Pumpkin and Spice

Last weekend, Kyle and I made a second trip to Epcot for the International Food and Wine Festival. What can I say? I got full last time!

This time it was just a day trip- we slept in a bit and wound up getting to Epcot around noon-thirty. I wanted to ride Spaceship Earth, so we did that, then headed to Mexico, where we met up with Gina, the Fitnessista!

At this point, it was about 1:30, and I hadn't eaten anything except a cup of coffee and a slice of toast, so I was ready for the eatin' to commence! Our first stop was Spain, where I got the Seared Tuna Loin with Red Pepper Coulis, along with a tasting of Bodega Don Olegario Albarino (a white wine). The tuna was good, though the coulis was my favorite part! It was fresh tasting and spicy- yum!

Next stop was the Australia booth, where I got Pepperberry Prawns with Sweet Potato Hash. The sweet potato hash was divine- very simple, with onion, peppers and ground black pepper, but the simplicity really let the potatoes shine. Kyle told me he'd share this with me, but then decided he didn't want any, so I was "forced" to eat the whole thing by myself.

Kyle stopped in Germany and got spaetzle, a German pasta-type dish. I'm kinda "meh" on spaetzle, so I ate a teensy bite to try the sauce, but passed on the rest. San Francisco was our next destination- I got a Beet and Goat Cheese Salad and Kyle got a Beef Medalion with Cheddar Cheese Polenta. I also got a tasting of Rosenblum Cellars Kathy's Cuvee Viogner. The salad was good- I might have liked my beets a little more cooked. I like 'em kinda mushy, but that's just me. The polenta was super-tasty. I ate a lot of Kyle's polenta- he politely refrained from stabbing me with a fork. I really enjoyed the Viogner- I'll have to look for a bottle of it next time I'm wine shopping.

I also grabbed wine samples from the New York State Wine Adventure: Fox Run Arctic Fox, a semi dry white wine and Merritt Winery's Bella Rosa, a very sweet lambrusco-style red. It was a little sweet for my personal tastes, though it would make an excellent spritzer with some club soda, which is not something I usually advocate. This had a very fresh, concord-grape juice flavor though, and I like my juices with club soda. It'd be a nice summer-time by the pool kind of drink.

After our wine break, we went to Morocco, where Kyle and I shared Grilled Beef and Hummus in a Pita (Kyle ate most of this), Chicken Brewat (A spring roll-type pastry filled with seasoned chicken. I ate most of this), and Baklava (which I ate most of, because Kyle doesn't like baklava...)

At this point, I was soooo full, but France was right around the corner, and I really, really wanted the escargot again. Of course, I sucked it up and got the escargot along with a sample of the Merlot Bordeaux Rouge. We sat at the fountain (which is where we got married! Awww...) and enjoyed the shade and I ate my snails.

At this point, Gina and her family had Fast Passes for Soarin', and I had a cooking demo I wanted to go to in an hour or so, so we parted ways. On our way out of the World Showcase, Kyle stopped at Puerto Rico and got a Mojito Slush.

We then headed to the Festival Welcome Center and got in line for the cooking demo- a demo by pastry chef Alice Medrich. If you aren't familiar with her, she has several books, including Bittersweet and Chocolate for the Holidays. I wouldn't exactly call her a chocolatier, but most of her desserts focus on chocolate. She has a philosophy of using high quality chocolates, and then reducing the sugars, fats and dairy to allow the chocolate and its unique characteristics to shine through. Her books are beautiful. She was promoting her newest book, Pure Desserts, which is actually not an exclusively chocolate book. She did, however, demo a chocolate recipe. (I imagine that's what people expect from her!) We watched her demo her spiced brownies, and then got to sample them. Afterwards, she did a book signing, and I got to meet her and get my book signed.

I was excited to go to the demo, because she was also doing a special event the next day that I wanted to go to soooo badly. However, it was an additional cost, and a little out of my price range. It was nice to get to do this instead.

After the demo, I had a glass of Tattingers' NV Brut Champagne and shared a cheese plate with Kyle. I was pretty drained from the heat and the sun (I'm not really a "sunshine" kind of girl... I mean, you've seen how pale I am, right?) so we headed home. All I wanted to do was change into my pjs and curl up on the sofa- which is exactly what I did!