Food! And wine too!
So, five years in the making-I thought it was closer to eight but apparently the first time I was made aware of the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot was in 2003-I finally got to go to the Food and Wine Festival and actually partake in the food!...and some of the wine too.
Mom had said she would take me this year considering she gets me in free now as a castmember. I had a chance to go the other weekend with her and Sherry and Aunt Sue but I just kinda wanted it to be me and mom so I didn't go. Then earlier this week mom asked me if I had off on Saturday because she was going to take Johnny and Sarah. Turns out I didn't technically have off but I got to the guy who does the schedule before it was approved and asked if he could take me off Saturday and he said it was no problem so, cool!
Anyway, they picked mom and I up just after 9 this morning... and we got there around quarter after 10. Of course the World Showcase didn't open till 11 so we had to wait a while before actually getting into the food and wine. While we were waiting we made reservations at the restaurant in Morocco for dinner at 6.
Anyway, once the World Showcase did open we passed several stalls before I finally decided that I wanted to get something. I started the day out with potato and leek soup from Ireland; it was very good. Johnny got the Boxty with Bacon Chips and Kerrygold Garlic and Fresh Herb Butter...boxty is a fancy name for a potato pancake.
From there we went, in order:
Melbourne, Australia where Johnny and I got Grilled Lambchops with caramelised onion jam-incredible
Capetown, South Africa where I got Durban Spiced Chicken-delicious
New Delhi, India where I got a Samosa with Tamarind sauce-it was okay
Vienna, Austria where mom got Beef Goulash with a bacon dumpling and Johnny got Tafelspitz-the goulash was great and the tafelspitz was okay
Buenos Aires, Argentina where I got Pastel de Choclo-oh so good!
Santiago, Chile-where Johnny, Sarah, and mom all got Spicy Beef Empanadas-they were great. Had the same flavour as the Durban chicken, however.
San Juan, Puerto Rico where I got Mofongo and Pastelón de Amarillo-the mofongo was bland but the pastelón was delicious
Athens, Greece where Johnny got the Spanakopita and Sarah got Melomakarona (a honey spice cookie)-the spanakopita was okay but the cookie was very good
Montréal, Canada where mom and Sarah got Maple Custards-very sweet but good
Lyon, France where mom got Crème Brûlée Chocolat au Lait-very subtle flavour, way better than the custard at Montréal.
Tokyo, Japan where I got the Spicy Tuna Roll-so the sushi had, like, no flavour to it. The pickled ginger was good and the wasabi was fuckin' strong!
We also tried several wines, which were disgusting as usual. Though I did actually like two of them that I tasted: the Château des Charmes Vidal Icewine which was very sweet and didn't really have that abrasive alcohol texture and Asti Spumanti which, again, was very smooth compared to the other wines I tried during the day.
After filling up at the World Showcase we hit Spaceship Earth before going to the old Wonders of Life pavilion where Johnny wanted to try a wine seminar. We got there too late for the seminar, however, but we did get in line for a presentation of "authors without borders" where we got to hear Kim Sunée talk about and read a few passages from her new book Trail of Crumbs while getting a free glass of wine to boot. The book was interesting and I was tempted to get a copy of it and have her sign it but I knew I would never read it so it would be a waste of money. The wine was blah and kind of burned going down.
I did get a folder containing selected recipes from this and past food and wine festivals, however, but I'm regretting it now because, again, I'll probably never use any of the recipes.
With an hour left to our dinner reservation we went over to The Land and got on the Living with the Land boat ride. Then I had to go and get myself another Mickey's Mini Garden. Sarah was looking at the venus fly trap but didn't want to buy it so I went ahead and bought it for her along with my dragon fruit plant.
From there we headed back to the World Showcase for our reservation in Morocco at the Restaurant Marrakesh. I got the Roast Lamb Meshoui which was a lamb shank with a side of couscous with raisins. They also had Lamb Couscous on the menu which Johnny got...whereas I got a small amount of couscous Johnny got a very large amount. I'm glad I got mine because it was the perfect amount of food but I still feel kind of cheated as his was only a dollar more than mine. Mom got the Lemon Chicken and Sarah got the Shish Kebab.
When dinner was over we walked around in some of the shops-the Mitsukoshi store in Japan is fucking HUGE. I almost got some Pocky and Ramune but I didn't. I was seriously hoping they'd have some Pocari Sweat but I didn't see any.
And then we went home.
I tallied my receipts for food and was surprised to find out I spent less than 30 dollars and after the mini gardens and the recipe book I still came in under 50 which is what I was expecting to spend just on food so I'm happy.
All in all it was a good day. Great food, nice weather...it was good to be with Johnny and Sarah on a day other than a holiday. Best part of the day was when I got Sarah laughing nonstop for almost 10 minutes. In Germany there's a place called Glaskunst, and I knew very well how to say it but I pointed it out to Sarah and said "look at that place it's called Glasscunt", which got a laugh. Then I said "oh wait, it's Glaskunst", which got more laughing. What pushed it over the edge was when I said, "Oops, I didn't see the s."
:-D
Mom had said she would take me this year considering she gets me in free now as a castmember. I had a chance to go the other weekend with her and Sherry and Aunt Sue but I just kinda wanted it to be me and mom so I didn't go. Then earlier this week mom asked me if I had off on Saturday because she was going to take Johnny and Sarah. Turns out I didn't technically have off but I got to the guy who does the schedule before it was approved and asked if he could take me off Saturday and he said it was no problem so, cool!
Anyway, they picked mom and I up just after 9 this morning... and we got there around quarter after 10. Of course the World Showcase didn't open till 11 so we had to wait a while before actually getting into the food and wine. While we were waiting we made reservations at the restaurant in Morocco for dinner at 6.
Anyway, once the World Showcase did open we passed several stalls before I finally decided that I wanted to get something. I started the day out with potato and leek soup from Ireland; it was very good. Johnny got the Boxty with Bacon Chips and Kerrygold Garlic and Fresh Herb Butter...boxty is a fancy name for a potato pancake.
From there we went, in order:
Melbourne, Australia where Johnny and I got Grilled Lambchops with caramelised onion jam-incredible
Capetown, South Africa where I got Durban Spiced Chicken-delicious
New Delhi, India where I got a Samosa with Tamarind sauce-it was okay
Vienna, Austria where mom got Beef Goulash with a bacon dumpling and Johnny got Tafelspitz-the goulash was great and the tafelspitz was okay
Buenos Aires, Argentina where I got Pastel de Choclo-oh so good!
Santiago, Chile-where Johnny, Sarah, and mom all got Spicy Beef Empanadas-they were great. Had the same flavour as the Durban chicken, however.
San Juan, Puerto Rico where I got Mofongo and Pastelón de Amarillo-the mofongo was bland but the pastelón was delicious
Athens, Greece where Johnny got the Spanakopita and Sarah got Melomakarona (a honey spice cookie)-the spanakopita was okay but the cookie was very good
Montréal, Canada where mom and Sarah got Maple Custards-very sweet but good
Lyon, France where mom got Crème Brûlée Chocolat au Lait-very subtle flavour, way better than the custard at Montréal.
Tokyo, Japan where I got the Spicy Tuna Roll-so the sushi had, like, no flavour to it. The pickled ginger was good and the wasabi was fuckin' strong!
We also tried several wines, which were disgusting as usual. Though I did actually like two of them that I tasted: the Château des Charmes Vidal Icewine which was very sweet and didn't really have that abrasive alcohol texture and Asti Spumanti which, again, was very smooth compared to the other wines I tried during the day.
After filling up at the World Showcase we hit Spaceship Earth before going to the old Wonders of Life pavilion where Johnny wanted to try a wine seminar. We got there too late for the seminar, however, but we did get in line for a presentation of "authors without borders" where we got to hear Kim Sunée talk about and read a few passages from her new book Trail of Crumbs while getting a free glass of wine to boot. The book was interesting and I was tempted to get a copy of it and have her sign it but I knew I would never read it so it would be a waste of money. The wine was blah and kind of burned going down.
I did get a folder containing selected recipes from this and past food and wine festivals, however, but I'm regretting it now because, again, I'll probably never use any of the recipes.
With an hour left to our dinner reservation we went over to The Land and got on the Living with the Land boat ride. Then I had to go and get myself another Mickey's Mini Garden. Sarah was looking at the venus fly trap but didn't want to buy it so I went ahead and bought it for her along with my dragon fruit plant.
From there we headed back to the World Showcase for our reservation in Morocco at the Restaurant Marrakesh. I got the Roast Lamb Meshoui which was a lamb shank with a side of couscous with raisins. They also had Lamb Couscous on the menu which Johnny got...whereas I got a small amount of couscous Johnny got a very large amount. I'm glad I got mine because it was the perfect amount of food but I still feel kind of cheated as his was only a dollar more than mine. Mom got the Lemon Chicken and Sarah got the Shish Kebab.
When dinner was over we walked around in some of the shops-the Mitsukoshi store in Japan is fucking HUGE. I almost got some Pocky and Ramune but I didn't. I was seriously hoping they'd have some Pocari Sweat but I didn't see any.
And then we went home.
I tallied my receipts for food and was surprised to find out I spent less than 30 dollars and after the mini gardens and the recipe book I still came in under 50 which is what I was expecting to spend just on food so I'm happy.
All in all it was a good day. Great food, nice weather...it was good to be with Johnny and Sarah on a day other than a holiday. Best part of the day was when I got Sarah laughing nonstop for almost 10 minutes. In Germany there's a place called Glaskunst, and I knew very well how to say it but I pointed it out to Sarah and said "look at that place it's called Glasscunt", which got a laugh. Then I said "oh wait, it's Glaskunst", which got more laughing. What pushed it over the edge was when I said, "Oops, I didn't see the s."
:-D