Food & Wine Festival 2015: Canada

Oh Canada! The 7th stop of the day, and 18th and final stop of our trip!

Canada is always popular since it is a resident country of the World Showcase, and everyone loves going in the little Canadian shops. The Festival booth brought crowds because of its delicious offerings. It definitely did not disappoint! That's for sure!

In Canada, we got the Canadian cheddar cheese soup. It did have bacon in it, which you know I don't care for, but the soup was very delicious. I'd tried it before, so I knew it would be okay. Ean really loved it. That's because it is so good! You know it has to be good if I liked it and I don't like bacon. But let's be real, MOST people in America are obsessed with bacon, so of course this soup is going to appeal to pretty much everyone.

Canada also had chicken sausage with creamy polenta and Minus B onion jam (whatever that is!). That, of course, didn't sound too appealing to me because chicken is not my favorite. I don't think Ean would have liked it because what the heck is onion jam? Lol! But I did see a picture of it on DisneyFoodBlog and it just didn't look like something we wanted to try this time. The other food dish they had was "Le Cellier" wild mushroom beef filet mignon with truffle butter sauce. I'm sure Ean would have liked that, and I would have tried a little nibble if we got it. The cheddar cheese soup just sounded like the best option of the three!

The drinks that Canada had were Moosehead Lager, Neige Premiere apple ice wine, Inniskillin Vidal Icewine, and Tawse Vineyard cabernet franc. I honestly don't know what any of those are, but I definitely expected to see something like Moosehead Lager in Canada. Of course they will have something with Moose in the name.

And thus concludes our food journey around the world! I can't wait until we (hopefully) go next year. I want to do this again and again! The Food and Wine Festival is such a fun experience!!

Food & Wine Festival 2015: France

Finally, at our 17th stop of the trip, I got an ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE!! Eeep!!

France was our 6th stop of the day on Tuesday, and it was definitely time for an alcoholic beverage. I mean, 3pm isn't too early, right?!

France had a couple of tasty looking alcoholic beverages, but I had one specific one in mind. I knew that if I didn't try any other alcoholic beverages the entire trip, I had to at least get this one.

But before we get to the wonderful beverage that Ean and I so thoroughly enjoyed, let me first speak of the French beverages that we did not try. First of all, France had a Kronenbourg Blanc beer. They also had two wines- Macon-Villages, Vieilles Vignes Mommessin chardonnay and Chateau Bonnet, Bordeaux cabernet sauvignon. Then there were three wonderful looking mixed drinks. The two that we did not get were the "Ice Pop Pomme" which was apple juice, vodka, and Saint Germain Luqueur, and the "La Passion Martini Slush" which was Grey Goose Le Citron vodka, cranberry juice, and passion fruit juice. France was actually incredibly popular, mainly because of the drinks. The food looked interesting, but the drinks were definitely the top seller here.

Which brings me to the super fabulous drink that we had the absolute pleasure of consuming: the sparkling pomegranate kir.

I'd tried this drink when I went with my mom, so I already was obsessed. For some reason, this was one of my all-time number one favorite things about the Food and Wine Festival, and I really don't know why. I'm a huge pomegranate fan, random, I know. But I absolutely love pomegranates. Whatever pomegranate juice and whatever champagne or sparkling wine they mix together to make this drink is like a little taste of nectar sent down from the heavens by God himself. I mean, truly, this drink is a blessing in a glass.

Ean and I took the drink over to this area that was surprisingly secluded and empty. We just hung out by the World Showcase Lagoon and had the most spectacular view of the entire World Showcase. It was incredible. We couldn't believe that there was no one over there because it was so relaxing and quiet. We could have stayed there the rest of the day!

We debated trying some of the French food. I'd had the creme brulee before and it was wonderful. That is the only thing we would have gotten. The other options were boeuf bourguignon, which was braised short ribs in cabernet sauvignon with mashed potatoes, or croissant aux escargot, which was an escargot croissant with garlic and parsley. For those that don't know what escargot is, it's snails. I've never tried escargot before, and I would maybe be willing to give it a taste, but this trip was not that time.

For now, I'm happy just sipping on my delightful pomegranate kir. I need to recreate this drink asap!

Food & Wine Festival 2015: Brazil

As our journey around the World Showcase continued, we needed something savory to have after our little sweet treat (not sure why we were in such a mood for savory food and not really for sweet... normally it is the other way around for me!).

We decided to stop in at Brazil. That made this our 16th stop of the trip, and the 5th of the day.

Brazil had some interesting cuisine. We tried the pao de queijo, which is Brazilian cheese bread. It tasted very wonderful, but the texture started to feel funny to the mouth after a few bites. It had a very wonderful flavor, however, the cheese just had a weird consistency. Though I was still a little hungry, I couldn't finish my little roll cause the chewy cheese felt weird in my mouth. It was disappointing, too, because it tasted so good.

The booth also offered crispy pork belly with black beans and tomato, which I tried when I went with my mom in 2013, escondidinho de carne, which is a layered meat pie with mashed yucca (not sure what yucca is... put it looked almost like mashed potatoes, so I'm sure it was good), and cocada, which is Brazilian coconut candy.

The drinks looked very tasty, too. They had Kaiser brewery Xingu black beer, Carnaval Moscato sparkling white wine, and frozen Caipirinha featuring LeBlon Cachaca. I had the Caipirinha with my mom before, and it was good. She told me I needed to get it again, and I almost did! But I knew I was about to get the one alcoholic drink I was SO looking forward to, and I didn't really want to get two alcoholic beverages in a row!

Food & Wine Festival 2015: Belgium

After shopping around the world for a little bit, we stopped by the Belgium festival booth to FINALLY try a sweet treat! Belgium was our 4th stop on Tuesday, and our 15th stop of the trip.

At the Belgium booth, the only food you can get is a Belgian waffle. Of course. What else would you expect from Belgium? There were several options you could choose from. They had a potato and leek waffle with beer-braised beef and smoked gouda cream (looked very savory and stew-like), a Belgian waffle with warm chocolate ganache and whipped cream (honestly almost got this one because of how chocolatey and amazing it looked), and the dish we got, which was the Belgian waffle with berry compote and whipped cream.

It was a very good choice, indeed.

I've had this waffle before, back when I went with my mom in 2013. I loved it so much I knew I had to get it again. We honestly debated if we should get the chocolate one since I wanted to try it too and I'd never tried it, but my memories of the waffle with berry compote won and we settled on that.

Belgium's drinks were Hoegaarden (I don't even know, but it sounds very interesting, hahaha), Leffe Blonde, Palm Speciale Belge amber ale, Stella Artois Cidre, and chilled coffee featuring Godiva chocolate liquer (probably tasted absolutely amazing).

Belgian waffles are the best. This dish is getting recreated for sure.

Food & Wine Festival 2015: Italy

For our 3rd stop of the day, and the 14th of the trip, we went to Italy!

Italy is another place that is part of Epcot's World Showcase, but that didn't stop us from visiting the delicious Festival booth! 

One of the menu items, I was going to absolutely love. That was the cannoli al cioccolato: chocolate-covered cannoli filled with sweet ricotta, chocolate, and candied fruit. I really like cannolis. It used to be my favorite thing on the menu at Altruda's back in the day when we visited that restaurant frequently. We also have one that we serve at Bradford Catered Events, which is also quite delicious. However, Ean isn't as fond of them as I am so we did not get it.

Another menu item, Ean was going to love. That was the filetto di pollo con funghi al marsala: chicken tenderloin, cremini mushrooms, marsala sauce, and ciabatta bread. We have a chicken marsala dish at Bradford Catered Events that he really likes. I've actually tried it, not any of the chicken, but I've scraped the breading off it and eating a bite of breading, mushrooms, and sauce. It's good, but this dish wasn't one I was wanting to try.

Then there was one item we'd both enjoy. To save time, money, and stomach space, we decided to go with that one. It was a ravioli alla caprese: cheese ravioli, tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, and basil. YUM! It tasted very wonderful. Who doesn't love a good ravioli? It was super hot and very cheesy. Honestly though, it wasn't really anything out of the ordinary. A lot of the stuff at the festival, I'll only ever eat here in Epcot. The ravioli was something that could be very easily duplicated, or even bought in the frozen section of the grocery store. That didn't stop it from tasting super amazing, though!

Italy had many beverages you could try. They had Moretti lager beer, Moretti la rossa beer, Placido pino grigio, Montegrande corbinello, Placido chianti classico, Montegrande moscato fior d'Arancio, Bosco del Merlo prosecco, and a frozen margarita with limoncello and tequila. I've never tried limencello before, but I hear it packs a good punch.

While eating at our cocktail table in Italy, we noticed a group of medical cast members across the street attending to an old man who was laying on a stretcher on the ground. Some other official cast members were standing around kind of blocking the view. Honestly, the man looked dead. It was horrifying. I really thought he wasn't gonna make it. But after working on him a little bit, he finally started to regain consciousness. We figured he had to be alright because the medical workers weren't hurriedly rushing him away, and the two ladies with him didn't seem too worried. But there was a moment in there that I thought he was gone! It was very scary to watch! It was definitely a moment I won't forget!

Food & Wine Festival 2015: Poland

The 2nd booth we visited, and the lucky 13th of the trip, was Poland!

Apparently pierogies are a popular food in Poland because both dishes offered at the booth included pierogies! The two dishes you can try in Poland are kielbasa with potato pierogi and carmalized onions topped with sour cream, and sauerkraut pierogi with pork goulash. We tried the kielbasa and potato pierogi. I ate all the pierogies and Ean ate all the kielbasa! I did try a little taste of the kielbasa and it did have very good flavor for a super greasy meat! Ean definitely enjoyed it. I had this dish a few years ago with my mom, and it is just as good as I remembered it. Ean tasted the potato pierogi and liked it, but definitely loved the kielbasa better. We shared the caramelized onions, and they were delicious, of course. Caramelized onions always are!

Poland had three drink options, one of which looked very good. They had Okocim Brewery Okocim O.K. beer, Donausonne Blaufraenkish Hungarian wine, and a frozen szarlotka. The frozen szarlotka was the tasty looking one! It's apparently a frozen "apple pie" and it was made with zubrowka bison grass vodka. Sounds interesting. It looked like it would be a sweet and tasty drink!

The area that Poland was located in is one of my favorite parts of the World Showcase. It was right between Germany and Italy. The area is never crowded, and it is a wonderful place to sit and look out on the Showcase Lagoon. Plus there is a super cute little "German town" in the area that's always fun to look at.

Food & Wine Festival 2015: China

After spending the morning in Magic Kingdom, we decided to head over to Epcot for some good eats! We also had to get our 3rd day stamp in our Festival Passport so that we could get our free annual passholder wine glass. The glass is super cute! We just love these little passholder perks!

Our first stop of the day on Tuesday, the last day of our trip, was China! It was our 12th stop of our festival journey, and it did not disappoint.

The dish we tried in China was another spicy-ish one. Like I said in a post before, a lot of the dishes had some kind of spice to them! We tried the black pepper shrimp with sichuan noodles. The shrimp was sort of a breaded shrimp (I say sort of because it wasn't like a super thick breading), and it was topped with cilantro, which we all know I hate. Luckily, the cilantro was in very big leaves, so I just picked it off my portion. And honestly though, I did have one bite of noodles with a piece of cilantro that I missed, and the other spices that were on the noodles had such a good flavor that it covered up most of the gross cilantro taste (lol, I'm so mean to cilantro! It isn't THAT bad, but it certainly isn't my fave!).

Some other super interesting dishes you could try in China were Beijing roasted duck in a steamed bun with hoisin sauce, Gaoli beef slider, and chicken pot stickers. Pot stickers are super tasty (without chicken or pork, of course) so I bet Ean would have loved those, but we decided to just try the one dish that I could actually have.

China had some really awesome looking beverages. You could either get a Tsingtao beer, Francis Ford Coppola Sue Yuen riesling, Ritzy Lychee with cognac and vodka, Happy Peach with peach liqueur and dark rum, Kung Fu Punch with vodka and triple sec, and mango jasmine tea with bubbles. I would have definitely tried either the mango jasmine tea or the Kung Fu Punch because both looked so super tasty.

We were able to snag a cocktail table while enjoying our food from China. It wasn't that busy on Tuesday afternoon, which was good. The less crowded it is, the more we can enjoy! Plus it makes it easier to divide the food between both of us when we have a table we can portion it out on.