9.20.13 and 9.27.13 weekends

We had two fun weekends. The 21st we went to a Beer Fest at our local science museum.  We had a great time. We bought the VIP tickets so we had access to a special section with food samples. One of our faite restaurants - The Refinery - made an awesome sausage dish. Our favorite beer was the Widmere Alchemy Ale and the Bold City Red Ale.  We had a fun time exploring the museum's exhibits especially the hurricane simulator.

 Toward the end of the event, a ska band made up of high school students and their dad (our guess based soley on how they looked) rocked it out. Glenn was inspired to dance after an older spry and tiny gentleman grabbed my hand and we cut a rug for a song. Glenn was a less energetic, but much better dance partner.

The weekend of the 27th was Tampa Food and Wine Fest Gala. This was the event where last year we bought the Napa trip at the charity auction. This year the auction was silent so we skipped it. The best bite of the night was Ocean Prime's ahi tuna appetizer. Revolution Ice Cream had a fantastic rasberry and black pepper sorbet they served with sparkling wine. The event hosted a casino night and we had a blast playing craps and black jack. Everyone  playing craps was really fun. We also had a great time dancing to the party band. The band was maybe one step up from karaoke, but after a couple hours tasting wine no one seemed to mind. 

Saturday we headed to Disney to meet up with Glenn's sister and two friends. We spent the afternoon tasting our way through the Epcot Food and Wine festival. Some of our favorites were:
South Korea-  lettuce wrap with roast pork and kimchi slaw
Africa - Berbere style beef with onions, jalapenos, tomato, okra and pap
Morocoo - Harissa Chicken Roll

Glenn also discovered Innis and Gun beer and has been raving about it ever since. 

We headed over to Raglan Road Irish Pub for dinner. The service was very slow, but the food was good. The appetizer platter was great: scallops, sausage, wings, and ribs. Glenn had the mixed grill and I had the chicken pot pie - both were very good. The lemon tart and bread pudding were  disappointing desserts. We really liked the Irish band and Irish dancing. We were surprised to find out Raglan Road was named one of the top ten gluten free restaurants in Orlando.

Sunday we went to the Polynesian Resort for brrakfast at the Kona Cafe. Glenn ordered the Samoan - pulled pork hash covered in hollandaise and a poached egg and topped with arugula.  It was awesome! They also have a french press coffee for two which was very good.

We decided to head over to Magic Kingdom to get our walk in and see a couple of the new attractions. Under the Sea is a fun ride through the Little Mermaid story. We tried the "brew" at Gaston's Tavern. It is frozen apple juice topped with passion fruit foam. I thought it was good. The Princess Fairytale Hall is great - an air conditioned wait for two princesses. We saw Cinderella and Aurora. Glenn hit up his favorite rides: Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad. Then we went to Adventureland to check out the new game there.

IT is a pirate game. You sign up and get a treasure map. Then you find your way around the map until you find the treasure.  It took us about 15 minutes to do one. It was a lot of fun. Glenn rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad while I watched the kickoff of the Colts game on my phone. 

We went back to Gaston's Tavern to try the pork shank. The pork was good and well-seasoned, but needed a sauce. We called Iit day and headed back to the real world.