You & Me & A Bottle Makes 3 (UPDATED! 4/7/14)–F&W Fest & the Rest in 5 days!

[Nakkira]

Joining! You had me at "homebrewing" and "drinking wine with a microwaved meal" sealed the deal!

Our trips actually overlapped - we were there from the 11th to the 18th

Hope you F&WF adventures were bountiful!

If those are the things what most grabbed your attention, then I assure you, you are most welcome indeed!

I will be checking in on your TR as well, as soon as get a chance!

 

[Nakkira]

After making our way through bag check and entrance line we headed straight to the Barber shop (after I spend a few minutes ogling the beloved castle and trying not to look to sappy in front of the DBF)

I had not made an appointment so I wanted to do it early in case there was a wait.
Ok, I am easily distracted. On the way to the barber shop I spotted the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom place and we collected our cards and listened to the explanation of game play. Ok, sounds cute, well play a bit.
Later, now on to the Barber shop!

One hair cut and beard trim for him, chunky pixie dust for me!
She did a great job on him. She gave me some tips for touching him up in the future.

The barber finished his hair cut and sat me down for a dusting, and he went over to pay.
Bank Card rejected.
What?
I had cash so I paid them (I had planned to treat the experience in the first place, he just got there first).
Now he was upset and very flustered. He had no cash, this card was his only source of money for the week. So we stepped out of the shop and he got on the phone and I wandered in circles around the area trying hard to curb my impatience to go play. I made my first pin trade (a rather nice silver Tink) and posed at the pumpkin photo pass spot by myself.

Pumpkin Patch

Pretty Snow White Window Display

Dapper Dans

After what seemed like an eternity he fished his call and waved me back over. Seems there was a suspicious activity hold on the card, that was now cleared up. It is getting later and later in the morning and I am dying to go find some rides and attractions.
I made him take a cell phone photo of my Pixie Dusted hair to send to my Mom.

Pretty Chunky for "dust", but fun! In case you are wondering, I am wearing my yarn and ribbon hair falls this day. I made them myself.



I am itchy to explore the rest of the park.
My DBF however wants to play Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom and just happens to be near the first station.
Okay fine.

No really, it was cute and fun, we finished about half of the first adventure before I decided that caffeine was a more immediate MUST.
So I dragged him to Starbucks for an iced coffee (me) and iced tea (him)
Once we had our drinks and a slice of lemon cake for later (yay gift card), I persuaded him to go explore the rest of the park and finish the game later. It was already past 11am!

Snagged our first PhotoPass Opportunity together on our way down Mainstreet.
He really does look spiffy with his haircut and beard -trimmed.


NEXT

 

[Nakkira]

I made a b-line for Splash mountain where we collected fast passes for later and then we backtracked and did some so attractions I had speed dragged him through. “S” made his first few pin trades and I traded a few more as well.

He did enjoy Pin Trading that week although, as is typical, we did far more that first day than the others. We explored the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, but bypassed the Tiki room as my DBF was not interested. I was really trying to compromise on the trip and not run the whole show, but in retrospect I think I missed out on a few more things than I should have. I blame myself, I really just wanted him to have a good time and learn to love Disney so I really tried to no push if expressed even a slight reluctance to do a ride or show.


It was hot and more crowded than we expected. This became the theme song for the entire trip.


I tried to do a couple Character meets but all the lines were too long. SPOILER: I did not meet any of the ones on my wish list, we the wait was simply too long, or even for the one I felt it was worth it, I had bad timing and the line was just closing as I approached. This is a second theme that became a “lather, rinse, repeat” for the entire trip.

We had a strong policy of, “We will not stand in line for 2 hours to do something that lasts 5 minutes.”

This ended up with us missing several rides and attractions altogether this trip.
We rode Pirates of the Caribbean and tried on silly hats in the dump shop. “S” was really disappointed that there were no Barbossa hats.

Got a reluctant picture of him in a Jack hat anyway.

Haunted Mansion followed. Ok, I did not keep good notes so I am really not 100% sure which came first, I want to be a good blogger but to tell the truth, it is far more important to me to enjoy the experience instead of trying to write down everything AS it was happening. I bought a notebook just for this purpose but very little ended up in it. I did pretty good with the food pics (although I did miss a few) and I am proud enough of myself for managing that much! So as you read the entire blog, if I do not drive you crazy first, try to keep in mind that the timelines are a rough sketch.

I love Haunted Mansion. You really just can’t go wrong with this classic and I was loving the new improved Que. We pretty much played with everything!

We were getting hungry so I lead us to Pecos Bill’s for a Taco Salad and a Burger, both of which we shared. I do like the fixin’s bar, but I have to say the meat in the taco shell bowl was soggy, greasy, and almost gummy in texture. The burger was pretty much average, and the sweet potato fries hit the spot! "S" also got the chili fries and covered them in cheese goo but I found that to be a little too gloppy for my tastes.

This food pic is a little more blurry than it looked on the camera preview screen.


FTR if some of my whining makes it sound like we are not having fun, I would like to assure you that we are very good at making the best of many difficult situations. No, it was not an ideal Disney fantasy, but we manage to enjoy ourselves anyway.

NEXT

 

[Nakkira]

Our Fast pass for Splash was not until 3:45pm so we went to explore the new Fantasy land area. If I though the rest of the park was crowed, it was nothing compared to this. I briefly admired the outside of BOG, stopped to take a few pics at Gastons and glanced around a bit but crowd was making my anxiety kick in so we quickly got out of there.
I have to admit that I kind of wanted to cry.

I had been very excited about the New Fantasyland but it was not going well.
I really will have to come back sometime in the "off-season" and explore better, make BOG ressies, I will wait until the Mine ride is done.

I really did love the décor in Gaston's! So perfect!

He looks so Manly!

Of course now I had Gaston's song stuck in my head for AWHILE!


WE headed to Tomorrow land. Space Mountain was too long a wait and we could not get fresh past passes yet so we hit Buzz light year, where S kicked my rump royally.

Love my cheater's ride photo right?

Somewhere in this chunk of the afternoon S decided to have a frozen banana so I joined in and got a Mickey Bar. Really, they are no better than a Klondike bar, but setting and shape make this a fantastic treat! NOM!

Mmmm......

After that we did the Monsters Inc. laugh floor (on 30min wait). We both got a kick out of it.
I love the audience interactions!
Afterward when ever we passed "That Guy" (and we managed that a few times somehow) "S" would call out "On no! It's THAT GUY again" or something similar.
I was glad to see his playful side was out and about.

We went back to Splash Mountain at the allotted time. This is always one of my favorites and S enjoyed it too.
My one complaint is that people were talking too loudly the whole time, in fact we had the same issue on POTC. It was actually difficult to hear the ride sound track with the rude, louder voices of others surrounding you. Why do people do that? Dont they want to hear and enjoy the ride/show/experience? (Yes, it is another recurring theme for the week)

I think maybe I am spoiled. I have MOSTLY managed to hit non-crowed times over the years and I was not enjoying the park as much as I would like with all the pushing, shoving, and cacophony.

We then snagged fast passed for BTMR.
S really wanted to finish Sorcerers so went back to Main Street and played out the rest of the 1st quest.
Cute, but I was not interested enough to play another round that day (found out later thet S would have loved to spend more time on it) We posed together for the Pumpkin Photo as the line was short and I wanted at least a few shots of us as a couple.

We also caught the tail end of the afternoon Parade.

.

We returned to Tomorrow land. The lines for Space Mountain were still too long so we jumped on COP for some rest, A/C and nostalgia.
We decided to give Fantasy land another go. Still pretty crazy over there. I sighed and realized I would not get to see the princesses and took S of to Philharmagic. He likes Donald and its a fun show so we both enjoyed it.

After that we went on Under the Sea as the wait time for that was less than an hour. I was thrilled because it was one of the things I had most wanted to see.
The Que was really nice I loved Scuttle. Little Mermaid was my favorite as a teen.
I had the sound track on tape and have every word to every song memorized.
I may or may not have been quietly singing along under my breath.
The clamshell ride cars were cute.

.

While we were waiting in line I got a message from an acquaintance, Sunny, who had seen on Facebook that I was in Disney World (apparently she had been earlier in the day and already left) and wanted to get together while I was in town. She lives in Orlando. After a few messages it was decided that she would pick us up for breakfast the next morning and then give us a ride to Epcot after.

NEXT

 

[happybelle]

All caught up. Great pictures.

I always call and tell my CC and bank when I am travleing it helps prevent freezing your cards.

Glad you were able to figure out how to isolate the links, I learned something too.

 

[Nakkira]

By the time we got out, dark was quickly descending.

http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p740/nakkira1/DSCN8131_zpsbf733fae.jpg

We were hungry but by the time we fought out way through the crowds lined up for the Electric Parade we realized that we needed to snag a spot and wait till later to eat.
Perfect excuse to buy a popcorn bucket if you ask me. So I did.
I left “S” to hold a place for us and I fought my way through the crows to get our treat. The funny thing is that I can deal with a crowd much easier if I am on my own and not standing still. I am free to bob and weave my way around people and things so I feel much less claustrophobic about it. I procured my buttery yumminess and much like a salmon going upstream I worked my way back to my BDF.
He had been told me were not allowed to stand there for the parade so we squished our way into the crowd within the tape and munched on buttery goodness until the Parade started. (Yummy)
Later in the week he wondered aloud about the appearance of the white tape and referred to them as the tape ninja’s. We never saw them put it down, but it was there in time for every parade.
I miss Spectro Magic, but the current parade is still good and the light pretty to look at it. “S” is not really into parades so I cannot say he loved it, but when I snuck peaks at him he did Look rather interested.

My Girl!

The Mouse himself!

"Who R U?" - The caterpillar is probably the main reason I bought my own hookah.

Elliot!

When the parade ended we popped into Casey’s and bought hot dogs that we crouched on the sidewalk to eat, after moving a little closer to the front of the park to make our exit easier later. We had decided to take the public transit back to the hotel so we wanted to scoot quickly after the fireworks so we could have plenty of time to figure out where to go/wait.
The hot dog was pretty good. I am not picky. I like Hebrew National, and Oscar Meyer, but I all like generic franks to (just not as much) I had piled mine with sauerkraut and onions. (Is that why I did not kissed very much that night?) We also had plenty of gooey cheese sauce to dip our fries in. "S" had the chili dog covered in cheese goo. That was the second chili cheese item of the day for him. I guesse he really likes it.

As we finished eating, I had a brief moment of panic. Before the trip I had planned to get and present him with the “Grape Soda, Adventure Club” pin from the movie “UP”

I had left it in the room!
<sigh> I was not pleased with myself, I had wanted to give it to him either right before or right after the fireworks, I was just waiting for the right moment. Sauerkraut breath not with-standing.

“S” went to throw away our trash and I messed with the setting of my camera so I could try to take pictures of the fireworks. I practices on the pumpkin lights and just as he was returning to me the lights dimmed for the show. We moved closer to the center of the street and stood with an arm around each other to watch.

I surprisingly did not get very soggy eyeballs this time, but it was close. My heart was thumping like crazy as Tink flew across the sky. Okay, okay, I admit it! I squealed like a little girl!
My attempts to get a good photo of the show however failed. I need a tripod and a different camera setting than I was using.

The magic all to soon ended. I kissed my darling and reluctantly led him out of the Park. He admitted that it was a very good show, much better than average, but fireworks in general don’t really excite him (same with parades). He also agreed that it was indeed much cooler to watch fireworks that are choreographed to music. Still I got a clue later in the week that he enjoyed it more than he let on.

We stopped in one of the stores so I could get lollipops. (Monsters Inc. bundle of 3, one each for me, my sister, and my Mom). Somehow they became kind of a tradition us back when she (sister) was 8 and it did not feel right to leave MK without them.

I was a little sad to leave as that was our only schedules MK day but still I knew I would be seeing the castle a few more times, including our dinner and fireworks plans at the Poly on Friday.

We managed to find out bus stop without much issue. The ride back to our hotel was 45 minute, and that was the LONGEST Lynx ride we encountered all week. We decided it as vastly better than the hour and half ride on the hotel bus and just stuck with Lynx the rest of the week (most of the trips averaged between 30 and 40 minutes)
When we got back “S” declared we was to tired to shower but I told him he had better.
A. I wanted to not have to do it in the morning and we could sleep pretty late needing neither public transportation nor breakfast in the lobby.

B. It had been a hot day and we were both rather ripe.



We collapsed on the couch for a bit first. I fetched the jewelry box from my luggage and presented him with the pin. The setting was not as romantic as I had originally intended or envisioned but the message was still heartfelt and I believe, well receive. He seemed touched and also rather seemed to not care that I had yet to spend quality time with my toothbrush if you catch my drift.



HOT shower and bed.

NEXT

 

[missangelalexis]

It sounds like you had a good first day!! I'm glad you were able to see the parade and Wishes!

 

[happybelle]

Wonderful pictures Was the park as crowded as it looked everywhere or just at the parade?

 

[TheMaxRebo]

"It was hot and more crowded than we expected. This became the theme song for the entire trip. "

I can fully vouch for that - we were shocked how crowded it was. Though, I have returned to temperatures in the 30's in the morning, so looking back, the heat wasn't so bad.

Glad it seems that "S" may have enjoyed things more than he initially led on.

Very cute idea with the pin and I am sure the sentiment was noted and meant way more than the setting

 

[Nakkira]

Wonderful pictures Was the park as crowded as it looked everywhere or just at the parade?

It was pretty crowded all day.
There was certainly a higher concentration at parade time, but all day I felt like I was pressed in by the crowds.

 

[Nakkira]

Epcot

We got to sleep in later because my Friend Sunny was picking us up at the hotel, I figured we would hit Denny's or something and then she could drop us at Epcot.


We snoozed until about 8:30ish, and dressed for the day.
Me in a stripped shirt-dress and leggings, my DBF in his purple kilt.


I love a man in kilt.
I love my man in a kilt.
I was briefly concerned about chafing (for him, I had leggings) but decided he knew what he was doing.


Sunny met us in front of the Lobby and after some tears and hugging we were off.
A brief note, our acquaintance was formed by have a close mutual friend (her from college me from the History group I am involved with). This friend dies young, of a heart attack a couple of years ago and Sunny and I did not meet until the funeral. This is not meant to be a downer but an explanation of the heartfelt tears.


Sunny, has an annual pass so we decided to have a light breakfast at Sunshine Seasons.
Off to Epcot!


We were in the Land before 9:30 and "S" and I made a B-Line for the Fastpass for Soarin before ordering breakfast.
No Luck.
Gone already! Grrr....
Why????


See the last time I had gone I had a FP and gotten in line, but the ride broke down. My sister aand I stuck it out in line but as we had visited Club Cool before getting in line, by the time we were on the attraction I had to pee so bad I was seeing Yellow. I was too stubborn to get out of line, since the cast members told me they cold not let me back in with my sister after, but I can tell you, I was in Pain.
To tell the truth I really do not remember much of the ride, just the desperate sprint after to the nearest Loo during which I almost knocked over two elderly, a tall Man, and a few strollers!
Almost.. but I still have respect to I believe I just must have teleported past in desperation.

Really folk, if we are going to get anywhere at all with THIS trip report at all you must not let me side-track like this.



The purpose of my telling this story of urinal distress is to elaborate how much did I not only want "S" to experience the ride, but how much I wanted to as well.
Line was also already 100 minutes or so.


Ok, well breakfast first. Re-group after.
Seth and I each got the Breakfast Panini with Eggs, Bacon, Roast Pork, Cheese, and Breakfast Potatoes. I confess, I took a few bites before remembering the pic. He had hot tea and I coffee. Sunny got the platter, I ate most of her bacon.

The samich was good, albeit a little dry and too small for the price. The potatoes were well seasoned but were too cold by the time I got to eat them to be GOOD. IT would be nice if they let you pay THEN get your food. It was not an overly filling breakfast, a bonus for once since we wanted to be good and hungry by the time we made it over to the World Showcase Later.

Sorry for blurring our friend's face but I did not get her permission to post on here. Still it is a cute picture of me and the DBF so I still wanted to share.


We enjoyed our meal and sharing stories of our friend, forming new bonds of our own. Then Sunny returned to work and family and my DBF and I set out to explore Epcot.


Since we were already there we decided to ride Living with the Land 1st. I hurriedly gulped half of my remaining coffee, and tossed the rest so we could get in line. "S" held onto his tea for a few minutes before the cast members reminded him that he cold not take it on the ride. Then they told him that if he dumped the liquid but retained the cup he could get a free refill at Sunshine.
NOW they tell us.
We enjoyed the ride, especially ogling the fresh herbs and produce. We both love to cook.
And eat.
It's good to have common interests, yes?


NEXT

 

[Nakkira]

After LWTL "S" refilled his tea and we meandered over to Innoventions and found to our delight, that Sum of all Thrills had very little wait.

"S" had to ditch his tea for real this time but decided it was just as well, as the day was already growing too warm to truly enjoy a hot beverage.
I had never experienced this attraction before, nor had he, so I was eager to give it a whirl. After about 15 minutes we were designing our ride and were pretty much immediately experiencing it. I really like this. had the line not grown to 40 minutes long by the time we were finished I would have gone again to experience a different ride.

(I hope to remember to include the link to our ride design when I find the card they gave me)


We moved on to Mission Space, another ride I wanted to do before the lines grew to lengthy, and lucked out again with the short wait! (Good timing because again the lines had more than doubled by the time we finished)
we chose the intense experience, but I did warn my DBF that there was a strong possibility that I would be lightheaded and need a time out after.
"S" was the commander, I was... the Navigator!
Yes, in fact we did do the cheesy Max quotes from flight of the navigator.
Had to.


We enjoyed the ride, but I was just as happy that "S" did not want to linger too long in the dump shop because I was indeed feeling a tad out-of-body. Not too bad, but I would need a moment. I lead us to Innoventions and A
A/C.

By the time we got there "S" was sweating heavily and looking green.


It seems he was unexpectedly more affected than I.
Ignoring my own yuck feeling I dashed of to get cold water and a damp paper towel for him! He said he felt a little better after a few moment of rest so we left to find the Imagination Pavilion.

Since he likes Figment we did Journey first. I like the original incarnation better, it's much more charming, but this is still cute.

Big mistake, the sensory overload of this ride made him feel even worse. The skunk smell and loud sounds positively wrecked him. I quickly dragged him into the photo booths in the dump shop to shut out some light and sound but it was too warm in there to provide relief for long.

We found a shady bench outside but after 20 minutes he still wasn't better and I was beginning to think we may have to call Sunny to come return us to our hotel and miss our first F&W day. He kept saying he wanted to lie down.

He finally convinced me to at least go enjoy Captain Eo, which I had been dying to see again.

Link to Story of my First Captain Eo experience

I really did not want to leave him but he assured me that he was just going to lie on the bench in the shade and close his eyes.

Not my image but I feel a little guilty that I have few photos of this first half of the day


Did I mention I love Michael Jackson?
I do.

Judge me (or not) as you will be the man was, in my not-so-humble opinion, one of the greatest entertainers that ever lived.
Comments on his personal life, I request to please be reserved for CNN or IMDB message boards. Not here please.
It was good to see the show one last time, though it seemed that fate dictated that once again I would see it alone.
I left the theatre dancing but made a bee-line back to "S"'s bench.


Thankfully rest had made him feel a bit better although still not 100%.
We went to club cool were I enjoyed some tasting and flattened some of the Ginger drink for him.


He has an odd malady, which makes situations like this even worse.
He is physically incapable of burping.

You heard me right.
He can't burp.

So much as he loves beer it must be a tad flattened and I did the same for the Ginger drink, which Did in fact calm his stomach further.


We decided to slowly make our way to the World Showcase, it was after noon already, but I promised him we would head to the Chase lounge first for some more A/C.

I first snagged a glass of The Vegan Vine Chardonnay from the Terra Booth to get me started. I must confess there were really no foods on this list we wanted to try.
I enjoyed this wine, not as heavy as some Chardonnays.

I sipped it on the way to the ferry dock, was the Ferry was about to load so we could cut straight across the lake.


We boarded the Ferry, me outside snapping pics and him inside staying shady.

Strange accidental "selfie" that I did not know about until I got home.


NEXT

 

[Nakkira]

We got off the Ferry and headed over to the Florida Booth, I needed a snack. S was pretty close to ready to eat, almost fully recovered, but still wanted a little quality A/C time and a tad bit more rest to be sure.
My DBF is allergic to shellfish so ordering the Florida shrimp ceviche with fire-roasted vegetables and micro cilantro worked, as he could not share that one anyway.
I also ordered the Florida Orange Groves Key Limen Florida Key Lime Wine

Here, hold these please darling while I take a pic.

I really enjoyed the shrimp, in fact I wished there were more of them. There were 5 or 6 but they were so tiny that the cup was maybe two fork-fulls. Or make that spoonfulls. The fire roasted vegetable were very soupy. The flavors were well layered and the Key Lime wine was the perfect wine to accompany it, sweet, light, and citrusy. I could see myself drinking this happily any summer day (and boy was this day HOT). S rather liked it too (he did share the wine) although he does not drink a lot of sweet wines.

I enjoyed my treats while waiting in line to get up to the Chase lounge. The wait was not long, but the holding area could have vastly benefited from a sunshade. They must have been trying to thin out the crowd because for every 4-6 that came out she was only letting 2 go up.
In either case the line was not long and soon we were relaxing in the air conditioned room on couches.
Not to mention making use of the nice, un-crowded bathroom.
I have a tiny bladder, I also drink a lot of water, and have to go often.
Bathrooms matter.

I got myself a lime seltzer from the soda machine and water for S and we re-charged our cells and ourselves. At one point I made an inquiry about Eat to the Beat or Illuminations viewing band, and was told that there were none of those but if we were sticking around for a few minutes they had something else they would be giving away.

Sure enough 10 minutes later they came around handing out coupons.
It was free Happy Half-Hour, the coupon entitled you to one free beer or wine in the lounge as long as it was redeemed between 1:30 and 2pm. (that could have been 1:00-1:30, not entirely sure what time it was but in that range, hey, I did not have any reservations to make that day so the exact time was not on my mind much)

I JUST FOUND THE NOTE IN MY PASSPORT THAT SAID IT WAS 2:30-3- We really were having a slow day-11/11/13

S and I each chose wine and one of us got the red the other the white.

I cannot claim these wines were all that great, but they were free.
I did love (and saved) the lidded plastic cups they came in. I need these for outdoor parties, the lids would be great for keeping bugs out.

S was feeling much better and we were both hungry so it was time to leave and go explore the Festival in earnest!
At last.
My inner glutton was clamoring for it!

The lounge has a great view so I made sure to take a few shot before we left.

We also got a couple of "us" right after we emerged from the lounge.

Looks like I should have spent some quality time with a hairbrush before we got underway.


NEXT

 

[Nakkira]

Forgive this shameless plea for attention (I am a first time blogger in search of re-assurance), but I really am wondering.
Either I have some lurkers or not too many people are interested in this Blog.
If you are a lurker an think it is worth it for me to continue I would appriciate a thumbs up, comment, or a banana .



If you just swung by and think my trip report is putting you asleep you can leave
"Zzzz's.." or Snail

Speaking of snails I did eat some this trip....

Cheers

 

[Mousemom234]

Following along happily !
Except for the difference in years, you peoples sounds a lot like us.

 

[totebagg]

Following along!!

 

[Nakkira]

Following along happily !
Except for the difference in years, you peoples sounds a lot like us.

Nice to meet you!
Thanks for the encouragement. It's hard to fit this in while catching up on not only the week's backlog of normal work, but the end of Fiscal Year load (I work in Accounting, payables to be exact) It is more than worth it to me if I know people are enjoying my TR. I wanted to give back after all of the wonderful anticipation building blogs I read leading up to this. Also writing it helps keep the magic alive.

Following along!!

Yay! The more the merrier! Thank You and Welcome!

 

[Nakkira]

We were both ravenous by this point. It was close to 2pm and we had not had lunch yet. The plan had been to not have either lunch or dinner but to graze our way leisurely around the world over the course of the afternoon and evening in lieu of both meals.
We would share most things over the course of our eating adventures, enabling us to try more.
Keep that and the fact that we did this over MANY hours before you are shocked.
Ok, we still do manage to put away a surprising amount.
I eat.
A LOT
If I did not work out 4 times a week I would be huge.
I am allowed to say that, I was and I have lost a lot of weight through hard work.

Because we were so very hungry, I steered us in the direction of the Italy booth first. I had heard from other reviews that the ravioli was one of the most filling items available. I figured we needed to start heavy and create a base-line so that we did not gobble the rest too fast out of hunger to really taste and savor.
Could not resist another photo opportunity on the way.

BTW, I need to rant about Photo Pass.
I gave my card over every time!
Less than half of the locations we posed at are on our account. Including this one. I am VERY glad I kept giving them my camera to use too. But we lost all the magic shots, and lets face it, they try harder and have better cameras when its the photo they want you to buy.
WHERE are all my Photo pass pictures??????

Sigh

Anyway onward to food!
This is why we are really here.

We ordered the Ravioli de formaggio allemiliana and the Salsiccia e papacelli Napoletani.

The ravioli was as promised filling and generous. Very cheesy and creamy. It could have used a bit more bolognese sauce to balance it out but was solidly good.
We were unimpressed by the sausage. I have gotten better at the grocery store, too much sauce and not enough bread to sop it with. Very little flavor. I used the extra sauce for the ravioli.
It was not bad, just boring and way too tiny.

Looks like I found another good view on our way to Poland.

At Poland I got Okocim Brewery, Okocim O.K. beer. It seem that the beer girl was very bored and happy to have a customer.
Yay! I get to pour a beer!
Sweetie, you can pour me as much beer as you please

She poured me two. (Pixie dust from the Beer Fairy!)
So we each had our own.

Others have made this pun, but its true. This is an OK beer, like its name implies.
Its yeasty and has almost mild hints of fruit. Very crisp and clear.

S ordered the, Zapiekanki but I did not get a picture. I could not taste it because I am allergic to mushrooms. He really did enjoy it and said the free beer worked well with it.

Next we went to Germany
I order the Roast bratwurst in a pretzel roll and the BraufactuM Darkon in the souvenir mug.


He ordered Apple strudel and the Altenmünster Oktoberfest .

We lingered awhile here, slowly eating and enjoying our brews as well as some good conversation with the people sitting at our table.
Thankfully we really did take away a good lesson from Newark Food and Brew fest about pacing ourselves.

The Darkon was rich and Malty and very well balanced. I completely loved it. A good thing too since I had that whole big "stein" to kill. If I ever see it in a local liquor store I will be picking up a case. "S" Commented that is a very typical and good solid Schwarzbier, but not being familiar with style I wouldn't know. HE is more of a beer expert than I. Most of the beer I have made are Stouts or English Bitters. (Mostly I make Mead and cordials)

The Bratwurst was rather average and the pretzel roll would have been good I believe, but mine was really dry, almost stale I would venture.
The Oktoberfest was ok, but seemed a little too sweet for its style to me. S as a brewer with more experience with me, liked it but had more technical issues with it, sparking a long discussion about brewing with our table mates. The apple strudel was delicious, I loved the Karamel sauce.


Next up was the Cheese booth where we gave the Almond-crusted blue cheese soufflé with fig jam and Once Upon a Vines The Big Bad Red Blend a try.

This was NOT good. My DBF hated it.
I thought the Blue Cheese soufflé was WAY too strong for the fig jam. The combination was terrible.
Thank goodness for the wine to rinse with.
I scrapped the jam off of it and gave it another forkful.
I concluded that on its own, maybe with some bread, I would actually enjoy it in small amounts.
IT really was kind of good, albeit a bit mushy texture-wise.
The fig jam, likewise was good on its own.
Perhaps they should consider a goat cheese soufflé to pair it with next time. This is a pairing I thought of then and actually gave try this past weekend by spreading goat cheese on a cracker and topping it with fig jam. Yummy.
Even the food failures are good, because my brain always want to play with how to make it better.

The Big Bad Red was just a oaky, dryish table red, a little too hot on the alcohol in the mouth. Nothing to write home about.

We were pretty close to wanting a break, but as we passed by Africa we ordered a Spinach & Paneer Cheese Pocket

This was pretty big for the price and in fact would list it as on of the few "good values" if you are looking to make a meal at of some of the festival items with out spending the minor fortune that we ended up laying out over the course of our Epicurean Expedition.

The pocket was hot, reasonable fresh and pretty tasty. We both gave this one a thumbs up. The pastry was flaky and the filling just moist enough to balance the mouth feel. There was a lovely under current of Curry flavor, that I wished would be more of a featured flavor.
I noticed that a lot.

Flavors, Spices to be specific were Very mild at the Festival.
On one hand I understand it because the common pallet is not used to some things.
One the other hand is not half the purpose of such a festival to try things they way there are in other places, experience new culinary wonders?

You will see me revisit the "too bland" comments at least once or twice more.

The Pocket took over most of the spare space in our stomachs for a bit, time to do something other than eat for a bit.
NEXT

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm still here! I'm enjoying hearing all about the different items you tried!

Also, you should try reaching out to Photopass by using the Lost photos form. I had a bunch of pictures missing from my account but after contacting them they were able to find them all!

 

[Nakkira]

I'm still here! I'm enjoying hearing all about the different items you tried!

Also, you should try reaching out to Photopass by using the Lost photos form. I had a bunch of pictures missing from my account but after contacting them they were able to find them all!

Thank you. I just finished filling one out. I really hope they find some of my missing pictures.