Sharing the Disney Magic with Family & Friends-DL Diamond Anniversary-DCA F&W Fest Kiosks & The End!

[franandaj]

So... about .1" of rain?

More like .3"

That's a shame. They look delicious!

I know. At first they were tiny and a total rip off. They finally made them a decent size and they took them off the menu. Now they have a $30+ burger that I would never be able to finish!

Cool! I've heard of the cats, but I never did see one.

My next update has another one too!

At least they have it out on Display. Isn't that the Lilly Belle car?

That hurricane looks fantastic.

And now that I've had the real deal, I need to see how that one lives up to it!

Well, you were drinking some memory erasing drinks there...

must have been!

Looks like a couple of fun, laid back visits. Even if you did get a little wet. Nice to spend some time connecting with friends and enjoying a beverage or 2.

It really was, and in unique settings. Looks like my next trip there might be similar as well!

So much fun! Lots of adulty kinds of stuff going on- perfect for rainy days. That's one of those things I love about Disney: you can never step foot in a park and still have a simply wonderful time. By they way, this gets me all kinds of excited for my visit to Trader Sam's!

We always have an adulty time, but this time was more so!

Trader Sams is awesome! I drink the Krakatoa. It's a yummy mix of juices and rum! And it may or may not trigger a special effect.

Jill in CO

Krakatoa is a good one!

 

[franandaj]

So if you have been following the Bonus Material on the 75% All New thread you'll know that both Fran and I returned from that trip on the Mississippi feeling beat up and under the weather. However, as bad as we felt and even though the two of us were coughing up a storm, we were not going to miss out on the celebrity chef experience that we had paid for several weeks before!

You may also know that after a five year hiatus DCA brought back their Food & Wine festival. This is particularly great for me as I purchased two different DVC contracts at the VGC so that we could stay there during the festival. Combined together, those two contracts make up 1/3 of my total DVC points. You should have heard the scream I let out back in the Fall of 2010 when they announced that there would be no F&W in DCA for 2011&12. To throw salt on my already open wounds, the press release stated that they would "reevaluate" the possibility of bringing back the festival once Buena Vista street and Carsland were completed. For a couple years I held a glimmer of hope, but by last year, I had sort of forgot about the possibility. I was resigned to having to find random reasons to go out and use up my points. I even thought about, renting out my VGC points.

And then one day in (February), my FB and texts started exploding! Everyone but me heard the news first that DCA had announced the return of the F&W Festival!

When they announced some of the events, we sprung for the VIP Experience which included a meet and greet with photo and autograph session for the celebrity chefs. The website said that starting 1 hour prior to the event check in would begin, so 4PM. This was the first event of the Festival (with the exception of the 1PM show) and I was pretty sure people were going to be lining up for it. I wanted to leave the house at 1PM, but we got out a little later, but we were still there in plenty of time. We both brought our scooters when I normally wouldn't bring mine for such a specific event that entails mostly sitting down. However because of the head cold I was feeling very strange. Riding through the park felt almost like an out of body experience as if I was watching myself. I was glad I wasn't walking as I felt like I might be tripping and bumping into people.

I don't remember exactly what time we got to the check in area, but there was no one there, so we took pictures of the sign and waited in the shade.






The Event was going to take place in Stage 17. This is a multi purpose location that they can use for large assemblies. We have been in this location for quite a few different types of events. This is where they used to host the Taste events back when the F&W Festival was really going.



Eventually some folks came to the table and started to set up for check in. We approached the table but they said they weren't ready for us yet. That was probably around 3:30, just before 4PM, they gave us the wave to come over and we were the first in line!





If you don't know who Robert Irvine is, he is a Food Network Celebrity with big muscles and even bigger heart. His first show, Dinner Impossible was a fun show, but his second show, Restaurant Impossible is even better. He takes a failing restaurant and puts them practically through boot camp while redecorating the dining room. What he does for these people is so special and life changing I always end up crying at the end of the show.

But enough of that! Around 20 to five they started to let us into soundstage 17. They still had the Frozen Fun façade set up in the background of the kitchen. We were seated in the very front. See Fran sitting down on the left?





Looking at the other side of the room…



Bret and his DA had also attended the presentation. He got the fourth table row where the first three rows were for the VIP package.

Once everyone was seated an emcee came out to introduce Robert Irvine. They did a whole little gag where the emcee went backstage to "check on" Robert. He immediately became irate and chased the camera man out of backstage.





(Photo courtesy of Bret)



This continued to be a running joke throughout the presentation, he gave the camera guy an excessive amount of grief, but he took it good naturedly which makes me think it was all set up in advance for show.

They showed some clips from his Food Network shows from Dinner Impossible and Restaurant Impossible.





Here he is giving the camera man some more grief.



The first thing he did was mix us up a cocktail.



It was quite tasty and very refreshing. It included

Kefir Vodka
Lemon Juice
Agave
Ice

And then once he poured it into the glass he added a topper of Triple sec.

Then he garnished it with a lime slice. While he made the drink onstage the servers began to bring us drinks from backstage.



It was very tasty! I liked that one a lot!

He took a little time to talk to the audience and took a few questions. Unfortunately in my haze I didn't take notes other than what he put in the food so I don't remember any of them.

Then he started to work on the next item which was an Ahi Tuna salad.



The ingredients include

Diced raw tuna



S&P
Sriracha
Lemon Juice
Soy sauce
Tad of sesame oil
Topped with crispy onions and unsalted peanuts

On a bed of julienned

Celery
Green papaya
Carrot
Cucumber
Tossed in fish sauce, lemon juice and S&P
With a dollop of creamed avocado







Evidently the powers at Disney told him not to give the samples that he made to audience members. So he handed his tuna salad to the camera man and had him give it to one of the audience members.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

While we ate, he took more questions from audience members. A young girl (or maybe it was her mother) asked a question about becoming a chef and Robert invited the girl to join him onstage and help with the next dish.



He was going to be making a rack of lamb. By the way, even though the audience samples were prepared in the back and brought out to us, he really did make every single dish in front of us.

I don’t think she liked the idea of lamb.



He seasoned the lamb with salt and pepper and then seared the lamb on the cooktop.



While the lamb was searing he took these ingredients,

Lemon grass
chillies
shallots
grape seed oil

And pureed them in a blender to make a paste.

After the lamb was properly seared he had his helper cover it with the Lemon grass paste and placed it in the oven.





Then he started to prepare the side dish for the lamb. It was a seared Cauliflower, not my favorite, but I did try it.

He made a mix of capers, parsley, pepper, onion, cucumber, green tomatoes, salt pepper, lime juice, and tamarind paste which he tossed the cauliflower in to coat it.

Robert is a fan of grapeseed oil instead of olive oil. It has a very high smoke point and almost no flavor. To demonstrate, he had this guy come up on the stage and he shot both kinds of oil into his mouth!



We were served a Malbec with our lamb. I must have been out of it as I didn’t even take a picture of the wine! Ours was prepared in the back so it was ready before the demo version was ready.



While Robert's lamb was in the oven, he talked to the audience some more. He took some questions from the audience. His wife and daughters were there and someone asked a question to them. I think it was something like, does he cook like this at home? We got a somewhat non committal answer with a lot of giggling on the part of the kids.

Once his lamb was cooked he sliced it and showed us that it was perfectly cooked. He then gave it to someone else to give to an audience member so he could truthfully say that “he did not give any food to the audience.”



Before wrapping it all up, he talked about the Robert Irvine Foundation. It is a non-profit whose primary focus is on giving-back and servicing our military personnel (active, retired, and veterans); striving to create awareness throughout the community of the sacrifices made by our military personnel and their families; and, inspiring community support for the men and women defending our freedom.

He came off the stage quite a few times and walked around the room. In this picture, if you look in the monitor, you can see Fran and me in the front row. Fran is just watching while I'm taking a picture!



After he talked it was over for most of the room. Those of us who purchased the VIP package were able to stay in Stage 17 to meet Robert Irvine up close and take pictures with him.

Fran was not going to take a picture with him, but he insisted that she come over and take a picture.





For me there was plenty of food for me to call it dinner, and I was pleasantly full. We started on our way out of the park, when we stumbled upon Francisco. This was our first time meeting him and Fran googled to find out his name. He was very friendly and even let me pet him for a while.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I hope you and Fran are over the Mississippi cough!


OOH! What an amazing experience. That would have been worth every cent!!! I have to try and make a DCA F&W sometime.
I was salivating over every picture.
How awesome of Robert Irvine to make sure Fran got a picture as well. Love the one of you and him.
Francisco is a beautiful Disney cat!

 

[franandaj]

I hope you and Fran are over the Mississippi cough!


OOH! What an amazing experience. That would have been worth every cent!!! I have to try and make a DCA F&W sometime.
I was salivating over every picture.
How awesome of Robert Irvine to make sure Fran got a picture as well. Love the one of you and him.
Francisco is a beautiful Disney cat!

By Thursday of that week I started to feel human again. It took Fran another week or more to feel all better, but the cough lingered awhile for both of us.

It was really a great time. He is such a great guy! He is just like you see him on the TV show. I wanted to bring a picture of me with him several years back, and I even sent it to Costco, but we didn't have time to go get it. When I told him that, he told me I could send it to him and he would sign it and send it back. I didn't do that, but it was nice of him to offer.

Isn't Francisco just so pretty? We looked for him the following week, but didn't find him then.

 

[jedijill]

I'm so jealous! I love Robert Irvine! I saw him signing books one year at F&W in WDW but didn't get to attend his demo.

Francisco is adorable!

Jill in CO

 

[IowaTater]

OH wow! Robert Irvine! I watched both of his shows too. We even went to one of the restaurants here that was featured on Restaurant Impossible (it closed down about a year or two after the show). I can't help it but as I was reading your description of what he was cooking, I completely had his voice in my head.

Glad you were feeling well enough not to miss it but I'm with you. I don't think I would have missed it for the world either.

 

[Malia78]

Sounds like a really fun event! Hopefully the return of F&W in DCA was successful enough to continue to return. I've already been penciling in possible trips to DL for my 40th B-day in April 2018.

 

[mvf-m11c]

The Celebrity Kitchen seminar with chef Robert Irvine was well worth every penny. We both had a great time and it was nice to attend one of his seminars especially at the DCA F&W Festival. His two dishes were good while I enjoyed the lamb dish the most. Even though I don't drink, the drinks (lime vodka and Malbec) were not that bad but it is hard for me since I don't drink alcohol. I remember well that you went there early that day where we got there about an hour until it started and was about 10 people in front of us. IT did seem like it was well worth the extra wait time to get the first table and close to the stage. Nice pic with chef Robert Irvine.

He is a great guy and have a big heart with his charities and military service. I still remember that you said to him about if there was any fishermen during the event and I didn't say anything LOL. Technically I am not a fisherman like my other family members or friends.

That is neat that you found Francisco at the parks. It is interesting to see cats at the parks.

Very nice update.

 

[afwdwfan]

But enough of that! Around 20 to five they started to let us into soundstage 17. They still had the Frozen Fun façade set up in the background of the kitchen. We were seated in the very front. See Fran sitting down on the left?

Well, I guess if you can repurpose a set...

After he talked it was over for most of the room. Those of us who purchased the VIP package were able to stay in Stage 17 to meet Robert Irvine up close and take pictures with him.

This really looks like an interesting event. I'm glad that you were able to go and enjoy it, even if feeling a little bit under the weather still.

For me there was plenty of food for me to call it dinner, and I was pleasantly full. We started on our way out of the park, when we stumbled upon Francisco. This was our first time meeting him and Fran googled to find out his name. He was very friendly and even let me pet him for a while.

What??? They have names??? And you can Google them???

 

[EJ4Disney]

WOW!! Ok I am officially jealous - I love Robert Irvine. You lucky little duck!! Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[dizneeat]

All caught up again here! How awesome that you got to meet Robert Irvine! Lucky lady! Not to mention that the food looks yummy too.

 

[franandaj]

I'm so jealous! I love Robert Irvine! I saw him signing books one year at F&W in WDW but didn't get to attend his demo.

Francisco is adorable!

Jill in CO

He's probably my favorite celebrity chef. He's such a nice guy, and from what I can tell what you see on TV is really how he is.

OH wow! Robert Irvine! I watched both of his shows too. We even went to one of the restaurants here that was featured on Restaurant Impossible (it closed down about a year or two after the show). I can't help it but as I was reading your description of what he was cooking, I completely had his voice in my head.

He hasn't revamped too many places in CA, so I haven't had the chance to try one, but it sounds like an interesting idea.

Glad you were feeling well enough not to miss it but I'm with you. I don't think I would have missed it for the world either.

I would have had to have been really bad off not to go. Not to mention we paid a ton of money for it too!

Sounds like a really fun event! Hopefully the return of F&W in DCA was successful enough to continue to return. I've already been penciling in possible trips to DL for my 40th B-day in April 2018.

Fran read somewhere that they ordered what they thought was enough food for the kiosks for three weekends and after the first weekend they sold out of most things. On Bret's TR he reported that a lot of things were sold out on Saturday the first weekend of the Festival. I hope they expand it next year and have even more events like this, such as wine dinners and the cooking school.

 

[Steppesister]

I guess I hadn't heard (absolutely ZERO DISTime lately) that you guys returned sick. BOO! I knew that the weather was a bummer on the Cruise, but sick too.

I"m glad you didn't skip out on the VIP Chef thing though. Looked like a fun event with plenty of delicious food and drink. I'd have been upset too if I'd bought DVC points for specifically for F&W and then have them cancel it for several years afterwards as well. Glad it's back for you!! I may someday join you...

 

[Pinkocto]

Yay for the return of the F & W!!!

Your event looks like great fun. So glad you were feeling well enough to go.

 

[franandaj]

The Celebrity Kitchen seminar with chef Robert Irvine was well worth every penny. We both had a great time and it was nice to attend one of his seminars especially at the DCA F&W Festival. His two dishes were good while I enjoyed the lamb dish the most. Even though I don't drink, the drinks (lime vodka and Malbec) were not that bad but it is hard for me since I don't drink alcohol. I remember well that you went there early that day where we got there about an hour until it started and was about 10 people in front of us. IT did seem like it was well worth the extra wait time to get the first table and close to the stage. Nice pic with chef Robert Irvine.

I'm glad you enjoyed it as well. Robert Irvine is always entertaining!

He is a great guy and have a big heart with his charities and military service. I still remember that you said to him about if there was any fishermen during the event and I didn't say anything LOL. Technically I am not a fisherman like my other family members or friends.

Well you're more of a fisherman than anyone else I know!

That is neat that you found Francisco at the parks. It is interesting to see cats at the parks.

Very nice update.

In the last couple months, I have seen more Disney cats than I have ever seen before!

Well, I guess if you can repurpose a set...

Why not?

This really looks like an interesting event. I'm glad that you were able to go and enjoy it, even if feeling a little bit under the weather still.

It was! I really love the F&W events especially when I know the chefs from their TV shows.

What??? They have names??? And you can Google them???

They have a FB page, someone has set up a Twitter account...they are quite tech savvy!

WOW!! Ok I am officially jealous - I love Robert Irvine. You lucky little duck!! Thanks for sharing with us.

This is the second or third time I've got to meet him, but the first where I got to taste his food!

All caught up again here! How awesome that you got to meet Robert Irvine! Lucky lady! Not to mention that the food looks yummy too.

The food was especially yummy and he is such a nice guy!

I guess I hadn't heard (absolutely ZERO DISTime lately) that you guys returned sick. BOO! I knew that the weather was a bummer on the Cruise, but sick too.

Not sure if you read the final update on the Mississippi River trip. I didn't want to give it away until I got there on that TR.

I"m glad you didn't skip out on the VIP Chef thing though. Looked like a fun event with plenty of delicious food and drink. I'd have been upset too if I'd bought DVC points for specifically for F&W and then have them cancel it for several years afterwards as well. Glad it's back for you!! I may someday join you...

For the pricetag, I wasn't skipping it!!!! At least with the cancellation, I had a ton of points to burn last year which allowed me to afford the Grand Villa for my birthday celebration. Now I'm going to use up all my points that I have booking the 4 weekends after Easter!

Yay for the return of the F & W!!!

Your event looks like great fun. So glad you were feeling well enough to go.

Thanks for your enthusiasm! I wasn't really feeling well enough to go, but I still did.

 

[franandaj]

So I told you about our event with Robert Irvine, the next Saturday we had a double header. At 1PM Chef Sutton of Napa Rose fame would be doing a demo.







Our health had greatly improved since the previous week, which was a relief! We were both still coughing, but the haze that I was underneath the previous week had finally lifted.

We arrived at the same location in DCA as last week. It was before noon and this time there was already a line! We were probably about 15 people back in line. They started checking us in at about 12:15, and the real queue started to form. For those who don't know, when Club 33 got its makeover in 2014, Andrew Sutton was made head chef of that restaurant as well. It wasn't surprising that everyone in line with us was sporting some kind of Club 33 Bling, purses, baseball caps, Polo shirts, jackets, etc.

They barely started to let us in by 1:00. There were definitely more people attending this seminar than the Robert Irvine seminar the previous week. We were in the second row back. Still a pretty good spot.



The emcee announced Chef Sutton and he came out on stage.



Almost as soon as he came out the servers started bringing out glasses of Pinot Gris. (At least I think that’s what it was)



He was stewing a broth with zucchini blossoms on the cooktop.



He continued to make the soup for us, while servers brought it out to us. He added yellow tomatoes, and quite a few other ingredients.



And then used an immersion blender (or boat motor as I like to call it.)



When it was finally served to us, he had added some cream cheese and sour cream. It was pretty good and very light.



Then he went on to make the Main Course, which was going to be Cuban inspired. He talked about how Cuba being open to US residents was making it the hottest thing around and everyone would be jumping on the Cuban bandwagon. Well I hate to say it, but after the next dish, I want off!

He showed us some huge steaks and said that these were "steaks for sharing".





Then he admitted that he felt a little out of place giving a demo amongst all the celebrity chefs, so to make up for that he told us he was just going to feed us a lot of good food, and hopefully we would remember that.

I think that I took notes on this presentation but I can't seem to find them. No matter. He put a bunch of stuff into a bowl which included several kinds of peppers. One of them was super hot. As I glance at the Scoville scale, the Carolina Reaper sounds about right and Fran agrees with me. The Carolina Reaper registers at 2,200,000 whereas a Habanero is 350,000, and a Jalapeño pepper is only 10,000.

There was rum, probably garlic, and onions, a whole bunch of stuff.



He suggested seasoning meat about half an hour to an hour before cooking so as to give plenty of time for the seasoning to absorb into the meat and not just season the surface. He seared the steaks on the cooktop and finished them in the oven, but he suggested grilling them would be ideal.

Soon our plates were brought out to us along with a Zinfandel wine.



As much as we normally like Andrew Sutton's food this didn't do it for us. Neither of us cared for the Cuban Sauce and we both tried to scrape the sauce off the meat. The steak itself was good, but neither of us care for Spicy foods.



He took some time to answer some questions. The only one that I remember was that someone asked what he makes at home for his family. Evidently his daughters don't like salmon so he was sad that he can't cook that for him. I don't remember what he actually said he cooks, and maybe he didn't. He did say that he gets inspired for what to cook when he goes to the store that day. He checks what is fresh and in season. Monday is his night off from the restaurant so that's his night to cook for the family.

His last creation was dessert. He told us that this was by far his favorite dessert because of its simplicity. I had never heard of a buckle before this and after a little googling I was able to find out what differentiates this from other baked fruit and pastry desserts. In a buckle the pastry is on the bottom and fruit is on top. As the pastry cooks, the weight of the fruit causes it to "buckle", hence the name.







It was tasty enough, and I ate the whole thing, but in my book I think I prefer cobblers and crumbles. But if I don't have to make it, I'll be happy to eat whatever dessert you put I'm front of me, as long as it doesn't have coconut!

Like last week after the presentation we had the opportunity to take a photo with the chef and he would sign two items. We all received a complimentary apron as we entered the room and most people were having the chefs sign their aprons. When I got to talk to Andrew, he asked what happened to Fran, she didn't want to get roped into any more pictures like Robert Irvine made her do, so she went back to her scooter as soon as the presentation was over. I asked him if there were any plans to bring back the Napa Rose Cooking School, and he said that he was totally up for it, but they didn't mention it this year.





After our photo, I went back to meet up with Fran. We still had another presentation that day!

 

[dizneeat]

You are killing me girl! All those presentations look awesome! And you seem to be on really good terms with all the chefs! Love the photo of you and chef Andrew!

 

[Flossbolna]

I am so happy that you were able to enjoy the F&WF at DCA so much!! When I heard of the announcement my first thought was: Now Alison can use her VGC points again for herself!! I guess you are already booked for next year again?

I have heard really good things about the festival as a whole and your presentations sound really wonderful. And the food did not look bad either! ;-)

Interesting info about the buckle. In Germany there are a lot of cakes that are made that way. But then in Germany cake is not something that is served for dessert. Cake has its own distinct meal: Kaffee und Kuchen (I know that you understand this, but for everyone else: coffee and cake). This takes place some time in the afternoon between 2:30pm and 5pm.

 

[Pinkocto]

I had the exact same thought when I heard the F & W was coming back to DL, now Alison can use her points!

That spicy sauce doesn't sound like something you'd do for a big group though, not everyone likes spicey. And Cuban definitely does not have to be spicey.