Yes, It IS About the Food OR Two Foodies Do WDW From Table To Table--TR About This Page:

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by Her Dotness

Here's an example of what strange things I sometimes wonder about--

What does Disney do with the pieces of the gingerbread structures after Christmas?

That's a lot of organic material to dispose of since the GBH contains nearly 150 lbs. of gingerbread.

That's interesting and never thought about it!

[His Drewness]

I told Her Dotness, the gingerbread house gets dunked in milk until it dissolves but she somehow doesn't believe me

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by His Drewness

I told Her Dotness, the gingerbread house gets dunked in milk until it dissolves but she somehow doesn't believe me

That would be interesting or perhaps not, like watching paint dry at the same pace?

[SheLovesAriel]

Originally Posted by Her Dotness

I was somewhat disappointed we didn't get to see the GF's holiday decorations. The GB House didn't even open until the Friday before Thanksgiving last year, a week later than in '13.

A CM told me the decorations "never" go up there until so-called Black Friday. She looked at me as though I was delusional when I said they were up on the Friday BEFORE Thanksgiving when we stayed there in '13.

One of the WL club concierges said that they'd heard there might be lots of resorts undecorated until after Thanksgiving. Why, he didn't say.

The GF decorations and gingerbread house were up when we arrived for breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe on the Tuesday BEFORE Thanksgiving. The contemporary gingerbread display was up the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The Beach Club's gingerbread carousel was up the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

The decorations and trees were everywhere when I arrived the weekend before Thanksgiving -- there were decorations at Animal Kingdom the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Epcot - by Tuesday before thanksgiving, etc.

I love the GF decorations too.

[SheLovesAriel]

Originally Posted by Her Dotness

Here's an example of what strange things I sometimes wonder about--

What does Disney do with the pieces of the gingerbread structures after Christmas?

That's a lot of organic material to dispose of since the GBH contains nearly 150 lbs. of gingerbread.

I guess I just assumed they reused them - can you spray them with something to preserve them? - because it sounds like the same decorations go up year after year?

Hmmmm.... if they have to dispose of them that is a lot of waste....

[Her Dotness]

Originally Posted by SheLovesAriel

I guess I just assumed they reused them - can you spray them with something to preserve them? - because it sounds like the same decorations go up year after year?

Hmmmm.... if they have to dispose of them that is a lot of waste....

No, none of it is reused but for the window frames and sales counter at the back along with porch furniture (shows what I knew! Didn't consider that it's a fully built house with gingerbread siding and shingles affixed to it), Santa figure, etc. and other structural supports most likely. All the parts that would normally be edible are freshly made each year which is why it takes so long to erect the house and put on the finishing touches.

It was really interesting to watch the chef spraying "snow" onto the roof just before the house opened when we stayed at the GF in '13.

The life-size gingerbread house celebrates 16 years at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa – the pastry chefs use the same building plans to re-create a fresh masterpiece each year, using a classic gingerbread recipe from Austria (they estimate 400 hours of baking). The house stands 16 feet high and features 40 window panes, made with a whopping 1,050 pounds of honey, 700 pounds of chocolate, 600 pounds of confectioner’s sugar, 35 pounds of spices, 800 pounds of flour, 140 pints of egg whites and 180 pounds of apricot glaze – more than 10,000 pieces of gingerbread make up the house.
Over-the-Top Gingerbread Creations Wow Walt Disney World Resort Guests « Disney Parks Blog

[Her Dotness]

We'll get the Yachtsman Steakhouse review up sometime this evening (Okay, I lied here as it went up scarcely an hour after I posted this. Sue me, go ahead and try! ), so consider this your advance warning NOT to look at that one unless you've just eaten a satisfying amount. I could hardly finish the review, I was salivating so upon looking at those photos, recalling how delicious it all was. What a wonderful restaurant! And how very silly we were to resist going there previously because we'd have had to jockey about to get to YC when we stayed at the GF.

We just had no idea how close YC actually was by car until we drove over there from WL this trip. Since we drove to WDW for the first time in the fall of '13, we could easily have retrieved the car from GF's valet parking and driven to YC.

After discovering that it was much simpler to go by car to Epcot than take Disney transportation, we ended up using the car this last trip more than we thought initially that we would.

Of course, it helps that Drew has disabled plates, so we were able to park very close to the Epcot entrance and the edge of the huge MK lot at the TTC. I doubt that the car would be much of an advantage were we to go during busier times, but it certainly was during our preferred less-busy week before Thanksgiving.

[Her Dotness]

This was just too interesting to see the "naked" house before all those gingerbread shingles are stuck onto it. Really short time-lapse video if you'd like a Reader's Digest view of the construction.

Time-Lapse Video: Grand Floridian’s Gingerbread House « Disney Parks Blog

And then, this sequence of photos gives closer looks at various stages of the process as well as answering my question about what's done with all that gingerbread. It's composted, so I'm guessing that the gingerbread is formulated to be significantly harder than any you could eat so as not to need any type of fixative. Otherwise, composting it wouldn't be possible because you can't put anything with even traces of chemicals like that into a compost pile ordinarily.

https://collinsrace1.wordpress.com/t...erbread-house/

[Her Dotness]

Yachtsman Steakhouse was a delight from start to finish, simple as that.

I was impressed by the layout of the area where we were seated, alcoves and small rooms which gave a feeling of intimacy as well as reducing noise level to some extent. Not exciting colors in the décor but neutrally appealing nevertheless.

Our waiter was a charmer. Sadly, I don’t recall his name, but he immediately made us feel as though he was our host for dinner in a private home. Very knowledgeable about the menu, advising us graciously and expertly.

And so to the food…

We began with appetizers which were just plain stunning both visually and flavorwise.

Drew was immediately intrigued by the charcuterie board‘s description. As you can see from the photo, the layout seems a bit this-here-that-there, but believe me, the eye led as well as followed the taste buds back and forth across that slab of deliciousness.



I’m glad I thought to tell Drew to take a picture of the charcuterie board menu, or we’d never have remembered what more than one or two of these things were, that’s certain.

In order, top l. to r.,
--Truffled Suckling Pig Pie--Suckling pig pate with truffle bits and truffle salt enclosed in puff pastry with port wine gelee.
--Spanish-Style Chorizo--heavily spiced with pimiento, garlic and cumin
--Country-Style Pork Sausage--garnished with sweetbreads, fatback and suckling pig.
--bit of grainy mustard, very tasty wholegrain mustard
Along the right edge,
--Lardo Toast--The fat cap of pork loin seasoned with paradise (whatever that is, no clue), allspice and juniper atop an olive sourdough toast. Garnished with arugula, pickled onions and parmesan. (This was simply incredible! As Emeril says… “Pork fat rules!”)
Bottom, l. to r.,
--Beef Merguez--Traditional N. African beef sausage heavily seasoned with chiles, cumin, garlic and fennel.
--Delicious housemade pickle variety above another daub of that yummy wholegrain mustard
--Bacon-wrapped Boar Terrine--Terrine of wild boar shoulder mixed with aged Gouda, dried cherries and pistachios.

Honestly, you wouldn’t think any appetizer could be more unusual after all that, but mine certainly was--shredded Peekytoe crab-stuffed doughnuts. And yes, as you can see, these look like jelly doughnuts coated with powdered sugar and topped with watercress.



I balked momentarily as bizarre as the description sounded, but then recalled a cinnamon-flavored Moroccan chicken dish we had at a wedding dinner once that consisted of shredded chicken in a flat pastry coated with powdered sugar. Remembering how delicious that was despite our initial misgivings, I decided to try these and was VERY glad I did. The drawback was that I was almost too stuffed to eat anything else. Really, there should have been just one of these or else doughnuts about half that size for an appetizer.

Drew chose the filet mignon with sautéed green beans for his main course.



A superb filet, flavorful and so tender you could nearly cut it with just a fork. We’ve rarely had better. (Yes, we do share bites. Don’t most people do that? ) In fact, I was left wishing I’d ordered that instead of the prime rib I got which was excessively fatty even for prime rib and not that flavorful. Maybe it was just that I was too full already from those doughnuts. Anyway, the horseradish cream accompanying it was marvelous and really added some punch as did the au jus you see surrounding the steak.



The sweet potato casserole, on the other hand, was fantastic although peculiar paired with a steak, I thought, usually preferring that with a thick porkchop or ham. A perfect mix of crunch from the crumb topping, really flavorful sweet potatoes and swirl of marshmallow which I thought initially might be too sugary but may have been housemade, it was so light and delicious. Didn’t taste like the melty Kraft marshmallows your mom put on the Thanksgiving sweet potatoes, that’s for sure.

For dessert, Drew had vanilla crème brulee with berries, very fresh berries I might add, as he doesn’t like raspberries or strawberries and gave them to me.



My dessert was the seasonal sorbet trio, and regrettably, I can’t remember exactly what each one was so we didn't include the picture. One was pear, I remember, and a very fresh-tasting raspberry. I’m thinking the third was apple-maple. It looked like three scoops of sorbet with an angular flat cookie-thing sticking up like the tail of a jet, as close as you're gonna get to an image of that one. All three were delicious and the only dessert I considered, being so stuffed I was at waddle stage.

Yachtsman definitely made our must-do-again list, leaving us wondering why we’d never eaten there before. A wonderful meal in an elegant atmosphere.
　

[Her Dotness]

Insatiably curious, I went googling for info on what the abovementioned herb/spice might be and found this:

Botanical Name: (Aframomum spp.)
Description & Use: Also known as Melegueta Pepper, a rare spice indigenous to the West Coast of Africa from Sierra Leone to Angola. These seeds, which are closely related to cardamom, have a sharp peppery bite and refreshing astringency. Use in Moroccan and Tunisian dishes and whenever an exotic pepper taste is required.

https://www.herbies.com.au/shop/prod...productid=9092

And now you know, too, another meaning of "paradise." Makes sense that fatty meat would be enhanced by something peppery

[Cam22]

The dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse looks divine.

[xwewhisper]

Yachtsman holds a special place in my heart, as when I found out my CP location was Y&B that was where I had dinner with my mom to celebrate! I was really hoping for Deluxe placement and it really couldn't have worked out better for me I need to get back there for sure, as our meal was also delicious and you've reminded me of just how wonderful the atmosphere is too!

[chezp]

What a great meal you had at the Yachtsman!

[Her Dotness]

How's this for synchronicity?

Shortly after finding out what paradise is, I returned to the book I'd been reading, turned the page and there was an explanation of paradise!

The book, in case you enjoy food histories as much as I do, is Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking by Kate Colquhoun, and it's fascinating.

Paradise was among the North African, Middle Eastern and Indian spices brought back to Britain by the Crusaders in the 12th c. Possibly its name derives from people thinking surely a flavor so glorious could only originate in the gardens of paradise.

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you had a great meal at Yachtsman!