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I love eating now more than ever, unfortunately, I can only fit a tiny bit into my squished stomach. On the upside, I do get to eat more often! So, when I can eat whatever I want in normal human sized quantities again these are the places I want to eat:

1. Bronx Deli: I want a large pastrami sandwich, not a small one, and a whole basket of fries, not one to share. You would think I’d head to NYC for such a sandwich, but I’m hooked on the Bronx Deli in Pontiac, MI…

2. Sticky Lips Pit BBQ: Oh, they have every kind of rub and sauce, they deep fry pickles, have awesome fried green tomatoes, ratatouille and the best ribs ever. Why people in Rochester, NY insist on Dinosaur when this place is less crowded and more tasty will always escape me. Plus, if you dig tattooed waitresses, this is the place to go.

3. The New York Wine and Culinary Center: I’ve only had one meal here but I was very impressed both with the food and the service. I thought the pairings were well done too. My preference is for the patio, but it’s not the greatest view in the world–too much boat dock, not enough boat dockless water…

4. Bill Gray’s: I think it’s the pregnancy talking, but I want a white hot (pardon the wikipedia link, but that’s the best description!!).  It’s so incredibly regional but I don’t understand how–it’s so good!!! I prefer mine with hot sauce, but my mom likes it everything (and at Bill Gray’s everything doesn’t really mean everything…there was this time, when a new girl didn’t know that everything doesn’t really mean everything and my mom wasn’t pleased. Being 13 years old I was mortified…)

White Hot, from Bill Gray's

5. Bistro Du Coin: Again, it might be pregnancy, it might be how much I love the Cassoulet du Bistrotier (mmm, duck and pork and lamb…). It’s not the crowded tables or ‘french’ service, that’s for sure, but I do love the food.

6. The French Laundry: No, not the California one, the Fenton, MI one, silly!! Sandwiches as big as your head, pies, pastries, and cakes all served on vintage tables and chairs? I love it. Thank God AtotheB bought a house near Fenton, I’ll have double extra excuses to go visit her! And Sharon G, if you hadn’t dragged me out of my way to this tiny town that wasn’t on our agenda I would have missed out on some of the best food in Michigan–thanks!

And now? Now I’m going to eat in my own kitchen…left overs. So sad.

Okay, so the NYT is way more ambitious than I am; 41 places might stretch my pregnancy addled brain!! So here’s my list of places I’d like to go this year, or ever…not that we’ll be going very far in the forseeable future, what with baby boy beanie in tow!

1. Duh, Disney World. Do you people not know me yet? Of course this time I’d like to partake in the Wine part of the Food and Wine Festival. Bacca and Grammie have already promised to watch the Bean while Jake and I partake of the refreshments and designated drivers (AKA, Disney Transportation).

2. The Willamette Valley in Oregon, to taste wine…oh, who am I kidding, I want to do more than taste it!

3. Napa. We can’t afford it. Well, we can afford it, its just I have trouble paying for 4 days in Napa what I pay for 10 days in Italy. Even so, someday. Napa.

do you sense a theme?

4.  Turkey, specifically the Aegean Coast on a gullet cruise. Maybe alone, maybe with people we don’t know, maybe with CS and her Turkish husband.

5. New Orleans. I’ve never been. Seems like something one ought to do.

6. Zanzibar. I think its fate; its on the NYT list and I just read a book that begins in Zanzibar. Most describe it as being a great beach trip after an African Safari. I’d like the African Safari too, but mostly the beach trip (and the descriptions in the entirely fictional adventure novel I just read) have me interested.

Pipe dreams this year!! In reality, I think I’ll be thrilled if I make it through my trip to the birthing center and back. Throw in a few visits to the gym and we may ourselves well traveled this year!

Heavens, we’ve been everywhere and nowhere and I’ll totally use Beanie as an excuse for not posting anything about travel or food. Rest assured I’ve been eating…

I’ve got this craving for a cross between Mexican, Tex-Mex and Southern food that can’t be stopped! Cat (from Garlic Festival Fame) joined me for dinner twice in the last few weeks; once for fajita at Abuela’s and once for jambalaya at Howe’s Bayou.  And there has been a fair amount of making chili at home too. Try this: Pumpkin Black Bean Chili…trust me…

Earlier this month I went to DC to visit some girlfriends and have a girly weekend that included a run (a slow run–I was 24 weeks pregnant!!) on the mall with Currie, breakfast at Eastern Market on Capitol Hill (best pancakes ever), a massage at Tusuva in Adams Morgan, and dinner at Acadiana with the girls.

Acadiana was awesome, although they could do a better job letting you know about valet parking. We paid $15 in the lot across the street but discovered we could valet for $7!! Now we know.  Like all restaurants in DC, it’s probably overpriced and overhyped, but I’ve been craving gumbo and wasn’t about to make it myself.  So gumbo it was, the appetizer version, chicken and sausage. And for my entree…charbroiled oysters with parmesan cheese and (the only reason to eat an oyster) garlic butter. Happy tummy, happy mommy, happy baby…

After returning from DC and visit with my brother’s family (their pancakes are pretty good too) Jake and I had Bibimbap at Asahi and discovered that maybe it’s that umami thing I’ve been craving. That and ice cream.

Two weeks ago I had pastrami sandwiches at the Bronx Deli with Sweet Daddy Hauser and thought I’d died and gone to heaven…Seriously, how have I lived near this place for three years and not gone in. I’ve only got 10 days left in Michigan but I fully plan to eat another pastrami sandwich here.

For New Year’s Eve we headed to the top of the RenCen with Max and Cat for dinner at Coach Insignia. I get that you are paying for the 73rd floor view, but don’t discount their ability to turn beef and potatoes into the kind of deliciousness that causes audible sighs. Again, happy tummy, happy mommy, happy baby. And since I can hardly fit more than five bites in my stomach at a time, I got to take home a huge chunk of strip steak.

I’ve also rediscovered the joy that is a bacon cheeseburger and fries. Without question, it had been years since the last one when I had a platter a few weeks ago, on a day when I cried because McDonald’s had stopped serving Egg McMuffins already and it was all I wanted. You know what? Bacon cheeseburgers and seasoned fries from Max and Erma’s can scratch that same itch. Surely not the best burger around, but for the long deprived, I’m happy.

And what do I have to show for my efforts? 26 pounds in 29 weeks. A relatively normal amount of weight to gain, a little higher than average, but nothing my OB worries about. Strangely though, I haven’t gained anything in a month! I was 26 pounds up at 24 weeks…I wonder if giving into the cheeseburger has prevented me from eating everything else I can find? And after looking at this face, how could you tell me I’ve done a bad job?

Baby Boy Beanie at 28 weeks, 3 days

They say he’s big, estimated at 72nd percentile. They say I’m measuring big too, about three weeks ahead, but mostly due to a high but still normal amount of fluid.

And here I’d hoped for a skinny, small, pencil shaped baby…

Wedding, Le Blanc

I know, I’ve been remiss in posting this…its been a month since we returned from our wedding/honeymoon/babymoon in Mexico and, well, I’m just lazy I suppose!

We can’t recommend Le Blanc enough. I was very leery of all-inclusives; I don’t want anyone bugging me to play volleyball and I really don’t want to eat bad food. Jake however, is a huge fan of all-inclusives. I’m not sure if it’s the unlimited booze or the unlimited lounging that he likes, but he’s been trying to get me on board for a while.

When we decided to give Beanie married parents we also determined that an all-inclusive would be a great way to combine the wedding and honeymoon, feel like we’d done something special, and avoid a lot of planning headaches. My only caveat was that we had to go to a five-star resort, because I want to eat great food if I can’t do anything else while there! (really, I couldn’t even go on some excursions because of pregnancy–no swimming with dolphins, no all day hikes of Mayan ruins, no parasailing…).

For the first time ever I even used a travel agent! Unheard of! This vacation really took me out of my element, I didn’t plan, barely did research, and had not a single spread sheet. Liberty Travel did it all, airfare (even our complicated airfare from two cities) and booking Le Blanc. From there I was put in touch with the wedding coordinator who made it very easy to plan a symbolic ceremony–pick from these 10 flowers, pick from these two cakes, pick a song you like, pick a time, okay…lets get married!

I did spend a fair amount of time reading reviews on trip advisor, and pretty much failed to find a bad word about Le Blanc. Everything we read was true. The service is outstanding, from the moment the staff is attentive and accommodating. Every thank you offered is rebuffed with ‘its a pleasure.’ In truth it was a little difficult for me to get used to people carrying my towels to my pool chair or my breakfast plate from the buffet, and I’m also sure more than four days would have made me nuts for something to do, but we will go back.

The Room: either book or use your resort dollars to upgrade to ocean view (there are some lagoon view), each room has a sliding glass door that turns your sitting area, with whirlpool tub, into a balcony. The mini bar is well stocked and included (I ate my weight in peanut m&ms…lay off, I’m pregnant) and the bed was probably the best hotel bed I’ve ever slept in. The vanity and bath area was smallish with little storage, but two-headed shower makes up for that. Bathrobes, slippers, products and plenty of towels are a huge plus. Each night there is a turn-down service with chocolate treats (not just wrapped chocolates either, but little chocolate art projects that change everyday).

Whirlpool Tub, Wedding Night, Le Blanc (the sliding doors are behind the drapes)

The Food: We ate in three of the four full service restaurants, as well as the breakfast buffet and the pizza bar. All were much better than I expected from all-inclusive food with our favorite being the Asian (really!! I couldn’t believe it) and our least favorite, but definitely not a bad meal, being the Italian. Again, outstanding service from waiters and buffet staff. We tried not to over indulge just because it was included so we didn’t order food from the pool wait staff. But it all smelled very good!

Scallops and Pesto, Le Blanc

The Drinks: Jake had plenty, top shelf, what ever he wanted, all day. I had virgin everythings. The bartenders were very nice to me, concocting all kinds of fruity or chocolaty frozen drinks while serving Jake gin and tonics. Jake also had wine with dinner each night, a bottle, not a glass.

Virgin Pina Colada, Le Blanc (all the glasses were tippy like that!)

The Spa: I had a great time. Jake, not so much. He sunburned himself into a red swollen mess and instead of massage had a sunburn treatment that included paper elasticized underpants and saran wrap. (oh, how I wish I could have seen that!). I had a pre-natal massage that made me never want to leave. When we go back I will be spending all of my resort credits here.

The Pools: Ocean front infinity edge pool with spa music playing…what else can be said. I could sit there all day.

The Gym: Best hotel gym I’ve ever used. Full free weight section, plenty of cardio machines, Pilates class, yoga class, spinning class. Awesome, used it everyday.

The Stuff We Didn’t Do: No excursions, but they have tons. We didnt’ have the beach dinner-it seemed awfully windy and dark when we looked at the couples trying to eat on the beach. The french restaurant, Lumiere, with the 7 course tasting menu-Jake’s sunburn put him to bed early that night, so I ordered a club sandwich and fries from room service as was quite happy! 

The Wedding: We did the complementary package which includes music, flowers, cake, and officiant in the wedding gazebo. The photography was extra, but the resort allows you to use your resort credits for that as well, so in the end we paid only $65 to have our album shipped home. I honestly didn’t expect much, why would you, they aren’t making any money off of you for this and they have to give you a service that only a few people take advantage of. But I was wrong, they treated our free wedding with as much care as a larger, more expensive event. Certainly we were limited in selection of flowers, cake and location, but the flowers were beautiful, the cake delicious, the location ideal. They even played the music we requested (not very traditional, our coordinator was worried that she’d downloaded the wrong thing when Isaac Hayes started singing…). Even the officiant was outstanding, I cried like a baby, but you can blame pregnancy hormones if you want. My only complaint and it’s really not something to complain about is that you don’t get digital copies of photos. I’m sure if you are willing to pay more you can get them, but the package we selected included only the prints of all pictures. So forgive the poor images…I took pics of pics to get these!

Wedding Gazebo, Le Blanc

Our flights are scheduled for 6PM and I’d forgotten to do an online check in last night, so I tried to do it this morning. Delta has a very easy mobile site that I’ve used before (I love their electronic boarding pass–no paper to lose!). But this time it didn’t work; there was no information about my flight at all!! I called Delta right away to find that they had canceled the 6PM flight and rebooked me on a 3PM. I don’t know when this happened, I do not have an email update about this, and the first person I talked to was not at all helpful. In the end I made it clear that I would not be at the airport for a 3PM flight and that I would be arriving at the airport a bit after 3PM. What was Delta going to do with me? After being told twice there were no seats for later flights I was suddenly booked on a 7:30PM flight.

This is probably the only downside of purchasing tickets through travelocity.com; this isn’t the first time a flight update has either not been sent to me or wound up in my junk mail. I never did find this email in my junk or deleted box.

Anyway, our first stop today was Epcot for one ride: Soaring. Just like everyone else standing at park opening rope drop. Disney does do this rope drop well; they know where we are all headed and they have multiple cast members walk with in a line to prevent the crowd from running to the Land Pavilion. Lots of people walked more quickly than we did and once at the ride Jake picked up two Fastpasses while I walked slowly through the line, allowing people to rush by if they felt like it. In the end we waited about 15 minutes.

I love love love this ride! Its one of my mother’s favorites too, but the first time on was a battle. She doesn’t like heights, fast rides, or anything she can’t see before getting on so she was a afraid. Those of you who have done this know that not only is it not fast, it’s not actually high either (simulated flight, not real flight!). She cried, clutched my Dad’s hand, and the proclaimed that she loved it. Now its one of the few rides she goes on (mostly she’s a park bench sitter, chatting with the other moms who don’t go on high/fast/dark/any rides!).

A quick ride on Spaceship Earth (am I the only one totally bothered by the completely western perspective of history on this? For example, it completely ignores Korean development of movable type before, yes before, Gutenberg…) and its time for Magic Kingdom! We left Epcot, got on the monorail, took the ferry, and found ourselves very quickly at the gates. As is normal at Disney, all of this always takes longer than you plan. We arrived at Epcot at 9, left around 10:30, got to MK a bit after 11, and had some Photopass pictures taken:

Magic Kingdom and US

You can’t see it in this photo, but the entrance is decorated with Halloween bunting and pumpkins.

One of the most important parts of our Magic Kingdom visit is going to be Space Mountain. Its be rehabed since I last went on and I’ve assigned Jake to do some serious recon on the changes. This was my first and favorite roller coaster. Way back when, the late 70s?, the riders had to share seats; one person got in and the second person sat down sort of on their lap, sort of between their legs. Of course you could go alone, but since I was a kid I rode with my Dad. He would take his glasses off, I would sit, we would be strapped in, and for the rest of the ride Dad would have to hold my head upright since my neck was too skinny to hold my head up against the g-forces. We went on over and over while Mom and my brother waited (he never liked fast rides either). I suppose my love for this is more nostalgic than anything; it’s really not that great a ride, no loops, no big hills…but I love it. Dad stopped riding coasters for awhile due to back and heart trouble, but once he retired he went right back to it. Now when we are at Disney together (and Universal) we hit all the big ones multiple times. And he love Hulk at Islands Of Adventure–claims it’s the smoothest roller coaster ever.

Anyway, we decided a Fastpass would be the best way to hit this ride and since Jake can walk a lot faster than I can right now, I sent him straight there while I went to Casey’s Corner to get hot dogs for lunch and a table on the sidewalk. MMM, hot dogs…

After lunch we hit Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and the Haunted Mansion. We tried to stop at the Hall of Presidents, but one of the presidents was malfunctioning and they closed the show. Mickey bars were consumed, more pictures taken, and we headed over to Space Mountain.

I’m so jealous. The que is updated a bit with some interactive video games to keep you occupied. They’ve ditched the old themes (at one point a space station, at one point a FedEx delivery depot) and given it a futuristic airport sort of theme (although it’s always felt forced here). I waited in line with Jake and took the escape route to the ride exit. He said its darker and somewhat smoother and now they’ve added music–good updates in his view, but since he doesn’t have the same memories of the ride, it’s never going to live up to Rockin Roller Coaster or Expedition Everest for him.

I can’t wait til our next trip when I can go on it!!

Our trip is coming to an end, we need to get our car, change into cold weather clothes, head to the airport and part company as Jake heads to NY and I head to Detroit. But first one more picture:

Future Mousketeer in the House!

Lunch. Where better than more snacking around the world showcase?! We headed back to the Boardwalk hotel and walked to Epcot from our parking lot headed straight for France and Escargot in Brioche. Whatever you may think, escargot are like all things that live in shells: vehicles for butter and garlic. And these were no exception to the rule, three buttery little messes in three tiny brioche, mmmm. I also got the chance to talk with a couple who had run the Wine and Dine Half Marathon on Saturday night and it made me so jealous!! The race started at 10PM and ended in Epcot at an after party in World Showcase. They food booths were open and more importantly, the booze booths were open.

Can I do this race next year? We’ll see…

Next stop was Belgium, again (we were here yesterday and dropped our waffle) for mussels in garlic cream.  Then there was Australia and baramundi, South Africa and tenderloin with sweet potatoes, the Norway pavilion Maelstrom ride, Mexico’s boat ride, some coconut shrimp thing for Jake and pair of cranky pants for me.

It doesn’t seem like much time to do all that, but it was about 3:30 and we’d been going since 8 and,oh, I’m pregnant. Jake has been reading pregnancy books (thank goodness someone is reading them, I’m not!) and declared that I needed sugar. I think a nap was more like it, but he bought me a mango smoothy that actually perked me up for a while. Maybe there is something to those books…

There was more food, a charcuterie plate, some cheese soup and god help me, I managed to fit a mickey bar on top of all of that. We dragged our asses back to the hotel and I took a little nap by the pool in preparation for part 3, The Main Street Electrical Parade and California Grill (AKA I must be stupid to think I have this kind of energy).

I’ve told you about the food, but haven’t filled you in on the parks. I have to say, it’s not the same fun for me as a pregnant lady! My favorite rides are the things that require you to be free from heart problems, back problems and fetuses. No Expedition Everest, no Dinosaur, no Tower of Terror, no Rockin’ Roller Coaster, no Big Thunder Mountain, no Space Mountain. Not that there aren’t other things we love (food, duh!) but I was a little wary that we wouldn’t have as much fun as usual. I should have been worried about being tired!

Our first stop on the big parks day was Animal Kingdom.

Us, Animal Kingdom Entrance

Because we are staying on Disney owned property we get to take advantage of Extra Magic Hours; times earlier or later than normal operating hours for Disney property guests only. If you can arrive just a bit before the opening and take advantage of this too you are looking at a much less crowded morning with the chance to hit a bunch more rides than if you show up later. (Honestly, if you can’t get there til 11, you will just wait and wait for everything…). So we arrived just a few minutes after 8 for the morning Extra Magic Hours and headed straight to Kilimanjaro Safari. This ride is always best in the morning when its cool and the animals are looking for breakfast. This ride and Expedition Everest are the first stops for tons of people and it really depends on what you prefer to do first. In the past we’ve sent one person to get Fast Passes (ride tickets with a return time allowing you to skip the line) for one while the other gets in the full line. Since I can’t go on roller coasters we just did Safari.

Our plans for the day also included the Pangani Forest Walk (we saw some big ass gorillas and the fattest toad on earth, really, it is), the FLights of Wonder (a bird show sounds dull, but we love this thing!), Its Tough To Be A Bug 4D (another of my faves) and just a general wandering around. We also hope to see Devine, a performance artist who basically looks like a vine. Trust me, worth it. Jake keeps calling her Ivy though.

I also like to get character pictures. Normally we would only do this if the lines were really short because we would be doing more ride, but since we’ve got more wandering this time and less rides, we got tons of pictures:

All the pictures are from Photopass Photographers. We don’t even bother with a camera anymore while at Disney, because these guys are everywhere. At the first one you see, stop, get a photo taken, and a card. Everytime you see one after whip out your card, get another photo. Usually the photographers take multiples and often there are speciality additions to the pictures. For example, you might look like you are holding Tinkerbell in your hands, or baby Simba in your arms. Once back at home you can order the prints you like or you can order a CD of all the pictures taken. We pre-ordered this (head over to Stitch Kingdom for order info) for $100 and had more than 50 pictures. You can edit them online before getting the CD, cropping, adding borders and messages or even canceling the pre-order if you don’t like any pictures.

By the time we finished the rides and shows we were interested in and had all our pictures taken it was nearly lunch time. As much as I would have like a plate of ribs from Flame Tree Barbecue, we hadn’t even come close to finishing our sampling of Food and Wine Festival offerings, so its back to Epcot for more eats!

I have a third passion that I don’t speak of much here…the Boston Red Sox. So when I stumbled on a most excellent food blogger (love #1) who lives near Boston (really, pretty close to love #3) I knew I would like her. www.foodonthefood.com has become a regular read for me and her post about the Boston Local Food Fest has me convinced that I’ll be going there next year, and with luck my boys will still be in it in October!!

So much food…we spend two afternoons wandering the World Showcase and eating what struck us when it struck us. We didn’t try everything, but I would say we did pretty well. We also got fatter. But that’s sort of the point. I’m going to go through the list country by country. We also didn’t take pictures of the food, we found that the heat, standing and eating and the annoyance of getting out the camera every time to cut into our enjoyment of the food.

So…

Australia: A repeat from last year and still one of my favorites. We had both the Seared Barramundi with Blistered Cherry Tomatoes and Arugla; and the Grilled Lamb Chop with Roasted Potato Salad. Considering that these are mass produced small bites the fish was excellent, a good sear on the outside and still moist. Lamb will always win with me, and the potato salad isn’t like picnic salad, more like a side of fingerling potatoes with a red wine reduction.

Belgium: On the first day I insisted on getting a Freshly Baked Waffle with Berry Compote and Whipped Cream. Jake insisted on dropping his half on the ground. I felt bad enough (and wanted more…) to scoop it up and return to the booth to ask for another. No problem!! On the second day we also tried the Steamed Mussels with Roasted Garlic Cream. Jake likes mussels way more than I do, so I had one and agreed it was good. He had 5 and swooned.

Canada: Cheddar Cheese Soup. Enough said. The other dishes looked good, but I was already stuffed when we got here on day two and managed to force the cheese soup down…

Charcuterie and Cheese: This isn’t a country so much as a way of life for me; cured meats and cheeses!  We shared the Applewood Smoked Beef, Duck and Ham. Sadly, they give you one sorry ass little cracker for all this delicious meat. Oh, and three of the tiniest pickles ever.

Desserts and Champagne: I ended up here alone as Jake was getting a beer sampler from the beer tent. For $3.50 I had Strawberry Angel Verrine (like cake and jam), Pear Streusel Pudding Cake (so thick!!), and Dark Chocolate Sensation (a chocolate cake bite topped with dark chocolate and filled with ganache, I think…stupidly good). If only I could have had the champagne…

France: You can’t go to France and not have the Escargots Persillade en Brioche. Before you get all icky about snails, think of them as a vehicle for butter, then put that butter in a sweet little roll: see, yummy!! Jake had the Braised Short Ribs in Cabernet with Mashed Potatoes. This was the day after we went to Victoria and Albert’s and he said he was ruined for short ribs and potatoes and declared them merely ‘good.’

Greece: The thing that will make Jake most sad when we aren’t in Detroit anymore is how much he loves Baklava. This was good, but not according to him, not nearly as good as his favorite bakery on 15 Mile Rd with the two very attractive Lebanese girls at the counter (I’m beginning to think he likes the girls more than the baklava…)

Hops and Barley: This booth is really sort of America #2, or maybe we should just call it the New England booth. It serves pretty much all the Sam Adams flavors and crab and lobster dishes (the lobster roll is the single most expensive taste at the FWF). Jake had the Pecan Bread Pudding. I had none. This getting to be late in our first day of eating and I just couldn’t fit another bite in, but it looked very sticky!

Ireland: This was our first stop on our first day, 11Am and we shared a Guinness (oh my god so good!) and a Lobster and Scallop Fisherman’s Pie. We went to Ireland two years ago and had nothing that tasted this good, so either the Ireland booth was really pouring it on to entice customers or we ate in all the wrong places. This was rich and creamy and had a huge lobster chunk in the middle. For $4 you can’t ask for more.

Japan: Don’t think for one second that I’m skipping a Spicy Tuna Roll. The wasabi was super hot, the ginger fresh and the tuna tender and bright red: perfect!

New Zealand: We shared the Seared Scallop with Vegetable Slaw and Lemon Oil and a Lamb SLider with Tomato Chutney. I’m always impressed at the seafood at FWF; so many restaurants can’t get it right when its indoors with full kitchens and these temporary booths, food trucks without wheels, do it so well. And I need to figure out how to make a lamb burger that juicy.

Poland: Kielbasa and Potato Pierogies with Carmelized Onions and Sour Cream. Jake’s favorite food ever. And this lived up to his standards. The Golabki (pork stuffed cabbage) was also excellent and I’m not much for the cabbage dishes. I could have had seconds of this easily, but South Korea was right next door…

South Africa: Without question our favorite of all was the Seared Beef Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Puree and Mango Barbecue Sauce. The sauce was both sweet and spicy, the tenderloin medium rare and tender and who doesn’t love sweet potatoes? (see Artist Point, two posts ago).

South Korea: I did a fellowship in South Korea two years ago and was really hoping this booth would serve the real flavors of SK and not a Americanized version. I think they did okay, the Short Rib with Steamed Rice and Cucumber Kimchi was spot on, especially the kimchi (although they avoided the super hot kimchi varieties). The Lettuce Wrap with Roast Pork and Kimchi Slaw was good and had flavors that reminded me of SK, but didn’t look like anything I’d eaten while there. I was seriously hoping for BiBimBap, but I’m not even sure how it could be done in small bites…

We skipped Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain and the US but not because they didn’t have appealing menus, but because we were full and I’m a pregnant cranky lady after a couple of hours of walking around.

We’ve already planned to return next year, there were so many things we missed this time around: the cooking demonstrations that we loved last time, the concerts (although I’m not sure Taylor Dayne was one we wanted to see anyway) and of course, the booze. My parents already offered to take Beanie for a weekend at the end of October next year so we can celebrate our anniversary (that Mexico thing?) at the Food and Wine Festival. We also are thinking of going towards the end rather than the beginning. It’s still fairly warm in early October and I think we might enjoy the early November weather a bit more. We also discussed making a dinner night out of the samples, rather than eating all day and then planning big meals too (I’ve still go two more meals to add to this trip!!).