Category Archives: Food

Epcot 2015

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Please understand that my plan for Disney  was to spend one day at the Magic Kingdom to photograph decorations and hopefully get some shots I can use for Christmas cards.

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Hidden Mickey

That was it. The rest of the time I planned to check out other venues like botanical gardens that I hadn’t been to before. I am not now and never have been a Mickey fanatic.

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Those plans got side tracked very quickly when I told my friend Joe that I was coming to Orlando in December. I booked the dates in March and that led to a continuous series of emails and phone calls with  everything Joe wanted to do while I was in town. It pretty much revolved around the Disney parks.

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After much suggesting, pleading, assuming and just charging forward, Joe finally convinced me to book the Candlelight Processional with dinner. The two possible narrators while I was in Orlando were Neil Patrick Harris or Whoopie Goldberg . I enjoy both so it came down to when we could get a reservation. Dinner/show spots were all sold out so we settled on lunch/5 pm show. I booked Thursday because, I confess, I was doing this  more to appease Joe than because I wanted to go so I wanted to get it over with.  Thursday was the last night Neil Patrick Harris was the narrator. By having a 1:15 lunch reservation at Les Chefs de France it pretty much guaranteed we’d be spending the day at Epcot.

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Joe met me for breakfast at Kenzie’s and then we headed for the park. Epcot was beautiful as are all of the parks at Christmas. We enjoyed a few rides/shows before scrambling to make our reservation for lunch.

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We had a small two top (that’s restaurant speak for a table for 2) right next to the window so we could watch Father Christmas and other characters pass by. Lunch was acceptable. I’m just a plain and simple person when it comes to food so french cuisine is just “over the top”. Sometimes a grilled cheese should just be a grilled cheese.

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I chose Les Chef de France because I wanted escargot but I’d just had that in New Orleans and it’s not an item I can eat every day. My favorite part was the dessert, puff pastry with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

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Joe had the mousse.

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Then with several hours to kill we went Soaring. This is a really popular ride and usually has long lines so I had never been on it before.  All I can say is that it’s terrific.  I hated to have it end. I guess it’s as close to flying as you’ll get unless you are one of those glider suit people.

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Kris Kringle was entertaining all comers with a series of Holiday Stories. He was funny even if he looked a bit intimidating.

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We followed up with a visit with Tigger and Poo Bear and then it was time to get in our seats for the main event.

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Love Poo Bear

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And Tigger!

Poo bear

The Court of Two Sisters

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It’s the last night of our Amtrak vacation adventure, our last night in New Orleans and the last night we get to use a voucher for dinner.

It’s still raining buckets with gusty winds. Our reservation is at the Court of Two Sisters only a couple of blocks from the hotel but in this weather, it’s a cab ride. No walking for us.

Our doorman called a taxi for us and we made a mad scramble to get in without getting too wet. However we learned a new reality about New Orleans, they close off streets. Yup, some of the streets in the French Quarter are closed nightly from about 4 pm to 7 pm. Our reservation was 6:30 so we had to be dropped off at the end of the street and make a run for it to the restaurant about a block down.

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Its called the Court of Two Sisters because the tradition is a brunch in the courtyard. This has been expanded to include a dinner menu and luckily for us, they have indoor seating too. I would not have wanted to try to eat in the courtyard in the pouring rain!

As you enter the restaurant you pass through a set of ornate gates.

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These charm gates at the 613 Royal entrance were wrought in Spain especially for The Court of Two Sisters.  Legend says that Queen Isabella of Spain had them blessed so that their charm would pass on to anyone who touched them. Yes, we made a point to touch them.

Once inside we were shown to a lovely table in a beautiful room. The atmosphere is elegant to the point that you can almost taste it. Our waiter, Stephen,  was wonderful.

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He came over with a flashlight so we could read the menu in the dimly lit room and introduced himself as the “inspector”.  His fine sense of humor kept the evening light.

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Our Table D’Hote Dinner Menu was for use with the voucher.

HORS D’OEUVRES

Turtle Soup Au Sherry

Creole Seafood Gumbo

Shrimp En Brochette: Bacon-wrapped Shrimp served over a crispy toast point. Finished with citrus Beurre Blanc. (add $6.00)

Barbecue Shrimp: This dish was created in New Orleans and is not barbecued at all. The shrimp are braised in a peppery butter sauce. Very unique and very tasty. (add $6.00)

Salades

Court of Two Sisters Dinner Salad: Seasonal greens and red onions in a Creole French dressing, garnished with tasso, pecans and chopped boiled eggs.

Caesar Salad: A classic prepared tableside (add $4.00)

Entrees

Chicken Oscar – Boneless skinless chicken breast served atop new potato mash and steamed asparagus. Topped with jumbo lump crabmeat and tasso hollandaise.

Corn Fried Louisiana Catfish – Served with jumbo lump crabmeat Napa slaw and green onion & cayenne tartar sauce.

Shrimp and Grits – Louisiana shrimp and Andouille sausage poached in a Creole Meunière reduction. Served over southern grits.

Trout Meunière or Amondine: Pan fried filet of trout served with rosemary roasted new potatoes and steamed asparagus. Finished with your choice of Meunière or Amandine style.

Char-Broiled Tenderloin of Beef – The whole tenderloin is lightly charred and cooked to perfection and sliced. Served with marchand de vin and béarnaise sauces and accompanied with new potato mash and haricots verts.

Veal Oscar – Baby white veal cutlets served atop new potato mash and served with sautéed jumbo lump crabmeat, tasso hollandaise and steamed asparagus.

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We could order from the main menu but we would have to pay for that ourselves. I did so ordering the Escargot Au Champignons: Mushroom stuffed Escargots sautéed in garlic butter with herbs.

Sandy bravely tried the Turtle soup for her appetizer.

The meal came with 1 glass of wine so we felt we could each have a 2nd glass as it would be like 2 for one then.

I don’t recall what Sandy had for her main course. I bet she will let us know in the comment section.

I had Trout Meunière : Pan fried filet of trout served with rosemary roasted new potatoes and steamed asparagus. Magnifique!

I also ordered an “extra” for desert. I wanted something flambe at table side so I ordered

 

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Strawberries a La Ray: Fresh strawberries laced with sugar and strawberry liqueur, flamed tableside with brandy and served over French Vanilla ice cream (add $4.00)

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Strawberries have never tasted so good.

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Everything was excellent. This meal was a real high point in the trip, easily the most elaborate that I’ve had in a long, long time.

Everyone Loves a Parade

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The weather still couldn’t seem to decide what it wanted to do. The sky was dark and threatening and it was windy but no rain. It was tempting to head back to the hotel but I had a “vision” of the photo I wanted to get in Jackson Square so after a brief debate we decided to take a walk over there before we went back to the hotel. Good thing we did as the weather finally hit the next day, but more on that in another post.

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It was kind of cool to think we were actually walking along the top of a levy to get to Jackson Square but once there it was filled with spectators watching another street performer. As interesting as that was it meant that I couldn’t get the shot I had in mind. We hung around a bit but light was fading fast so I took what I could and we started walking back to the Wyndham.

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Since it wasn’t Mardi Gras or any other holiday I didn’t expect a parade but in New Orleans they hold parades for any reason. I guess the one we happened upon was  because of a foot ball game but the float themes were more along the lines of a salute to the Horror Movie genre.

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It wasn’t a long parade but the floats were quite elaborate and they were throwing the ever present beads. Did you know that in New Orleans you must catch the beads in the air? Yup, I’m told its bad luck if you pick them up off the ground. New Orleans is very serious about their superstitions.

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Even so, I got my share  of beads. Now I can truly say I have experienced New Orleans!

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Back at the hotel the concierge suggested a seafood restaurant but when we got there the line was out the door. Disappointed we went in search of another restaurant that had shorter lines.

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Along the way we passed a group of Ladies of the Night and were followed by young men trying to give away  discount coupons. All very harmless but it gave me an unsettled feeling, not truly safe. This is the first time I have felt that way in all my travels.

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Finally we stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe. There were no lines probably because the  music was so loud you couldn’t carry on a conversation. It was rockin’ the street outside!

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It was far different from the Hard Rock experience in San Antonio but it seemed this was the best option for dinner. The meal was only so-so. Not up to the standard I would expect in New Orleans cuisine.

Welcome to San Antonio

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Leaving Delta behind we retrieved our luggage and grabbed a cab to our hotel. Welcome to The Holiday Inn Riverwalk.

Our hotel had been chosen and booked for us through our Amtrak package. In our travel documents was a voucher  to be presented at check in. I had never traveled this way so I wasn’t sure how it would work out but it was easy. I did have to present a credit card for “incidentals” but that’s just standard procedure in any hotel.

For a Holiday Inn, I was quite impressed.

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And it is located right on the Riverwalk.

The river walk winds along the San Antonio river and is lined with restaurants and shops. There are pretty bridges and benches along the way. All we had to do was step out the back side of the hotel and we were on the Riverwalk!

Once we had settled into our hotel room it was time to explore and find a place for dinner. The desk clerk recommended Saltgrass Restaurant and gave us a coupon for a free appetizer.

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They told us it was just around the corner. Since it was around 7 pm and quite dark I didn’t bother to bring the camera, just the cell phone.

There were loads of ducks in the river. As we walked along the Riverwalk we got a big kick out of them. They certainly weren’t shy with their loud quack quack quacks!

Eventually we found the restaurant which was so popular that there was a 40 minute wait. Even so every restaurant seemed to be hopping with patrons queued up outside so we decided just to wait. We sat watching the tour boats go by.

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We watched horse drawn carriages that were lit up like Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage cross the St Mary St Bridge. they were gorgeous and I vowed to would get a picture before our time in San Antonio was over.

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We finally were called and seated around 9 pm. I presented our free appetizer card and got an order of onion strings. OMG! I wish I had taken a picture of that mountain of onion. It was a volcano shaped mountain worthy of a Man Vs Food episode.

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Dinner was excellent and as stuffed as we were we couldn’t resist getting the carrot cake dessert to go. Expecting a normal slice of cake we each ordered one. When they brought our to-go boxes and we peeked inside we were looking at slices the size of the island of Manhattan!

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Once again we should have taken a picture because no one will believe the size of those slices. Kind of like the fish story about the one that got away!

It took us 3 days to eat through those very good, very big slices of carrot cake. I guess everything really is bigger in Texas.