testrack
05-21-2007, 04:40 PM
Hello all
May 13th & May 20th
Lynda & Bruce Harner
My husband and I attended the Food & Wine Weekends at Disney's California Adventure on Sunday May 13th and Sunday May 20th. Both weekends were enjoyable and I especially found the food demonstrations to be interesting and the food samples were great.
Sunday May 13th-Arrived at the Pacific Wharf for the food demonstration of Seasonal Berries with Chef Chris. The time for this demonstration was 11:45am, with limited seating. We arrived early enough, 10:45am. Good choice on our part as people were arriving shortly after us. A cast member eventually came through the line giving everyone a piece of paper with a number on it.
Chef Chris made a terrific salad of mescula greens, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, bleu cheese and candied walnuts topped with a champagne vinaugrette dressing.
Scrumptious.
After leaving we immediately got in line for the Sweet & Savory Crepes held at the same demonstration kitchen at 1:30pm. Lucky for us the "Taste of California" Marketplace was close so we could sample (for a small fee) some of the creations that were being offered.
On the menu was White Cheddar Cheese Soup, Seasonal Berries in a Chardonnay Sabayon, Chicken and Beef Scewers, Northern Halibut served with a spicy remoulade sauce, Pork with Couscous, lobster and shrimp quesadilla. I think I remembered them correctly. Anyway I had the skewers> My husband had the lobster and shrimp quesadilla and later we split the White Cheddar Cheese Soup. All were good with the exception of the skewers, they were not hot, the flavor was good but hot food is always better.
Now for the Savory Crepes. I do not recall the chefs name, I think I pretty much went into lala land when they announced they would be making bananas fosters served over a vanilla ice cream stuffed crepe, what can I say except this was exceptional had I not been in public with hundreds of people around me including cast members I would have crawled under the table and licked the plate.::D :D
Now onto wine tasting with Levendi Estates. This was not our first choice after the kitchen demonstrations, we actually were headed for the 2:15pm demonstration with La Brea Bakery but there were no seats available, all tickets had been given out. So we decided we would try the wine tasting at 3:00pm. There was only about four people in line so we thought what the heck. Wine was good, I am not a big wine drinker, one little sip and I am off to happy land. What can I say I am a cheap date. We tasted a Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvigon and a desert wine. I did not attempt the desert wine as I have found in the past all desert wines are just way too sweet for me. So we headed home for an afternoon nap. What a great day.
Summary of this weeked-Everything was good, weather was great not too hot. Crowds were bearable and both kitchen demonstrations went beyond my expectations. My hats off to the chefs as they were friendly, knowledgeable and a pleasure to listen to. Thanks to the Cast Members who made standing in line fun. Thanks to the guests for entertaining us while we stood in line boy sometimes people watching is the best free entertainment.
Shame on the guest who refused to stand in line for any event but yet managed to get samples of food by standing/sitting on the sidelines with sad puppy dog faces. I feel if the rest of us spent our valuable time in line waiting for the demonstration then you should too.
Not all guests on the sidelines did this, some sort of meandered over as the demonstration started and there were no seats available, I am talking about the ones who deliberately new what they were doing, avoided standing in line so that they could get there beers, wines and wander about instead of doing the right and fair thing.
Sunday May 20th-Last weekend we wanted to go to the kitchen demonstration of Sweet Sundays but the time interfered with the seasonal berries demonstration so we arrived early again and staked out our place in line at the Upper Terrace of the Golden Vine Winery, stood in line 1 1/2 hours to see this demonstration which starts at 12:30pm and we were the first in line but not for long, I think about 5 minutes later people started showing up. On the menu was Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with strawberry essence and coc0nut macarrons. Again the chefs were great and the Panna Cotta was excellent. After this demonstration we headed for the Pacific Wharf to grab a place in line for the kitchen demonstration of Spice Rack-Saffron which started at 1:30pm. We were number 22 & 23. Again we were close enough for us to get a bite to eat. I had the White Cheddar Soup again and Bruce had the Halibut. I am not a fish person, in fact I cannot even stand the smell of fish. So here I am talking with this couple behind me, Bruce is in line to get the food and he comes back with fish. Just as I was about to ask him if the fish was fishy I get this god awful odor of fish which sent me running from the line:eek: :eek: . I had to finish my soup several feet away from him, the smell was just overwhelming to me. Bruce said the fish was excellent and did not have a fishy taste, just smelled bad if your sensative to fish as the couple behind us thought nothing about it.
Onto the Kitchen Demonstation, on the menu, Paella. Ok so this may have been a waste of my time seeing as I do not like mushrooms or fish. The chef did not add any fish except at the end there were three little shrimps on a skewer, could he have not just left it with the tasso ham, chicken and other ingredients. I learned some interesting facts about saffron. Again this was a great demonstration and the chef was great.
Home for another nap. No wine tasting this weekend, once is enough for me. Plus I was cold.
Summary of May 20th-The weather was cold and gloomy. The crowds were not as heavy as last weekend. Again the same two people who were sitting on the sidelines for free samples were there again this weekend. But unfortunately they did not get a sample of the Paella.
Summary of the whole event. I was impressed with the all of the Kitchen Demonstrations and can't wait to try the recipes out at home. Every cast member was friendly, courteous and some were even entertaining. Thank you Sue for doing such a wonderful job at the Pacific Wharf Demonstration Kitchen both weekends. I have nothing to compare these two weekends to as I did not attend last years event and I have never attended Epcots Food & Wine Festival. But I would say with the space that they had Disney did a great job.
I think next year we might try the Annual Passholder event, "Taste" as we heard very good things about it.
I know that there is not much Disney can do about people watching from the side lines, and I know in most cases there were plenty to go around but it just seemed unfair to those who did the proper thing by standing in line for the demonstration instead of showing up 10 minutes before and parking their butts on a chair. I am not sure exactly why this gets to me but it does. Maybe because I just don't think it right or fair.
All recipes will be available at Disneyscaliforniafoodandwineweekends.com. We were told that all recipes would be popping up on the website throughout the rest of the year. They have the Halibut and Seasonal Berries with Chardonay Sabayon up on the website now. I have the recipe for the Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta if you would like it I can e-mail you a copy.
May 13th & May 20th
Lynda & Bruce Harner
My husband and I attended the Food & Wine Weekends at Disney's California Adventure on Sunday May 13th and Sunday May 20th. Both weekends were enjoyable and I especially found the food demonstrations to be interesting and the food samples were great.
Sunday May 13th-Arrived at the Pacific Wharf for the food demonstration of Seasonal Berries with Chef Chris. The time for this demonstration was 11:45am, with limited seating. We arrived early enough, 10:45am. Good choice on our part as people were arriving shortly after us. A cast member eventually came through the line giving everyone a piece of paper with a number on it.
Chef Chris made a terrific salad of mescula greens, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, bleu cheese and candied walnuts topped with a champagne vinaugrette dressing.
Scrumptious.
After leaving we immediately got in line for the Sweet & Savory Crepes held at the same demonstration kitchen at 1:30pm. Lucky for us the "Taste of California" Marketplace was close so we could sample (for a small fee) some of the creations that were being offered.
On the menu was White Cheddar Cheese Soup, Seasonal Berries in a Chardonnay Sabayon, Chicken and Beef Scewers, Northern Halibut served with a spicy remoulade sauce, Pork with Couscous, lobster and shrimp quesadilla. I think I remembered them correctly. Anyway I had the skewers> My husband had the lobster and shrimp quesadilla and later we split the White Cheddar Cheese Soup. All were good with the exception of the skewers, they were not hot, the flavor was good but hot food is always better.
Now for the Savory Crepes. I do not recall the chefs name, I think I pretty much went into lala land when they announced they would be making bananas fosters served over a vanilla ice cream stuffed crepe, what can I say except this was exceptional had I not been in public with hundreds of people around me including cast members I would have crawled under the table and licked the plate.::D :D
Now onto wine tasting with Levendi Estates. This was not our first choice after the kitchen demonstrations, we actually were headed for the 2:15pm demonstration with La Brea Bakery but there were no seats available, all tickets had been given out. So we decided we would try the wine tasting at 3:00pm. There was only about four people in line so we thought what the heck. Wine was good, I am not a big wine drinker, one little sip and I am off to happy land. What can I say I am a cheap date. We tasted a Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvigon and a desert wine. I did not attempt the desert wine as I have found in the past all desert wines are just way too sweet for me. So we headed home for an afternoon nap. What a great day.
Summary of this weeked-Everything was good, weather was great not too hot. Crowds were bearable and both kitchen demonstrations went beyond my expectations. My hats off to the chefs as they were friendly, knowledgeable and a pleasure to listen to. Thanks to the Cast Members who made standing in line fun. Thanks to the guests for entertaining us while we stood in line boy sometimes people watching is the best free entertainment.
Shame on the guest who refused to stand in line for any event but yet managed to get samples of food by standing/sitting on the sidelines with sad puppy dog faces. I feel if the rest of us spent our valuable time in line waiting for the demonstration then you should too.
Not all guests on the sidelines did this, some sort of meandered over as the demonstration started and there were no seats available, I am talking about the ones who deliberately new what they were doing, avoided standing in line so that they could get there beers, wines and wander about instead of doing the right and fair thing.
Sunday May 20th-Last weekend we wanted to go to the kitchen demonstration of Sweet Sundays but the time interfered with the seasonal berries demonstration so we arrived early again and staked out our place in line at the Upper Terrace of the Golden Vine Winery, stood in line 1 1/2 hours to see this demonstration which starts at 12:30pm and we were the first in line but not for long, I think about 5 minutes later people started showing up. On the menu was Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with strawberry essence and coc0nut macarrons. Again the chefs were great and the Panna Cotta was excellent. After this demonstration we headed for the Pacific Wharf to grab a place in line for the kitchen demonstration of Spice Rack-Saffron which started at 1:30pm. We were number 22 & 23. Again we were close enough for us to get a bite to eat. I had the White Cheddar Soup again and Bruce had the Halibut. I am not a fish person, in fact I cannot even stand the smell of fish. So here I am talking with this couple behind me, Bruce is in line to get the food and he comes back with fish. Just as I was about to ask him if the fish was fishy I get this god awful odor of fish which sent me running from the line:eek: :eek: . I had to finish my soup several feet away from him, the smell was just overwhelming to me. Bruce said the fish was excellent and did not have a fishy taste, just smelled bad if your sensative to fish as the couple behind us thought nothing about it.
Onto the Kitchen Demonstation, on the menu, Paella. Ok so this may have been a waste of my time seeing as I do not like mushrooms or fish. The chef did not add any fish except at the end there were three little shrimps on a skewer, could he have not just left it with the tasso ham, chicken and other ingredients. I learned some interesting facts about saffron. Again this was a great demonstration and the chef was great.
Home for another nap. No wine tasting this weekend, once is enough for me. Plus I was cold.
Summary of May 20th-The weather was cold and gloomy. The crowds were not as heavy as last weekend. Again the same two people who were sitting on the sidelines for free samples were there again this weekend. But unfortunately they did not get a sample of the Paella.
Summary of the whole event. I was impressed with the all of the Kitchen Demonstrations and can't wait to try the recipes out at home. Every cast member was friendly, courteous and some were even entertaining. Thank you Sue for doing such a wonderful job at the Pacific Wharf Demonstration Kitchen both weekends. I have nothing to compare these two weekends to as I did not attend last years event and I have never attended Epcots Food & Wine Festival. But I would say with the space that they had Disney did a great job.
I think next year we might try the Annual Passholder event, "Taste" as we heard very good things about it.
I know that there is not much Disney can do about people watching from the side lines, and I know in most cases there were plenty to go around but it just seemed unfair to those who did the proper thing by standing in line for the demonstration instead of showing up 10 minutes before and parking their butts on a chair. I am not sure exactly why this gets to me but it does. Maybe because I just don't think it right or fair.
All recipes will be available at Disneyscaliforniafoodandwineweekends.com. We were told that all recipes would be popping up on the website throughout the rest of the year. They have the Halibut and Seasonal Berries with Chardonay Sabayon up on the website now. I have the recipe for the Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta if you would like it I can e-mail you a copy.