Disney's California Food & Wine Festival

Here is my "better late than never" blog post on the day I spent at Disney's California Food & Wine Festival way back April.  I had a great time attending a few of the culinary and wine demonstrations. 

I was a bit concerned that the demonstration area looked a little small... and I wondered how long I would have to wait in line if I wanted to make sure I got a seat.   But a kind Cast Member said that if I got in line about 45 minutes early, I would be okay.  That didn't seem too bad to me. 

The first demonstration of the day was by Bret Thompson, of MILK cafe/bakeshop in Los Angeles.  I hadn't heard of him or his shop at the time, but oddly enough I just saw him on the Food Network today competing on "Cupcake Wars".  So, maybe he is a culinary star in the making. 

Along with his Executive Pastry Chef, David Baker (yes, that's his real name), he proceded to make Banana Dulce de Leche Ice Cream with Almonds and a topping of Banana's Foster. 

His easy receipe for making Dulce de Leche is to just take a can of condensed milk and slowly simmer the unopened can in water for 2 - 2 1/2 hours.  Cool the can completely and then when you open it you will have a lovely caramel.  I remember a friend's mother doing this when I was a kid, and I couldn't believe that the condensed milk could transform into something so delicious.  I haven't done it myself, but I have to say I am going to have to give it a try.

Along with the ice cream, the duo also made Anzac cookies, which originate from Austrailia.  They are basically an oatmeal and coconut cookie with macadamia nuts.

I was pleasantly surprised by the generous size of the food sample (and the bottle of water Disney provided each audience member).   The quality of the food was very good, although I am not a huge fan of banana or coconut. So, neither the ice cream, nor the cookie would be something I would make myself.  The ice cream was very, very banana-y.. so, not a winner for me.  However, the cookie was delicious.  I couldn't really taste the coconut (a plus to me) and it was crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  Yum! 

Unfortunately, Bret did not have printed recipes to give out to the audience.  Instead, he directed everyone to his cafe's website.  However when I went to the the site, I could not find the recipes for these particular treats.  There is a recipe for a delicious-sounding double chocolate cookie... which I think I might like better, so I will not complain too much.  The website is http://www.themilkshop.com/ and the recipe is under the Press section. 

Overall, the presentation was entertaining, but since it was hard to follow the actual cooking... and there was no recipe to take home, it wasn't as informative as I was hoping.

The second presentation of the day was by Greg Stillman, who is Executive Chef of Naples Restaurant in Downtown Disney and previously was the chef at Catal (also in Downtown Disney).  I had been hoping for some Italian cooking, but instead Greg decided to present a Spanish dish... Gazpacho.

Greg suggested using a Vita-Prep blender, as he says it is THE BEST.  Well, I hope it is, because I researched it and they run $500 and up.  Yikes!  I think I will stick with my food processor.

For the Gazpacho, he rough chopped in the blender:

1/2 red onion

a cucumber (the regular skin kind, not the english kind... he feels there is more flavor)

2 plum tomatoes

extra virgin olive oil

2 red bell peppers

a serrano pepper (remove the ribs and seeds for less heat)

smoked paprika

apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper

He combined all of the ingredients into the blender and then chilled the gazpacho... but he did not strain it.  He really likes to have the texture of some of the vegetable pieces and not have it completely smooth.  His recipe is also different from a lot of gazpachos because it is more vegetable (red peppers, cucumbers, etc.) and less tomato. 

Chef Stillman also added a shrimp sauted with harissa as a lovely accent to the soup.  The whole dish was beautiful and delicious.

 

 

  

I really enjoyed the smokey flavor of the gazpacho and the fact that I could really taste the red bell pepper and cucumber.  It was refreshing and had a bit of a kick to it.  The shrimp didn't have a pronounced flavor from the harissa, but it was cooked nicely and went well with the soup.  Chef Stillman suggested that a nice dab of avocado would be great on top as well ... and I agree.  That would put it over-the-top.

Well, since this is getting long, I will end this post here.  I will continue with my "coverage" of the food & wine festival (including a wine seminar) in my next post. 

Chilled Strawberry Soup from 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian Resort

I must disclose that I don't remember ever eating the Strawberry Soup from the buffets at 1900 Park Fare, but when flipping through my Disney recipes I thought that it sounded interesting.  Some people might think it sounds weird... like my sweet fiance who didn't complain when he thought that the soup was what we were having for dinner... not dessert.  He also thought it was going to be warm... ewww.  He was very relieved to learn that it would be cold and sweet... and we would have something more substantial for our entree.

Another reason I decided to make this soup is that I bought a HUGE bag of frozen strawberries from Costco, with the best intention of making heathy smoothies for breakfast every day.  Well, that didn't happen.  So these strawberries had been taking up half of my freezer for a long time.  Time to use them up!

The recipe is so very easy.  I defrosted 2 1/2 pounds of frozen strawberries and placed them in a large bowl.  In the bowl I added 2 cups of heavy cream... this is not a light recipe  :)

Next, add in 1/4 cup sour cream...

... and a 1/3 cup plain yogurt (I used greek yogurt)

Then, 1 Tablespoon of sugar, if your strawberries need it. 

As you can see, this is super simple.  Just adding ingredients to one bowl.  Next, take a hand blender (or put all of this into a regular blender) and blend to a smooth consistency.  

Isn't it a pretty pink?

After chilling for an hour or so, I served it in bowls with a dollop of yogurt.  Those more talented than me might be able to dollop the yogurt in the form of a mickey head :)

So that's it!  My review of the soup is that it was good, but not great.  The creaminess was delicious, but it wasn't sweet enough for me (and I added extra sugar).  I think that it might have been better if I had used strawberries that were frozen in syrup and then used that syrup in the soup.  My Costco strawberries did not have any added sugar. 

This made such a  large vat of soup that I ended up making strawberry ice cream the next day... by using the soup as my ice cream base in my ice cream maker.  That turned out well, although even with more sugar added, just not sweet enough.

Nevertheless, this recipe was very simple and can be easily adapted for different tastes.  I bet it would still be good if someone wanted to make a lighter version with half and half and reduced fat sour cream and yogurt.  I am eager to try this soup at 1900 Park Fare the next time I visit WDW, and see if I came close to the original.

Disneyland food pics and reviews...

Hi everyone...

It has been awhile since I have posted, the holidays got the best of me... but that doesn't mean I haven't been visiting Disneyland (and eating!). 

I am going to post a few pics of items I ate at the Disneyland Resort over the past few months and I am going to try to be better about keep it up-to-date.

October 23, 2009... I told you I have to go back a ways :)

I decided to have lunch at one of my favorite sitdown spots in Disneyland, Cafe Orleans.  I love sitting outside and watching the world go by.  Also, I always have received excellent service.  I tend to judge good service in a restaurant based on how many times I get my Diet Coke refilled and let's just say I almost float away when I leave this restaurant!

I really wanted the Pommes Frites (French  fries covered in garlic and parmesan cheese) even though I was eating alone and I wouldn't be able to finish them... they are soooooo good.

And because I felt odd just eating fries for lunch, I also ordered a cup of the New Orleans Gumbo.

This was very good as well.  Thick and hearty, with a little bit of a kick to it.  A winner. 

Being right before Halloween, I also took a few shots of the cute holiday food items.

I think there was some sort of chocolate mousse inside the Mickey mug, but I did not purchase it.  Looking at how cute that mug is, now I wish I had!  There are Nutty Caramel Apple Cupcakes on the left.

November  6, 2009:

This was a decidedly non-gourmet day in the park.  In a rush to find get something for lunch, I popped into Redd Rockett's Pizza Port.  In the past I have purchased the spaghetti with ginormous meatballs or a pizza slice, but they have changed over to mini meatballs... and they didn't look good to me.  I ordered something different and got the Chicken Fusilli in a cream sauce.  Pardon the bad picture taken with my cell phone:

                                                                                                                                                                                                

                                 

The flavor was alright... cheesy and a nice garlic taste, but the texture was a little goopy for me.  It filled me up, it fact it was way too much food for one person, but I wasn't really satisfied. 

November 13, 2009

This week I was in the mood to try the Plaza Inn for lunch.  I had taken my nephew to the Minnie & Friends character breakfast a few times (which is GREAT), but hadn't tried lunch or dinner here in quite a while. I couldn't resist the fried chicken platter and am so glad I ordered it. 

The chicken was delicously crispy and a huge portion.  Easily splitable.  The biscuit and mashed potatoes were also good, but the green beans were a little soggy.  Oh well, who wants to eat grean beans when you have all that chicken?  Another good thing about this restaurant is that it feels like a table service restaurant... nice decor and they clear your trays for you...but it is cafeteria style.  They also allow you to refill your soda at the soda fountains, which I consider a "table service" benefit. 

At the end of the day I also bought a really, really cute caramel apple at the Candy Palace on Main Streeet.

This is my snowman caramel apple :)

It was covered in caramel and then white chocolate.  With candy Mickey ears, chocolate chip eyes, candy nose, m&m buttons and a sour candy strip for the scarf.  It was also beautifully dusted with some sparkle-y sugar.  Almost too pretty to cut... almost...

                                        

 

                                         

Awww.... he was delicious!

Ok.... lets move on to November 19, 2009:
It was blissfully uncrowded this day and on a whim I approached the podium at the Blue Bayou to see if they were taking walk-ups. They were! I hadn't been to this restaurant in a while because it is on the pricey side, even for Disney, and the last time I went I wasn't impressed. But, I was in the mood to give it another shot.

The interior of this restaurant is dark and romantic with the lanterns strung across the room.  It is really nice to get a table next to the "water" (the Pirates of the Caribbean ride), however, I didn't ask for... or get one of these prized tables.  When I first arrived, there was a guitarist performing, which was lovely, but he stopped playing soon after I sat down and he didn't come back (he is up on the balcony in this photo).

Here is the menu...

Originally, I had wanted to order the crab cakes, but I asked the waiter if the restaurant just ordered frozen crab cakes... and... they do.  This was disappointing because for $31.00 (for lunch!), I think that they should be making fresh crab cakes.  Moving on...   I have had the monte cristo sandwich both here and at Cafe Orleans before, so it wasn't a bold move, but I figured I couldn't go wrong with that choice.

They started me out with some delicious bread.  I knew I was going to be too full for my entree, but I couldn't resist.

And the cutest butter (Hidden Mickey!)...

Each meal includes a cup of gumbo or salad, and I chose the gumbo.  It was very good. 

                                         

Then my monte cristo sandwich arrive, with a side of scalloped potatoes and some side vegetables.

This monte cristo was nicely crispy on the outside, yet tender on the inside.  I recently had the monte cristo at Cafe Orleans, and this one was much better.  The Cafe Orleans version was more doughy.  The potatoes were decadent... buttery and cheesy.  And the veggies weren't bad either.  Good thing that is is so dark inside the restaurant... If you can't see the food, it doesn't have any calories, right?

Overall, it was a good experience.

December 9, 2009:

For this trip, I arrived in the evening because I wanted to watch (and videotape) the Holiday fireworks show.  I walked throught the gates of Disneyland just as the Holiday parade was starting on Main Street, so I had to make my way through the crowds to get to the Plaza Inn for dinner.  Everyone was watching the parade, so it was uncrowded inside the restaurant.

I had just gotten engaged this week, and I know that I am going to want to lose weight for our wedding in 2010.  I don't know why I think I can "diet" at Disneyland (not that they don't have any healthy options... they do..  I just don't have the willpower), but this night I was looking for a salad.  The Plaza Inn has a cobb salad on the menu which looked pretty healthy until the girl mixing the salad put a ton of salad dressing on it.  Oh well. 

The salad was freshly mixed when I ordered it and came with a soft, yummy breadstick.  It was a delicious meal... not as diet-friendly as I had been hoping for, but very good.

December 18, 2009:

On this visit I decided that I just wanted snacks instead of full meals.  I had just seen a holiday special on the Food Network with Guy Fieri in Disneyland and his son had a peppermint ice cream in a waffle cone that looked fantastic.  THAT was what I was in the mood for. 

 

 

 

 

Okay.  On that delicious note, I am going to end this looooong blog post.  I will pick up my eating adventures in my next post :)

Raglan Road - Dalkey Duo

This week's Sunday paper had a coupon for cocktail sausages, so of course my mind immediately went to the Dalkey Duo recipe I had been wanting to try.  I have dined at the Raglan Road restaurant at Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney area twice... and I have had the Dalkey Duo... twice :)

The restaurant has a lovely Irish Pub theme and if you dine late enough, there is live Irish music and Irish dancing.  It is very entertaining.  The food is good too. 

I love trying different kinds of beer, so it is nice that they offer a "flight" of beers (actually, several different flights).  That beer tastes mighty fine with this deep fried sausage appetizer. 

Here is the Dalkey Duo in all of its glory:

I love how they present some of the sausages on the forks, and then put extras on the side in a bowl.   It is hard to see here, but there is a little container of mustard sauce in between the bowl and the forks.

I wondered what the word Dalkey meant... was it a type of cooking method or something?  Nope.  It is a town in Ireland.

So, having gotten over my deep-frying fear when I made the Honey Sesame Chicken, I was eager to try this at home.  It is really quite a simple recipe.  Please note that yesterday I finally ordered a new camera, so the next update of this blog will have gorgeous pictures (I'm sure!).  For this one we will have suffer through with shots from my cell phone camera.

First, I began heating my canola oil in a big pot. This should get to about 350 degrees before you start cooking the sausages and it takes a bit of time to get to temperature.

Then, I blended 1 3/4 cups regular flour with 1/2 cup corn flour (masa).

Here is the flour:

And the masa:

Mixed together:

The I add the wet ingredients, 1 1/4 T of whole grain mustard mixed with 1/2 cup of lager.   At least, that is what the recipe said to do. 

Unfortunately, that small amount of liquid mixed with the flour resulted in a paste-like consistancy.  Not what we are looking for in a batter.  So, I ended up pouring about 12 oz of lager into the flour ... just enough to get a pancake-like batter. 

I added a bit of salt and pepper and then started preparing the sausages.  I used Hillshire Farms Lit'l Smokies beef smoked sausages for this recipe (Because that's what my coupon was for!).  The prep couldn't be more simple.  Just coat the sausages with flour.

Then you shake off the excess flour, coat in the batter, and (carefully) place the sausages in the hot oil.

While these sizzled away, I made the delicious mustard dipping sauce.  Now, the name of the dipping sauce is kind of misleading, because the sauce has more mayo in it than mustard, but I guess mayonaisse dipping sauce doesn't sound as appealing.   So, I put 10 T of (light) mayo (ha!) and 7 1/2 T of whole grain mustard in a bowl.  Added the juice of half a lime, a bit of salt and pepper and stirred it up.  Yum.

 

At this point, the sausages had browned up and I drained them on a plate lined with paper towels.

Then they were ready to eat!

I stuck them on forks as an homage to the restaurant's presentation. 

So, how did they turn out?  They were pretty good.  The batter seemed a little bit soft, so maybe I should have left them in the oil a tad longer.  Also, the sausages I used were small in comparison to the thickness of the batter.  I think that it would have been more like the original if I had used bigger cocktail sausages. 

However, they did taste good and the dipping sauce was delicious.  It makes a lot of sausages, and even with just a salad on the side this was a pretty decadent meal. 

We had a lot of sausages leftover, so I put the extras in a baggie with a paper towel (to absorb any moisture).  Two nights later I decided to heat them up in the oven... on a metal cooling rack placed over a baking sheet... so the heat goes all the way around the sausages.  And guess what.  They tasted better than the first night.  They were nice and crispy and the dipping sauce benefited from having time for the flavors to meld in the refridgerator. 

So, knowing how well they reheated, I think that this is a great dish to serve at a party.  Do the bulk of the work the day before, then just reheat on the baking sheet/cooling rack combo for about 10 minutes before you want to serve.  Perfect!

Raglan Road charges about $10.50 for this appetizer meant for two.  After buying the sausages, mustard and beer I probably spent about $5 (plus pantry items).  Although I actually had to spend more money since I had to buy a 6 pack of beer.  So, yes mine was cheaper, and I had more sausages, but the restaurant price isn't bad.   And the beer didn't go to waste :)

Oh, and a comment about the beer I used.  I probably should have been authentic and used an Irish lager, but I found Karl Strauss lager in my supermarket and I definitely wanted to buy it.  It is a San Diego beer that is served at Disney's California Adventure park and I have always enjoyed it there.  It is really good.

If you would like to try the Dalkey Duo at Raglan Road at Walt Disney World, or taste a refreshing Karl Strauss beer at Disney's California Adventure, contact me at http://www.kingdomplanners.com/ and I can make it happen :)

Susan

Eating around the Disneyland Resort...

This is a different kind of post for me.  Instead of cooking a Disney recipe, I am going to review some of the foods I have eaten at Disneyland/California Adventure over the past few weeks.

Part of my job as a Disney Travel Consultant is of to be informed about all things Disney.  Since I live fairly close to Disneyland and California Adventure, I go to the parks once a week to research all aspects of the resort, and to do Tweets for our Twitter friends.  It is really fun, and I have the ambitious goal to try everything that the Disneyland Resort has to offer...  including the food.

Everyone has their favorite Disney treats, for example, I LOVE Dole Whip Floats.  I could eat them every week, but I have decided that I need to branch out and try new foods each visit.

I will start with with my visit on October 9th.  Disneyland was very crowded this day, so I decided that I would just grab lunch from a food cart.  Unbelievably, I had never had one of those huge turkey legs... and I knew that people raved about them.  From the number of people I saw walking around with those Flintstone-era turkey legs, I figured they had to be good.  So, I ordered one from a cart near Big Thunder Mountain with a bottle of Diet Coke and I sat down to a wonderful view of the Rivers of America.

Here is the leg:

And the view:

The turkey leg was very good.  The sticky coating took me by surprise, but it was very flavorful and there was a ton of meat on the leg.  Too much for one person, really.  I couldn't finish it.

That is one of the issues I do run into at Disney... too much food for a single person.  Since I often do my weekly visits by myself, I end up wasting food or just stuffing myself.  It is nice to have a friend to split items, and then you aren't too full to eat a fun snack later :)

Later on I did find more room in my tummy for my favorite snack... Dole Whip Float!  Yes, I know I said that I was branching out, but I figure that I can fit one Dole Whip Float into my rotation.  It will be my last for awhile. The Tiki Juice Bar was so busy that the Dole Whip line looked like it should be for a ride.  Then, when I got up to the counter I had to wait another 5 minutes because the machine had overheated!  I finally got my Float and I was happy.

I love pineapple, so I love the intensely sweet juice with the more subtle pineapple flavor of the ice cream.  The texture is very light and smooth and the whole thing is just very refreshing.   Thumbs up!

50s Prime Time Cafe S'mores

My sister and I had these S'mores when we visited Walt Disney World last May.  They are available at the 50s Prime Time Cafe, but since we didn't have a reservation we decided to order them from the adjacent bar, the Tune-In Lounge.  It is great to know that if you can get a seat at the bar you can order from the full Prime Time menu.  Our bartenter/waitress was really nice too.

We each had one of their fancy cocktails and shared this dessert.  Too bad that the S'mores looked so good that we just started eating right away and forgot to take a picture.  Here is a picture of our drinks... Dad's Electric Lemonade and Grandma's Picnic Punch. 

I love the glowing ice cubes!

So, the recipe for the S'mores is really easy.  So easy that I can't believe that I haven't made them in my kitchen before. 

First I placed graham crackers (I used lowfat.. which is so funny since these things drip with chocolate, but every little bit helps) on the covered broiler pan.  Topped the crackers with Hershey chocolate bar squares (a good use for my leftover Halloween chocolate bars).  Then big marshmellows.

I then put them under the broiler and kept a close watch on them.  They browned up in less than 2 minutes, so you want to make sure you are there to take them out as soon as they are done. 

Then I just plated them and gave it an artistic squirt of chocolate syrup, just like they do in WDW.

Ok, they might not look just as pretty as they do in WDW, but they were very yummy.  The 50s Prime Time Cafe charges $4.79 for this dessert, and I made two servings which would go for $9.58.  The full packages of the ingredients that I needed for this recipe cost less that this, and of course I have plenty of crackers, marshmellows, etc leftover for future recipes.  So, considering how little effort this took, it is a no-brainer to make these at home!

If you do want to go to Walt Disney World to try the original, contact me at http://www.kingdomplanners.com/ and we will help you plan a magical vacation!