Kill, Refurb or Marry - World Showcase Counter Service - FOOD! YES!

FOOD ! YES! FINALLY!

Mouse on the Mind and This Happy Place Blogs have delightfully been the inspiration for half of my posts over the past 6 months. And here they are with a FOOD CHALLENGE!

 

This time we are eating around the world - World Showcase in Epcot.

Creme brulee on the lagoon - does it get any better

I am going to set my own rules - only permanent counter service locations - not the moveable ones that appear during Food and Wine Festival and the Flower Festival. And I am also going to put aside all the drinks vendors - I know you love getting smashed on the margaritas and the grey goose slushies - but I am all about the food.

KILL KILL

Disney counter service just has so much not going for it! At least in World Showcase the bad food is themed for your entertainment.

I tend to avoid counter service cause it can kill YOU!

and guess who I think is in need of a good fire?

Tangierine Cafe!

Maybe some people think this is exotic. Let's not embarrass them here. But felafel wraps, hummus and tabbouleh are - let's say it out loud - late night drunkards food.  The donor kebab shop in Sydney is famous for the late night munchies, wacky tobaccy and brawls with cab drivers. But you do get the next day off work recovering from the food poisoning. Even the freakin' parsley can kill you in these places. I go to Disney to get away from the real world for a while - not to have it follow me in all its bacterial glory.

REFURB

This is sooo difficult. So many places come with the promise of the great street food of their homeland. With just a little tweaking and being more authentic, they could become wonderful. Just when you think - "Wow! Disney's discovered okonomiyaki!" you bite into it and discover it is greasy and stodgy. And yes - I lay the same complaint at the Yorkshire Fish and Chip stall (sacrebleu!).

The place I think holds the most promise for a menu refurb is ........

Liberty Inn

This place does the olde worlde "publick" dining thing - with roasted meats? corn cobs? pumpkin pie? NO - none of that olde worlde crape here! Liberty Inn serves USA ALL THE WAY burgers, hot dogs and chicken nuggets!  Really? Really? Rise up to meet your theming and take pride in your slow food heritage.

MARRY

you know what - I'm gonna stay single 

STREWTH - did I just ... break the rules!!

C'mon - maybe the custard inside the school bread at Norway? but the cafe is cramped and mostly boring. Tacos and Nachos? Am I Beavis or Butthead?

There just isn't anything left that justifies standing in the queue at Town Hall to see the mayor (even Mayor McCheese).

Oh well - please excuse me whilst I go back to my Chateaubriand - oh - and don't get saucy with me Bernaise. (that joke doesn't work when written)

OK - now GO GO  and check out the other blogs and the other recommendations  - that will slowly populate below over the next few days! learn more about World Showcase than I could ever have taught you!

Introducing....The Zonta Club of Melbourne, Florida

source: japanprobe

HA I'm back ! Time flies when I am the Raffle Queen for our Zonta Pre-Loved Fashion Sale!

But I really want to share something new with you.

because you know many of our life events are touched with mixed feelings all at the same time? This post is kinda like that.

There are lots of emotions.

But they all belong to same family:

happiness, care, fun, achievement, friendship, connection, intelligence, lighthearted, joy, dedication

all the emotions I relive when I remember my very short time meeting the fanjabulous ladies at the Zonta Club of Melbourne, FL

(I have to remember that FL bit - to stop confusion for those who know Australian cities.)

 

Did you know there are Canaveral Marshes? I have no idea why Google thinks they are soooo important

I had a brief moment with these ladies but scored the jackpot in being there for the Christmas party!

After enjoying a delicious and HUGE dinner at the Yellow Dog Cafe, They played this fun little game I've not seen before. Everyone brings a Christmas decoration secretly wrapped. One at a time, members choose a parcel at random and see what is inside.

Parcel selection is serious business

Parcels contain some of the most fun and lovely little decorations

Before leaving Canberra, I went to the Bredbo Christmas Barn (one of the best Christmas shops IN THE WORLD - really!) and secured some Christmassy koalas

 

In your turn you have the choice to select a secret package or steal someone else's decoration. Let me explain, using this poor gentleman:

Scores a lovely olde worlde car decoration

Oh Noes! It is stolen!  (is that the back of your head Belinda?)

Chap has to go continue the cycle - get a new secret decoration or steal someone's else's

Simple but good fun. I ended up with this lovely 'under the sea' type glass ball, which I stole, and then promptly played the guilt card of "this is my special souvenir of Florida" that maintained its safety!

It's not all Christmas parties at the Zonta Club of Melbourne. Let me show you how they fill their time the other 11 months of the year. 

Wait to see how busy these ladies are and if you don't have time to read all of this - you could just watch the summary video down the end of this post!

Their advocacy work is connected with one of the world's most insidious problems: human trafficking. Within the club there is a Human Trafficking Prevention and Education Committee, and a representative sits on the Brevard Council Commission and has immediate input into the government and community coalition tackling the issue. The club also keeps themselves and their community educated about this issue and spread news articles and information pieces on their advocacy web site and facebook pages.

3 club members Claire, President Gail, and Sandy recognise the adoption of the Brevard anti-trafficking resolution

That advocacy and service page also shows how they support several women's refuges, Jane M Klausman Women in Business Scholarship, and their own scholarship called the Zonta / Meehan Scholarship for women working towards improving their quality of life and self sufficiency. Their Young Women in Public Affairs prize honours Monica Jean Campbell, a local high school senior who was killed by her boyfriend. They also give out a M.A.T.E.S. award - Men Acting Toward Equality of the Sexes. Now that's an idea I would like to steal.

In conducting their advocacy, in addition to the anti-trafficking commission they are active in the community as members of the Space Coast Rescue and Restore Coalition; Melbourne Regional Chamber of Commerce; Greater Palm Bay Chamber of Commerce and the Brevard Cultural Alliance. 

Talk about being integrated within their community!

The other side of a Zonta Club is the fundraising. All of these projects have to be funded. So ZCM have two unique major fundraisers:

Christmas Decorations celebrating the history of the Space Coast. Now going for 15 years, a new design is released annually to celebrate famous buildings and points of interest in the local area. The decorations are boxed up with Zonta info and make a great stocking stuffer. Check out the whole collection.

How could I not celebrate with the NASA Rocket Garden and Florida Oranges?!

Of immense importance and connecting to all women across the world is their Annual Chocolate Festival!  Every year they run a yummy tasty celebration of all things chocolately to find the best chocolate treat.  The 2013 Festival is coming up on Sunday, 24 March - so if you can get to Melbourne - GO and enjoy the chocolately goodness whilst supporting the Zonta projects.

2012 winners!

The ladies gifted to me a box of the very special, locally made Grimaldi's Chocolate coated potato crisps!

You have to try these when in Orlando!

 These kept my February District Board meeting humming along!

Here are the inventive chaps with their latest creations

By now you must be thinking 'this is amazing!' or perhaps 'typical Zontians - doing sooooo much'. How much longer can this post go? Well their busy-ness and hard work did not go unnoticed.

The Zonta Club of Melbourne were the winners of the 2012 Governor's Cup award for District 11. Now that baby is not easy to win - you have to be an all rounder - in service, advocacy, fundraising, administering your club, upholding Zonta administration - the most active and productive out of the District's 42 clubs. And it is the 2nd time they have won it, and were runner up in 2011.

WINNERS!

And now you know these ladies work hard - they also know how to party! After the Christmas party, Sandy took us all to the local trannie bar to check out her friend "Roz". What a hoot!

I was singing Donna Summer songs for days

Perhaps it would come as no surprise that the ladies found themselves being profiled on Florida Today. Just get through the introductions and they are the first story up. (then stay on for a cute kitten!)

  

Did you catch all that?!

So what do you think? Are the Zonta Club of Melbourne fabulous? Here is a club living the mission of Zonta and making the world better by making a world better for women.

Please keep doing your great work Ladies!

I need to do a big shout out to President Gail for co-ordinating my visit to the club and her warm email welcome in the weeks in advance. This included co-ordinating several members - Belinda and Doris on the day of the meeting to make sure I found them. HUGE thank you to Doris who with no notice took me in to stay the night - and then found herself up 'till 3am chatting. (and it was intelligent, fun, educative and passionate!). And Doris with Sandy organised additional presents and entertainment for me. 

Do you want to profile your club or showcase one of your projects for the whole Zonta world and other readers to see? Just email Mrs. Banks and make it happen.

Don't be unAustralian at Epcot

So pretend you work at Disney and you are planning the menus for the Food and Wine Festival .... 46 days and squillions of people through more than 30 different international cuisines.

What do you choose for the Australia stall?

I asked this question to my facebook followers last year and they guessed immediately - cause you know it makes sense:

LAMB!

It's what lies at the core of our national identity

Australian's have been eating lamb chops since the beginning of time - we rode on the sheep's back - and that includes the 3 legged ones cause Sunday roasts were compulsory.

And so the Disney chefs naturally turned to lamb as the main dish at the Australian Stall. But before we look at the lamb, what do you think the other offerings would be??

If you are an American and you are wondering about the iconic foods of Australia, what other protein source comes to mind?

Shrimp on a barbie with sweet thai chilli sauce pepperberry citrus glaze

As every American learnt in 1984, there's nothing more Australian than throwing another shrimp on the barbie.

And given today's multi-culturalism in Australia, it's probably highly accurate that the pepperberry citrus glaze tasted more like it had come from the old Mae Ploy bottle.

Oh and whilst on the subject.... am I the last person to discover that shrimps and prawns are different? An American friend broke the news very gently.

Then if you are going to serve dessert, what Aussie icon would you serve up? Pavlova - maybe? But how about something so iconic it is not seen anywhere in the US? How about a lamington?!

Born in Toowoomba in 1902 and in 2006, the National Trust of Queensland, declared lamingtons a Queensland icon! according to wikipedia

But hang on - let's take a closer look at this so called lamington. Instead of the traditional dessicated coconut, this one is covered in shredded, fresher coconut. Making for one very chewy experience.

And then for some inexplicable reason, the lamington makers seem to have missed the most important part of the lamington making process:

Making sure all 6 sides were iced!

So the lamington wasn't quite right for me.

Back to the lamb chop. Last year's lamb chop was served as a grilled chop with potato and goats cheese salad with shiraz reduction. Probably more than I would ever do to a lamb chop, but I can live with it.

The chop was beautifully cooked. Just gone pink on the inside and very juicy. My mouth is watering now with the memory! Disney made a little video sharing the recipe.

And then they sell all this food from a lovely little themed Australian styled shed:

Half Paddington Terrace and half modern indigenous

The 2012 Food and Wine Festival opened this weekend and the Australian menu has been announced - it's almost exactly the same! The only difference is how the lamb is finished. Disney have made another lovely little video and the Aussie chop hits the highlight at 1.25m. Take a look.

Exsqueeze me? Salt and vinegar potato crisps?

Have I been missing a page in my Australian Commonsense Cookery Book? (remember those NSW ladies?) Since when were we cooking with salt and vinegar crisps? I mean ... I spent childhoods at Cronulla beach eating hot chips with salt and vinegar put on them. I just never went this far.

It's enough to put Barry off his beer

Stone the crows! Chips on me chop!

I wonder how the Caribbean's feel about the authenticity of the Jerk Chicken with mango salsa?

Or the Canadians about their maple and moosehead beer glazed salmon with barley salad!

Hey Canadians - are you eating this on a daily basis?

Well ..... we've been through this before. Come to Orlando where everything is FAKE! Absolutely delicious but everything needs to be taken with a 'grain of salt'.

Note: the F&W Festival will not be on in June during the convention period. In fact no festival of any kind will be occuring.

Winter Park - Posh preprandial delectations

I am known to say that I have never met a Zontian who doesn't have a healthy appetite. Maybe I've met one who doesn't drink alcohol - but really - most events are accompanied with cake and champagne.

So if you are going to 2014 Orlando International Convention you could drink Lapu Lapus at the Polynesian  Resort .....

It has a little umbrella - snerk!

....or you could get serious and head out to Winter Park: Home of the Wine Tasting Room!

It was closed dammit! Just because it was 10am?!

Now there are several of these babies in Winter Park - and whilst they are very common in the USA, not so common in Australia. So for Australians - if you want to taste test wines you hop in your car and drive around a wine growing region stopping at the cellar doors. You taste the wines which that particular winery makes. One becomes very good at spitting.

The beautiful Yarra Valley - drink in the vines

In the USA, you go to your local shopping centre, you enter the Wine Tasting Store and sit there all afternoon until completely plastered.

Winter Park is the location is to transform oneself into a Patsy type character - it's all beluga and little nibbly things. I saw plenty of wine tasting, bottle shop type places mixed in gourmet olives, artisanal cheese and specialist chocolate shops. Not a single supermarket to be found. Until recently there used to be a store called Bullfish - a mixture of dog boutique and wine store.

Coffee, tea, spices, chocolate, tea - all the major food groups covered

When you have finished shopping for your little nibbly bits you may desire to release your tensions with a cheese platter and New Zealand SVB. Finally it is 3pm and you may enter the holy grail: The Wine Room. Using the unique Enomatic wine dispenser machines and the widest range of tasting bottles, supposedly in the world, at 150 on tap, this is the theme park of wine tasting!

The delightful Samantha Brown explains how it works - and become less lucid as the video progresses:

hmmm ... it's jammy and plummy and clangy and tinny and Eddie at 5:12

Zontians! It is time for a call to arms! Am I organising a function at The Wine Room ?..... with beluga and little nibbly things of course!