Pumpkin and Spice

Okay, let's try this one more time! (This is a long one! It was a busy day...)

Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early... Haha! That was a little joke. I don't wake up "bright and early" unless its absolutely necessary. And it wasn't necessary on Saturday. We woke up about 8:45, which was early enough, got dressed and smeared ourselves with copious amounts of SPF 55. (Yeah, we're pasty.) Before we left, we stopped at the cafe to get breakfast. I tried to get something healthy and filling (I didn't want to be too hungry before lunchtime rolled around.) I wound up having a cup of coffee, scrambled eggs with yummy salsa, most of a biscuit and a cup of fresh pineapple. Kyle had the "breakfast skillet"- eggs, potatoes, cheese, veggies, sausage and more cheese. After our breakfasts, we hopped on the bus to Epcot.

Today is the last day of my super-boring Hospitality Management class. I just have to take my final, and I'm free for a glorious three-day weekend! My next (and final) class is Cost Control and Wine, which Jenn really enjoyed, and I am very much looking forward to. Kyle and I are already members of a wine club, which has really taught me a lot about different wines and a bit about tasting, so it'll be fun to enhance that with some more formal schooling.

Tomorrow, Kyle and I are "leaving" to go on a mini stay-cation at Disney World! We booked a room at one of the hotels and are going to go enjoy the first weekend of the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival!!! I'm sooooo excited! The Food and Wine Festival is my favorite time of year at Disney World- it's like a foodie's dream. They set up booths all around the World Showcase, each representing a different country, each offering tapas-sized portions of food, wines and beers from that country. There are also wine tastings, beer tastings, cooking demos by notable chefs from around the country, and concerts! In fact, a band that I love, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (a swing band from the 90s) is going to be performing this weekend!

As minor as we all thought Tropical Storm Fay would be, she certainly proved to be a pain in the butt. It started raining Monday night, and then continued to rain until Friday. Daily rain isn't that unusual here in the summer, but it generally comes at about 4pm and lasts about half an hour, and then it's all sunshine again. This was all day, all night relentless rain. To illustrate, here's a picture of our parking lot from this week. You'll note that the water is high enough that you can't see the curb in some areas. (That little yellow car in the background is mine!)

As a result of the rain and flooding, we've been a little stir crazy. Frankly both Kyle and I were happy when the flooded roads cleared and we were able to go back to work. So, Friday night, we decided we'd celebrate that the rain had (mostly) stopped. We went to our favorite wine shop, WineStyles with a friend for the wine tasting. It's a great little shop- it's a franchise, and is owned by a nice couple that are passionate about good wine. If you're intimidated by wines and wine shopping, this is a perfect shop- all the wines are organized by "style" (ie. bold, mellow, fruity, &c) and every single wine has a card next to it that tells you what flavors it has, if its dry or sweet, what kind of food it's best with. And if that isn't enough help, the owners and employees are very friendly and knowledgeable, and don't mind helping you find the right wine. (Oh, and most of the wines are priced under $25, which is a bonus!) I'd highly recommend taking a look at the website to see if there's a franchise in your area.

We tasted some wines, and picked up our wines of the month, then headed over to the World Beat Cafe, a local tapas restaurant. Recently, they've been offering an all-you-can-eat tapas menu for only $25 per person. They have a special menu for the offer, with about 20 selections, plus the offer includes a bottle of wine, pitcher of sangria or three cocktails per person. (I had a chardonnay, but didn't finish it- we corked it and brought it home.)