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Wednesday

Food and Wine Festival Wordless Wednesday

Hi over there!
Welcome to the latest edition of The Wordless and Almost Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop here at Focused on the Magic.com where each week we get together to blog hop, link up and share our Wordless Wednesday or Almost Wordless Wednesday, travel related picture posts.

Last year the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival was a gastronomical good time. 2017 looks like it will be even better (if that's possible) because it is also Epcot's 35th Anniversary Celebration on Oct. 1st. I am booked and ready. I can't wait!
We had so much fun sipping and tasting our way around the World Showcase, rocking out to the concerts and learning at the seminars. Remy joined us in France as our trip mascot last year providing giggles between bites and long queues.

Celebrate 35 years of Epcot during the 22nd Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Aug. 31-Nov. 13, 2017. The annual Disney culinary tour of flavors will expand in 2017 for a longer-than-ever 75-day run

"A record number of global food and wine marketplaces – 35 in all –will sizzle with new edible delights to celebrate 35 years of Epcot during the 22nd Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Aug. 31-Nov. 13, 2017. The annual Disney culinary tour of flavors will expand in 2017 for a longer-than-ever 75-day run.

Growing in scope as one of America’s top food festivals each year since 1996, the Epcot (Walt Disney World) event will run for 13 additional days of inspired sips and bites throughout the park’s World Showcase and Future World. Guests will have a chance to mix and mingle with celebrity chefs, experience hands-on culinary workshops, and demonstrations at the Festival Center, and get their gourmet groove on at nightly Eat to the Beat concerts."

What's your favorite travel food experience?

Time to link up your Wordless Wednesday ...

Happy Pretzel Day! | Almost Wordless Wednesday

Welcome and thanks for stopping by The Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop here at Focused on the Magic where each week we gather together to link up and share our #DisneySide pictures.

Today is all about Food, something that I thoroughly enjoy photographing. I don't know if it's more of a challenge to get the best shot technically or having to wait to get the shot when I am dying to just dig in. I do try to make do with a fast one take.

Today is also National Pretzel Day! Yay! How about a Pretzel Roll? Not by itself of course. In the Canadian Kiosk, it's combined with a creamy Cheddar Cheese Soup. Very memorable and a much needed pick me up after strolling around the World Showcase. We stopped just in time as the rain started as we were finishing up. Remy our mascot for the trip was thrilled to pose with it too.

This is a picture of the main entrance display to the 2016 Epcot Food and Wine Festival at Walt Disney World.

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Pretzel Roll and Cheddar Cheese Soup, Remy

Tell me what your favorite pretzel is and where we can find it.

Time to link up your Wordless Wednesday ...

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Recipe: Dragon Berry Colada from the Caribbean

Caribbean Booth at Epcot's Food & Wine Festival

The Dragon Berry Colada from the Festival’s Caribbean Booth is a delicious icy cold adult beverage and has become a fan favorite at the festival. It's very easy to make at home too.
The price is $7.75 and in a lighted souvenir cup which I didn't partake in, would be $12.75.
I whip up a batch of these at home throughout the summer months and dream I'm strolling the World Showcase or cruising the Caribbean.

Disney Wordless Wednesday ~ Food, Wine & Music at Epcot's Food & Wine Festival

Welcome and thanks for stopping by The Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop for the week of 10/9. For those of you unfamiliar, each week we host a link up hop to share our Wordless Wednesday Disney related picture posts.
This week I am sharing a collage of 10 of my favorite things to enjoy at Epcot's Food & Wine Festival at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Epcot's Food & Wine Festival at the Walt Disney World Resort.

A taste of the things you can look forward to at The Food & Wine Festival.

Epcot's entrance display each year. Always so creative. It set the stage for the Foodie fun that lies ahead.

Cranberry Bog fun! Gotta have Craisins!

France ~ Merlot, Chateau de Marcade Bordeaux & Creme Brulee au Chocolat au Lait

Chef's Showcase ~ Cooking seminars & wine tastings galore!

Hawaii Booth ~ Tuna Poke!

Hawaii Booth ~ Kalua Pork Slider

Eat to the Beat Concert Series ~ Sugar Ray

Siesta Key Spiced Rum Dole Whip delight!

Event shirts ~ Last years fave. Eating and drinking around the World Showcase map

Australia Booth ~ Grilled Lamb Chop with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies

France ~ Escargots Persillade en Brioche
The list goes on and on but those...

Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop Focused on the Magic

Everybody neat and pretty? Let the hop begin!

Silent Sunday in the Park

#SilentSunday

Do you have pictures that *speak* for themselves that you would like to share?

Disney Magic at Home

Focused on the Magic, Disney Cruise Line Mug

This is such a fun topic! There are so many ways I keep the Disney magic alive at home. Narrowing it down was tough for me because it really has become my lifestyle to include Disney music, clothes, movies, even my morning coffee in a favorite Disney mug keeps me focused on the magic.

If I had to choose just one for today, it would be cooking. I bet you were all thinking I would say photography, and you would be right but I also really enjoy food, cooking it, eating it and photographing it.

Sweet Treats on Epcot's Food and Wine Festival Opening Day

Photo courtesy of Disney(Matt Stroshane, photographer)

From left to right: Dark chocolate mousse with chili and salted caramel; yogurt panna cotta with orange cake, raspberries and pomegranate; and lemon custard verrine with blueberry compote.

We're at the opening day of the 17th Annual International Food and Wine Festival in Epcot. At some point during the foodie festivities I will seek out one of these sweet treats from the Desserts & Champagne marketplace. I'm not quite sure which one as yet but it will probably be the lemon custard verrine with blueberry compote. Yum! I'll be sure to snap a few pictures and report back with my thoughts as soon as the sugar rush burns off or I get back to my resort;)
The 17th Epcot International Food & Wine Festival runs from Sept. 28 - Nov. 12, 2012 at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Will be trying these sweet treats at The Food and Wine festival?

Epcot's Food & Wine Festival Sweet & Sour Chicken Stir-Fry Recipe

©Disney

Chef Ming Tsai from Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival shares his easy Sweet & Sour Chicken Stir-Fry in this video. The DIY Disney recipe (below) is easy and fast to prepare. Faster and less expensive than ordering Chinese take-out for the family too! More savings for your next trip:)

Sweet & Sour Chicken Stir-Fry
Serves 4
4 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 pound of dark chicken meat (from the legs and thighs), cut into 1/2-inch dice
Coarse salt, freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon of ginger, minced
1 tablespoon of garlic, minced
3 celery stalks cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 red onion cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 red bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup Ocean Spray Craisins
White and brown rice, for serving
4 scallions, green parts only, thinly sliced
Tamari or soy sauce, to taste
Heat wok or sauté pan over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of canola oil and swirl to coat the
pan. When oil is hot, add chicken and stir-fry, separating pieces, until chicken is cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.
Add 2 tablespoons of oil to wok and swirl to coat pan. When oil is hot, add ginger and garlic; stir-fry until softened, about 30 seconds. Add celery, red onion and peppers; stir-fry until soft, about 2 minutes.
Add pineapple juice and bring to a simmer. Add chicken back to pan and toss to combine. Add Craisins and toss to combine.
Serve with Chef Ming’s “house rice” (50 percent brown and 50 percent white). On a serving platter, make a bed of rice, then top with chicken. Garnish with scallion greens and season with soy sauce.

For more information on this year’s festival go to Epcot's Food & Wine Festival. You also can call 407-WDW-FEST.

Tuesday

Wordless Wednesday ~ Wine Tasting

Welcome to the latest edition of the The Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop here at Focused on the Magic.com where each week Disney Bloggers gather to blog hop, link up and share their Disney Wordless Wednesday or Almost Wordless Wednesday Disney related picture posts.

It's a fun blog hop for sharing your Disney memories and pictures. There's a theme each week that you can follow if you wish. Facebook pictures, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, Flickr or video posts are all welcome. You can even email your pictures and I will be happy to add them to this page. Email your picture to Deb at focusedonthemagic@gmail.com. I'll make every effort to get them posted right away.

The theme for this week's Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop, 9/5/12 is

Your Calendar Shot for September

Post a Disney picture or pictures that would best represent the month of September or one you'd like to look at for a whole month, if you were to make a calendar.
Epcot's Food & Wine Festival starts September 28th and I am so looking forward to tasting our way around the World Showcase again this year.

Wine tastings and culinary demonstrations will be on our list too. I can't wait to see the new offerings.

Time to link up...

Weekly Look Back and Forward ~ 8/11

Hi there Disney friends! It's time for our weekly recap here at Focused on the Magic. Time sure did fly by and staying focused on the magic this week was easy. We're finalizing the details of our Fall Festival Fling at Disney World , eating our way around the World Showcase, meetups and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) and for Epcot's 30th Anniversary a weekend of fun with Celebration 30.
Let’s take a quick look at the pixie dusted blog postulations that happened around Focused on the Magic this week.
Then we’ll get to take a look ahead to next week’s fun topics.

101 Things To Do At Disney World ~ Eat to The Beat Concert Series

Munch to the Music

One of my favorites things to do at the Epcot® International Food & Wine Festival is to see the Eat to the Beat Concert Series. It's a fun opportunity to kick back and take in some great live music from some pretty awesome groups.

This year, my son and I will be at The American Adventure Theatre to kick off the series with Taylor Dayne and one of my favorites, Sugar Ray. Yup, even a baby boomer - old time rock n' roller like me enjoys 90's music. I can't wait to hear "Fly", their 1997 hit performed live. We were really hoping to see Boyz II Men again, but they won't be performing until later in the month. You can see the complete lineup of performers below.
Will you be at the Eat to the Beat?

Virtual Food & Wine Festival ~ Germany

Welcome to The Virtual Food & Wine Festival. In honor of Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival a few Disney bloggers have gathered together their special culinary talents and prepared a virtual F&W Festival!

You're all invited to visit each blog and virtually eat your way around the World Showcase! Please visit all of our blogs and leave comments on our dishes.

During the Food and Wine festival each fall, the number of snack offerings around the World Showcase is dizzying. One of our all time favorites is the Apple Strudel from Germany served with Karamel Sauce and Vanilla Sauce.

My MIL always made the best strudel and she encouraged me to try making it myself. Her recipe included making the dough from scratch, which was way beyond my abilities. Well, very sadly my MIL passed away a year ago. In her memory and my husband's prodding, I decided to give Apple Strudel a try. It also helped that I found a fabulous recipe in The Cooking With Mickey Volume II from Caffe Villa Verde in the Disneyland Hotel using filo dough.

Apple Strudel with Filo Dough

Yield: 1 strudel
Preheat oven to 400º

Ingredients:

1 pound apples, thinly sliced
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
5 sheets filo dough
1/2 cup butter, melted
Whipped cream or custard sauce
*optional ingredients:
1/4 cup raisins or cranberries
1/2 teaspoon Apple Pie Spice

Peel and core fresh apples. Cut each into wedges, then into thin slices.

Combine cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle with two thirds of the cinnamon and sugar mixture and mix lightly. Mix in Apple Pie Spice and cranberries or raisins. Set aside.

On a clean kitchen towel, put a single layer of filo dough. Brush with melted butter.
Place another sheet of dough on top and repeat, until all five have been layered with butter.
Keep filo dough under a moist kitchen towel after the package is opened and while working.
Place apple mixture on upper third of filo dough layers.
Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon and sugar mixture and roll dough, using the kitchen towel to lift the dough as tightly as possible around the apples.

Place rolled dough, seam side down on a buttered baking sheet and brush with remaining butter. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and sugar on the top of the roll.

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve hot with whipped cream or custard sauce.

~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~

Kitchen Notes: Using cranberries was too tart. Raisins would have been better. A baking mat or parchment paper was essential, as cleaning up the caramelized sugar would have been awful if not impossible. This recipe made two strudels. If the filo leaves were wider it might make one strudel but may have been more difficult to roll. I used my Mickey kitchen towel with a waffle texture. Next time I'll use a pastry cloth to roll the dough. It would absorb less and might give me a tighter, better-looking roll.

The strudel was a huge hit in my house and I'm so glad I finally tried it. I even made another one after this as a special birthday request. DS gave me the ultimate compliment when he said,

It tasted like it was fresh from Grandma's kitchen.

Now it's time to continue virtually eating your way around ºoº World Showcase. Bon Appetit!

1.	Focused on the Magic ~ Greece	2.	Magical Mouse Schoolhouse ~ Ireland
3.	A Disney Mom's Thoughts ~ Italy	4.	Pursuing the Magic ~ Brazil
5.	Disney Babies Blog ~ Canada	6.	Mouse Fan Diane ~ Hawaii
7.	DIStherapy ~ France	8.	Focused on the Magic ~ Germany
9.	Mandas Disney Blog ~ Scottish Shortbread!

Sunday

Epcot's Food and Wine Festival ~ Greece and Spanakopita

Welcome to The Virtual Food & Wine Festival. In honor of Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival a few Disney bloggers have gathered together their special culinary talents and prepared a virtual F&W Festival! You're all invited to visit each blog and virtually eat your way around the World Showcase! Please visit all of our blogs and leave comments on our dishes.

_________

__________

One country that always stands out in my mind when sampling my foodie favorites in the World Showcase is Greece. As many of you may know I lived in Greece on Crete for a short time. It was at a time when I was just learning how to cook beyond the basics and experiment with new dishes. One of my favorite party foods became spanakopita.

It can be served as an hors d'oueuvres, a light meal even breakfast. You can find it at the Greece kiosk during the F&W Festival and it's only 1 snack credit!

Spanakopita

Prep Time:30 Min Cook Time:
Ready In:1 Hr 5 Min

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

3 green onions

1 clove garlic

1 dash lemon juice

8 oz fresh spinach stems removed or 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach - thawed, drained and squeezed dry

(4 ounce) package feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup Ricotta cheese

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 egg, lightly beaten

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough

3-1/2 ounces butter, melted or Olive oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º F (175º C).
Heat 2T of butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Slowly cook and stir onions and garlic until softened and clear. Mix in spinach. Cook until the spinach is wilted. Remove from heat and let cool. About 10 min.

Chop the cooled spinach mixture finely by hand. A machine just makes a gooey mess of it. Press the spinach mixture with a wooden spoon in a colander to drain. If you're using frozen spinach or baby spinach it will be more moist so really press the moisture out.

Chop the feta cheese till it's crumbled.

Mix in feta cheese, ricotta cheese, egg and salt and pepper.

See the Hidden Mickey's in the towel?

Separate one sheet of phyllo from the stack and evenly brush with a light coating of butter or oil. I used olive oil but you can also use Canola Cooking spray on the sheets. Place another sheet of phyllo over the butter or oil and press the two sheets together. Cut the layered phyllo dough into long strips about 3 inches wide using a pizza cutter. Keep the remaining phyllo covered with wax paper and a damp tea towel to keep it from drying out.

Lay out one strip of phyllo at a time on your work surface (I use wax paper) with one of the narrow ends close to you.
Place a heaping tablespoon of filling 1 inch from the end closest to you.
Fold the bottom right corner over the filling to the left edge to form a triangle.
Fold the triangle up, bringing the point at the bottom left up to rest along the left edge.
Turn the lower left corner over to touch the right edge.
Continue turning the triangle over in this manner until you reach the end of the phyllo. Folding it as you would a flag. Repeat with the remaining filling and phyllo dough.

Place filled phyllo dough triangles on a large baking sheet with seams facing down and brush with the remaining butter or oil.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 20-25 minutes.

I froze some of these for DH's birthday on Tuesday. Just put them on a baking sheet cover and place them in the freezer. When you're ready, brush them with oil and heat them up at 350º for 10-20 min.