Survival and food in the great wilderness

Come with me, like Mr Peabody, into the way back machine to the early 1800's to discover the story of Col. Ezekiel Moreland, and his daughter Genevieve or Jenny.

You see, the Col. in 1823 set out to explore the USA Pacific Northwest. A war veteran and recently widowed he went looking for a new life. Then he stumbled upon the most beautiful valley, with a small creek running through it and beautiful forest surrounds.  The Col. named this spot Silver Creek Springs.

 

The Col. and his party decided to remain at Silver Creek Springs for it provided everything he needed - protection from the worst weather, plenty of food and fresh water and beautiful surrounds. Over a two year period the Col. made his fortune in beaver pelts and other furs and soon was settled enough to invite his daughter Jenny to come out and join him.

And with her, she brought a small troop of men to build a permanent lodge - resting place for all the other travellers moving west. 

Jenny built the lodge following the design and style of the great lodges of the north west national parks, particularly Yellowstone and Yosemite. Using lodgepole pine from Oregon, they created a huge 8 story atrium.

They installed a beautiful fireplace, using the local stone that was stratified, just like the Grand Canyon.

The continuous supply of fresh water gave them security and constancy, and made their lodge one of the most popular places to stay.

 

The success of the lodge allowed them to expand and improve, always drawing inspiration on their local surrounds.

Jenny, also appreciating the beauty of the landscape, invited out an Austrian artist: Frederick Alonzo Gustaf, to both capture the beauty in art himself, and support a visiting artist programme.  Gustaf's favourite place to paint was from a large rocky bluff, where he could get a clear view of the landscape.

(source: onlywdworld.com)

Of course, there is a funny story of how one day the earth beneath his feet trembled and Gustof discovered he was standing on a geyser! He and his easel fell backward, but he kept returning to this spot time again to paint more. 

As the lodge become more successful Jenny hired an ex-army sergeant, and opened a formal dining room, named after Gustof, as Artist Point.  Artist Point still operates today, and in the same way Jenny envisaged. And with Gustof's murals around the walls and ceiling.

(source: walt disney company)

The basis of the menu is locally available and seasonal foods, cooked in a fresh and simple manner to enhance the main ingredient.  You can read the current menu on the restaurant website.  However, there are some dishes for which this restaurant is famous, and guns would be drawn at their withdrawal! Items like the Smokey Portabello & Shiitake Mushroom Soup, Buffalo striploin steak with wild game sausage and Penn Cove mussels.

I enjoyed 3 of their all time favourite dishes:

Mixed field greens, with shaved stone fruits, sunflower seed granola, blue cheese, candied walnuts and ice wine vinagrette

THE signature Cedar plank roasted King Salmon with lemon butter sauce, accompanied with sour dough bread and black sea salt butter

and of course dessert - and, of course, the signature dessert has to be a seasonal fruit cobbler.What else to have in the wild west?

mine was berry with black raspberry ice cream

I admit I entered Artist Point at the end of the Food and Wine Festival and was already in a Mr Creosote state. In fact I started the meal with peppermint tea in an effort to aid my digestion throughout. So I chose a standard meal. It is however possible to go totally Mr Creosote style if you have no restraint - just go read that menu again.  So I will give the restaurant 2 Mr Creosotes for the ability to constrain one's consumed volume.

but for yumminess, and the potential for even MORE yumminess, Artist Point has to have 3 spoonfuls of sugar.

We will be visiting Artist Point for dinner on Saturday, 28 June. If you are coming to Convention and would like to join with us, please contact me asap - preferably via the Mrs. Banks Facebook Group 

If you would like to see more of the dishes available at Artist Point, the Disney Food Blog has two very good reviews, and the Disney Tourist Blog has beautiful photos.

Hungryyyyyyyy

If you read one article about Disney Dining, make it this one.

Any one who follows Mrs Banks on Facebook knows that time has just disappeared with Christmas and birthdays and travel to Sydney and dining reservations. I am now enjoying my summer holiday and have the chance to sit and relax to prepare these posts for a couple of weeks - in between bouts of chopping things with my new chainsaw!! Oh - how The Ken Man knows me so well......  

OK .. On with the show! Here's a post I started writing about 2 weeks ago: 


It's all fuss and excitement and crazy internets clicking here tonight!

If you want to secure your favourite table service Disney dining reservation you have to book 6 months in advance - and that day is almost here past for me!!  (ha ha ha - that shows how long it takes me to write a post)

guess what I'm doing tomorrow evening?? (source: pscalculator )

Only 4 more sleeps until (now after) Christmas Day - but I feel like it's already arrived as I go crazy with the dining reservations!

We have some underlying rules to follow with our dining arrangements, including:

• We want to try lots of different things
  
• We can't eat everything (dang!) SO a la carte dining more often to give more control over the amount of food purchased and consumed.
• We are happy to split large dishes, and taste each other's meals - also happy to hoard if it's too good to share!
• Limit buffet attendance. (Usually poor food items and some of us have limited intake.)
• Enjoy meals with others.
• No cheap and nasty park food - hot dogs, burgers and dreaded Disney fries (oh, I shiver just thinking about Pecos Bills - ewwwwww - and where they ask you not to spit. Well not in front of women and children.)

Please don't make me go here (source:Disney food blog)

• Let your friend wear stretchy pants

By getting online the moment bookings opened I was able to get everything I wanted - some of which are very coveted bookings! Here are some highlights from our bookings so far:  (the links will allow you to see the current menus)

• Breakfasts - Staying in Boardwalk Villas gives easy access to fabulous breakfasts including Greek style Kouzzina (21st); Captain's Grill (22nd) and Kona Cafe (26th) (the home of REAL coffee in WDW). We are also visiting Safari Donald at Tusker House (24th) for Harambe style.

Kona Cafe's Tonga Toast. My precious ....

• Good fun themery lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe (23rd) where you eat your veges and keep your elbows off the table.  Biergarten (21st) where it's Oktoberfest every day! Liberty Tree Tavern (22nd) where it is 4th July everyday!

 

No, Please, your quiet enjoyment of the meal will be thanks enough for these coveted bookings:

• Le Cellier - the Canadian Steakhouse (21st). This small underground wine cellar serves it's signature dishes: cheddar cheese soup and Filet mignon on truffled mushroom risotto. Oh sigh.

 

•  Chef's Table at Victoria and Albert's Restaurant - this classic is rated one of the USA's 15 most iconic restaurants, and with scores like 29/30 is one of Zagat's most highly rated. 

Now the category: "Everyone is arriving in Orlando now. Let's all go out together for a meal"

• The Crabby Shack! Fulton's Crab House will be hosting at least 10 of us on the 25th. Will you join in for more than you can eat seafood?

lobster tails, crabs, prawns, clams, oysters - served on platters, in towers, in buckets!

• On the afternoon of the 26th, we shall be raising our pinkies and ensconced at the Grand Floridian Resort's Garden View Tea Room for Afternoon Tea. It's all cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off and scones with jam and cream.

(source: wdwinfo - read their full review including menu)

And now here's a booking that will be a highlight of your trip - the all new California Grill! (26th)

Closed for 8 months in 2013 to undergo a complete overhaul, I am so excited to see this new look and new menu. One thing that hasn't changed - location. It is still on the roof of the Contemporary Resort and every meal offers premier viewing of the Magic Kingdom fireworks show!

Our last evening in WDW will finish on a high note! (source: DisneyFoodBlog - read their full review)

Who cares about pictures of the restaurant or what's on the menu. Because FIREWORKS!

UPDATE: I have now secured a 2nd California Grill dinner booking for Sunday 29 June - when everyone will be in Orlando.

If you would like to come meet everyone and join in, please contact me ASAP before seating books out! As is the case with Zontians, the more the merrier!

Are you a foodie? What type of cuisine do you want to enjoy in Orlando?

Planning

Are you still there?

I'm just here .... I am so busy right now - changed jobs, about to travel for 5 days, post Zonta District Conference paperwork still underway .... The Ken Man has a new client .... and even the changing of the season to a delightful and colourful spring has meant new gardening tasks!

Poor Snorfy is complaining that we aren't playing enough with him!

"Shocked and appalled at your lack of attention. We shall ignore you now."

Let me quickly share planning progress.  Wouldn't it be great to catch up if we are going to be in the same time and place?
 

I have booked my international flights from Canberra to DFW, and then from Washington back to Canberra. Still gotta think about my domestic USA flights.

Going to New York for my first time. I know there is more in New York to do than I will ever get done. i haven't begun to think about where to stay, what to do, how to get about.

You big green French lady - I want to climb inside your head

I have booked the Boardwalk Villas at WDW from 20 - 27 June. There are 7 of us Aussies going together. The more the merrier - come join us!

Whilst at WDW I'll be booking restaurants, and park visits. We are going kayaking on 25 June. We'll probably go to Kennedy Space Centre on 2 July.  Anyone who wants to join us on any of our adventures need just shoot me an email or join the Mrs Banks Facebook Group.

We are all booked in for Zonta International Convention - rooms, registration, Closing Banquet - even our Taste of the World dinner! My club will be holding down a Trade Stall on the Monday on Fundraising. How can we not demonstrate how successful we have been with Lynn McKenzie's own Pre Loved Fashion Sale idea!?!

 

Then Washington DC for the 4th of July! Unless someone can tell me a better place to go .... Like New York, this will be my first visit so I am really excited about Washington - The Smithsonian museums, the national monuments, the parade marching up and down the square! The fireworks! Does it get any better?

I am looking for Zontians in any of these cities who want to catch up - say for lunch or dinner. Or any Zontians who want to join our fun in Orlando - just shoot me a note!

Munching my way to paradise - at Victoria and Albert's Restaurant

Everyone at some point can enjoy a great meal - right?

Even people who just see food as a calorific experience or at the other extreme - gourmands who chase down extreme meals - even these people can occasionally spot an exceptional experience (surely?)

And so I donned my Mr Creasote attitude and the infinity expanding dress and went to enjoy my highlight meal at Victoria and Albert's restaurant at the Grand Floridian Resort.  My highlight meal - at the Chef's Table!! Solo ..........(said in singsong voice)

yep - I booked that baby - one sitting per night - and it was all MINE!

and, really, that attitude was pretty much the one I maintained throughout 11 courses.

OK - so one arrives at the delightfully elegant restaurant entrance, and am pretty swiftly escorted out the back - although I may tempt the situation at times, I was not escorted ALL THE WAY out through the rear exit. Down to a little area at the back of a pretty small kitchen is where they have the little guest table.

Not a revolving restaurant with fireworks

I have no idea what dishes they produce from this little tiny area - it was obviously not the only  preparation area. There seemed to be working on appetizers / entrees / main course - savory meaty things. There was a distinct lack of dessert.

Sitting there slowly getting tipsy on the provided glass of Piper Hiedieck Cuvee champagne, Head Chef Scott Hunnel was suddenly present - joining me with a glass of champagne - and welcoming me to the restaurant.

so ... it was kinda like this ...except less beautiful people and more Mr Creasote (source: doctored by me, original by wdwcompany)

Chef Hunnel reiterated my booking requests - no chicken or offal, more seafood and game! and then the dishes began to arrive.

In my desire to simply serve you I have made this little mini film of all the dishes! See how I care for you?


Oh WOW - did you catch all that? Here are some little fun facts:

• The "fog" in the lamb dish is made with appley juice - so the room smells all appley!
• The miniature herbs and vegetables come from a specialist gardener in Ohio, Chef's Garden. They grow everything to precise order - so 21 day old carrots or 14 day leeks as small as your finger. And they are harvested by miniature bunnies.

(source: cheezburger.com)

• You can pay extra to add special ingredients including caviar and Australian wagyu beef
• You can pay extra and get completely smashed with a matching glass of wine for every course! yes 11 glasses of wine for dinner .... your cordon bleu would quickly become "cor, I'm bleurgghhhh"
• They customise every dinner, so no two meals are the same, and you can have dishes different to what is served in the main dining room.
• The seating lasts about 4 hours. You can take a break - or possibly even go watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks.
• Every dish was served by a different person - I met all the main players in the restaurant.
• The Chef's Table can accommodate up to 10 guests
• If I had a man with me, his take away gift would have been a small loaf of orange bread stuff

The whole time I am munching away, these guys are working

Chef Hunnel like to run what he calls a "quiet kitchen" - so sorry - there are no Gordan Ramsay-ish outbursts. I suppose it works for him. He does have an awful lot of awards and is considered Orlando's No.1 restaurant by a number of outlets and check out the reviews on Tripadvisor

So this meal went both to my head and my waistline. I was a giggling food expert about 3 dishes in - admiring the technical expertise, how the beauty and flavour of best quality ingredients was highlighted in every dish, and pleasantly surprised at how new blends of flavours came together so well - or old favourite flavours were masterfully replicated.

Preparing the meat portions on a large baking tray on the top burners. Up top is a tray of prepped golden chanterelle mushrooms

I simply can't say anything bad about this meal - they delivered all my favourite ingredients, prepared perfectly, there was plenty of theatre, talking to all of the people was like having a chat with your best friend - they are just so delightfully friendly!

Whilst a lot of money in absolute terms, my proposition is that this meal is actually excellent value - the meal cost me USD $300 - that covered everything - including tax, gratuity, world class 11 courses, an upgraded Dover Sole dish (not in video), 2 glasses of wine, tea, the take home chocolates and rose, and all the pleasure of private entertainment!

I am definitely doing this again in June - bookings open 180 days in advance of my hotel room arrival date - so I will be on the phone seeking a seating!

Of course - YOU ARE INVITED TOO!

Save up your pennies now, join up with the Mrs. Banks Facebook Group and you will have first notice to join the group when I book.

I give this meal, 3 Mr Creasotes - cause it really was an extraordinary amount of food

and 6 spoon fulls of sugar - for absolute delightfulness!

What dining experiences are you joyfully anticipating for our trip to Orlando?

Kill, Refurb, Marry - WDW Resorts

Well - apparently I lived a sheltered youth.

Whilst I was avoiding 'spin the bottle' and 'Truth or Dare' ....(side note - although I am the right age for that strange Madonna combination of 'dare with a bottle' - ummm where was I ...???) OH YEAH apparently the girlies of the Americas were playing something called "Snog, Marry, Kill"

Anyway my sheltered life, in Australia, avoiding funnel web spiders, taipan snakes and boxing kangaroos, meant that my teenagerhood was a big snooze fest.

So when Melissa from Mouse on the Mind invited me to participate in her Kill, Refurb, Marry game I thought I was in with the cool chicks! (insert a "whatever..." here)

 

OK - so let's see - we'll start with KILL - KILL - KILL IT WITH FIRE!! 

Tonight the insurance claim is going in for the Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. 

Oh Disney - where is the magic? - well approx 10 kilometres away by a circuitous bus route. Where is the theming? YES - The theme is ORDINARY EAST COAST HOTEL ROOM! HURRAH! or even some of the basics - like the lack of convenience and lack of hidden mickeys.  I may as well have stayed ACROSS THE ROAD at the Plaza and paid one third the price. 

 

So for being the most inconvenient, boring, "only built to spin timeshare points" resort, SSR is being excommunicated from vision of an ideal WDW. 

REFURB

Now being a middle- aged woman, I understand the concept of refurbishment. Everyday during my ablutions, all kinds of refurbishments are attempted. But when it come WDW resorts there is one place that I think could do with a pick-me-up to bring her back to the delightful, sunny, exuberant lady she once was.

For me, that's The Beach Club Resort.

The forty bajillion squillion kiddies have run this lady ragged. The once cute "Little Mermaid" carpet looks like it hasn't been replaced since the film originally came out. There are little scuff marks everywhere. There was the wonky door handle on our balcony door, worst pillows and squashed flat cushions on the chairs.

Like me, this lady doesn't have wrinkles and cracks - they're character lines!

With a magnificent pool and lush gardens and fabulous location - Return her to her glory!

MARRY

This is a hard one - I think I would want to play the field - test a few more out - before I committed to just one resort. Does that make me a Resort slut?? I just sleep in them and treat them like the cheap piece of meat they are.

But not my beautiful Polynesian Resort.

Your sensuous green marble bathrooms; your giant room sizes, your lapu lapus. The giant waterfall in the foyer. Tonga Toast. The amazing gorgeous lush green gardens, the little suction cups on the shower curtains.

The laid back, island time vibe, whilst still on the monorail or walking distance to the transport centre - together allow that you can go at whatever pace you want. How I would love for us to be committed to each other forever. Say it can be so.

Oh - so with that last pleasant thought in my head, I thank Melissa for sending me to my happy place.

Now go! visit the other blogs - and learn more about WDW resorts!!

Boardwalk Empire - but without the gangsters .... and the bootlegging ....

..... or the guns.

At first I kinda liked HBO's TV drama, Boardwalk Empire.

I was "OH it's dramatised history and I can pretend I am learning"

and it was all done with marvelous tailoring

But mostly, I kept thinking how close it all looked to Disney's Boardwalk Inn and Villas. Admittedly, both Disney and HBO are copying the 1920's New Jersey shoreline and the famous Boardwalks.

However the Disney copy is done with a lot less violent shootings and concrete boots. And Crescent Lake has the ultimate problem that is it less than 6 feet deep. So any bodies thrown in there just bob up to the surface.

what? too crass?

Crescent Lake at WDW is located between the Epcot and Hollywood Studios parks, and is home to Disney's Beach and Yacht Club Resorts, Starwood's Swan and Dolphin Hotels and Disney's Boardwalk Inn and Villas.

(source: Robo on the disboards)

The Epcot resort area is a fabulous place to stay. 5 deluxe hotels to choose from, walking distance to two parks - AND a miniature golf course! Also this is the epicentre of "adult disney" supplied with bars, restaurants and walking access to the food and wine festival in Epcot.

Long term readers will know that I am planning to be at WDW before ZI Convention begins in late June 2014. And when I get to WDW, I'll be staying at the Boardwalk Villas. Right where I can act out my Mr Creasote tendancies without too much walking.

Carnival lights entrance. (source: tripadvisor)

Given its location in the epicentre of the action, staying at the Boardwalk is a pretty straightforward choice.

The resort comes in two parts: The Inn - with standard hotel rooms:

2 Queen beds + sofa turns into single bed + desk + TV unit + bathroom and closet.

 And the Villas - DVC timeshare apartments in 3 sizes: studio, 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom

Basically the same except sofa bed and a kitchenette

Kitchenette in Villa Studio

As there are 5 of us Zontians in our merry group, we are renting a 2 bedroom villa = one of these studios bolted onto a 1 bedroom villa. This gives us 4 beds in 3 separate sleeping spaces, and 2 bathrooms. Plus the 1 bedroom villa has a lounge room and full kitchen!

Lounge room by day, bedroom by night.

You know ..... for all that home cooking one does when at Disneyworld ..... and you think  "hmmm 479 eating places and ... well .... I'd rather buy the ingredients and cook?!"

Fully equipped - ready for 5 hungry Zontians who do not want to miss ANY dishwashing.

 3 TV's, 2 showers, 2 toilets and we will run a raffle every night for who gets to go in the spa!

It's not Zonta, without a raffle.

spot the hidden mickey

This short video gives you a glimpse of both the 2 bedroom villa and the whole resort

 We little band of Aussies will be at the Boardwalk Villas the week before Convention begins.  Enjoying our libations under the palm trees.

Boardwalk Lounge - G & T's all round.

We are hopefully taking advantage of renting DVC points to attain a substantial discount for the room.

I will probably be wearing t-shirt and shorts rather than a spiffy 3 piece tailored suit, but I can still wander around acting like I own the joint - at least for a week.


 And what about you? Will you be visiting, or even staying, at Walt Disney World?

Resort photos are WDW official company shots