The 2014 Zonta International Convention will be held in Orlando, Florida USA - The home of Mrs. Banks at Walt Disney World. Marriott World Center, June 27 - July 1, 2014. Aussie Zontians will be at Walt Disney World June 20 - June 26.
One thing associated with Christmas is gingerbread - the spices of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg - along with sugary treats all adds up to Christmassy goodness.
Remember Gingy from Shrek? the movie that poked fun at Disney ....
I know one Zonta Club in Sydney which runs an annual gingerbread house building day - a fun, interactive activity that keeps them in touch with their local community and celebrates the season.
However, those ladies have never gone as big as anything in Orlando - and all the resorts do it - each aiming to be the one who has more sugar, more icing and more electronics than the next. Over this holiday season let's take a look at some of these constructions - oppan gingnam style!
Disney's Beach Club Resort
This was my first gingerbread experience - so I have a lot of photos, as I stood there in awe, amazed that the whole thing was technically edible. I use the word 'technically' because apparently the Disney gingerbread is about as edible as the roofing tiles they seek to emulate.
So the Beach Club does this delightful little lifesize carousel:
I like horsies but I couldn't eat a whole one
These horses are quite immaculate - with not a drop of icing out of place
Beware the zombie gingerbread men who want gingerbread BWAINNNSSSS
And yes - Engineering made the whole go around and around and play plinky christmas musak
Not content with just a carousel, a few extras were also built
A gingerbread Sleeping Beauty's Castle!
Pirates! A mini, edible Jack Sparrow - just for my friend Penny!
Hidden Mickey was a misnomer
There was a lifesize gingerbread shop where one could buy gingerbread rocks roofing tiles to chock open doors enjoy as a snack.
The carousel set up was very neat - beautiful quality and very tidy - no drips or slips. And it fits beautifully in the centre of the lobby. When walking in, one was immediately with the gingerbread, spicy, chocolately scents filling the space.
enjoy this little video from WDW from several years ago - where they build the carousel in only 30 seconds!
There are more gingery constructions to show you. However as I saw more and more of them I was getting gingered out! So there are less photos. Wait till I show you the grandaddy at the Grand Floridian resort.
Oh and remember Gingy at the opening of this post?? Well - this year Mickey got revenge. Here is one of the souvenirs I bought:
Run, run as fast as you can ....
So what about you? Will you be baking gingerbread this Christmas season?
I'm here - in Orlando! Stuff's happening - I have soooo much to show you. Once again I am working on the tablet - but this time I have the little matching keyboard, and Blogger have updated their android version - BWAH HA HA HA HA HA There is no escape! I am meeting up with Zontians and other Disney Freakaphiles - my schedule is changing minute to minute - hopefully I get something up that has a semblance of cohesion. Here's a quickie food post to keep you going.
Day 3: Teppan Edo - the teppanyaki restaurant in Epcot's World Showcase.
There must be 20 teppanyaki tables in here, each of which seat 9 people. In a small attempt at authenticity, Disney run an international exchange program for hospitality students and graduates. These people are drawn specifically from the countries to man the corresponding country showcase. So all of the staff in Teppan Edo are Japanese. But all the food is very very safe for your average Disney customer. No unagi, no dried fish - and definitely no natto!
I was alone and was seated with a family - I know nothing about and cannot share anything - except the young girls you'll see in the photos were astonishingly quiet! Not a peep. Boy, the chef had to work hard just to get them to watch him!
were they pleased to be here, or what?
let's get on with the food.
The appetizer choices include a small dish of edamame, a "salad" which consisted on a plate of chopped iceberg lettuce with a sweet dressing. Sushi rolls and sashimi tuna. I had the Waku Ribs - pork ribs marinated in ginger, garlic and soy and reheated on the grill plate. This was BBQ heaven! They were very tender - fall off the bone - very tasty and moist. I was so pleased - and the 2 blokes sharing the table were also very impressed. I'm a real man.
For the main, everyone scores a bowl of rice, udon noodles which have been fried with onion and zucchini, and fried mushrooms. Your choice is the protein. You can mix and match or just have one. They offer fillet mignon, sirloin steak, chicken, prawns, and scallops. I chose to have half & half sirloin and prawns.
The prawns were fine - but nothing special. The steak was very good - moist, cooked to order (medium rare), very tender and had a meaty steaky taste.
The chef puts on a bit of a show whilst cooking - lots of spinning knifes and pepper shakers. The best part of the show is the onions. Of course, the onion rings are first used to make a mickey head! And then the signature move - they are stacked and water poured in to form a steaming volcano - so much fun! (In the meantime - those girls are sitting there like zombies with their mother apologising profusely to the chef)
"is that all you've got?"
I didn't do dessert - this time. They do offer green tea pudding, chocolate and ginger cake, and ice cream. The cake is a very light sponge and has a very mild ginger teint to it. They could stick more in and make the flavour distinctive. The green tea pudding has so much sugar in it, the green colour is merely a nod to its design.
Teppan Edo is 2 Mr Creasotes - not too heavy - but more than I could finish.
And only 2 spoonfuls of sugar - nice and good fun but not a meal you'll rave about.
If only they threw the rice and prawn heads at me!
So here I am in Florida, in my full body rubber suit, a million miles from home and from where anyone can ever find me, and I am hiding out in the Crystal River backwaters and springs ..... or maybe that's another story - "50 Shades Deeper: Into the Bayou".
The mighty hunter don's the appropriate clothing and shooting equipment
The first sighting! Grey rounded lumpy thing in water
Then it was time to get in and meet the dude
so here is a bit of time lapse photography - too many pictures to make for a great post, too few to make a movie ...
Out of the murky depths ...
The manatee approacheth...
With fear in his eyes, he wonders if he will have room to pass
rough and mossy - just how I like it
sidles back off into the distance
Thanks to Manatees in Paradise for the photos - Capt Stacy gets in the water with everyone and an underwater camera and snaps away.
Capt Stacy takes us to a variety of swimming spots. One is as crystal clear as a swimming pool in a glorious foresty setting.
They hang in the warm shallows for two reasons - it's where the sea grass can grow; and, despite their size, they have very little fat and need to stay warm in the sun. Unlike me. I have more blubbery insulation than a manatee! I was toasty!
The manatees are very placid and slow and practically swim head first into your boat propeller. As sharp as a box of hammers.
After 3 hours tootling about and jumping in and out of the water, we were all manatee'd out and headed back to shore. I think I had a cocktail making class to get to or something ......
And so we bade farewell to Mr Manatee with a "don't get hit by a boat on the way out", and am suddenly back in dock. Wetter but all the richer for this "once in a lifetime" experience. You certainly can't do this Australia. You have to get a permit just to get within 50 metres in Australia!
OK - so I STRONGLY recommend doing this - and doing it with Capt Stacy. There is no real physical exercise - as long as you can handle yourself floating in water and am comfortable using a snorkle. You could easily stand in most of the places we stopped.
It will be a blessed relief from the blazing June heat; it is cheap on the holiday finances; and Capt Stacy provides most things to make it easy.
How often do you get to go swimming with a manatee in the fancy schmancy housing estate waterfront canal system?!
So what are your options when it is volcano heat in June in Orlando?
For many people there is nothing more refreshing than to refresh in a cool swimming pool.
The World Centre Marriott Pool
But what if sterilised concrete and chlorine is not really your thing? What if you want to get back to nature?
No - not Cypress Cove Resort - although if you are after that "special" experience....not that there's anything wrong with that ...
I mean - let's go swimming with the manatees!
So - Aussie's - what's the difference between a dugong and manatee?
Is this better to look at than the other photo above? Not that there's anything wrong with the way a dugong looks ...
So the first thing you need to do is head for the Gulf Coast!
So you are going to need that hire car and drive west for about 2 hours to Crystal River and Springs.
Door to door - just under 2 hours - just over if you stop at the Dunkin' Donuts
Let's take a closer look at the territory:
All those red dots are the entry point to the reserve at Kings Bay. See all the inlets and springs - that's manatee territory
This area is all deep south US territory with spanish moss and shallow swampy spots and canals. Very different to Australia and easily just as beautiful.
It is in these warm, shallow, crystal clear springs that the manatees bask in the sunlight and slowly munch away on the sea grass beds. Interestingly, manatees can live in both fresh and sea water so they move up and down the creeks and out to the Gulf to find food and maintain their temperature.
Capt Stacy runs small tours - there was only 3 of us on my tour off a small pontoon. Included in the tour was a wetsuit, flippers, snorkle and mask. I brought my towel and all snacks to keep me going! Tours cost around $50 plus gratuity.
So I'm on board, I've got my wetsuit, Capt Stacy has heaved off and ......
When we last left our hero, she was driving around Orlando somewhat like this ....
........ in one of these....
Today I am going to share the mystery and secrets of car hire in the USA so you can do the same!
Whilst Disney provides free transport within the World, once you want to go outside the WDW boundary you pretty much need a car to get anywhere. Inside WDW I like the car so as not to waste time with slow buses, long queues and changes with boats, monorail and buses.
Let's use my upcoming trip so see how it works.
11 days
pick up at Downtown Disney, drop off at Orlando Airport
Mid-sized category - "Toyota Corolla" (although last year I scored that red VW Jetta in this category)
Right now, I will not add GPS, fuel purchasing, personal products insurance, road toll card, kiddie seats or any of the myriad of discount codes and coupons you can access.
Now Orlando Airport is the largest car rental location in the world - averaging 5,500 cars per day! Every company, offering every type of car is there - and they also offer every range of pricing.
Here is my first look through some of the major companies
* US resident and "pay at counter" rate
So what's going on? Look at that Alamo pricing - both the cheapest AND the most expensive! For the SAME car - from the SAME OUTLET!
Let's keep looking at Alamo - except this time through the travel wholesavers:
Again - the same car - same pick up office - same dates - Expedia double the price of Traveljigsaw
So by now you are yelling for me to shut up! Either you know what is going on or you wanna find out!
Insurance wholesaling
I know precious little about how it works, but here is what I do know:
Car rental companies operate like two separate businesses - there is the car rental part, and there is the insurance part.
Unlike Australia, in the US, residents' comprehensive car insurance can cover rental cars. So car rental companies allow you to rent a car without buying any insurance.
I'm freaked out by the idea of crashing a car or hitting something when in the US, so I want insurance.
US Car rental insurance doesn't have the concept of "excess". So the "car excess insurance" offered in Australian travel insurance and on my credit card is useless.
If you book your car online in advance you can access a WAY better deal on the insurance, and so NEVER turn up at the counter without having organised the insurance before hand. You will always pay the most expensive rate of insurance if organised in the moment at the counter. (e.g. that Alamo rate of $1,248 up there).
Another option for you - and particularly of interest for our UK & European readers - is to buy your car rental insurance separately, and then rent the car without the insurance - like a lot of US residents do.
icarhireinsurance can sell you all inclusive car rental insurance for almost anywhere in the world. For the USA they charge a flat rate of around $10/day - which is far lower than the $25/day charged at the rental company counter.
Based in the UK and will sell to anyone for car hire almost anywhere.
Going this way gives you freedom to book one of those last minute deals most of the car rental companies offer. Alamo's current last minute rate for the Corolla is around $200/week. So add the icarhire insurance rate of $110, 11 days rental would cost roughly $400. Hmmm ..... roughly the same as that Traveljigsaw rate.
And who likes standing at a rental counter feeling pressured to buy strange insurance products - you'll have the peace of mind to know you are already covered.
For me - Traveljigsaw.com.au has offered the best deal for a major rental supplier. It's about as close as I can get to cheapest rental car rate going for Alamo. I don't have to hope for a last minute deal and I have all the insurance products included in the booking.
It is easy to part with a lot of money for your rental car hire. Do a bit of online research save yourself hundreds!
Americans invented driving around in your car - zooming around on expressways - there is soooo much car culture out there it would be absurd for me to go there.
Post WWII with the rise of the middle class, with the mass purchase of cars, came the birth of the legendary USA expressway, 6 lanes wide, clover leaf exits and long, monotonous, flat, straight lines. Much like my writing style.
Many people write to me and say "But Mrs. Banks, the freeways are SOOOOO intimidating! And they drive on the opposite side of the road! How do you cope?!"
Answer: I was trained on the Sydney Harbour Bridge!
The best teacher (source: ozroads.com.au)
Fortunately for you, gentle question asker, Uncle Walt was there - in his kindly, educational way - reminding us all how to share the road in The Art of Driving on the Super Highway
When I drive in Orlando, I always rent a GPS and let the woman tell me where to go (so to speak). I don't have to think, read maps and I always get to my destination. I have no idea if, like a taxi driver, she has taken me the long way.
In the US you can get those GPS units that have the famous people's voices giving the instructions.
"get left, left, left, left, LEFT LEFT - There's the exit, the EXIT, THE EXIT - you missed it! you missed the exit. Now what do we do ??......."
Before I go here is an example from my 2011 of Orlando driving. Have a quick look and then imagine this continously for 2 hours.
Now that we know how to drive on the expressway, and we have a GPS tool, we are gonna need a hire car. Join me next time as I reveal the secret to USA hire cars that could save you hundreds of dollars! kaching!
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.
