Discover the Delicacies

This past weekend I opened up the Gazette’s social media lines and asked for requests of what type of recipe you’d like to see. Most hovered around some sort of meal or appetizer, and there was a specific request for a vegetarian meal. I thought, why not find something that could be a meal or an appetizer, and that is vegetarian! Did I bite off more than I could chew? You would think so, but then I came across a recipe from Poland’s marketplace at the 2012 International Food & Wine Festival for an open-faced sandwich.

Let’s address a little problem with the dish first. In the cookbook from 2012 the dish is listed as Zapiekanka, which is Polish for casserole. At the festival it is listed as Zapiekanki, which translates as casseroles. However, back in the cookbook it states that “Zapiekamki comes from Zapiekac, which means ‘to bake.’” For all the research I could do Zapiekamki appears to be a typo or a completely made up word, meanwhile Zapiekac actually translates as gratinate or to bake something covered in buttered crumbs or cheese. This language lesson does nothing but make me hungry, and we have a delicious dish to get to! For the sake of argument, we’re going to stick with the cookbook and call this Zapiekanka.

The small plate at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival is a mixture of mushrooms, cheese, and caramelized onions, while the play at home edition calls for spinach in the place of the onions. Both can be scrumptious, and shows just how much leeway you can have with your ingredients here, but we prefer the spinach variety at our house.

ZAPIEKANKA

Spinach and Mushroom Mixture

Ingredients

8 Ounces Button or Mini-Portobello Mushrooms (Cleaned and Sliced)

2 Cups Fresh Spinach

4 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Fresh Minced Garlic

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F

Lightly toss mushrooms with garlic and olive oil

Season with salt and pepper

Roast mushrooms on parchment-lined baking sheet for 20 minutes

Remove from oven and fold warm mushrooms and spinach in a mixing bowl, slightly wilting the spinach

Tangy Ketchup Sauce

Ingredients

4 Tablespoons Ketchup

2 Tablespoons Chili Sauce

2 Tablespoons White Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

½ Tablespoon Mustard

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl

To Serve

Ingredients

1 Loaf French Bread (Cut into 4 Half Pieces)

Spinach and Mushroom Mixture

Tangy Ketchup Sauce

½ Cup Gruyere Cheese (Shredded)

½ Cup Mozzarella Cheese (Shredded)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F

Spread spinach and mushroom mixture evenly over 4 bread slices

Sprinkle evenly with gruyere and mozzarella cheeses

Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden brown

Remove from oven and drizzle with tangy ketchup sauce

Serve warm

As long as all of these descriptions and ingredient lists may seem, the preparation of the Zapiekanka was remarkably easy. It is also set-up to work through in stages. While the mushrooms are roasting, the sauce can be prepared and the cheese shredded. The fifteen minutes while the final product is baking is more than enough time to clean up what little mess was created during the creation of the open-faced sandwich.

Like we talked about earlier, Zapiekanka can be made up of different types of ingredients, and are a common street food in Poland. This spinach and mushroom concoction makes a very fresh combination and the mix of gruyere and mozzarella are perfect to hold everything together. Tangy is the perfect way to describe the sauce, which gives every bite a bit of zip. Easy prep, easy on the taste buds, what’s not to like about this handy-dandy appetizer/meal with a vegetarian twist?!?!

 

Playful Penguins

Traditions are ingrained in the Walt Disney World experience. From the dining, resort, and firework spots we go back to time and again, to the experiences and quality of standards, some dating all the way back to Walt himself, traditions are in every single facet of a trip. It is with this thought in mind that I found myself pining for a new tradition when I saw the new fountain at the Grand Floridian Villas, complete with a contingent of bronzed penguins from Mary Poppins.

I should say that the seeds of this story start in Memphis, Tennessee at The Peabody hotel. Every morning at 10:00 a selection of ducks make their way down from the roof of the hotel to The Peabody lobby where the spend their day swimming about in the lobby’s fountain. Then, at 5:00pm, they make their way back to the elevator and up to their penthouse on the roof. The story of how these ducks came to become a tradition has a lot to do with bourbon and decoys and a drunken joke, but the point is people come from across the world to see The Peabody ducks.

A part of the morning and evening ceremonies often involves selecting a child to be the Honorary Duck Master. The child, accompanied by the official Duck Master, usher the ducks to their home or to the fountain.

Think about how such a tradition could come to the Grand Floridian Villas! Okay, so Walt Disney World wouldn’t want to copy that tradition outright, nor would they want to send a platoon of penguins into the fountain all day. Just think of the mess and management problems that could cause! There are, however, a couple of other options for bringing an animal mascot to the resort. Perhaps a swan or a couple of turtles could make their home here during the days.

Obviously, the idea of an Audio-Animatronics caretaker comes to mind, perhaps a cat or parrot that can tell a story or two, but the real draw is that you have a living and breathing mascot. I know that may seem to offer up an incredible number of challenges, but you need look no further than Shadow at Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort to see what a perfect match this could be!

Do I have the perfect answer for what could be the fit to the fountain, or the resort itself? Absolutely not. I do, however, think a resort or two at Walt Disney World could do with a mascot that doesn’t require a costume or programming, and who lives their lives in the lap, or fountain, of luxury.

Silent Saturday - Flower Tea Pot (May 2013)

The Orange Bird is Dreaming

When The Orange Bird flew onto the scene in the late 1960s, he could be seen far and wide in Florida. He wasn’t just a part of a song, or a character that would appear in the Magic Kingdom a few short years later, he was the living embodiment of Florida citrus. To this end he appeared in television ads, billboards, at citrus stands, and in all sorts of printed materials. One such piece of promotional ephemera was this 1980 comic book.

In The Orange Bird in Nutrition Adventures, the little Orange Bird works on a farm, takes a day off to go sailing, and enters the State Fair with his friends Macaw and Toucan. There are discussions all throughout the comic about the benefits of healthy eating. From a breakfast of donuts or oatmeal to snacks on the high seas and the benefits of vegetable gardening, the stories always come back to food and hunger pangs.

There are also activities that occupy the inside of the front and back covers. The front lesson is a simple matching exercise, from the name of a healthy food to a picture of the food. The back activity, however, leaves room for readers to be a bit creative, as they draw up a healthy breakfast for the Orange Bird. What kind of breakfast would you draw up for the little Orange Bird?

Silent Saturday - Bear Crossing (April 2011)

Latest Travelers Map

When you get to Anandapur in Disney’s Animal Kingdom you may decide you want to stick around a bit longer or take an expedition into the jungles of the kingdom. To extend and enhance your stay in Asia you’re going to need a travel company that knows the area, right? As it just so happens, Kshana Travel Company is conveniently located just across the way from Yak & Yeti Local Foods and next door to the Royal Anandapur Tea Company.

Okay, you caught me! You can’t stay overnight in Anandapur, and the expeditions are as simply as walking down a trail or moving through a queue, but there is a piece of the Kshana Travel Company that ties the land together. Kshana is actually the home to the land’s DVC kiosk and the Kids Discovery Club, mounted on the wall, however, is a map of Anandapur. Does that map look familiar?

 

You can see a blueprint copy of the map, which shows the Kingdom of Anandapur, in the queue of Kali River Rapids. The map shows up again further down the line, in the last room just as you make a decent to the raft loading area. This time, however, we are in the cartographers office where he is actually in the process of creating the map.

While there may be a few changes between the drafting and final renditions, such as title location and an additional close up section of the map, it is clear that these maps are one in the same. Anandapur’s land to water ration may change a bit in the rainy season, but it’s nice to see that someone loves the area enough to want to capture it, and all its river bends on paper!

A Full House of Talent

When The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge opened last year at Disney’s Hollywood Studios it did so under that mantra of, “The Place to See… and be Seen.” If it’s true that you want to start seeing stars you could venture down Hollywood Boulevard and hang out with some of the Citizens of Hollywood or try one of the lounge’s classic cocktails. Of course, for those of you that want the best of both worlds you can always try one of their signature cocktails, each named for a particular citizen of the Hollywood streets.

Jack Diamond is the persuasive talent agent that wanders Hollywood and Sunset looking for the next big star. To help fill his days, Jack has developed a talent of being able to show off a little sleight of hand or shell game and perform the occasional magic trick. At The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge the Jack Diamond is comprised of Maker’s Mark Bourbon, Sweet Vermouth, and Bitters. For those familiar with the bartending arts, just as fine an art as, say, magic tricks, this is a classic Manhattan.

Let’s say, however, you are far away from Disney’s Hollywood Studios and The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge, and you’d like to feel like you’re back in the sunshine and rubbing elbows with the Citizens of Hollywood. What could you do? Well, you could make one for yourself.

Jack Diamond

2 Parts Marker’s Mark Bourbon

1 Part Sweet (Red) Vermouth

1 Dash Angostura Bitters

A Manhattan is typically served in a martini glass, but at The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge the Jack Diamond is served in a rocks glass, a smaller version of a highball glass used for an old-fashioned or shots on the rocks. Hence the name.  It can be stirred with ice and strained into the glass, straight-up, or served over ice. Garnish for the Jack Diamond is a pair of maraschino cherries.

If the ingredients list makes you think the Jack Diamond might be a bit strong, you would be correct. You will get a strong taste of the bourbon, which is mellowed a bit by the vermouth and given a kick by the spiciness of the bitters.

Mix yourself up a batch of these, throw on a fedora if you have one, and settle in with The Public Enemy or Casablanca. You’ll feel like you are stargazing at The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge in no time!