A Foodie Celebrates 40 TR (Sept. 28-Oct. 7, 2012) About This Page:

[disney_duke]

Oh yummy, yum yum!! I just love the F&WF so very much. 4 years in a row, but I'm not sure how I'll make it next year.... I'm working on it.....

Yes, the button. I was confused when they did advertise "pin" because I knew it would be a button. Last years 40th MK thing was a button too (I have that too! ) so it didn't surprise me at all. I liked how they handled passing out the maps though. Last years MK was not organized with the maps and everyone just grabbed handfuls and armfuls of the darn things. Smart on their part to have CM's handing out just 1 Epcot map per person that day!

[lfredsbo]

WOW!!!!! You ate a lot of food at the F&W and you are not even all the way around........just kidding..........we did the SAME thing!!! It was way to YUMMY!!!!

Your David...............sigh..............sounds like such a keeper!!! first, the princess celebration, now the suggestion of taking you to France!

I am getting more excited about your TR now, as it is coming up on days when I was there as well - looking forward to seeing if we crossed paths and didn't realize it!

[lauriep]

Great day eating your way around the world! Thanks for all the photos. Love that moment during the movie in France... What a romantic husband you have!

[KMB733]

All that food looks delicious Sounds like a great time at Epcot. And you look beautiful in your tiara and sash!

[MayraLR]

Why are you torturing me with all these pictures? Everything looks delicious! Especially the lava cake.

[Colexis Mom]

Great eats from the F&WF!

[chezp]

Just as well I'd just eaten breakfast with all that food porn! I'm so jealous you got to be in Epcot on its 30th birthday.

[Cam22]

Wish we had been there a bit earlier to enjoy Epcot's 30th Anniversary! Neat to enjoy it and the F&WF as part of your birthday trip! Great choices at the food booths, too!

[shazza]

Your time at Epcot looks wonderful. Love all your selections at F&W ...

[llgmommy2]

I am starving now. Have you tried to order the wine onlive. We have a place called Friartuks and you can find just about anything there!

[shnewell]

Originally Posted by lazanya

Great time at Epcot! All the food looks so good!

It was all good! I love to try new things, so I was in heaven!

Originally Posted by disney_duke

Oh yummy, yum yum!! I just love the F&WF so very much. 4 years in a row, but I'm not sure how I'll make it next year.... I'm working on it.....

Yes, the button. I was confused when they did advertise "pin" because I knew it would be a button. Last years 40th MK thing was a button too (I have that too! ) so it didn't surprise me at all. I liked how they handled passing out the maps though. Last years MK was not organized with the maps and everyone just grabbed handfuls and armfuls of the darn things. Smart on their part to have CM's handing out just 1 Epcot map per person that day!

Oh, I think I'm hooked. We're cruising on the Dream at Thanksgiving next year, so a F&WF trip is probably not in the cards, but after that, I'm going to find a way to be there every fall!

Originally Posted by lfredsbo

WOW!!!!! You ate a lot of food at the F&W and you are not even all the way around........just kidding..........we did the SAME thing!!! It was way to YUMMY!!!!

Your David...............sigh..............sounds like such a keeper!!! first, the princess celebration, now the suggestion of taking you to France!

I am getting more excited about your TR now, as it is coming up on days when I was there as well - looking forward to seeing if we crossed paths and didn't realize it!

I can't wait to see if we did cross paths! And we're just getting our feet wet with the food....

Originally Posted by lauriep

Great day eating your way around the world! Thanks for all the photos. Love that moment during the movie in France... What a romantic husband you have!

He's definitely a sweetie. I think I'll hang on to him for a while.

Originally Posted by KMB733

All that food looks delicious Sounds like a great time at Epcot. And you look beautiful in your tiara and sash!

When you start the day with Le Cellier food, you know it's going to be a good day!

Originally Posted by MayraLR

Why are you torturing me with all these pictures? Everything looks delicious! Especially the lava cake.

Oh my word, the lava cake was soooooo yummy!

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Great eats from the F&WF!

And there is much more to come!

Originally Posted by chezp

Just as well I'd just eaten breakfast with all that food porn! I'm so jealous you got to be in Epcot on its 30th birthday.

When we first planned our trip, I hadn't realized Epcot would celebrate a birthday while we were there. I was so excited when I figured it out. Of course, I had on my birthday button, so a lot of CMs commented that day, "Oh, you share a birthday with Epcot!"

Originally Posted by Cam22

Wish we had been there a bit earlier to enjoy Epcot's 30th Anniversary! Neat to enjoy it and the F&WF as part of your birthday trip! Great choices at the food booths, too!

It's too bad that your fall break didn't come just a bit earlier! But, truth be told, other than the map and button, there wasn't a lot of hoopla around the anniversary. I know there were some D23 events with Marty Sklar and others, but they were sold out by the time I heard about them.

Originally Posted by shazza

Your time at Epcot looks wonderful. Love all your selections at F&W ...

Thanks -- at most booths, it was hard to decide because it all sounded so good!

Originally Posted by llgmommy2

I am starving now. Have you tried to order the wine onlive. We have a place called Friartuks and you can find just about anything there!

It's been a few years since I looked online. As I recall, when we first had the wine, you couldn't purchase wine outside of Texas and have it sent to you. That law has changed, so maybe I should look into it again!

[shnewell]

Sorry for the long delay between posts -- we've been dealing with various illnesses for the last 2 weeks!

So, when we left off, David and I were getting ready for dinner. We had a 6:00 reservation at Victoria & Albert's in the Queen Victoria Room. Since we were all dressed up, we opted for a cab instead of Disney transportation. David was worried we'd be late, so we left the room as soon as we were ready to go.

We arrived at V&A at 5:30. We figured that if they couldn't seat us early, we'd just grab a drink at Mizner's Lounge. Thankfully, they were able to seat us early. The hostess snapped a few photos of us, then we were shown to our table.

I only brought my iPhone because I didn't want to lug my big camera bag with us, and I had neglected to bring our point and shoot on this trip. I now regret that I didn't bring my DSLR to the meal, since the iPhone doesn't take good low-light photos. Oh well.





The Queen Victoria Room was beautiful. There are only 4 tables in the room, and shortly after we arrived, another couple was seated. We were the only ones in the room for the whole evening. As the evening progressed, we learned that the other couple was there celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary.

We met our 2 servers for the evening, John and Dan. They presented us with our personalized menus to browse. They also showed us the wine pairing options and some additional add-ons that were available for our meal (more on that later). We decided to do the wine pairings.








Before our trip, V&A had called David to confirm the reservation and discuss any food allergies/dislikes. He told them he doesn't like seafood. They were able to accommodate this beautifully -- our menus were similar, but where mine had seafood, his had an equally delicious substitute.

Our amuse bouche course was a soft-poached quail egg, chicken liver pate, cauliflower panna cotta, and porcini mushroom cappuccino. My egg and panna cotta had caviar on top. The wine pairing was Ruinart Blanc de Blancs Brut. We were told that the chef recommended that we eat the items in the order I listed them above.

The quail egg was our favorite. The way it just exploded with flavor in my mouth was delightful. The cauliflower panna cotta was surprisingly good, as I'm not a cauliflower fan. The porcini mushroom cappuccino was not bad, but was probably my least favorite item from this course.



The second course was a salad. Mine was Maine lobster with herb aioli and miniature greens. David had roasted Long Island duck with pomegranate, pistachios and hearts of palm. The wine pairing was Michel Redde "Les Tuilieres" Sancerre from the Loire Valley.

Before the salads were served, John came to our table to prepare croutons for us. We had a choice of 3 kinds of olive oil and 3 kinds of salt. I wish I had written down what our choices were and what we picked, but I was too wrapped up in the experience to take many notes! Anyway, once we made our choices, they heated the oil and added the croutons and salt, then served them on a small plate. This was pretty neat, and we both enjoyed whatever oil/salt combinations we had picked.






Lobster Salad


Croutons


Duck Salad

Then we had the first of 3(!) bread services. This one was sourdough and salted butter.



The third course was Cold "Smoked" Niman Ranch Lamb with Fuji Apple and Curry Dressing. It was served with Grans-Fassian Piesporter Kabinett Riesling. The plates were brought to the table, then they poured broth over the top. There was dry ice underneath the plate that smoked when the broth was poured on it. It was really cool, and the lamb was super tasty! The apple added a nice crunch and sweetness.





After the lamb was cleared away, they placed chopsticks on the table.



The next course for me was Sake-Soy Marinated Alaskan King Salmon with Bok Choy and Soy Beans. David's was the same, but his protein was Kurobuta Pork instead of salmon. The pairing was Kanbara "Bride of the Fox" Gohyakumangoku Junmai Ginjo sake. Neither of us are big sake fans, but we trusted that the chef and sommelier knew what they were doing.

Dan came to our table to grate some fresh wasabi. He explained that this is very different from the wasabi paste that you get with sushi. The fresh version is much less spicy and more subtle.



We sipped the sake alone and it was hard to enjoy. But once we tried it with our food, the sake was the perfect compliment to our food! While I like fish, salmon is probably my least favorite. Nevertheless, this dish was one of my favorites of the night. The flavors of the marinade were bold and delicious.


Salmon


Pork

You can see the wasabi in the background. It was served on a cute little board covered with shark skin!

Then we had another bread service. This one was a rustic kind of loaf, with a crunchy crust and nice soft middle. I think the butter was garlic butter.



The fifth course was Poulet Rouge "Oscar" with California Asparagus. Mine also had Alaskan King Crab. The wine pairing was Domaine de la Solitude Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc. This was a small piece of chicken with bearnaise sauce. I think the purple thing in the front was a potato. This was good, though I don't have any specific strong memories about the dish.



Can you believe the meal is only halfway over?? Continued in the next post...

[shnewell]

The sixth course was Marcho Farms Veal Tenderloin with Truffle Bread Pudding, which was served with Hartford Court Land's Edge Vineyards Pinot Noir from Sonoma. The veal was so unbelievably tender and look at those black truffles on the bread pudding! The savory bread pudding was interesting, and I liked it.



Next up was the main course (is there such a thing in a 10-course meal?). The menu listed Australian Kobe-Style Beef Tenderloin with Smoked Garlic-Potato Puree. One of the available add-ons for this course was 2 oz. of Japanese Wagyu Beef. We both agreed that this was a worthwhile add-on that would allow us to compare the Australian and Japanese kobe beefs. The wine was Mollydooker The Maitre D' Cabernet Sauvignon from South Australia.



The Australian is on the left, Japanese on the right. The potatoes are obviously in the upper left, and some veggies are on the upper right. I tried the Australian first and then the Japanese beef so I could immediately compare the two. Both were amazingly tender, but it was interesting that the flavors were so different. They were so good, that I got tears in my eyes. David looked over at me and saw a tear escape down my cheek. "Oh my gosh, why are you crying?" All I could get out was, "It's so good!!"



The seventh course was the cheese course with Quinta do Crasto Late Bottled Vintage Porto. When we first sat down, I had noticed this amazing cart full of cheese over in the corner of the room. I was so excited when they wheeled it over to our table! We got to choose which cheeses we wanted, and I wish I had written down what we had! David loves port, so he was particularly happy about the wine pairing.





After the cheese, our servers told us that the final 3 courses would be dessert! If you do the math, 30% of the meal was dessert. These people clearly know how to make me happy!! We ordered the "Celebes" coffee service, which I remembered from our first (and only other) visit to V&A on our honeymoon in 1999.


Coffee "before"


Coffee "after"

So, dessert course #1 was Blood Orange Timbale with an Array of Fruits on a Raspberry Veil. Everything on this plate was edible, and eat it we did!



Dessert course #2 was a Peruvian Chocolate Cylinder with Elder Flower Sauce, Chocolate and Navan Bubble. The sauce on the right side of the plate had edible 24-karat gold in it! The chocolate "bubble" is on the spoon to the left. It was almost like eating a chocolate oyster. This was almost too pretty to eat -- almost!



For the final course, Dan wheeled a huge cart of chocolates to our table (and I didn't get a photo -- darn!). They are all handmade on site. There must have been at least a dozen choices. Dan described them all, and I took mental notes about which ones sounded good to me. Dan turned to me first to ask which ones I'd like. I chose the caramel first, then before I could say anything else, he said, "And you also want the candied orange peel and hazelnut." Those were the exact ones I wanted! It was astonishing to me that after spending a couple of hours with us, he understood my likes and dislikes enough to know which chocolates I'd want. How's that for amazing service!



After the meal, they presented me with a rose and then brought us a little bag with our menus in it, as well as a fresh baked loaf of orange nut bread. We had enough Disney Visa Rewards points to pay for most of the meal, which was nice. Before we left, we asked to take our photo with Dan and John. They had done such an amazing job taking care of us and making our evening incredibly special!



When we got in the elevator to go back to the first floor, we ran into AJ from the Disney Food Blog and her Disneyland columnist, Heather Sievers, and their husbands. They had eaten at the Chef's Table that night! I had met AJ before when she was visiting Houston. It was fun to run into her and have a chance to chat before we headed back to our hotels. During the cab ride back to BCV, we called home and talked to the kids for a bit. We got back to the room around 9:30, watched the second half of Monday Night Football, then rolled ourselves and our full bellies into bed!

Day 4 Recap:

The weather today was...hot.

The best thing today was...Victoria & Albert's

The worst thing today was...getting so sleepy in the afternoon and my still-sore-from-the-race quads.

The funniest thing today was...running back to the room to avoid the rain (I had to be careful so my tiara wouldn't fall off, and David thought I looked funny).

Today we tried...the Queen Victoria Room
And the result was...out of this world!

The most magical moment today was...when Dan knew exactly which chocolates I'd like.

Up next: Will we make it to the Top of the World?

[lauriep]

What a fantastic meal! I've never eaten there, and probably never will, but the experience looks just amazing. You know you're a foodie when the food makes you cry! You both look wonderful all gussied up!

[chezp]

Oh wow - everything just looks so good. I was thinking only yesterday that as we may be in WDW for our 14th anniversary next year, that maybe a return trip back to Victoria and Albert's might be in order. Looking at your photos, I think we should!