Day 170: Burgers of the Caribbean

On our last day at Disney World, which wasn't really at Disney World at all, just our hotel, we had burgers for lunch in the sort of food court area we found in our hotel. Mine was the Caribbean burger, which had pineapple sauce and plantain to make it "Caribbean." I thought it odd to put plantain on a burger (kind of like putting potato on a burger) but I tried it and it was really tasty, though the plantain was a little unwieldy and kept falling out of the bun. The nice thing was, unlike the plantain I prepared a while ago, this one was ripe and properly cooked and a lot more bananaish. And the pineapple sauce on the burger was pretty amazing. It's something I might attempt on my own this barbecue season.

Day 169: Prime Time

While in the Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios, but sadly, MGM is no more), the hubby and I ate at a restaurant called the '50s Prime Time Cafe, a cute and delightfully over-the-top replica of a '50s TV home, where the waiters are sassy and clips from shows like The Donna Reed Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show run on loops on a variety of black-and-white TVs that are scattered around the restaurant. Because you're at "Mom's house," there are rules. No elbows on the table, you must eat your vegetables, and you have chores: you have to set your own table. The food is of the classic stick-to-your-ribs variety: meatloaf, fried chicken, etc. Ian and I ordered the two dishes that strayed a little from the norm: the agnolotti (me) and the poached salmon (him). For dessert we had a Boston cream pie parfait (me! so glad I ordered it!) and a brownie sundae (Ian...he was not). But while the food here was good and I'd never had agnolotti or Boston cream pie in parfait form, it wasn't the food that stuck with me. It was the ambiance. You see, when I was a kid, I really really really wanted to own a '50s diner. Or, failing that, I wanted to live in the '50s themselves. So this place with its amazingly campy atmosphere and the server (not ours, but one section over) who actually marched several diners into the kitchen to "do dishes" when they didn't eat their veggies (they were forewarned) was a kick in the pants. Plus it was air conditioned and we were in Florida in June. So it had that going, too.

Day 168: A Trip to Morocco

On our second day in Epcot, we made reservations at the Moroccan restaurant in the World Showcase. It was an incredibly hot morning, super muggy (as it will be in Orlando in the summer), and I was very cranky. I was beginning to tire of having to sidestep dozens of people everywhere we went, of being nearly run over by strollers, of being clobbered by passers-by without so much as an apology (Ian and I each suffered several blows from strangers who either sideswiped us or elbowed us and didn't even acknowledge it), and I almost asked if we could just go back to the hotel room and cancel our dinner reservation. But, knowing I shouldn't make such decisions while cranky, Ian and I went into the air conditioning and sat down for a while, and of course, my mood improved. We kept our reservation and walked into the restaurant at the appointed time, where a belly dancer performed and all the male staff wore fezzes. Our busboy (who did an amazing job and made up by far for our more surly waiter) even placed his fez on Ian's head and took our picture (see below).

Since we'd spent a few days eating new things and I had yet to venture toward any seafood, I decided to take a risk. I ordered the fish tagine (above). I'd always wanted to try a tagine, and I figured if I didn't like it, I could trade with Ian, who ordered the lamb cous cous. I actually expected his to be the superior dish, but when I got mine, I was blown away. So many spices and olives and vegetables, and the fish was delicious and tender. It definitely tasted like fish, but all the other flavors complemented it so perfectly, no other meat could have been better. Ian ended up being jealous of my order (as he often is), since his dish was lacking in sauce and was literally just a piece of lamb and some plain cous cous. He did, however, order the traditional mint tea that I thought was pretty darn good.

I think this might have been the best meal we had on this trip. Or--the best meal I had. Ian had better. He tends to have bad luck when ordering in restaurants. And somehow, I tend to choose well. One of these days, I'll have to try to make a fish tagine of my own. And it gives me an excuse to buy a tagine, like this one, if only it could be cheaper:

Day 167: Praise the Braise

Obviously, this picture is not of anything braised. It's my pistachio creme brulee, which I had after I had my very first braised lamb shank. By the time I remembered to photograph the lamb, it was pretty much demolished, and I was more concerned with eating than with taking pictures.

I had this braised lamb shank at Tony's, a restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. It was not one of the dishes the waiter recommended, but I've learned over time that waiters often recommend things simply because they have been told by the chef to do so--maybe they have a lot more steaks than lamb shanks or something. Also, the waiter doesn't necessarily have the same preferences that I do. Also, I usually have my heart set on something long before the waiter comes over to give us his spiel.

I definitely think I made the right choice with my order. Ian ordered the steak, which the waiter recommended, and was underwhelmed. I ordered the lamb shank and was in meat and polenta heaven. Braising really is just a wonderful cooking method. I've seen so many cooking shows where the main dish is braised, but I've rarely attempted a braise myself, and when I did, I chose too lean a meat and let it cook too long, thus creating a little pork knot instead of a lovely braised pork chop. But having tasted the potential brilliance of the braise, I'm not going to give up on it.

For dessert, I had another flavor revelation, and again my husband was disappointed. He ordered his standard tiramisu, which he said was okay but not great. I ordered the pistachio creme brulee (I am a creme brulee addict). To be honest, the brulee itself was good but not super amazing. What was super amazing was the candied pistachios that came on the side (they're kind of hidden in that little tuile cup in the photo. I'm going to have to try this at home. Pistachios have quickly become my favorite nut, and I'm excited to try them as many ways as possible.

Day 166: Watermelon Revelation

If there ever was a salad it would not have occurred to me to create, it would be this: watermelon, tomato, and blue cheese. And yet, when I tasted it at Boma restaurant at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Disney World, I was blown away. It was sweet, it was tangy, it had bite. It was lightly dressed--my palate detected red wine vinegar, a bland oil, and salt--and yet in its simplicity it was absolute genius.


As you can see, it isn't particularly pretty, but I assure you, it's delicious.

Of course, given that Boma is an African food buffet, I enjoyed and discovered quite a few taste sensations. Several preparations of cous cous and lentils. Pickled watermelon rind (an awesome palate cleanser). I actually ate ribs, they were so good (for years I've been too prissy to get all covered in barbecue sauce and gnaw on bones, but these were worth it--they had chipotle and something else--here's Boma's menu if you'd like to peruse it--though I don't see the ribs on there).

But this watermelon salad, man. It's unlike anything I've ever had or seen. I perused the web to find a few similar recipes, but I couldn't find this one exactly, though I imagine it goes something like this:

two cups watermelon, cubed
one cup cherry tomatoes
1/4-1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
dressing: 1 tsp canola oil, 2tsp red wine vinegar, salt

But since this has not been tested (though it will be in the very near future), here are some other watermelon recipes I found:

Tomato-and-Watermelon Salad: MyRecipes.com
Tomato and Watermelon Salad: Epicurious.com
Watermelon and Tomato Salad with Feta: Oprah.com
Tomato and Watermelon Salad: Food Network (Alex Guarnaschelli)
Watermelon and Tomato Salad (closest to what I had at Boma): NY Times

Day 165: Bavarian Cheesecake

I'm back from Disney World! As promised, I will be filling you in on all my culinary adventures.

So. One of the four Disney World parks, Epcot (which we visited twice on this trip) is all about innovations (innoventions), technology, and whatnot--or at least half of it is. The other half is called the World Showcase, which, as you might imagine, showcases different parts of the world. The one element that is represented in every area (you can visit Mexico, Canada, England, Norway, France, Morocco, Italy, China, Japan, Germany, and a bit of colonial America) is the cuisine.

On our first day at Epcot, we had lunch in Germany, served by a very cute German boy in lederhosen (or corduroyhosen) who must have been boiling in the Florida heat, but he was upbeat about it. Maybe not served by. Ordered from. Because at Disney's quick service restaurants you go to a podium, place your order, and then shuffle toward the kitchen where eventually they pass you your food, and sometimes they actually get your order right. Anyway, we had the bratwurst with sauerkraut (a very mild kraut compared to what I've been eating at home, with a more earthy spice to it, which might be toned down for mass crowds or might be closer to how they eat it in Germany, I don't know) and, for dessert (we bought the Disney meal plan which includes dessert with both lunch and dinner, which is why I came back five pounds heavier) the Bavarian cheesecake. Well, I had the cheesecake. Ian had some black forest cake thing which was also good. But I was completely into this cheesecake.

Here's the thing: it was really light. And it was more like a sponge cake with a cheesecake filling. A lot of cheesecake filling and really thin cake. Topped with lots of fluffy powdered sugar. Not too sweet, not too cheesy. Actually, I found the recipe for it here, at a place called allears.net. If it weren't for the fact that I need to lay off the sweets for a while, I would be dying to try making it. Part of me thought, this isn't Bavarian, this is just Disney making stuff up (trusting, ain't I?) but I poked around the internet and found another site that pictured a similar cake, calling it Bavarian cheesecake. So hey, I learned something new about German food!

I would post a picture, but again, I forgot to take one. Bad tourist! I promise, there will be pictures in future posts.

Day 164: Greek to Me

So, although last night was my (and Ian's) first meal at the Disney World Resort, where everyone takes pictures of everything, we forgot to take a picture of dinner. Sorry. But you can probably imagine it.

We'd just spent an incredibly long day on airplanes and in airports (Spokane to Denver; Denver to Columbus to Orlando) and on buses (huzzah for Disney's Magical Express!) and listening to middle aged women yell at their kids even while checking into the hotel (Caribbean Beach Resort: it has Finding Nemo fishes all over the bedspread and on the wallpaper, which is cool except Finding Nemo took place in Australia). We were tired and hungry. We were trying our best not to let vacation stress get to us, especially so early. I even came up with four H's to help me be a better wife and vacationer. I will be:

Happy, Helpful, Humorous, and Humane.

Good, huh?

Anyway. We had reservations at Kouzzina, Cat Cora's restaurant on the Boardwalk (which is a neat place--we didn't go there on our honeymoon, the only other time we've been to Disney World). If you don't know, Ms. Cora is an Iron Chef and a darn good one at that. She's Greek, from Mississippi. So her food has sort of an old world comfort food feel to it. I had Cat's Ouzo-tini to drink (oh my goodness so good if you like licorice since that's what ouzo tastes like, but I'd only heard tell and it was better than I expected), and then pasta with a lamb ragu for dinner, and kemaolbiohjsohgkl something Greek I couldn't pronounce with phyllo and pastry cream and a lovely gelato for dessert (I will look these things up and give you a better run-down later. The internet is slow and I'm typing on Ian's tiny computer where the apostrophe is not in the right place, nor is the dash).

Anywho. Today we hit EPCOT! (Did you know that stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow?) I will be singing the Carousel of Progress song all day. Plus we have reservations at the French restaurant in the around the world thingy for dinner, and I will have pictures this time! I promise!