Flying Fish Cafe - dinner review - February 10, 2011

We had been to the Flying Fish Cafe at the Boardwalk Resort once before, the previous August. We had the then-new Chef's Tasting Menu experience. And we were hooked. When we decided to make a return trip to WDW, we made sure to book the Chef's Tasting Menu at Flying Fish again.

We checked in for our 8:15 reservation. On our previous visit, we had been there on a Sunday night, when Executive Chef Tim Keating wasn't there, so we hadn't met him yet. This time, though, since it was a Thursday night, he was there, and he introduced himself to us (the man is REALLY tall), and we were shown to our seats at the counter. There were four places set up, but the other two people never showed. How sad.



The setup for our places at the counter.



With the Chef's Tasting Menu, you don't order at all. The menu for the evening is created by the chef dependent upon what ingredients are available and the chef's cooking whim. If you have any food allergies/preferences, you can relay that ahead of time. The husband has a very strong aversion to cilantro, and we had stopped by the previous night so that the husband could ask that no cilantro be used for us. Chef Keating mentioned that immediately upon meeting us, assuring us that no cilantro would be used in our evening's meal.

Shortly thereafter, another manager came by to say hello, and he had specifically wanted to meet the person who had asked for "no cilantro please" as he was also very adverse to cilantro and wanted to meet a kindred spirit. We learned later that he was the area manager of food and beverage for the Boardwalk Resort.


This was the menu that we were going to be enjoying.





First was the amuse bouches. Usually, it's a singular noun, so I was kind of amused that in this instance, it was a plural noun. But then, once the dish was delivered, it made sense because there were two separate items.



Free-range "egg shake" and sturgeon caviar with yellow tomato & basil relish.

Both items were very tasty, and I loved the presentation of the funky cup and dish.


The Tasting Menu includes wine pairings for each dish. Previously, you could add the wine pairings for a nominal fee. I am not much of a wine drinker, so I didn't add the wine pairings and just ordered a drink on the side. They now no longer offer that option since the wines are included. We had told them I wasn't interested in the wine pairings, so they were instead bringing me alternate non-alcoholic drinks to have with my meal, which were still very nice. However, I had decided that I was going to be ordering a drink on the side anyway - I had previously had the blood orange margarita, and it was simply amazing. I couldn't very well pass up the opportunity to have it again.



Blood orange margarita.



The first course was orecchiette pasta with Main lobster.



Lobster with orrechiette pasta with fennel, oven-dried sweet peppers, arugula and lobster roe crema.

This was really an amazing dish. Many times, courses that claim to contain lobster only have little shreds of lobster meat that are almost indistinguishable from the other ingredients. That was not the case here. There were nice big pieces of lobster meat, and all the different flavors went very well together. In a larger portion size, this would have made a great entree as well.



The second course was duck prosciutto with scallops and duck confit.



Duck prosciutto with scallops, duck confit, duck-roasted salsifis and tiny onions.

Again, this was a really amazing dish. The scallops were very good, perfectly cooked, but the piece of duck prosciutto on top was incredible. We also liked the root vegetables that were underneath the scallops. We noticed that there were slivers of turnips in the mix, and we mentioned to Chef Keating that we really liked them. He said that he hadn't originally planned to put them in, but he just decided to at the last minute. This dish would also have done nicely as an entree.


Next up was the palate cleanser, so this is a good time for a sidebar.

The counter seats are in front of a side part of the open kitchen. Sous chefs are preparing courses for other people in the restaurant, and that's also where Chef Keating was preparing our courses. Yes, he was actually cooking them himself. We had seen the menu, so we could see that the items he was cooking had the same ingredients as what we were having. It was really nice to be able to watch him actually cook what we were then going to be eating. Once the dishes were prepared and plated, he was also the one to bring the dishes out to us. As he set them down, he explained what everything was, and if we had questions, we were able to ask him. He was very forthcoming with answering our questions, so it was a really good opportunity to ask about many of the things we were eating as well as other food-related questions.

At one point, we were discussing cilantro again, how some people like it (me included) and some people absolutely hate it. Micro greens are fairly commonly used nowadays, and it can be hard to tell the difference between micro cilantro and micro basil or micro parsley or an assortment of any other micro greens. I asked Chef Keating if there was a way to recognize the micro cilantro so that the husband would know whether or not he needed to pick it out of a dish without having to actually taste it. Chef Keating went away for a couple minutes and came back with a palmful of micro cilantro to show us. He said that when he ordered them, he liked his grower to let them grow out a tiny bit more, until the leaves actually start to form a bit more, but most people use them when they're barely sprouted. The husband did get a good enough look to note the shape of the barely-showing leaves, enough that he can actually now spot the difference between micro cilantro and other micro greens.

OK, back to the actual palate cleanser. Chef Keating came by with two small glasses. He put one down in front of the husband, and he was about to put the second one down in front of me when he saw my blood orange margarita and eyed it confusedly. He said he thought I didn't drink alcohol, since I had declined the wine pairings. I told him that I just wasn't much of a wine drinker, but alcohol is fine. At that point, he took the glass that he'd put in front of the husband and set it in front of me instead, and he said he'd be right back. We saw him go to the bar, and he was there for a minute and then came back. He then set the second glass in front of the husband. The palate cleanser was a lychee sorbet, but since he thought I didn't drink alcohol, he had omitted the lemoncello from my glass. Once he realized that alcohol itself wasn't the issue, he went back to have them put lemoncello in the second glass. Lychee sorbet and lemoncello - two of my favorite things, together. Mmmmm, it was heavenly.



Palate cleanser - lychee sorbet with lemoncello.



Then it came time for the main course - veal tenderloin with crepe of mushrooms, goat cheese and leek.



Veal tenderloin with Cascade Mountain wild mushrooms, goat cheese and leek crespelle "package" (aka crepe).

The crepe was underneath the slices of the veal tenderloin. Everything was cooked very nicely and was delicious, and the ingredients of the crepe were a nice accompaniment to the tenderloin.


Since it had been cleared up that I wasn't adverse to alcohol, just most wines, they brought me a cranberrytini to pair with my entree. Mmmm, another yummy cocktail. (I'll admit that with so much to eat and drink already, I ended up not finishing either the blood orange margarita or the cranberrytini, but each was very tasty.)



Cranberrytini.



Finally, it was time for dessert - white chocolate and passion fruit semi-freddo with cherry compote.



White chocolate and passion fruit semi-freddo with a chocolate feuillatine and caramelized cherry compote.

I am not normally a fan of white chocolate, but the flavoring was very light in the dessert, and I really enjoyed the cherries.



It was a spectacular meal, but our experience wasn't over yet. The bartender came over to check on us to see if there was anything else that we needed. I mentioned that it was only my second time in the restaurant, and on our first visit, we never made it past the counter, which is at the front of the restaurant, so I had no idea what the restaurant itself really looked like, so I really just wanted to walk around for a bit if that was ok. He assured me that was alright and asked if we knew the story behind the theming of the restaurant. When we said no, he offered to take us around the restaurant to show us and explain, and we gladly took him up on his offer.

While the Boardwalk Resort is themed to the boardwalk in Atlantic City, the Flying Fish Cafe is actually themed to Coney Island in New York. He walked us to the back of the restaurant so we could see the side rooms there, and he showed us the architecture on the walls which simulated the curves of a roller coaster. Atop the curves were painted murals of a roller coaster train and riders. Other architecture at the front of the restaurant and used to divide the space also resembled a roller coaster track. He explained that the name of the restaurant came from a roller coaster that had been at Coney Island - one of its cars was named Flying Fish. There's also a decoration of sorts that descends from the ceiling at the front of the restaurant that's an homage to the famous parachute jump at Coney Island, and there's a depiction of a giant ferris wheel at the back wall of the restaurant as well. He also showed us various decorations around and above the bar that also went along with the same theming as the rest of the restaurant.

We thanked him for showing us the restaurant and telling us the story of its theming. We were sorry that it was time for our night to end, but we wanted to say goodbye to Chef Keating and to thank him for an incredible meal. He had already gone in the back to do other things, and a manager was nice enough to go get him for us. When he came out, we talked a bit more, and we asked him how he'd arrived at Flying Fish. He said that many years ago, when Disney was first building the Boardwalk Resort, that space had been intended to be leased out to an outside restaurant chain, famous for a particular dessert, but then Disney decided they needed another signature restaurant, and the Flying Fish Cafe was born. Chef Keating said that he and his family had enjoyed dining at Flying Fish, and he had been a guest chef for a couple of years at Epcot's Food and Wine Festival, and several years ago, Disney was looking for someone to come in and take over the executive chef job at Flying Fish and offered it to him, which he jumped at. He loves working at Flying Fish.

We talked a bit more about some of the dishes we'd enjoyed that night, and discussion got around to radishes and other root vegetables, which we enjoy. On our prior visit, we had the opportunity to chat with some of the sous chefs who had been cooking in front of us, and they had told us that Chef Keating was particularly enamoured of radishes, of all kinds, and he likes to use them in his cooking. He confirmed that and rattled off a list of different radishes that he had in the kitchen's stock in the back. I mentioned watermelon radishes to him because I remembered having seem them listed on a regular menu on our last visit, and they had sounded intriguing. He explained them a bit to us, and then he actually ended up showing one to us, including cutting into it to show us exactly why it's called a watermelon radish. He sliced off a bit for each of us to try. I'm not skilled enough to describe the flavor, but we like radishes and turnips and such anyway, so we enjoyed it.

Chef Keating also ended up showing us the micro greens that they get for the restaurant, and I was a bit stunned when he said that the micro greens come all mixed together, so in order to fulfill the husband's "no cilantro" request, Chef Keating himself had picked out the micro cilantro from a handful of the micro greens so that he could use the rest as garnish on our dishes. I didn't know it all came mixed and was amazed not only that the cilantro had to be picked out, but that he'd done it himself. I jokingly said to the husband, "See what you made him do," but Chef Keating was quick to respond that no one "made" him do anything. It was what needed to be done, so he did it.


It was fairly late by this time, and the restaurant was almost empty, so we thanked Chef Keating again and finally left. I don't expect I will ever be able to order off the menu at Flying Fish (even though the regular menu looks terrific too) because I can't imagine going there and NOT doing the Chef's Tasting Menu. It was an absolutely amazing dining experience. It wasn't just the delicious food but also the opportunity to have that much time to speak to Chef Keating as well. I am lucky enough to have experienced some pretty wonderful meals, but I have to say that I think this one night tops them all.


At the beginning of the meal, you get a little fold-out menu.



Left side of the fold-out.



Right side of the fold-out.



The picture on the left looks like it's taken at the Land Pavilion at Epcot. During the course of the meal, a picture is taken of your group with the chef, and at the end of the meal, you get a souvenir menu with your picture in the spot where the lettuce picture was previously.


The Chef's Tasting Menu is currently being offered Sunday through Thursday. (Note that at the link provided, Chef Keating is in the middle of the picture.) There are two seatings per night: 5:45pm and 8:15pm. Up to six people can be accommodated at each seating.








And, as if this review isn't long enough as it is, I have to indulge and include the pictures of our meal from our prior visit on August 8, 2010. You can stop now if you want.


The decorations in our section of the counter seats. It was beautifully set up, and I kind of missed having that this time.







The pretty charger plate.







My view of the open kitchen right in front of us.







Down the counter a bit is more wood being fed into the stove.







Special tasting (before the amuse bouche) was tiny heirloom tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella and basil oil.







My drink was a blood orange margarita.







The amuse bouche was warm Belize peninsula shrimp cocktail with seaweed, tiny greens and wasabi caviar.







The first course was clam and orrechiette pasta with tiny heirloom tomatoes, piquillo peppers and prosciutto cracklins.







The second course was tuna with asian greens, snap peas, artichokes and varietal squash.







The palate cleanser was lemoncello gelato on semi frozen strawberry slice defrosted with lemoncello.







A different view of the palate cleanser.







The main course was lamb shank with corn pudding (with polenta) and mushrooms.







Dessert was apricot and tupelo honey delice fantasie with almond gelato and chocolate accents.







My cappuccino came with a biscotti.







The Chef's Tasting Menu on August 8, 2010.

Orlando trip - February 9, 2011 - arrival and Epcot

Wednesday was mostly a travel day. We left SoCal in the morning and arrived in Orlando around 6pm. After picking up our luggage and our rental car, we headed to Walt Disney World. Our last visit had been August of 2010, so it was nice not to have to deal with the sweltering heat and humidity this time.



This picture is actually from our August 2010 visit, but my attempts at taking a similar picture this trip failed miserably.



We were staying at the Beach Club this time, so we arrived there, checked in and then got settled for a couple minutes before walking to Epcot for dinner. Can I just say how much I loved being able to do that?



Walking towards the France section of Epcot.



We had an 8pm dinner reservation at Les Chefs de France. We'd not eaten there before and were interested in trying it out. We ended up with a nice little window table with a lovely view outside, just about across from the Grand Marnier slushie cart. A friend had told me about that place, and I'd tried one of their slushies on our prior visit - YUM!

We actually had two servers, a female who was the trainee and a male who was the supervising server. The trainee mostly took care of us and took our order, and the supervisor just watched and corrected when needed. One of the little details about the Epcot restaurants that I love is that they have people working in the restaurants (at least the servers anyway) who are from the country that corresponds to the restaurant. Both the trainer and the supervisor had French accents but we had no problem understanding them, and besides, I'm kind of a sucker for European accents. They were both friendly and attentive without being intrusive.

I started with the French onion soup (which is really just called "onion soup" when you're ordering it in a French restaurant...), and it was very tasty, but it was a bigger portion than I expected.

For my entree, I had the trio of fruits de mer (scallops, tiger shrimp, mahi mahi), which was kind of like a cioppino, which I happen to love.





The seafood was plentiful and nicely textured, not overdone, and the broth was delicious. We had a lovely meal and would definitely go back.



We try to time our first night at WDW to be at whichever park is having evening Extra Magic Hours so we can spend a little time in a park. Unfortunately, EMH this night was at Animal Kingdom, which still meant it closed earlier than some of the other parks with regular hours. Since we were staying at an Epcot resort, and Epcot is our favorite WDW park, we had decided to just have dinner at Epcot. We picked Les Chefs de France partly because we did want to try it and partly because of its location - from there, we knew we might be able to see flashes of Illuminations and maybe hear some of the soundtrack as well. We're *huge* fans of that show. We were well into our meal by the time Illuminations started at 9pm but there wasn't really much of the show we could see and we were also enjoying our meal. However, I could hear muted strains of "We Go On" from our table, and it already started me tearing up. Ever since the first time I heard that song, it's always made me cry just because it's so beautiful.

After finishing our meal, we went outside and stood by the edge of the water listening to the rest of the Illuminations closing music - which at that point had gotten to the entire full soundtrack of Tapestry of Nations. We stood and listened to it all the way through. Even without having been able to see Illuminations that night, it was still a thrill to be able to stand looking at World Showcase at Epcot, listening to the Tapestry music.

After the music ended, we walked back to our room and retired for the evening in preparation for the next day's activities.

Noir Food & Wine - dinner review - March 4, 2011

Last month, the husband and a friend and I had occasion to try out a new restaurant. Noir Food & Wine is located on a smaller street in Pasadena, very close to the IceHouse Comedy Club. There's a multi-story parking structure across the street, so parking there is very convenient. We walked across the street and went to check in at the restaurant for our reservation. The layout of the restaurant is a bit odd. There was really no check-in podium that we could really see, so we kind of stood by the door until someone came to talk to us. We were trying not to be intrusive to the diners seated near the door. The restaurant has several rooms, and our host told us that there were a couple of tables open that would fit our party, so it really just depended on which room we wanted to sit in. The open table in the main room we had entered was fairly close to the door, so I asked to see the other tables. He led us to the adjacent room and showed us another table, and then he went outside another door that brought us back onto the street and then went in another door that led into another room and showed us a table in the corner there, which we decided to take. It turns out that room was fairly new, having just recently been opened to seat customers. There was also a patio area in the back that was expected to be finished and open soon, and there would also then be a connecting door from the other rooms, so that you didn't have to go back outside to enter this last room. It was a bit weird but still charming.

We sat down and started to peruse the menu - or should I say, menus. The restaurant basically serves tapas - small plates meant to be shared so that you can order multiple dishes. There was a main menu and then an "additions" menu, which are pretty much the specials. The server mentioned that the menus, especially the "additions" menu, change very often since the chef likes to use whatever ingredients are fresh at the farmer's market at any given time. After reviewing the menu, we decided on a number of courses that we would all mostly share, minus courses that any of the one of us didn't necessarily like.

We decided to start with some tastings from the "fromage and charcuterie board" - that would be the meat and cheese platters. There are a selection of different meats and cheeses, and you can order a selection of several items on a plate. In previously looking at the menu online, I had noticed the prosciutto listed as one of the meats, but on the actual menu, it was listed as an item that you can order separately. We decided to order the prosciutto plate (sliced San Daniele prosciutto with grilled ciabatta bread) and a 3-item sampler plate as well. We ordered one cheese (I forget exactly what kind it was), and two meats, one of which was the salami in cocoa powder, which we thought sounded interesting. The plate came with various accompaniments like nuts and dried fruit. The meats and cheeses were all good, but I thought the sampler plate portions were smaller than I had expected. I think the salami in cocoa powder was good, but there were only 4 slices of that. I don't think I'd be inclined to order a meat and cheese plate again. (I'm describing all of this because it completely skipped my mind to take a picture of either plate.)

The menu listed a "Noir specialty butter", described as follows: "Chef Claud Beltran has selected this premium, organic butter from Vermont Butter Company. This european style butter is ultra-sweet and a perfect addition to our ciabatta bread." We had wanted to order it to try it, but they were unfortunately sold out of it, so we decided we'd have to order it on a future visit.

For the other dishes we ordered, we decided to have them come in courses, since it would work out better that way. The husband and our friend shared a bottle of red wine - I think it was from Spain, though I could be mistaken. Noir only serves beer and wine, neither of which I partake of much, so I just had water with my meal.


The first course were the salads. We decided on a frissee and cucumbers salad from the regular menu and a blood orange salad from the "additions" menu, partly because the husband and I LOVE blood oranges.



frissee lettuce and Persian cucumbers with dijon Maytag Bleu vinaigrette

The frissee lettuce was fresh and the cucumbers were nice and crunchy, and I really enjoyed the dressing on the salad.




blood orange salad with Windrose Farms spicy asian greens and sesame soy vinaigrette

The blood orange salad was very nice as well, and the blood orange slices gave it a really nice extra flavor.


Next up were the "starters".




seared scallops with heirloom cherry tomato salad and parsley puree

The scallops were *very* tasty. They were cooked perfectly, and the dish was beautifully presented with the nice complimentary colors. The cherry tomato salad was a nice accompaniment to the scallops.




crab fritters with black pepper aioli and Carolina mustard sauce

The crab fritters were a little boring to look at, but they were very tasty, especially with the choice of the two dipping sauces.




grilled octopus with parsley and yellow tomato salad and caper vinaigrette

I very much enjoyed the octopus. It wasn't too mushy or rubbery, as it can sometimes be.


And then came the "entrees".




half cornish game hen with rosemary risotto and sauteed summer squash

I was the one most interested in trying the cornish game hen, in spite of the rosemary risotto, neither of which I'm particularly fond of. I liked the crispiness of the hen, and it was pretty tasty, except that the part I tried had been sitting on the risotto, and some of the rosemary had seeped in. The husband and our friend enjoyed the risotto portion of the dish.




seared Hudson Valley foie gras with Korean pears, pomegranate seeds and pomegranate syrup

I am decidedly a fan of foie gras, but I'd never had it seared before. My phone doesn't do a good job with taking pictures in low light, so the picture doesn't begin to do justice to the dish. The flavor of the foie gras was delightful prepared that way. Foie gras is very rich, so it was nice to have the pears to offset that a bit and to add to the overall flavor. It's definitely a dish to be shared. Even with three of us sharing the dish, we each had plenty. You can't really eat too much foie gras at a time because the richness can be unpleasantly overwhelming.




grilled Australian double chops lamb with roasted sunchokes and Tom Lun sauce

I am normally a fan of lamb, but I'll admit that because there was other stuff to eat, I didn't get around to trying the lamb chop until it was a bit tepid. I did still enjoy the flavor though, and it was very tender. The husband had his taste when the dish was still warm and he said it was very good. We all did like the sunchokes, though we didn't know what it was. Our server told us that it was the heart of a sunflower. We decided that we hoped to have it again on another dish.




brussel sprouts sauteed in garlic, shallots and orange zest

The husband and I are particular fans of brussel sprouts, so when we saw that it was on the menu as a side, we had to order it. They were prepared very nicely, not overcooked and still with good flavor and texture.



We probably ended up ordering too much, just because there was so much we wanted to try. I know we didn't finish one of the salads, and there was quite a bit of the cornish game hen left on the plate.

But, we definitely had to leave room for dessert!




Noir bananas foster with vanilla gelato

This was off the regular dessert menu. It was pretty tasty, but the husband did have one complaint, which he did end up relaying to our server. He asked if it was cooked in the same oil as the crab fritters, and the server said it was actually cooked in an adjacent section, but it's possible some of the oil could have crossed over between the two. The husband said that he could actually taste some of the crab on the dessert (we noticed how much the dessert looked like the crab fritters as well), which wasn't a particularly pleasant combination. The friend and I didn't notice the crab flavor as much. The server said she would relay his comment so that the kitchen could be more careful about not having the flavors mix.




passion fruit panna cotta creme brulee

This dessert was on the "additions" menu, and I liked it very much.


All in all, it was a lovely dinner. The dishes came in groupings, as we'd asked the server to do, so we were able to enjoy each set of dishes before the next set came, and we had time in between for conversation and fun. Our server was very nice, and she was very knowledgeable, as we ended up having many questions for her, both about the food and otherwise. She was friendly and forthcoming throughout, and we never felt rushed, even though we were one of the last to leave that evening. It was a lovely meal, and it's a restaurant I definitely intend to visit again.




Noir Food & Wine
40 North Mentor Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91106
(626) 795-7199

Hello Kitty has some new looks

I have a couple of friends who are into Hello Kitty, and I'm well familiar with her myself. So when I found out about a series of pictures of Hello Kitty in various familiar attire, it was just too funny not to post about.


There are a lot of really cute pics, but here are a few of my favorites.


With a new Smurfs movie being released this year, this Smurfy Kitty seems very apropos now.






And who says only boys can be Space Rangers?






Mickey Kitty!!!!






There are a few Star Trek pics, but I like the Spock one best.






And of course, if there's Star Trek, there's gotta be Star Wars too, right? These are my faves of the group.














There are also a number of pics in other franchises (like X-Men and Watchmen) as well as comic book characters, other well-known characters from various media and just random fun.

But. I think this one is my absolute favorite.





Make sure to go to the actual page where this pic is housed (just click on the pic) to read the description/disclaimer. It's funny.


Hello Kitty is taking over the world!

chocolate milk for adults

I'd previously heard a couple of ads for Adult Chocolate Milk, and I'll admit I didn't quite know whether to think it was legit. It sounded kind of fun and interesting but didn't catch my attention to find out anything more about it.

Coincidentally, a friend found a bottle at BevMo and though she'd never heard of it before, she thought it sounded cool, so she bought me a bottle as a gift. Last night, a few of us shared some for a taste test.






I love the way that the bottle is packaged. It's also pretty easy to open, and the little plug also works really well to re-seal the bottle if need be, even enough to keep it from spilling anything in transport after it's already been opened.


But cute bottle and all, the test comes in the testing. And Adult Chocolate Milk passes that test with flying colors. We all agreed that it was pretty delicious. I wouldn't say that it entirely tastes like actual chocolate milk - it's not really chocolaty enough for that. But there is a nice smoothness to it, with nice flavor. I'd say it's probably a lighter version of chocolate milk. But yeah, it's oh so alcohol-y. You can definitely taste the "adult" part. It was actually a little stronger than I had expected, though I don't know why I expected it to be that way. I think the "chocolate milk" moniker tricks you into expecting something light and easy. Yeah, be careful that you're not just downing this particular chocolate milk and then going off for a drive.

When I had previously told the husband about having received this, I was wondering whether it should be chilled before we had it. I don't generally chill other liquers, and this doesn't require being chilled, but the husband suggested it might taste better chilled. So I did put it in the fridge for a couple hours before we tried it. The glass bottle helps with the chilling process too. I guess it would taste ok at room temperature, but again, the facsimile to actual chocolate milk makes it seem like it would be better chilled, since tepid milk is blech, at least to me.

So we were trying to figure out what foods might go well with this, because we can't live on chocolate, milk and alcohol alone. The first and immediate suggestion was a cookie, but I don't think anything sweet would really go well with it, since it's already sweet - not overwhelmingly so, but enough that I think you don't need to be adding more sweetness with it. Milk goes well with cookies because the plain milk cuts the sweetness in the cookie. Chocolate milk would be just too much of a pile-on. So we rejected any sugary foods - cookies, cakes, pies, cupcakes, etc.

And then, I came up with an idea - a peanut butter sandwich! I've always liked having milk with that since the milk helps cut the stickiness of the peanut butter. And the taste of peanut butter and chocolate together is like having a Reese's peanut butter cup. Adult chocolate milk and a peanut butter sandwich is definitely a combo I'll have to try in the future.

Adult Chocolate Milk is definitely being added to my list of things I can potentially bring to parties and to have around the house as well.


And yes, this is a totally real product, today's date notwithstanding.

Angels on wheels

One of the basic tenets of the United States is the First Amendment - freedom of speech. That doesn't mean that you can say WHATEVER you want, WHEREVER you want, WHENEVER you want, but for the most part, it means that you can say things that are offensive and objectionable and hurtful and despicable. Awww, the First Amendment is the proverbial double-edged sword. It protects not just your right to free speech, but it also protects the free speech rights of those who are the polar opposite of you in any kind of thinking.

Polar opposite of good taste, decency, humanity - that's a good description for the so-called Westboro "church", who find it appropriate to protest against homosexuality at the funerals of military personnel killed in the line of duty, as well as other high-profile funerals. They're pretty much media whores. Which is fine in itself - there are lots of media whores in our society. But I can't imagine how hurtful their signs and chantings and disruptions are to the families of soldiers who are having a hard enough time saying goodbye to sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, comrades, good friends.

The courts recently upheld their right to do such protests. While my heart breaks at the thought of them being given the right to spew their hate and rub salt in the wounds of those already mourning the loss of a loved one, my head understands that it's the correct decision, that EVERYONE's right to free speech must be protected.


Today, a friend posted a link to a video of a group called the Patriot Guard Riders who have taken it upon themselves to do something about these protests. They are invited to military funerals and set themselves up as a curtain to protect the families from seeing and hearing the hate being spewed by the protesters. God bless these people for what they're doing.

You might need a tissue, or two, or a box. Don't say I didn't warn you.


I don't have the ability to embed the video, so here's the link to click to watch the video.

Tapestry of Nations - once was all it took

In November of 1999, the husband and I made our first visit to Walt Disney World. We were already big fans of Disney and regular visitors of Disneyland, so it was kind of weird to be in Disney parks that were so completely new to us. We had a lot of friends who had been to WDW before, so we asked them for some opinions and recommendations.

We knew that we wanted to see Illuminations at Epcot, and one friend gave us a suggestion on where we could have a good view of the show without having to stake out a spot for hours beforehand, so we took his advice, and it all turned out really well. (Loved Illuminations, btw, still do.) Another friend had suggested that we see the parade that was running at the time at Epcot's World Showcase - Tapestry of Nations. It sounded interesting, but we weren't sure we'd really be able to fit it into our schedule on that trip. As we sat in the Mexico section of World Showcase, waiting for Illuminations, I got my first introduction to Tapestry. The parade was on the other side of the lagoon, which is huge, so I never got a very good look at the floats and puppets (giant puppets, for lack of a better description), but what really got me was the music, which was played over the speakers. I was mesmerized by the music and the narration. The husband and I decided then and there that we had to MAKE time in our schedule to see the parade on another day.

We sat in the U.K. section of World Showcase, just after the step-off point of the parade. And seeing the parade itself was even better than just being able to hear the music. I remember sitting on the curb and watching as the gorgeous and beautifully-colored puppets walked by me. The puppeteers were amazing, and the crowd was just loving the interaction with them. Some might know my affinity for drums and drummers, so you can imagine my reaction when the giant drums rolled past me. The husband said I was just staring at them in awe.

I'm a big fan of Illuminations, and Fantasmic at Disneyland, and numerous fireworks and shows and other parades at Disneyland. But I think Tapestry of Nations is definitely in the running for my favorite Disney entertainment ever, which seems odd considering I only saw it that one time. But it just really touched me. If I'd been living anywhere local to Epcot at that point, I would have been at Epcot on many nights to watch Tapestry and then Illuminations.

We didn't return to WDW until January of 2007. I knew that Tapestry was long gone and was sad that I wouldn't be able to see it. We went to the same spot to watch Illuminations, and after the show was over, the husband and I stood around talking to friends that we were there with. And then I heard it. At first, I didn't know where it was coming from or if it really was. And then I was sure - they were playing the soundtrack of Tapestry over the speakers. I knew the music well because after we'd seen it on our first trip, we bought the WDW CD that had Tapestry and Illuminations on it. We weren't near a speaker at that point, so I ran over to where there was one and I stood there and listened to the whole thing. Yeah, I'll admit, I completely abandoned the husband and our friends. He did tell them the story of our Tapestry experience, and they completely understood me being engulfed by the music.

Currently, the music to Tapestry (minus the narration) is played as the third song of the exit music set after the conclusion of Illuminations. When we were at WDW last month, there were 3 evenings when we were at Epcot, twice to see Illuminations, and once at dinner, ending just after Illuminations finished. All three times, we stood there and listened to the exit music, including the entirety of the Tapestry music. No, it's not like that's the only place I can hear it - I can (and do) pull out the CD to listen to. But it's a completely different experience hearing that music as you're standing in World Showcase looking out at the lagoon and the various pavilions of different countries.

A few months ago, the husband found an amazing video compilation of Tapestry. It doesn't really do the parade justice, but short of seeing it in person and letting the entire experience and music wash over you, nothing really can. I love being able to watch the video and re-live that particular moment of sitting on the curb, soaking in those amazing performances. I hope you enjoy it as well.