We Smelled It...It Had to be Eaten, Part II ... Ding, Dong, Done!!!

[Tatania]

I think we've all been sold on Blue Zoo. I know it's pricey but judging from the pictures it's worth every dollar. I'll have to make it there as well.

 

[oybolshoi]

Maybe they don't offer them anymore? I don't know...but here's a pic of the ugly wine trees that they were serving the wine flights on. This was about 18 months ago. Not the best pic, but its the only one I could find. (That's my very bored son in the background).

I wouldn't have minded the wine trees, but somebody didn't think those through too much-they took up way too much of the table and we wound up downing the wine quickly just to get rid of those clunky things.

Thanks for sharing the wine-tree picture. You're right ... that thing is UG-LEEEEEE! It kind of reminds me of the tequilia tree we were presented with in Vegas at this restaurant where we ordered a tequilia flight. It was certainly smaller than your tree and I actually thought it looked kind of cool, but it still took up a lot of space; especially at a table for two.

I think we've all been sold on Blue Zoo. I know it's pricey but judging from the pictures it's worth every dollar. I'll have to make it there as well.

Why did I think you had already visited bluezoo? Ah well, I think you'd like it just fine especially if you enjoy seafood. I'd be very interested to read about your experiences there if you do try it.

Thanks again to everyone for reading whether you posted or not. I hope to update later with our breakfast at Wolfgang Puck Express and the last depressing remnants of our food and wine snacking. The last day of WDW vacation is always kind of sad.

Have a great weekend ...

 

[oybolshoi]

Thursday, October 16th - Wurra! The Final Day Arrives and We're Still Hungry!

In the continued interests of trying new and potentially scary eating establishments, Jay and I hoofed it over to Downtown Disney for breakfast on this sunny, warm, and humid morning. We had discussed dining here before ever leaving Stinktown to embark on our delicious voyage of food discovery and the conversation went something like this:

Brenda: Peeps on the DIS rave frothy about WPE QS; you know, at DTD.

Jason: Huh?

Brenda (very loudly): PEEPS ON THE DIS RAVE FROTHY ABOUT WPE QS; YOU KNOW …AT DTD!!!

Jason: In English – you know I’m acronym averse!

Brenda: Uh, no; actually I didn’t know that. Anyway, I've noticed lately there seem to be a lot of people on the restaurant forums who have really good things to say about Wolfgang Puck Express; I thought we could give it a try for breakfast one morning since it’s within easy walking distance of the resort.

Jason: I should have known you were talking about food.



Since the restaurant doesn't open until 9AM we basically had the place to ourselves when we arrived. I was not feeling well at all this day ... I suppose the previous day's gluttony and overly rich food was finally catching up with my intestinal tract. And it didn't help that I was suffering from a bout of the end-o-trip blues, either. So what did I do in my infinite wisdom, knowing that the Crohn goblin was stirring and it was going to be a hot, sticky day?

I ordered a Belgian Waffle with whipped cream. It was served with fresh fruit and a miserly portion of maple syrup.

It looks better than it tastes

In retrospect I should have been more picky and demanding when I placed my order. For one thing, I don't really like whipped cream on my waffles. That was easily disposed of however; I just used my fork to transfer the whole glob into my coffee cup. I like a little bit of butter and a whole lotta syrup for my waffles, neither of which I received. I also should have asked for my fruit to be served on the side - it would have been much easier for Jay and me to share. The waffle was well cooked and had a light, sweet flavor but it was on the dry side and there was just not enough maple syrup in that weensy plastic container to drown the dry. I suppose I could have asked for more but when I get into this kind of moody funk the fewer people I interact with the better.

Jay selected Wolfgang’s Breakfast Pocket for his morning meal: scrambled eggs, peppers, Niman Ranch bacon, onions, mushrooms, mozzarella and cheddar cheeses baked into Wolfie’s signature pizza dough.

On a different day, sans mushrooms, I might have ordered something like this

The husband really enjoyed this - he said it was like eating a great omelet that's been tucked inside perfectly baked pizza dough. Right now it sounds pretty tasty but that morning the sight of it made me want to hurl.

From Downtown Disney we snagged a ride on a bus over to the Boardwalk and then made our way into Epcot through the International Gateway. Once the World Showcase opened our first stop was at Ireland for a quick caffeine infusion - I don't know about the rest of you, but frozen alcoholic coffee always makes me feel better.

Frozen Irish Coffee … that’s what they called this. I think it’s coffee, melted ice cream, and a splish of Bailey’s. It’s good but I’m always on the fence as to whether or not it’s $7.50 worth of good. Especially since they didn’t even serve it in a cute little plastic coffee cup like they did last year. So that means we’re being charged a lot for even less boozinated caffeine and that makes me sad.

Do you know how hard it is to drink something like this in cup with no handles?

Along our wanderings we stopped in Buenos Aires, Argentina because Jay likes the kind of stuff they serve at their booth. We ordered the Beef and Corn Pie and the Grilled Beef with Chimichurri Sauce

Meh...

Time for some brutal truth: the beef and corn pie was nasty - overcooked with chewy chunks of some kind of meat. I found this disappointing because it could have and should have been so much better. Our other choice wasn't bad as long as a certain someone could eat around the violently green sauce but I thought the beef was a little stringy. Also, in years past when this has been served at the F&W Festival it usually was resting on a bed of some kind of tasty, mashed vegetable which we both really enjoyed; sadly this year the mash was missing.

We also paid a visit to Santiago, Chile, where we purchased some Shrimp with Cilantro Salsa. This was just as disappointing ... prior festival samples of this item yielded generous servings of shrimp with a lightly spiced salsa. Our sample had three shrimpies and a whole lotta of runny salsa which tasted of vinegar.

Not at all good

Blech! After trying this I was just about ready to drink one of those nasty wine coolers from China to wash the awful taste from my mouth. And speaking of China ... by the time we arrived there my intestines seemed to have straightened themselves out and I was hungry ... still very tired but definitely in need of a pick-me-up. The Chicken sha-cha has always been a safe bet so I parked myself on a shady bench and waited for my lovey to return to me with chick-on-a-stick and a beer.

Chicken Sha Cha Cha

The beer that Jay purchased was Yanjing Beer - the other official beer of the Beijing Olympics. Michelle and Steve had suggested that we give it a try and they were spot on - it was quite good and much better than the singing toe beer that usually is sold at the China booth. My chicken was OK - a little overdone and chewier than usual, but it still had nice flavor, in part thanks to the sauce it was drizzled with.

And then to finish up our grazing before heading over to the Festival Welcome Center and our Kitchen Conversation with Robert Irvine, we stopped in Australia to sample a taste treat called Wattleseed Mousse!

Weetles wattle and then end up in dessert

How best to describe this? It was light and custardy and sweet but the taste actually reminded us of coffee. It wasn't bad but it was a little odd ... I think it might have been better on a less warm day when it wasn't being digested on top of 12 ounces of Chinese beer.

I'm glad we tried it because with a name like wattleseed it demands to be eaten but I'm not sure that we'd eat it again. I always find the dessert options in Australia to be a disappointment ... if they're not making something that's crawling with macadamia nuts they're offering up desserts made from seeds named after birds. Maybe next year ... ooops, now that's this year ... they can offer up a chocolate covered dingo delight.

And thus ended our F&W snacking for the trip. We disappointed ourselves because we didn't hit up every booth, although some of that was from choice. Canada hasn't offered anything new in so long that we don't even stop to look at their menu board and South Africa isn't much better. And while we wanted to try the booth from Austria their food choices just never sounded all that appealing to us when we happened to be there. Overall we were pleased with much of our grazing - there were some misses but for the most part we enjoyed our snacking and thought much (not all) of the food was well prepared and tasty. We're looking forward to trying to eat the entire World Showcase one last time in October 2009!

Next up: a review of Kitchen Conversations ... Turn up the Volume!

 

[DisneyMom5]

Some of that looked mildly tasty.
With ya on the appearance of the egg thing.

I'm getting scared to spend money at the booths now! LOL

Appreciate your witty foodisms, as usual.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Just got caught up. Blue Zoo looked amazing. Count me as one of those DISers who like WPE although we've only ever had dinner there. Sorry things are almost at an end. We are sadly skipping Disney this year since we just bought a house (hoping to go in 2010) so I will be living through everyone else's reports and will be on the lookout for your next one.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I agree with you about the Irish Coffee. Overpriced, crappy cup & not that much booze, but it still was refreshing on those hot days. I admit being a sucker 2 or 3 times for that one on our trip.

Now about that Beef & Chimichurri...you were swindled my friend. I must have hit that stand up a good 10 times and always got mashed potatoes with my beef. We need to call the potato police.

 

[oybolshoi]

Some of that looked mildly tasty.
With ya on the appearance of the egg thing.

I'm getting scared to spend money at the booths now! LOL

Appreciate your witty foodisms, as usual.

Thanks for reading! And don't be scared ... well, maybe a little apprehensive. Eating at the booths is similar to the restaurants in that on any given day you could get good food or crappy food - most of the time our experiences at the F&W booths have been good but there have also been some memorable blechie moments. You just gotta roll with it, mom of many, and stick with the things you really want to try. You'll enjoy the experience, I'm sure of it.*

*not a guarantee

Just got caught up. Blue Zoo looked amazing. Count me as one of those DISers who like WPE although we've only ever had dinner there. Sorry things are almost at an end. We are sadly skipping Disney this year since we just bought a house (hoping to go in 2010) so I will be living through everyone else's reports and will be on the lookout for your next one.

Hey lady! How've you been? Glad you've enjoyed the newest updates and Bluezoo was amazing - that's the perfect word.

Congrats on the house! I guess we'll have to rely on you and everyone else for 2010 since we know we won't be at WDW next year. Maybe we'll see each other in 2011?

I agree with you about the Irish Coffee. Overpriced, crappy cup & not that much booze, but it still was refreshing on those hot days. I admit being a sucker 2 or 3 times for that one on our trip.

I'm a sucker for it too because it was so tasty but I do wish they could have served it in a better cup. I think the version they served in 2007 was boozier ... otherwise I don't think I'd have such fond memories of it.

Now about that Beef & Chimichurri...you were swindled my friend. I must have hit that stand up a good 10 times and always got mashed potatoes with my beef. We need to call the potato police.

I KNEW IT!!!!

I knew something was missing when Jay showed up with that plate. And now I'm outraged that our taters, precious, were withheld from us!

That's it! Argentina is now officially on The List.

Thanks for reading!

 

[BriarRosie]

Maybe they don't offer them anymore? I don't know...but here's a pic of the ugly wine trees that they were serving the wine flights on. This was about 18 months ago. Not the best pic, but its the only one I could find. (That's my very bored son in the background).

I wouldn't have minded the wine trees, but somebody didn't think those through too much-they took up way too much of the table and we wound up downing the wine quickly just to get rid of those clunky things.

I totally don't remember seeing those on the menu. They look like avant garde Seussian wine trees. They are interesting in a strange way, though.
But yeah, kinda ugly.

 

[TigerKat]

Of all the booth grub the Grilled Beef with Chimichurri Sauce was our favorite. Ours was served atop a yummy mash of some kind, it was really good. Sorry y'all had a bad one.

 

[oybolshoi]

Of all the booth grub the Grilled Beef with Chimichurri Sauce was our favorite. Ours was served atop a yummy mash of some kind, it was really good. Sorry y'all had a bad one.

OUTRAGE IS BUILDING IN STINKTOWN!!!



Jay still really liked it, but it was the taters that always made this dish edible for me since the sauce doesn't sit well with the Crohn goblin. Oh well, can't win 'em all I suppose.

 

[WDW Fan]

Your breakfast at WPE looked really delicious but I know what you mean about the maple syrup! I like my waffles to be swimming in syrup Some of the F&W foods didn't look all that appetizing but I'm glad you were able to sample so many of the booths this year. My DH and I haven't ever tried any of the foods at the F&W Festival because we're too cheap. It's fun to live vicarious through your dining reports!

 

[BriarRosie]

Thursday, October 16th - Wurra! The Final Day Arrives and We're Still Hungry!

In the continued interests of trying new and potentially scary eating establishments, Jay and I hoofed it over to Downtown Disney for breakfast on this sunny, warm, and humid morning. We had discussed dining here before ever leaving Stinktown to embark on our delicious voyage of food discovery and the conversation went something like this:

Brenda: Peeps on the DIS rave frothy about WPE QS; you know, at DTD.

Jason: Huh?

Brenda (very loudly): PEEPS ON THE DIS RAVE FROTHY ABOUT WPE QS; YOU KNOW …AT DTD!!!

Jason: In English – you know I’m acronym averse!

Brenda: Uh, no; actually I didn’t know that. Anyway, I've noticed lately there seem to be a lot of people on the restaurant forums who have really good things to say about Wolfgang Puck Express; I thought we could give it a try for breakfast one morning since it’s within easy walking distance of the resort.

Jason: I should have known you were talking about food.

This is one of those times I wish I was able to eavesdrop on your conversations. Too funny!

Since the restaurant doesn't open until 9AM we basically had the place to ourselves when we arrived. I was not feeling well at all this day ... I suppose the previous day's gluttony and overly rich food was finally catching up with my intestinal tract. And it didn't help that I was suffering from a bout of the end-o-trip blues, either. So what did I do in my infinite wisdom, knowing that the Crohn goblin was stirring and it was going to be a hot, sticky day?

Oh no, I was just starting my gluttony that I never considered you were starting to OD on it!

I ordered a Belgian Waffle with whipped cream. It was served with fresh fruit and a miserly portion of maple syrup.

It looks better than it tastes

In retrospect I should have been more picky and demanding when I placed my order. For one thing, I don't really like whipped cream on my waffles. That was easily disposed of however; I just used my fork to transfer the whole glob into my coffee cup. I like a little bit of butter and a whole lotta syrup for my waffles, neither of which I received. I also should have asked for my fruit to be served on the side - it would have been much easier for Jay and me to share. The waffle was well cooked and had a light, sweet flavor but it was on the dry side and there was just not enough maple syrup in that weensy plastic container to drown the dry. I suppose I could have asked for more but when I get into this kind of moody funk the fewer people I interact with the better.

That looked great to me, except my pet peeve are strawberries that have the little green tops still attached. Come on people, it's not that hard to slice strawberries. I would have kept the whipped cream on them, as well.

Jay selected Wolfgang’s Breakfast Pocket for his morning meal: scrambled eggs, peppers, Niman Ranch bacon, onions, mushrooms, mozzarella and cheddar cheeses baked into Wolfie’s signature pizza dough.

On a different day, sans mushrooms, I might have ordered something like this

The husband really enjoyed this - he said it was like eating a great omelet that's been tucked inside perfectly baked pizza dough. Right now it sounds pretty tasty but that morning the sight of it made me want to hurl.

That looked awesome, but I probably would have wanted to split that and add some fresh fruit. Pizza dough and omelet? Who'd have thunk it?

From Downtown Disney we snagged a ride on a bus over to the Boardwalk and then made our way into Epcot through the International Gateway. Once the World Showcase opened our first stop was at Ireland for a quick caffeine infusion - I don't know about the rest of you, but frozen alcoholic coffee always makes me feel better.

Frozen Irish Coffee … that’s what they called this. I think it’s coffee, melted ice cream, and a splish of Bailey’s. It’s good but I’m always on the fence as to whether or not it’s $7.50 worth of good. Especially since they didn’t even serve it in a cute little plastic coffee cup like they did last year. So that means we’re being charged a lot for even less boozinated caffeine and that makes me sad.

I didn't try this, mainly because of the price point. I just don't think I would have wanted to spend $7.50 on that, but I do like Irish Coffee. I make my own.

Do you know how hard it is to drink something like this in cup with no handles?

I blame the Disney Dining Borg Collective for those cups. That's their all-purpose generic drink cup, right?

Along our wanderings we stopped in Buenos Aires, Argentina because Jay likes the kind of stuff they serve at their booth. We ordered the Beef and Corn Pie and the Grilled Beef with Chimichurri Sauce

Meh...

Time for some brutal truth: the beef and corn pie was nasty - overcooked with chewy chunks of some kind of meat. I found this disappointing because it could have and should have been so much better. Our other choice wasn't bad as long as a certain someone could eat around the violently green sauce but I thought the beef was a little stringy. Also, in years past when this has been served at the F&W Festival it usually was resting on a bed of some kind of tasty, mashed vegetable which we both really enjoyed; sadly this year the mash was missing.

Ok, since I ordered the same corn pie thing on the SAME day, but pretty close to the time we went to the Kitchen Conversation, I have to say that I liked mine. It was hot and fresh and reminded me of an omelet or quiche. The meat in it had a nice spice kick to it. Maybe you had a bad batch. Or like my reaction last year to the Peru thing I found nasty, Catherine just loved. You don't like mushrooms and I do, so I'll just chalk it up to different tastes.

We also paid a visit to Santiago, Chile, where we purchased some Shrimp with Cilantro Salsa. This was just as disappointing ... prior festival samples of this item yielded generous servings of shrimp with a lightly spiced salsa. Our sample had three shrimpies and a whole lotta of runny salsa which tasted of vinegar.

Not at all good

Totally looked disappointing, and I didn't get that either.

Blech! After trying this I was just about ready to drink one of those nasty wine coolers from China to wash the awful taste from my mouth. And speaking of China ... by the time we arrived there my intestines seemed to have straightened themselves out and I was hungry ... still very tired but definitely in need of a pick-me-up. The Chicken sha-cha has always been a safe bet so I parked myself on a shady bench and waited for my lovey to return to me with chick-on-a-stick and a beer.

Chicken Sha Cha Cha

The beer that Jay purchased was Yanjing Beer - the other official beer of the Beijing Olympics. Michelle and Steve had suggested that we give it a try and they were spot on - it was quite good and much better than the singing toe beer that usually is sold at the China booth. My chicken was OK - a little overdone and chewier than usual, but it still had nice flavor, in part thanks to the sauce it was drizzled with.

I never found the Chicken Sha Cha or the pot stickers to be bad choices in China. Wish I tried that beer, though.

And then to finish up our grazing before heading over to the Festival Welcome Center and our Kitchen Conversation with Robert Irvine, we stopped in Australia to sample a taste treat called Wattleseed Mousse!

Weetles wattle and then end up in dessert

How best to describe this? It was light and custardy and sweet but the taste actually reminded us of coffee. It wasn't bad but it was a little odd ... I think it might have been better on a less warm day when it wasn't being digested on top of 12 ounces of Chinese beer.

Yay, another item I tried. I would call it Australian Tiramisu. It was not overly sweet, so people who find desserts too sweet might actually love this dessert.

I'm glad we tried it because with a name like wattleseed it demands to be eaten but I'm not sure that we'd eat it again. I always find the dessert options in Australia to be a disappointment ... if they're not making something that's crawling with macadamia nuts they're offering up desserts made from seeds named after birds. Maybe next year ... ooops, now that's this year ... they can offer up a chocolate covered dingo delight.

ROFL chocolate covered dingo!

And thus ended our F&W snacking for the trip. We disappointed ourselves because we didn't hit up every booth, although some of that was from choice. Canada hasn't offered anything new in so long that we don't even stop to look at their menu board and South Africa isn't much better. And while we wanted to try the booth from Austria their food choices just never sounded all that appealing to us when we happened to be there. Overall we were pleased with much of our grazing - there were some misses but for the most part we enjoyed our snacking and thought much (not all) of the food was well prepared and tasty. We're looking forward to trying to eat the entire World Showcase one last time in October 2009!

Yeah, I regret not trying the Tafelspitz thing in Austria.

Next up: a review of Kitchen Conversations ... Turn up the Volume!

Woohoo, this is where I met my new BFF, Robert Irvine!

 

[PNO4TE]

I really enjoyed the bluezoo review, Brenda. Might have to put it on our list for October! Thanks for the evening's entertainment!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I totally don't remember seeing those on the menu. They look like avant garde Seussian wine trees. They are interesting in a strange way, though.
But yeah, kinda ugly.

OMG! I'm laughing because I thought they looked like something out of Dr. Seuss too-its the swirly tops I think. Maybe they shipped those ugly things over to Universal where they would fit in?

Of all the booth grub the Grilled Beef with Chimichurri Sauce was our favorite. Ours was served atop a yummy mash of some kind, it was really good. Sorry y'all had a bad one.

It was our favorite dish too. Me and DD were totally addicted and it was the dish we got the most. If they dared serve me without potatoes, it would not have been pretty.

 

[Tink rules]

I ordered a Belgian Waffle with whipped cream. It was served with fresh fruit and a miserly portion of maple syrup.

It looks better than it tastes

In retrospect I should have been more picky and demanding when I placed my order. For one thing, I don't really like whipped cream on my waffles. That was easily disposed of however; I just used my fork to transfer the whole glob into my coffee cup. I like a little bit of butter and a whole lotta syrup for my waffles, neither of which I received. I also should have asked for my fruit to be served on the side - it would have been much easier for Jay and me to share. The waffle was well cooked and had a light, sweet flavor but it was on the dry side and there was just not enough maple syrup in that weensy plastic container to drown the dry. I suppose I could have asked for more but when I get into this kind of moody funk the fewer people I interact with the better.

Why am I seeing Meg Ryan BEFORE the famous "O" scene???

 

[sunny04]

I have to say your "weetles wattle but they don't fall down" might be my favorite joke in your trip reports. Considering the numerous funny lines you write, that is probably pretty sad on my part, but I just find that hilarious.

 

[ChelleinNC]

Don't ya know that as soon as I had finished my reply last night, the clock had struck 10pm and the boards went down......ugh! I saved it to Word, so hopefully this works:

Thanks so much for reading and I'm very happpy that you enjoyed it although I am sorry to complicate your anniversary planning. Which other restaurants are you considering?

Jay and I give high marks to Jiko, Flying Fish, Citricos, and Bistro Paris. And if you really want to splurge you can try V&A - that DDE discount is good in the dining room and that's a pretty hefty discount!

We're staying at BCV in July, so we're thinking of something in the Epcot/Epcot resort area. Flying Fish and Bistro are 2 that we've never been to that we thought would be nice for our anniversary (and within stumbling distance of Jellyrolls and our villa ). DH has already decided that we'll do V&A in 2 years for our 20th

Anything's possible ... and if you've had too much to drink and take a wrong turn on the way to your vacation villa and end up in sand trap it can seem just like a dessert island. Not that I would know this from personal experience ...

Thursday, October 16th - Wurra! The Final Day Arrives and We're Still Hungry!

In the continued interests of trying new and potentially scary eating establishments, Jay and I hoofed it over to Downtown Disney for breakfast on this sunny, warm, and humid morning. We had discussed dining here before ever leaving Stinktown to embark on our delicious voyage of food discovery and the conversation went something like this:

Brenda: Peeps on the DIS rave frothy about WPE QS; you know, at DTD.

Jason: Huh?

Brenda (very loudly): PEEPS ON THE DIS RAVE FROTHY ABOUT WPE QS; YOU KNOW …AT DTD!!!

Jason: In English – you know I’m acronym averse!

Brenda: Uh, no; actually I didn’t know that. Anyway, I've noticed lately there seem to be a lot of people on the restaurant forums who have really good things to say about Wolfgang Puck Express; I thought we could give it a try for breakfast one morning since it’s within easy walking distance of the resort.

Jason: I should have known you were talking about food.



Since the restaurant doesn't open until 9AM we basically had the place to ourselves when we arrived. I was not feeling well at all this day ... I suppose the previous day's gluttony and overly rich food was finally catching up with my intestinal tract. And it didn't help that I was suffering from a bout of the end-o-trip blues, either. So what did I do in my infinite wisdom, knowing that the Crohn goblin was stirring and it was going to be a hot, sticky day?

I ordered a Belgian Waffle with whipped cream. It was served with fresh fruit and a miserly portion of maple syrup.

It looks better than it tastes

In retrospect I should have been more picky and demanding when I placed my order. For one thing, I don't really like whipped cream on my waffles. That was easily disposed of however; I just used my fork to transfer the whole glob into my coffee cup. I like a little bit of butter and a whole lotta syrup for my waffles, neither of which I received. I also should have asked for my fruit to be served on the side - it would have been much easier for Jay and me to share. The waffle was well cooked and had a light, sweet flavor but it was on the dry side and there was just not enough maple syrup in that weensy plastic container to drown the dry. I suppose I could have asked for more but when I get into this kind of moody funk the fewer people I interact with the better.

Jay selected Wolfgang’s Breakfast Pocket for his morning meal: scrambled eggs, peppers, Niman Ranch bacon, onions, mushrooms, mozzarella and cheddar cheeses baked into Wolfie’s signature pizza dough.

On a different day, sans mushrooms, I might have ordered something like this

The husband really enjoyed this - he said it was like eating a great omelet that's been tucked inside perfectly baked pizza dough. Right now it sounds pretty tasty but that morning the sight of it made me want to hurl.

Breakfast looks really good and the commentary was

From Downtown Disney we snagged a ride on a bus over to the Boardwalk and then made our way into Epcot through the International Gateway. Once the World Showcase opened our first stop was at Ireland for a quick caffeine infusion - I don't know about the rest of you, but frozen alcoholic coffee always makes me feel better.

Frozen Irish Coffee … that’s what they called this. I think it’s coffee, melted ice cream, and a splish of Bailey’s. It’s good but I’m always on the fence as to whether or not it’s $7.50 worth of good. Especially since they didn’t even serve it in a cute little plastic coffee cup like they did last year. So that means we’re being charged a lot for even less boozinated caffeine and that makes me sad.

Do you know how hard it is to drink something like this in cup with no handles?

Along our wanderings we stopped in Buenos Aires, Argentina because Jay likes the kind of stuff they serve at their booth. We ordered the Beef and Corn Pie and the Grilled Beef with Chimichurri Sauce

Meh...

Time for some brutal truth: the beef and corn pie was nasty - overcooked with chewy chunks of some kind of meat. I found this disappointing because it could have and should have been so much better. Our other choice wasn't bad as long as a certain someone could eat around the violently green sauce but I thought the beef was a little stringy. Also, in years past when this has been served at the F&W Festival it usually was resting on a bed of some kind of tasty, mashed vegetable which we both really enjoyed; sadly this year the mash was missing.

We also paid a visit to Santiago, Chile, where we purchased some Shrimp with Cilantro Salsa. This was just as disappointing ... prior festival samples of this item yielded generous servings of shrimp with a lightly spiced salsa. Our sample had three shrimpies and a whole lotta of runny salsa which tasted of vinegar.

Not at all good

Blech! After trying this I was just about ready to drink one of those nasty wine coolers from China to wash the awful taste from my mouth. And speaking of China ... by the time we arrived there my intestines seemed to have straightened themselves out and I was hungry ... still very tired but definitely in need of a pick-me-up. The Chicken sha-cha has always been a safe bet so I parked myself on a shady bench and waited for my lovey to return to me with chick-on-a-stick and a beer.

Chicken Sha Cha Cha

The beer that Jay purchased was Yanjing Beer - the other official beer of the Beijing Olympics. Michelle and Steve had suggested that we give it a try and they were spot on - it was quite good and much better than the singing toe beer that usually is sold at the China booth. My chicken was OK - a little overdone and chewier than usual, but it still had nice flavor, in part thanks to the sauce it was drizzled with.

And then to finish up our grazing before heading over to the Festival Welcome Center and our Kitchen Conversation with Robert Irvine, we stopped in Australia to sample a taste treat called Wattleseed Mousse!

Weetles wattle and then end up in dessert

How best to describe this? It was light and custardy and sweet but the taste actually reminded us of coffee. It wasn't bad but it was a little odd ... I think it might have been better on a less warm day when it wasn't being digested on top of 12 ounces of Chinese beer.

I'm glad we tried it because with a name like wattleseed it demands to be eaten but I'm not sure that we'd eat it again. I always find the dessert options in Australia to be a disappointment ... if they're not making something that's crawling with macadamia nuts they're offering up desserts made from seeds named after birds. Maybe next year ... ooops, now that's this year ... they can offer up a chocolate covered dingo delight.

And thus ended our F&W snacking for the trip. We disappointed ourselves because we didn't hit up every booth, although some of that was from choice. Canada hasn't offered anything new in so long that we don't even stop to look at their menu board and South Africa isn't much better. And while we wanted to try the booth from Austria their food choices just never sounded all that appealing to us when we happened to be there. Overall we were pleased with much of our grazing - there were some misses but for the most part we enjoyed our snacking and thought much (not all) of the food was well prepared and tasty. We're looking forward to trying to eat the entire World Showcase one last time in October 2009!

Next up: a review of Kitchen Conversations ... Turn up the Volume!

1. Anything with Bailey's in it
2. Most of the snacks looked "eh", take it or leave it (except the shrimp which really looked like leave it). Or maybe I'm just really full after eating Chinese buffet tonight

Another great review!

 

[oybolshoi]

Your breakfast at WPE looked really delicious but I know what you mean about the maple syrup! I like my waffles to be swimming in syrup. Some of the F&W foods didn't look all that appetizing but I'm glad you were able to sample so many of the booths this year. My DH and I haven't ever tried any of the foods at the F&W Festival because we're too cheap. It's fun to live vicarious through your dining reports!

My waffles must swim in syrup and the excess is usually used for sausage and / or bacon ... which sadly I didn't have on this morning.

This was the day when most of our F&W samples were meh. We did have some good stuff earlier in the trip so I can't really complain.

And your comment about not trying food at the festival made me laugh ... the first year that Jay and I attended F&W we were too cheap to try anything too.

This is one of those times I wish I was able to eavesdrop on your conversations. Too funny!

We aim to please.

Oh no, I was just starting my gluttony that I never considered you were starting to OD on it!

It happens now and then. Luckily we were able to rebound from the poor showing at Kitchen Conversation and have a properly piggish end to the trip with dinner at Citricos.

That looked great to me, except my pet peeve are strawberries that have the little green tops still attached. Come on people, it's not that hard to slice strawberries. I would have kept the whipped cream on them, as well.

That's one of my pet peeves about strawberries, too.

That looked awesome, but I probably would have wanted to split that and add some fresh fruit. Pizza dough and omelet? Who'd have thunk it?

Jay thought it was great. And like I said ... on a different morning I might even have ordered something similar or at least tried his.

I didn't try this, mainly because of the price point. I just don't think I would have wanted to spend $7.50 on that, but I do like Irish Coffee. I make my own.

I think Allison said it best earlier ... it's a refreshing and very tasty beverage to pick up during F&W even though it's overpriced. We make Irish Coffee here in Stinktown too, and it's way better than what we were served in Epcot.

I blame the Disney Dining Borg Collective for those cups. That's their all-purpose generic drink cup, right?

The Dining Borg strike again! Yes ... that's the standard plastic crappy cup and it was a terrible idea to serve this drink in it. Very sloppy.

Ok, since I ordered the same corn pie thing on the SAME day, but pretty close to the time we went to the Kitchen Conversation, I have to say that I liked mine. It was hot and fresh and reminded me of an omelet or quiche. The meat in it had a nice spice kick to it. Maybe you had a bad batch. Or like my reaction last year to the Peru thing I found nasty, Catherine just loved. You don't like mushrooms and I do, so I'll just chalk it up to different tastes.

Too bad for Jay we didn't get a sample like yours. And it's true ... we all like different things - that's what makes us all so much fun!

Totally looked disappointing, and I didn't get that either.

We won't be getting it this fall if it's still on the menu, that's for sure.

I never found the Chicken Sha Cha or the pot stickers to be bad choices in China. Wish I tried that beer, though.

The beer was good and the chicken is almost always a safe bet. Jay likes the pot stickers, too.

Yay, another item I tried. I would call it Australian Tiramisu. It was not overly sweet, so people who find desserts too sweet might actually love this dessert.

Good point.

ROFL chocolate covered dingo!

I thought that was inspired on my part if I do say so myself.

Yeah, I regret not trying the Tafelspitz thing in Austria.

Jay would have liked to try that one but it just didn't work out.

Woohoo, this is where I met my new BFF, Robert Irvine!

I'll try not to be toooooo negative about the experience.

I really enjoyed the bluezoo review, Brenda. Might have to put it on our list for October! Thanks for the evening's entertainment!

Glad you enjoyed it Elin! Blue zoo was tremendous so I do hope you have a chance to try it some day.

OMG! I'm laughing because I thought they looked like something out of Dr. Seuss too-its the swirly tops I think. Maybe they shipped those ugly things over to Universal where they would fit in?

I've never seen alcohol being sold in Suess-land. We also never were able to buy green eggs and ham - every time we've been there the place that sells it has been closed.

That was totally off topic, wasn't it?

It was our favorite dish too. Me and DD were totally addicted and it was the dish we got the most. If they dared serve me without potatoes, it would not have been pretty.

note to self: never deprive this woman of her mashed taters.

Why am I seeing Meg Ryan BEFORE the famous "O" scene???

Well, I was thinking of that scene when I was writing this. I totally felt like I could have been that picky ...

I have to say your "weetles wattle but they don't fall down" might be my favorite joke in your trip reports. Considering the numerous funny lines you write, that is probably pretty sad on my part, but I just find that hilarious.

Thank you - what a nice compliment! I'm always happy to make someone laugh and I thought the Weetle / Weeble comment was amusing - glad you liked it too!

Don't ya know that as soon as I had finished my reply last night, the clock had struck 10pm and the boards went down......ugh! I saved it to Word, so hopefully this works:


We're staying at BCV in July, so we're thinking of something in the Epcot/Epcot resort area. Flying Fish and Bistro are 2 that we've never been to that we thought would be nice for our anniversary (and within stumbling distance of Jellyrolls and our villa). DH has already decided that we'll do V&A in 2 years for our 20th

I made sure that I posted this early enough not to have the boards swallow it ... that's happened to me plenty of times in the past so I wasn't about to let it happen again if I could help it.

Flying Fish and Bistro are both great choices - I think you'd really enjoy them both.

20 years ... that's great!

Breakfast looks really good and the commentary was

Thanks!

1. Anything with Bailey's in it
2. Most of the snacks looked "eh", take it or leave it (except the shrimp which really looked like leave it). Or maybe I'm just really full after eating Chinese buffet tonight

Another great review!

Our snacks on this day weren't nearly as good as those on past days ... sometimes it just isn't your day (and that's how I felt until about 4PM that afternoon).

Thanks for reading!

 

[kabuki]

OK Brenda! I have just done the catch up thing on your reports!
Great as always .. and we only have 7 month to get ready for the trip around the lake eater fest! What will Disney do with so many DIS-Foodies all noshing at once?! Put on your goggles folks it may get ugly!

 

[Robert P]

B,
I loved the latest review, but that waffle looked like an Eggo having a bad day. And not enough syrup to boot, that's just not right.

The breakfast thingy Jay ordered gave me chills. The picture resembles some kind of Iron Chef attempt at a breakfast cornucopia, gone horribly wrong.

The Epcot food pix, however, made me feel better.

HS