamon-stewed Chicken with Orzo.

Cinnamon-stewed chicken with orzo, my least favourite of the three. The cinnamon was a bit overpowering and the chicken was leg meat which I don't like in the first place. I am not a big fan of Orzo either, so I would not order this dish again.

Greek-style Lasagna, now that was more up my street. Maccaroni with meat and lots of creamy bechamel, topped with cheese and baked in the oven - VERY good! Unfortunately I had the other parts of the trio first and I wasn't able to finish it.

Now, on to the VERY BEST out of the three! The Char-grilled Lamb Burger. I had read that it was quite spicy and man, were those people right. But it all worked well together, the soft, slightly grilled bun, the spicy, yet juicy and tasty burger were heaven on earth! I wish they put that burger on the menu - I would have it any time!

I had wanted to try the Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Capers and Lemon the last time we went to Kouzzina, but the server forgot to bring them out. Now this time we made sure we got them. They were soft and had a very light hint of bacon and lemon and went so well together with the salty little capers. Very good, but be warned - you CAN taste the salt of the capers and if you do not like that taste, you won't like the whole dish - we love brussel sprouts and we love good capers, so we polished off the whole dish!

To be continued ........

 

[dizneeat]

Kouzzina continued ........

I was stuffed by the time we were done with our main courses, but since we were on the dining plan the server made sure we ordered dessert.

Tom had the Greek-style Yogurt Sorbet with seasonal Fruit and Mint Syrup. The fruit were tart and swimming in Ouzo, but they went very well with the light sorbet. Even though Tom is not the biggest fan of desserts, he finished his dessert.

I was not in for something light - once I had decided I WAS going to order dessert I knew what I wanted!

Loukoumades, Freshly Made Greek Doughnuts drizzled with warm Honey and served with vanille custard and raspberry coulis.
These come out lukewarm and are light and airy little balls of fried dough, very lightly drizzled with fragrant honey and even better when dipped in the raspberry coulis. I would not need the vanilla custard, but I won't leave the coulis behind. It is light and tart and adds so much flavour to the doughnut!

It took a while for us to get our bill, but when we finally left we were so stuffed we had a feeling we rolled to the car more than we walked!

Price breakdown:
DDP - 24 credits to start with
Kouzzina .... $ 72,30 (2 CS credits)
TS credits left - 6
CS credits left - 4
Snack credits left 13

Overall money spent on DDP: $ 1015,40

Next up - breakfast snack from the Boardwalk Bakery

 

[dizneeat]

Had abusy day yesterday with cooking Turkey and all the trimmings, watching the Macey's Thanksgiving day parade and checking the ads for Black Friday shopping !! I was the designated babysitter sooooo I got to sleep, while the others spent the whole eveing and night at Walmart !!! But they got just about everything on our list

Wow! You were really busy yesterday! I had enrolled in a course yesterday, that took until the evening and I was beat when I got back home. Since it was such a late night we decided to move "Thanksgiving" and it's dinner to Sunday!
Shopping all night - must be fun! Here shops close at 6 or 7pm. So this is the latest we get to do some shopping all year round!

Sadly, we did not. We didn't feel like going out so we ordered pizza.

Hope you enjoyed your pizza!

 

[mossyflossy]

all caught up again...some tasty morsels there...is it me or does that fish at Kouzzina look as if it has attitude!

looking forward to the rest.

 

[DaveInTN]

GREAT update Karin! Those little Greek donuts look heavenly. But the fish....now, I enjoy fish. But a WHOLE fish intimidates me. I mean, that thing looks like it could slap you if you try to put a fork into it. But I'm glad it was tasty!

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

The fish that Tom got looks really yummy and the desserts (I do love sweets).

 

[Stefy]

Great Kouzzina review, that lamb burger looks delish

 

[dizneeat]

all caught up again...some tasty morsels there...is it me or does that fish at Kouzzina look as if it has attitude!

looking forward to the rest.

for being caught up again! I am way behind on some of my subscribed threads too!

More coming up shortly!

GREAT update Karin! Those little Greek donuts look heavenly. But the fish....now, I enjoy fish. But a WHOLE fish intimidates me. I mean, that thing looks like it could slap you if you try to put a fork into it. But I'm glad it was tasty!

The doughnuts not only look heavenly ....... they are heaven on a plate!

That fish had kind of a fierce look on its face! But it gave its life for a good cause, it tasted delish!!!

The fish that Tom got looks really yummy and the desserts (I do love sweets).

It was a great meal we had there and both desserts were really good!

Great Kouzzina review, that lamb burger looks delish

I wish they would offer the lamb burger on the regular menu. It was sooooo good.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 11, August 24

Breakfast from the Boardwalk Bakery

After we had left Kouzzina we walked over to the Boardwalk Bakery to pick up a breakfast treat for myself.

Tom does not enjoy sweets for breakfast, so he had something out of the fridge, but I had picked up something I really like from the Boardwalk Bakery.

A Mickey Head Cake! It's a yellow cake with sprinkles, which kind of dissolve into the mix and leave little coloured dots inside the cake. The cake is moist and really delish!

Price breakdown:
DDP - 24 credits to start with
Boardwalk Bakery .... $ 4 (1 snack credit)
TS credits left - 8
CS credits left - 6
Snack credits left 12

Overall money spent on DDP: $ 947,10

Next up - lunch at Fairfax Fare

 

[dizneeat]

Still Day 11, August 24

Lunch at Fairfax Fare

Once we both had had our breakfast we were on our way to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

After spending some time riding all our favourite rides we decided it was time for some lunch.
Since there is not much to choose from at DHS we thought we'd go with a recommendation from Rosie (EnglishRose) and try Fairfax Fare.
Just when we walked over there it started to rain very lightly. So once we had placed our order and picked up our food we looked for a table under one of their huge umbrellas and sat down to enjoy lunch.

I had the Barbecued Pulled Pork - with coleslaw and Kaiser Roll. The roll itself was quite nice, though very soft. Our Kaiser rolls have more texture! The pulled pork was soft and juicy and melt in your mouth and had just the right amount of barbecue sauce. Very tasty. I did not like the coleslaw. It was cut a bit too thick and the dressing lacked taste.

Tom had the 1/2 Slab of Spareribs - served with baked beans and coleslaw. The ribs were wonderful. Lots of tender meat, that fell off the bone and the taste was really wonderful.

Tom didn't like the coleslaw either. The baked beans really had a nice slightly smokey taste (maybe from the pieces of bacon). Unfortunately they were just lukewarm.

Our desserts were carrot cakes. I really like these. They were moist and sweet with a thick covering of icing. We don't have anything like it here, so the carrot cake is always a special treat!

Price breakdown:
DDP - 24 credits to start with
Fairfax Fare .... $ 33,70 (2 CS credit)
TS credits left - 6
CS credits left - 2
Snack credits left 12

Overall money spent on DDP: $ 980,80

Next up - treats from the sweets shop inside the Villains Store and Starring Rolls Bakery

 

[MickeyNicki]

Hi Karin and Tom! Sorry I have been so MIA lately but with getting back from vacation, going back to work and then it was Thanksgiving and Xmas shopping and I have had my little niece here for the long weekend I have had no time to devote to Dising!

Our second choice was the Aloha Pork Sandwich with Polynesian Chips. Now, we have had the sandwich before and loved it and we loved it this time around too! It still was very messy to eat. the Polynesian Chips were fresh and hot and we even found a little crown in it!

I am so glad you guys made it to Capt Cooks....we love that place and next time you have to try the Grown Up Grilled Cheese...sooo awesome!

Karin, you with the chip hat is hysterical....I can picture you like that all the time...not with a food had but with a nice big smile on your face

Tom had ordered the Teriyaki-style New York Strip - sirloin strip grilled with pineapple teriyaki glaze served with mashed Yukon gold potatoes and stir-fried broccolini. It made up for the lenghty wait! It was cooked perfectly and he really loved it. The steak was very tender and the pineapple teriyaki glaze really enhanced the flavour.

I ordered the Coconut Almond Chicken - sauteed chicken breast served with Asian greens tossed with honey-lime dressing, golden pineapple, strawberries, and toasted almonds. I had had this before and had loved it and I loved it this time around too!
The chicken was slightly sweet from the coconut, but it was moist and nice and I loved the fact that it came with a salad with a light dressing and lots of fruit in it!
The only thing that looked really peculiar was how it was plated!
it.

I thought it was time to give another old favourite another try, the Banana-Chocolate Creme Brulee - with a chocolate spiral. The Creme Brulee was nothing special and the banana was kind of burnt to a slightly bitter taste. I actually have had better creme brulee. I only ate about half of it.

That is the one bad thing about WDW in the summer..lots of rain storms just about every single day! Your meal at Kona sounds fantastic but that burnt banana has me worried Have you tried lunch there? We prefer it to dinner...if you get the chance in Feb go for it!

We could just blame Nicki because I've spent so much time over on her thread.

Sure, blame the short girl...I see how you are

That Pennette Chicken Alfredo looks right up my alley and I am NOT missing WPE next trip if it is the ONLY place I go (Nicki, are you paying attention?).

That does look awesome! Makes me wish we were able to fit that in but WPC was excellent too!

I was stuffed by the time we were done with our main courses, but since we were on the dining plan the server made sure we ordered dessert.

I was not in for something light - once I had decided I WAS going to order dessert I knew what I wanted!

Loukoumades, Freshly Made Greek Doughnuts drizzled with warm Honey and served with vanille custard and raspberry coulis.
These come out lukewarm and are light and airy little balls of fried dough, very lightly drizzled with fragrant honey and even better when dipped in the raspberry coulis. I would not need the vanilla custard, but I won't leave the coulis behind. It is light and tart and adds so much flavour to the doughnut!

The one thing holding us back from eating at Kouzzina is all the cinnamon in the food..we were not thrilled with that at Boma dinner so I doubt we would enjoy it at Kouzzina..but that dessert you got looks amazing and something that we would both enjoy..and the Sangria...oh man that looks to die for!

I had the Barbecued Pulled Pork - with coleslaw and Kaiser Roll. The roll itself was quite nice, though very soft. Our Kaiser rolls have more texture! The pulled pork was soft and juicy and melt in your mouth and had just the right amount of barbecue sauce. Very tasty. I did not like the coleslaw. It was cut a bit too thick and the dressing lacked taste.

Tom had the 1/2 Slab of Spareribs - served with baked beans and coleslaw. The ribs were wonderful. Lots of tender meat, that fell off the bone and the taste was really wonderful.

Tom didn't like the coleslaw either. The baked beans really had a nice slightly smokey taste (maybe from the pieces of bacon). Unfortunately they were just lukewarm.

We ate here a few weeks ago too and didnt like the cole slaw at all, we agree with you..it was pretty bad.

I wish we had Tom's ribs instead of that pork sandwich, neither of us were crazy over it, very mushy and too sweet for us. Last year they had brisket on the menu and we were both so disappointed that they took it off...why does Disney keep changing things like that?

 

[dizneeat]

Hi Karin and Tom! Sorry I have been so MIA lately but with getting back from vacation, going back to work and then it was Thanksgiving and Xmas shopping and I have had my little niece here for the long weekend I have had no time to devote to Dising!

I am so glad you guys made it to Capt Cooks....we love that place and next time you have to try the Grown Up Grilled Cheese...sooo awesome!

Karin, you with the chip hat is hysterical....I can picture you like that all the time...not with a food had but with a nice big smile on your face

That is the one bad thing about WDW in the summer..lots of rain storms just about every single day! Your meal at Kona sounds fantastic but that burnt banana has me worried Have you tried lunch there? We prefer it to dinner...if you get the chance in Feb go for it!

Sure, blame the short girl...I see how you are

That does look awesome! Makes me wish we were able to fit that in but WPC was excellent too!

The one thing holding us back from eating at Kouzzina is all the cinnamon in the food..we were not thrilled with that at Boma dinner so I doubt we would enjoy it at Kouzzina..but that dessert you got looks amazing and something that we would both enjoy..and the Sangria...oh man that looks to die for!

We ate here a few weeks ago too and didnt like the cole slaw at all, we agree with you..it was pretty bad.

I wish we had Tom's ribs instead of that pork sandwich, neither of us were crazy over it, very mushy and too sweet for us. Last year they had brisket on the menu and we were both so disappointed that they took it off...why does Disney keep changing things like that?

Oh Nicki, how I know what it is like to play catch up with subscribed threads on the DIS!
No need to be sorry, you are here now and that is all that counts - and THANK YOU!!! for your live reviews - Tom and I enjoyed them a lot!

Good to know about the grilled cheese sandwich! I would never order that, but since you recommend it - I will definitely try it!
Well, since we always travel in the summer we are used to the rain storms once a day and whenever we stay at OKW we even quite enjoy them - they give us the perfect excuse to go back to the resort and just enjoy the villa!
We did have lunch at Kona during the second part of our trip while we were on the deluxe plan. But I can tell you - deluxe is definitely too much food even for us!
You should give Kouzzina a try - I had the flank steak and it was delish! Greek salad - yum!! Sangria
But the chicken definitely had too much cinnamon - Just try the desserts and appetizers if you want to steer away from the cinnamon!

We don't have coleslaw here, so I usually enjoy it quite a bit, but the one at Fairfax was really yuck!
Our BBQ pork was not sweet at all! It was really nice.

I really hate the way Disney does away with all the good things and replacing them with the same things over and over again. Well, if they want me to eat offsite as well, they are going to succeed!

 

[dizneeat]

Still Day 11, August 24

Treats from the sweets shop inside the Villains Store and Starring Rolls Cafe

While we were sitting at Fairfax Fare the rain got worse and we decided to head back to the resort for a little rest and some packing since we were to go on our cruise in two days time.

But I had some things I wanted to try and since we still had quite a few snack credits we went to get some things to take back to the villa.

First off we went through the villains store and there is that part of the shop where they sell sweets and what did I spy?

A carrot cake cookie! I had always wanted to try them, but whenever we were at the Writer's Stop, I always forgot about them.
There was no DDP sign, so I asked and YES, it was a snack credit, so I got one.
It was HUGE, soft and lots of filling in between. It's not like a cookie at all, just the shape. There are two very yummy and soft cookie shaped pieces of carrot cake, stuck together with loads of vanilla filling.
Be warned - it took me a few days to finish it!

We also picked up a bottle of Coke and two bottles of water to use up the rest of our snack credits.

But there was something else I wanted to try. So we walked over to the Starring Rolls Cafe for one of these little beauties!

A Chocolate Butterfinger Cupcake. Again this thing is HUGE - we had to put it in the container sideways to fit it in! Again this was very rich and I never finished it. I had a bit more than half of it in the end (and in several portions! )

There is a chocolate cupcake with some chocolate filling in the middle. Then there is a mountain of icing which is covered in butterfinger crumbs.
I loved the part I ate, but this definitely is more than enough to share.

Price breakdown:
DDP - 24 credits to start with
Villains Shop .... $ 12,30 (4 snack credit)
Starring Rolls Cafe .... $ 4,30 (1 snack credit)
TS credits left - 6
CS credits left - 2
Snack credits left 7

Overall money spent on DDP: $ 997,40

Next up - Dinner at Tutto Italia

 

[EmpressBubbles]

OHHHHHH!!!!! I HAVE to get one of those chocolate Butterfinger cupcakes!!!

Wanna bet I can finish it???

 

[englishrose47]

Hi Karin catching up on your updates !!First with Kouzzinas !!I also had the Brussel sprouts and they were to die for !!Shared with Jordan, Cherie and D Jay!!
Fairfax Fare has changed their menu and no longer offer the Brisket which I loved !!I had eaten FTB Ribs and found them very dry but I could not miss how moist the FF ones looked and the chicken was moist tender and delish !! I agree the coleslaw wasn't the best but the Baked Beans were good !! I also had the carrot cake which I had trouble opening and there is a photo out there of my valiant effort