We never miss it and the last couple of years we’ve tried to go several times because there is just so much to taste it’s impossible to do it in one day. One of the major perks of having annual passes is definitely to be able to visit often. We’ve been to this year’s festival twice so far – once with my family and my daughter’s friend and once with my just my husband to celebrate our 16th anniversary.

My husband surprised me with Disney annual passes 4 years ago and it was honestly the BEST GIFT EVER.

Every year we try to get there early in the festival to start eating our way around all the booths. We were able to go twice this festival so far, and hope to get in one more visit to see Boys II Men when they perform during the Eat To The Beat concert series.

The Food and Wine Festival runs from August 30 – November 12, 2018…plenty of time to get a few visits in. Passholders have incentive to visit several times, you receive a special gift on your 4th visit. This year’s special gift is a festival cutting board. (hasn’t happened yet, #goals)

I wanted to highlight some of our very favorites we tasted and sipped so far this year!

Brazil:

Brazilian Cheese Bread (shown above)

This one is a popular one, we heard about it in passing a few times on our visit and had to try it. It’s delicious! (it’s cheesy bread, how can it not be delicious!?)

Brewer’s Collection: 

Schofferhofer Hefeweizen Pomegranate Beer (left)

Spain:

Charcuterie in a Cone with imported Spanish Meats, Cheeses and Olives with an Herb Vinaigrette (top right)

Seafood Salad with Shrimp, Bay Scallops, Mussels, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, White Balsamic Vinegar and Smoked Paprika (bottom right)

Hops & Barley (at the America pavillion):

New England Lobster Roll: Warm Lobster with Fresh Herb Mayonnaise (pictured above, top right)

New Brunswick Slider: Slow-braised Beef Brisket “Pot Roast Style” with Horseradish Cream and Crispy Fried Onions on a Potato Roll with Pickled Vegetables on the side (pictured above, bottom right)

This is one of our absolute favorite booths – the pickled veggies that come with the slider are spicy and so delicious!

The Cheese Studio: 

Maple Bourbon Boursin Cheesecake with Maple Bourbon Cream, Caramel and Pecan Crunch (pictured above, back)

The Chocolate Studio:

Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey-Caramel (pictured above, forward)

We’ve never stopped in this section of the Festival in the past. I am so glad we did. Both of these desserts are at the top of my list.

Flavors from Fire: 

Piggy Wings (Roasted Pork Wings with Korean BBQ sauce and sesame seeds) (not pictured)

Smoked Corned Beef with Warm Crispy Potatoes, Pickled Onions and Blonde Ale Beer Fondue (pictured above, left) – LOVED this!!

Charred Chimichurri Skirt Steak on a Smoked Corn Cake with Pickled Vegetable Slaw and Cilantro Aïoli (pictured above, top right)

You can’t miss this booth, the smells are incredible. One of our favorites for sure.

Islands of the Caribbean:

Ropa Vieja Empanada with Tomato Aïoli (pictured above left, forward)

Quesito: Puff Pastry with Sweetened Cream Cheese and Guava Sauce (pictured above left, back)

My daughter and her friend were so fun to sample foods with! We shared everything – they are cute foodies, aren’t they?

Photo Credit: Kristen Doyle, Dine & Dish

Coastal Eats:

Lump Crab Cake with Napa Cabbage Slaw and Avocado-lemongrass Cream

Seared Scallops with Roasted Corn, Butterbean Succotash and Chili-chipotle Butter Sauce (pictured above)

We are big fans of both of these seafood dishes!!

Photo Credit: Kristen Doyle, Dine & Dish

Light Lab:

Original Sin Dry Rosé Hard Cider, New York, NY (Cider Flight)

3 Daughters Brewing Blueberry Peppercorn Hard Cider, St. Petersburg, FL (Cider Flight) —

Ciderboys Zen Berry Hard Cider, Stevens Point, WI (Cider Flight)

More food we loved without photos:

Active Eats:

Loaded Mac ‘n’ Cheese with Pepper Bacon, Cheddar Cheese, Peppers and Green Onions – my daughter loves this dish!!

Australia:

Grilled Lamb Chop with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies – my husband ordered this and loved it.

Japan:

Teriyaki Chicken Bun: Steamed bun filled with Chicken, Vegetables and a Sweet Teriyaki Sauce

Mexico:

Short Rib Tostada: Corn Tortilla topped with Short Ribs, Black Beans, Salsa Verde and Spring Onion

Smoky Margarita with Gracias A Dios Mezcal, Lime Juice and Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur

Gotta love Figment and all the cute Food & Wine gear!

and of course…Chef Mickey!

Until next year…

More Disney Fun To Read About:

Epcot International Festival of the Arts

5 Ways To Maximize Your Time At Disney World Parks

Walt Disney World In The Fall

Best Restaurants In Disney World

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One of the huge perks of living in the Orlando area is having access to the Disney parks. A few years ago my husband surprised me with annual passes for our anniversary and it was honestly one of the best gifts of my life – he knows me well. It’s been hard not to renew our passes, especially with all the constant new and fun events Disney keeps adding to their parks.

Epcot is my favorite of the Disney parks, I never get tired of it – there is so much to experience! We love visiting when Food and Wine Festival is happening in the fall but my absolute favorite is the Flower and Garden Festival which is just around the corner. The International Festival of the Arts event is fairly new, this is the second year and I was super impressed and am hoping to go back before it ends February 19 to see more.

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Last week my husband and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary. He gave me the biggest and best surprise ever – a day at one of our favorite places – EPCOT. Bonus…it happened to be during their annual Food & Wine Festival.

We got to enjoy the day without our kids (they were not happy about that!), thanks to my mom, and it really was such a wonderful time reconnecting and relaxing…and of course enjoying awesome food and drinks outdoors!

I wanted to share some of our eats with you. We ate and drank throughout a good part of the day, hitting most of the countries along the way. There was so much food to choose from! Ironically, considering it’s called Food & Wine, I did not have one glass of wine all day! As much as I love wine, I also love good beer so I chose to sample those that day instead (along with our traditional margarita stop in Mexico). We splurged this year and treated our family to Disney passes so I think another trip to Epcot before the festival is over will happen so I hope to have the opportunity to try some wine on our next visit.

Funny story:  We spent the day celebrating what we thought was our “lucky 13th” anniversary. We broadcasted it on Facebook and told everyone who asked us at Epcot (thanks to our Disney Happy Anniversary celebration buttons we were wearing). We felt like 13 was a BIG anniversary! Well…turns out (thanks to my brother for figuring it out that night), it’s actually our 12th anniversary. 😉

Oops.

(Like my husband joked…after having 3 kids you just forget what year you’re in.)

Here’s what we ate and drank:

HAWAII:

Kalua Pork Slider with sweet and sour pineapple chutney and spicy mayonnaise (this was one of our favorites of the day!)

Kona Brewing Company Big Wave (we love this beer!)

SCOTLAND:

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Its hard to believe that just a week ago I was at Walt Disney World hanging out with my family and a bunch of my food blogger friends at the Food Blog Forum conference. Opportunities for me to meet bloggers I’ve met online over the years face-to-face only come every now and then, and for this one to be right in my backyard so that my family could enjoy it too makes it all the better.

The conference was hosted by Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, which I have to say is one absolutely gorgeous resort. It’s set on right on the water, and the scenery is just stunning. I mean, where else would you just run into Cinderella’s glass carriage amongst sun bathers just randomly like this…

This wasn’t my first time at Food Blog Forum. It was actually my third year in a row attending this event, and I really do look forward to it every year (here’s my recap of last year and the year before). FBF is a smaller sized conference, only about 100-ish attendees and honestly, that’s just my style. My goal this year was to really get around and meet EVERYONE – but surprisingly, it never did happen. It’s so hard when you’re so excited to finally have time to spend with friends you’ve created over the years through blogging that you hardly ever see in real life.

Speaking of friends…

this girl. I reference to Liz a lot here on the blog, mostly because I’m always stalking her blog and making food inspired from her awesome everyday family recipes. Her cooking style is very similar to mine – healthy, simple, yet full of amazing flavor. Liz has become one of my favorite people ever and after meeting her in person for the first time I can’t wait to get to hang with her again! We have so much in common (aside from the fact that we are both pregnant!) and her down to earth, positive personality is like a ray of sunshine. She is my kind of people.

More friends…you have no idea how much I love these women. Some I’ve been chatting with for years over Twitter, Instagram and our blogs, some I’ve met in person before, and some I was introduced to for the very first time. I truly hated to say goodbye.

(top left: Brenda, Shari and me  – Middle left: Denise, me, Sommer  – Bottom Left: Liz and I – Top Right: Brenda, Leslie, Sommer, Rebecca, Shari, Liz and I (I spy Jen back there!) – Bottom Right – Stephanie, Audra, Liz and Rebecca)

I finally got to spend a little more time with one of my first blogging buddies from way back – Jenny. Jenny just had a little baby boy – 7 years after her last baby, so I couldn’t wait to ask how all of that was going since my kids’ ages were going to be so spread out as well. I’m not going to lie, the world of baby gear is completely new and different now than 7 years ago, and it was fun to laugh about it with someone else who can totally relate.

Amidst all the socializing, there were some truly great sessions led by bloggers, photographers, and people in our industry sharing lots of great little nuggets of knowledge with us. (Nemo unfortunately was not a speaker, but I sure did think he was cute.)

Todd and Diane (top left) spoke with us on embracing technology and creativity at the same time – something I find myself struggling with (I’m such a tech-phobe, but I’m really trying to come around). One thing I really took from them was that whenever you find yourself feeling like you are in a rut with your blog, to get out of your head and look somewhere else. Take a break from your norm and really change it up. I’ve been blogging for just about 5 years now, and just like with any other job or hobby, there are days – weeks, months – where you just aren’t into it. I’ve been really trying to get out of my normal routine when that happens and do something totally different (visiting a new part of town to explore or shop for groceries, trying a new restaurant or type of cuisine, learning a new instrument – ha, just kidding)…I loved hearing the same from them and as always walked away very inspired by the amazing creativity and warmth this couple exudes every time you are around them.

The Steamy Kitchen family (top right) was a wealth of information as always. The focus of their talk was about “defining your success” and I swear, it couldn’t have come in a better time in my life. I absorbed so much from listening to them share, but mostly I reinforced things that I already knew and know I need to always keep top of mind when it comes to life and business – surround yourself with people you want to be like and work smarter not harder. YES.

(Our other great speakers – Middle Left: Elise, Babette and Erik – Bottom Left: Lindsay, David, Julie and Jeff )

I can’t thank Disney and all the Food Blog Forum organizers, Jaden and Scott, Diane and Todd, Julie and Lindsay, enough for another great conference. It’s such a joy to be able to connect with others that share space in this big internet world in real life. You can’t help but walk away feeling energized and grateful to be part of it all.

Though I have to say, being able to include and share with my family at the same time is absolutely priceless.

More Food Blog Forum – Walt Disney World recaps and pictures:

Amanda of Kevin & Amanda
Amy of The Nifty Foodie
Angie of Big Bear’s Wife
Audra of The Baker Chick
Carla of Carla’s Confections
Caroline of Chocolate and Carrots
Erin of Eat, Bake, Drink, Cook
Jenny of Picky Palate
Julie of Table for Two
Karyn of Pint Sized Baker
Katrina of In Katrina’s Kitchen
Liz of The Lemon Bowl
Meagan of A Zesty Bite
Rachel of Baked by Rachel
Stephanie of Macaroni and Cheesecake

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