Category: dinner

we went to the Magic Kingdom yesterday with 40 or 50 thousand other people.  I have no idea why it was so packed.  I’ve seen tweets that Epcot was similarly sardined out.  I had tried to get a dinner reservation for a table service restaurant and couldn’t so we took our chances and walked into quick services places for ‘eats.’  We have found sit down to be worth the money for the break from the crowds and elevated food.  As it was I had a pretty good spicy chicken waffle sandwich for lunch.  A $7.19 I would recommend it.  It is probably the best quick service item I’ve had at Magic Kingdom.  For value and taste it is good.  They make the waffle fresh and dunk a crispy chicken slab in a sweetly spicy syrup and serve with a bit of julienned vegetables (carrot and cabbage) and arugula.  It is served at Sleepy Hollow and there is always shady seating behind even on the busiest day.  I got this one for free because they had made an extra and I walked up just at the right moment.  I thought it was their sample and passed but they said no, it was just going to get thrown out, so I took it.  Along with a free cup of ice-water I was a happy camper.  For dinner though, I wasn’t so pleased.  We went to Columbia Harbor House and had to stand in the queue for about 15 minutes just to order.  As it was already around 7:30 or so this is pretty unheard of.  I ordered the fish and chips.  At $7.99 it’s pretty reasonable but honestly, it wasn’t that fresh and was pretty skimpy portion-wise.  Not as good as even getting a hot dog to me at Disney.   I asked one of the staff where to get tartar and she was woefully uninformed.  No management presence either.  It was a little bit of a low for Disney eating for me.  Z got the chicken and fries- average I guess as he didn’t really comment.  Our friend Karin got the salmon.  At $10 or so, this is definitely a better option.  It came with couscous and steamed brocoli.  I would do this next time if it came up.  As we made our way out of the park I picked up a richly chocolate cake pop at the Main Street Confectionery so at least left on a sweet note.

I must’ve gotten a reasonable nights sleep because I was going over the day today over dinner and I was no joke today.  Git ‘er done.  Is there any proper English for ‘git’?    I doubt it. I made chicken souvlaki and tzatziki and served it with greens and na’an.  This is definitely one of my favorite dinners and it is so easy.  I made it and posted about it for the first time way back in March of 2011.  It is out of the Epcot Food & Wine Cookbook and although I don’t follow their recipe exactly I still really like it.  I noticed they didn’t have it at this year’s Food and Wine Festival which I don’t think I’ve blogged about yet.  We are going to see/eat the Voltaggio brothers cook on October 25th so I’ll wait for that event.

I actually feel semi-rotten-verge of sick maybe?  This reminds me, please pray for a little girl in Seattle who is in the hospital struggling to regain liver function-that she would be restored to full health.   I’ve known her mom since she (the mom) was in diapers.  So, what would’ve been lemon & garlic marinated chicken souvlaki is frozen shrimp and the rest of the tots from earlier in the week with some homemade tartar sauce that I made with habanero pickles that I made a while back.  Nothing too challenging, time-consuming or messy-just a quick dinner so I can’t put my feet up and get some rest so I am ready for tomorrow.

I can’t believe I’ve never blogged about quiche.  I searched and can’t find anything.  That’s so weird.  Real men eat quiche.  Another thing I never really ate before I got married.  I really don’t remember my mom ever making quiche.  Or eating it either.  I wonder why.  Anyhow, at some point not that long after we got married Z was like, let’s have quiche.  Do you know what a pain in the neck it is to make?  Pre-cook bacon, onions and par-bake a pre-bought (I’m real.) pie crust.  Fill it up and bake it some more.  Meanwhile, you could have scrambled some eggs and grated some cheese on top.  Anyhow, that’s what we are having for dinner tonight.  Quiche with bacon and onions and cheese.  I loosely follow this recipe subbing in one onions for the leeks or shallots or whatever.  It’s a good recipe.    And some sauteed home fries on the side.  I’m actually pre-writing this while it cooks.  Z already did the dishes.  ***awesome side note post dinner.  I opened the oven to find that at some point during cooking I HAD TURNED IT OFF.  Needless to say, fifteen extra minutes at 400 degrees so we could eat before o’darkhundred!  The ugly pile next to it are some home fries-which actually turned out to be quite tasty if not slightly well done.

WTF*#!  I have come upon my food nemesis!  My NEMESIS.  We made dinner and as evidenced by the picture below KNEW (I KNEW!!!) I couldn’t eat it.  I’m so mad.  I spend more money than I want to tell you about on ‘tasty salted pig parts’ so I could surprise Z with meat for his birthday and when we opened them up they had a delightful sheen of mold (we looked it up, harmless penicillin type THEY SAY…) and I couldn’t – could NOT make myself eat it.  How can I call myself a food adventurer.  I have eaten so much that is bizarre and I couldn’t eat this and I wanted to.  Can you understand my frustration???!!!  Purchased from Boccalone in San Francisco and shipped straight to the house.  I respect the chef, Chris Cosentino.  For crying out loud, he is a Top Chef Master.  He knows what he is doing.  So, I diced it up and Z put it on half of a caramelized onion and gruyere pizza.  Served alongside a pile of greens with caper vinaigrette.  Dinner was great and I am sad.  If Chris Cosentino served me this meat, I’d try.  If he said, this meat is OK – I am sure I would try.  But left to my own devices?  No.  What would you do?