The Food Was Not Undelicious: May 25-June 1, 2007!! Completed - Post #794

[praisehisname]

Brenda, I'm sorry to hear you've had such a rough week. Thanks for pushing through it to give us another installment! I'm looking forward to seeing the desserts...

Denise

 

[rentayenta]

You look a little buzzed there Miss Brenda! I am glad to see you are feeling a little better and gave us another installment. You really do write the best food reports!


The cake looks fabulous! What a wonderful anniversary!

 

[CruisinEars]

Hey Brenda,

Glad you are back and feeling somewhat better. Really enjoying the tr and the beef looked fabulous. I love "mooing" meat, so tender and melt in your mouth good. Like the others, I can't wait to see the rest of the meal.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Glad to read another great post. Looking forward to seeing the deserts that you had.

 

[zweihund]

Lionel was reading over my shoulder and suggested we do the Chef's Table. He's a total meat-a-saurus. Me? I'm vegetarian. The Chefs would have almost as much fun trying to make something for me as they did for you!

Wonderful installment, as always. You are the master!

 

[irongirlof12]

Brenda, what an inspirational food critic and writer you are. looking forward to the desserts...my favorite bit.

 

[pixiesrule]

This may be a little off topic, and may not be the right place to post this question, but since Brenda keeps saying to everyone to 'wear their buttons', here goes: Would it be terribly crass of me to a) get myself a birthday button as the planner of the entire trip and pretend that my husband and kids did it and b) get myself a birthday button even though we are arriving the day AFTER my birthday????

 

[cmp1111]

This may be a little off topic, and may not be the right place to post this question, but since Brenda keeps saying to everyone to 'wear their buttons', here goes: Would it be terribly crass of me to a) get myself a birthday button as the planner of the entire trip and pretend that my husband and kids did it and b) get myself a birthday button even though we are arriving the day AFTER my birthday????

Remember, Brenda wore her anniversary button all week (or am I making that up?) - IMO, it's fine to get one if you're celebrating, even if you're a day off! Of course, I have been wrong before...

 

[whogirl'smom]

pixiesrule, I say Get that Button! I'm going to on our trip and it will be exactly 3 weeks after my 40th birthday! DH finally told me that I was the expert and he didn't know anything about the Disboards, and to please order myself a birthday cake. So, pretend away, I'm going to! (Actually DH is really great, he just looked so pitiful when I told him I'd love to have him order me a cake from the Grand Floridian and to look at the pictures...you'd have thought I told him to go pick out makeup for me or something .)

 

[ncseric]

We're celebrating our 10th anniversary at WDW a few weeks early, and we'll be trying to take full advantage of the button's power.

 

[Anc96]

This year we arrived in the World 2 days after my birthday.... I got my button, and wore it for a week! I was nice and took it off the other 2 weeks we were there.. but I was tempted..lol.

If I was asked when my bday was, I told the truth.. still was wished a happy birthday just as friendly, and got some fun stuff too!! I even got to choose a pin of my choice at the hat store (the name escapes me) at MGM! And, that cm knew the 'true' date of my bday...

Moral of the story.. Celebrate!!! Wear that button!

 

[oybolshoi]

Victoria and Albert's - The Chef's Table, Part V

After the cheese course but before dessert your serving team will inquire as to your preference for coffee or tea... I highly recommend the coffee. It's Celebes... which meant nothing to me until we ate in the dining room last fall. I'm no coffee expert, but this stuff is great. A full flavored coffee, very rich with hints of berry, Celebes coffee is from Indonesia (at least I think it is). The best part about ordering coffee at V&A is the way it's prepared:

Cool...

Starting to brew...

Mmmmm...I'll take mine with cream and sugar!

Once the coffee was poured we were each presented with a lovely trio of dessert samplers. No alcohol is served with dessert, which is why Jay and I saved some of our alkie-haul from the cheese course. Rosa Regale is divine with every single one of the desserts we tried and the Tawny Port was no slouch, either.

Course Eight (Brenda & Jason)

Miniature Chocolate Pyramid; Hawaiian Kona Chocolate Souffle'; Orange Chocolate Napoleon

Looking at these pictures again makes me want to run amuck in the local French-styled bakery, dunking my head into a vat of chocolate and then inhaling large quantities of fresh whipped cream...stopping only to munch a croissant and possibly an eclair or two...or six.

I'm running out of decent adjectives to describe the food, but I'll give it a try. The chocolate pyramid was a wonder - it looks as if it would be a very dense, thick dessert but it's actually a feather-light mousse that just melts on the tongue. **Drool factor = 5 out of a possible 5 drool cups**

The Kona chocolate souffle was also very good and served with a super gooey, rich sauce that gets spooned into the middle of the souffle at the table while it's still piping hot. An extremely rich and satisfying dessert. **Drool factor = 5 out of a possible 5 drool cups**

Lastly, the orange chocolate napoleon...very attractive presentation...a dessert-engineering marvel...and just not very good in my opinion. But I have to be honest - I don't really like oranges or orange flavored desserts, so I'm biased. I was good and I tried it and then I gave mine to Jason, who didn't complain in the least. **Average Drool factor = 3.5 out of a possible 5 drool cups**

And now it's time for the real dessert...I think our eyes just about popped out of our heads when these showed up because we thought we'd just finished dessert.

Course Nine (Brenda's second dessert)

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

Perfect...light...sweet...dare I say creamy? I just wish I could have finished it but by this point I was so full I thought I might burst out of my dress if I tried to eat much more.


Course Nine (Jason's second dessert)

Caramelized Banana Gateau

They originally gave it to me by mistake, but we soon corrected that. I'm not a big fan of banana desserts, either, other than Bananas Foster. Jason, however, loves banana-ey desserts and he dug into this with gusto. If you're curious like me, a gateau is a light cake or pastry that is usually filled with custard, fruit, or nuts. How 'bout that spun sugar web across the top of the dessert? Pretty cool, huh?

We had one last visit with Chef Scott before waddling out of the kitchen for the night.

I am a God!

He even autographed our menus for us - wasn't that nice? As a tip for those of you who like to keep menus from fabu places you've eaten at...always ask for a copy of the menu (you'd be surprised how often the restaurant will give you one) and then ask if the chef will autograph it for you. It makes for a great keepsake. We've done this at Commander's Palace, NOLA, Brennans, Arnaud's, Emeril's, and Tchoup Chop... so far.

One last thing before we left... it reminded me of that scene from The Meaning of Life with Mr. Creosote and the "wafer-thin mint." We were presented with a loaf of spice bread from the GF bakery and two massive chocolate covered Rainier cherries. We took them back to the villa with us to enjoy later in the week rather than create a "bucket" moment in the kitchen.

Can't stop eating...

The cherries were awesome - they'd been soaked in alcohol and by the time we took a bite out of them they were potent! Sadly, we never got around to trying the bread but I'm sure it was tasty. I bet mousekeeping thought it was good!

The last surprise of the evening was waiting for us when we returned to our room... some very sweet DIS-friends sent Jason and me an anniversary basket! Totally unexpected...completely overwhelming...a real teary, "some people are too nice" moment. Thanks again Nancy and Chris for your thoughtfulness.

A tisket, a tasket, the boozies were sent a basket!

That's all folks! I will be back in a few days to answer questions and post a few random thoughts...hopefully by that time the Food & Wine Festival schedule will have been released. Until then, thanks as always for reading and for sharing your thoughts. You're all wonderful and you've made this so much fun to re-live.

See everyone on the flip side of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Until then, be well and happy!

 

[SmallWorld71]

Yum-Oh! Those desserts looked divine! Thanks for all the great reviews. I'm so happy you ended with V&A.

 

[burly]

Bravo...Bravo...

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Amazing, I just love desserts. The Kona Chocoalte Souffle looked divine. Can I ask if that banana gateau was filled with nuts? I always assumed it was just never thought to ask. The coffee looks great, I can almost smell it brewing I am going to be absolutely stuffed on my wedding night

 

[S.Poppins]

Darn, miss a couple of days and I am like 5 pages behind. All reporting must cease, Brenda! JK It is 4:00 am here and we are about to head to GA for my sister's wedding. So I guess I will have some reading when I return - gives me something to look forward to.

 

[mrzrich]

Yeah! You finished

Sigh... you finished


I'm so happy for you, sad for me.

 

[jeminni]

great report as always

 

[janetmojo]

One last thing before we left... it reminded me of that scene from The Meaning of Life with Mr. Creosote and the "wafer-thin mint." We were presented with a loaf of spice bread from the GF bakery and two massive chocolate covered Rainier cherries. We took them back to the villa with us to enjoy later in the week rather than create a "bucket" moment in the kitchen.

Frequent foodie lurker, non frequent poster here (waves). Have to say I shot coffee out of my nose and onto my monitor this morning reading this...

"Are you feeling better sir? Yeah-better bring me a bucket..."

Maybe someday I'll be able to drag my dbf to expierence the Chef's table and WDW for that matter...until then I'll live vicariously through you Thanks so much for all yoru reviews, I have really enjoyed them!

 

[jakenjess]

Another fabulous report, Brenda! Bravo! Those desserts looked incredible! Really, you can't go wrong with chocolate, in my opinion!

The basket was so sweet, and Plankton looked like he was enjoying it, too! The "wafer-thin mint" reference cracked me up. My husband will quote that, with the proper accent, of course, and it never fails to make me laugh.

Have a wonderful weekend with Harry and the Deathly Hallows!