Okay, so I'm late again but here goes...
After Trader Sam's, I went back to my room to freshen up a bit and then caught a ride to the conference hotel. Although the welcome event was at Epcot, it was required that we take the bus to get there so I was Ubering from WDW to the Marriott to catch a bus to WDW.
Another side note - Uber is awesome. I'd never used it before but since POFQ was much cheaper than the Marriott (by $60+/night plus the cost of airport transportation) I decided to stay at WDW and just cab or Uber back and forth. The conference had a Uber coupon code for the first ride free and I was immediately hooked. It was much more convenient than hunting for a cab, quick, and cheap ($6 each way to the convention center). It really couldn't have been a better solution for what I needed on this trip.
So, back to Thursday night...
At the conference center I got my first feel for how big an event this conference is - 14 Mears and
DCL buses all lined up waiting to take us over to Epcot for the opening! I got my wristband and made small talk with a couple of ladies from Missouri while we waited for the buses to start loading. I was on the third bus to load and we were soon off to Epcot. We went around backstage, past the construction site in Norway, and finally entered the park near the back of the World Showcase. From there, cast members directed us to a huge gate I'd noticed before between Canada and Britain, behind which is a building that is used for special events.
The event itself was basically Party for the Senses. The decor was the same, colorful and geometric. Serving tables were spread out around the room with samples of select Food & Wine Festival menu items. And a DJ was playing a mix of pop and party classics. There were also a couple of photo spots with props, one with a 20th anniversary background and the other with masks and a Halloween themed background.
Mickey and a WDW exec said a few words of welcome.
I'm a terrible introvert so networking in big groups of people I've never met before doesn't come easily to me, but I wanted to make the effort because it was a big part of why I wanted to make the trip. So I did eventually start chatting with other attendees and didn't get many pictures after that. I have some notes on what I tried, though, so I can review even some of the selections I didn't get pics of.
My favorite item by far was the potato pancake topped with smoked salmon, from the Scotland booth. This was simply delicious, a wonderful pairing of tastes and textures - crispy potato, tender salmon, creamy sauce.
The haggis, from the same booth, wasn't nearly as good. I'm glad I tried it just to say I did, but it had a sort of funky aftertaste and was rather dry. The tatties and neeps (mashed potatoes and turnips) served with it were good, though - homestyle, a little chunky, and very comfort-food pleasant.
There was also a mixed drink called the Citrus Thistle from Scotland that was just fabulous, not too strong and very smooth and just a bit sweet. It was my favorite drink of the night even though I'm not usually overly fond of gin.
From the Dominican Republic booth, there was a grouper dish served over rice with a coconut sauce. I wasn't a huge fan of this. The fish was well cooked but the sweetness of the coconut sauce rather overwhelmed the fish in my opinion, and the seasoned rice was just blah.
The only dessert I got a picture of was the "drunken blue velvet" cake. This was very good, sweet and moist with a cream cheese frosting center and a sugar and chocolate sunflower on top.
Now for the dishes I didn't get pictures of...
The beef empanada from Patagonia was okay. Not great, and rather plain, but simple and good. I thought it could have used a sauce and a bit of flair in the presentation, but it wasn't bad at all. The salmon and quinoa dish, also from Patagonia, was more attractively presented but I didn't particularly care for the arugula chimichurri sauce. Rounding out the Patagonia offerings was a Chilean brut sparkling wine that was a nice match for the salmon, light and refreshing and not too dry.
At the Hawaii booth, the tuna poke was beautifully presented in martini glasses with the tuna atop a bed of nori and seaweed salad. It was delicious but the presentation was somewhat at odds with the edibility; you really had to work to get some of each flavor in a single bite, but that was how it tasted best. Also in Hawaii was a pulled pork slider on a Hawaiian roll. This was excellent, not fancy at all but very tasty with the slightly smoky pork topped with a sweet-spicy pineapple chutney.
The loaded mac & cheese from the Farm Fresh table was one of the highlights of the evening. You really can't go wrong when you add bacon and green onions to good mac & cheese.
There was also a table with a huge cheese spread, along with different breads, fruit, and honeycomb as accompaniments. I tried several, including an Oregon blue and a really interesting pecornio (sp?), and enjoyed them all. I'm a big fan of the fancy cheese plate and thought this was a nice touch for the evening.
I tried both the festival cabernet sauvignon and the chardonnay. I'm not usually big on reds so it didn't come as much of a surprise that I didn't love the cabernet. It was okay for a red, just drier and with a bit of an aftertaste that I found a little odd. The chardonnay was better, off-dry and oak-y but still fairly light and drinkable. The Dreaming Tree red blend, from the Farm Fresh table, was surprisingly good given my usual feeling about reds, but was a bit thick with a slightly odd feeling in the mouth.
There were also four beer selections, but I only tried two. The Passport 20 Belgian style ale was strong and a bit too bitter for me. The hard pumpkin cider from the Farm Fresh booth was lovely, though, not too sweet or overly "pumpkin-y", and very refreshing, not creamy or heavy like a lot of pumpkin-flavored drinks can be.
I didn't get around to trying the other Farm Fresh food choice, a bone-in piece of chicken served over greens, but it looked good. I also didn't try the two mini-burgers they were featuring from the "rockin' burger block party" - one was topped with a hot dog, relish, and cheese sauce and the other with a fried egg, bacon grease fries, and nacho cheese. None of that sounded remotely good to me - I don't generally eat fried eggs or hot dogs - so I stuck to the things that appealed more to my tastes.
The last thing I tried turned out to be the very best, and I wish I'd gotten a picture because it was fascinating to look at too... The program description reads "liquid nitro chocolate-almond truffle with whiskey caramel sauce". It was a scoop of chocolate mousse, dropped into liquid nitrogen to flash-freeze (as you watch), then topped with slivered almonds and a warm whiskey-caramel sauce, and it was nothing short of amazing. The mousse was cool, not overly cold, and still frozen enough to have an airy but solid texture, and the not-too-sweet caramel sauce perfectly matched the sweet creaminess of the mousse.
As the party wound down, we were invited to enjoy Illuminations from a reserved viewing area (near France). On the way out we got a gift bag which included a mask, a package of chocolate covered cranberries, and the full Food & Wine festival program/schedule. It was also a nice place to put the souvenir glass during the fireworks.
I only ended up watching part of Illuminations before heading for the gate. I'd been up since 3 a.m. and was just too tired to keep going. By the time I got back to POFQ I didn't even have the energy to go get my mug from my room. I got a cup of ice water from the food court and went up to bed.
