foodie friday : epcot flower & garden festival.

You might be confused about the title of this post. Do I mean the Food & Wine Festival instead? Not at all. The Flower & Garden Festival has stepped up its game and brought out a variety of outdoor kitchens to accompany their beautiful plants. As pescas, we couldn't sample every kitchen, but most of the ones we tried were amazing.


We started out our spin around the World Showcase with a stop at the Pineapple Promenade. This was my most-anticipated booth for only one thing: spiked dole whip. If you've never had a dole whip, you should remedy that as soon as possible. It's a delicious pineapple soft serve with pineapple juice. Simple, but crazy delicious. Epcot's special version includes either Myer's Dark Rum or Parrot Bay Coconut Rum. Paul chose dark, while I went with coconut. We were thrilled to notice that it was a heavy pour of each--no skimping here! As expected, it was a wonderful treat on a hot day.


Next: Buttercup Cottage near England. The food sounded delicious, but we chose some refreshing drinks to wash down the dole whip. I went with a chilled rose blush lemonade with raspberry, while Paul sipped on a Twinings cold brewed English classic with lemongrass syrup. Both were yummy--mine was sweet and tangy, while Paul's was more understated. A+.


Bonjour, you beauties. Fleur de Lys in France was our next foodie destination, and it did not disappoint. I tasted my very first macaron--an oversized orange blossom macaron with white chocolate ganache--and it was heavenly. Soft, chewy, and the flavor was just perfect. Paul selected the (ultra-girly) La Vie en Rose frozen slush, made up of vodka, grey goose orange, st. germain liquor, & white and red cranberry juice. He immediately poured it into my empty lemonade cup before we could continue our stroll.



Near Morocco's Taste of Marrakesh, we chose their signature drink--a Desert Rose. It was sparkling wine with pomegranate liqueur. Paul didn't love it, but I thought the flavor was good, and who doesn't like a little bubbly in the middle of the day?


One of our best decisions was going with the frushi at Japan's Hanami. Frushi turned out to be pineapple, strawberries, and melon rolled with coconut rice, served with raspberry sauce, sprinkled with toasted coconut, and served with whipped cream on the side. YUM. Not overly sweet, but just enough. The coconut rice was the star here. I wish we'd gone back for seconds!


At this point, we skipped over America's Smokehouse, where there was nothing we wanted to eat. We landed next at Italy's Primavera Kitchen. Paul ordered a three cheese manicotti for us to share. Unfortunately, we weren't blown away. The huge basil leaf was tasty and a nice touch, but everything else was passable. I blame my dad's Italian cooking for spoiling our tastes.


I'd been looking forward to the next stop--Florida Fresh. Paul had to get the Florida Avenue Blueberry from Cold Storage Brewery because, come on, blueberry. I sipped on the Hurricane Class 5 Florida White Sangria from Florida Orange Groves. Paul loved the beer, but the sangria? Eh. It was tasty, but the serving size was pitiful, and I expected some fruit in my sangria.


Lotus House in China was our next destination. We both ordered the vegetable spring rolls, which were quite tasty. Paul got his with some sriracha, of course!


We ate dessert before dinner at Jardin de Fiestas in Mexico. We shared the flan de chocolate abuelita. Yum! This might've been the best flan I've ever had. Normally the texture throws me off, but this one was just right.


We finished our trip around the world at Urban Farm Eats. This location might've been my very favorite, and I wish we'd tried everything there. Instead, we chose the picked beet salad with goat cheese cream, mizuna, and pistachios over arugula, along with some cucumber lemon water. Paul wouldn't touch the beets, but I loved them. Everything about this salad was perfection. I need to recreate it at home!

Did you go to the Flower & Garden Festival this year? What did you think?

foodie friday : be our guest @ disney world's new fantasyland.

We were lucky enough to be invited for a test run of Disney's new Fastpass service at the renowned Be Our Guest Restaurant of New Fantasyland! I'd heard lovely things about it, so we made reservations for my next day off. We drove down last Saturday and flew through Magic Kingdom (we were running late, as always...) to get to our lunch reservation on time. The whole trip, this song was running through my head:


So, how did Be Our Guest measure up?



After checking in, we received our magical rose token and made our way across the bridge toward Beast's castle. You can see it in the distance in the first photo. Disney's Imagineers did an amazing job here--the bridge allows gorgeous views of New Fantasyland and the nearly-complete Seven Dwarves Mine Train.


We entered what I think is a library or a study to confirm and pay for our dining selections on a touch screen set-up. It was well-organized and had a bit of an electric buzz as everyone prepared to enter the amazing dining space...






There were three "rooms" to choose from: the main ballroom, Beast's dark study, and a gallery in which the music box-esque Beauty & the Beast is found. We chose a small table in a quiet corner of the main ballroom, right next to the windows. Looking up, you can see magical snow drifting down into the scene through the windows. It was gorgeous!


Once we chose a seat, a cast member with a huge wooden cart "found" us using the rose token. It has some sort of GPS in it which they follow using a screen on the cart. It was so neat--and fast! Now, the food? The soups were divine. Vegetarian french onion soup for Paul, and potato & leek soup for me. Both had so much flavor and were very rich. The entrees were passable, but slightly bland. I went with the quinoa salad, while Paul chose the tuna nicoise salad. We wouldn't order them again.
But the Master's cupcake? Sacrebleu! It was delicious! A springy chocolate sponge cake topped with "the grey stuff" from the song! Honestly, I could've just eaten the frosting by itself. It wasn't overly sweet like most frostings. It was just right, and I was thrilled to notice that the center of the cupcake was also filled with it. Score!

Afterward, we played some Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom before settling down for the new Festival of Fantasy Parade. But more on that later!

foodie friday : flying fish cafe @ disney world's boardwalk.

This is coming a tad late, but please forgive me! The last month has been a whirlwind since we got back from our first anniversary Disney getaway. Regardless, I still haven't stopped dreaming about the meal we had at the Flying Fish Cafe.




When I was planning out our trip, I was looking for someplace off the beaten path at Disney. It had to have delicious food, but without the craziness and noise of the in-park restaurants. Flying Fish Cafe was perfect: intimate, just the right amount of fancy, and it was a wonderful little walk from Epcot to the Boardwalk.



First things first, we ordered drinks. Paul got the cute little light-up drink on the left (it had a souvenir glow cube!), while I went with a pomegranate cosmopolitan. Both were very yummy.



We ordered two appetizers, since we couldn't choose between them! The waiter very sweetly had the appetizers split into two so that they were more accessible to each of us, so imagine these portions doubled! On the left is the Yellowfin Tuna Tartare and Crispy Tempura Tuna-Vegetable Sushi Roll, while the right is the Mozzarella di Bufala alla Caprese. Amazing. Every single thing tasted fresh and full of flavor. We ate them slowly and savored each bite!




Our entrees blew us away. I ordered the Horseradish, Herb, and Brioche-crusted Atlantic Coast Flounder (above), while Paul got the Fragrant Asian Spice-crusted Yellowfin Tuna “Fillet”. My mouth is watering just thinking about these dishes. My flounder had the most amazing crust, with just a hint of horseradish. Paul's tuna was so tender, it just melted in our mouths. YUM.



When our waiter got wind that it was our anniversary, he brought out the sweetest complimentary dessert--a raspberry & chocolate creme brulee with biscotti and CHAMPAGNE! We almost burst from all the good food.


And so, I leave you with this photo of Paul from when we were walking through after-hours Epcot. Our anniversary dinner was perfect!

one year.

365 days! An entire year, and here we are. So stereotypical, but it did fly by. If this is any indication of the years to come, we really need to treasure and enjoy every single day. Today will be tomorrow in the blink of an eye.

These aren't the best photos, but I wanted to share some quick shots of our actual anniversary evening. Our anniversary dinner will be featured on this week's foodie friday, but here are the befores and afters.




After spending the day in Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom, we headed back to the resort to get changed for dinner. We planned to wander Magic Kingdom that night til one a.m. (extra magic hours for the win!), so I wanted to look nice, but still be comfortable. Thank goodness for maxi dresses! And doesn't Paul look darling in his bow tie?? Our waiter was kind enough to offer to take a photo of us together.




We met up with a friend in Magic Kingdom later, and invited her to share some cake with us. Yep, we brought the cake with us to Disney! It looked great considering it'd been moved from Ormond to Palm Coast to Saint Augustine to Orlando over the course of a year! Thanks to my mom for great wrapping and our friend/cake artist, Dana for making such a beautiful and delicious cake.




I'm so thankful to have these photos!

And thank you to Paul--my rock, my calm place. The one person who can make me laugh in any situation, turning tears to giggles effortlessly. You never cease to make me smile, and I thank the world every single day that I can spend it with you. ♥