But I still learned some things...did you know that only dry cheeses (e.g. monterey jack) should be stored in plastic wrap? And even then the wrap should be changed every 2-3 days. Otherwise cheese should be wrapped in parchment paper and stored as far away from the refrigerator's fan as possible. And did you know that *real* cheddar cheese actually undergoes a process called "cheddaring", where the cheese is sliced into strips that are layered on top of each other and then turned periodically to extract the whey from the curd? That orange stuff we buy in supermarkets isn't real "cheddar" cheese at all - not only is it dyed orange, but it isn't actually "cheddared".

The first two cheeses we tried were the Fiscalini White Cheddar, and the Vella Mezzo Secco Monterey Jack. Both of these are artisan farmstead cheeses - artisan meaning that they are made using traditional methods, and farmstead meaning that all of the milk used came from their dairy. The cheddar, having undergone the *real* cheddaring process, was actually a little more crumbly than the cheddar that's generally available, but had an excellent flavor. The jack seemed a little more substantial than supermarket jacks.

The third cheese was Cypress Grove Purple Haze Chevre (goat cheese). It was creamy, with a little bit of a bite, and interesting flavors from the fennel pollen and lavender buds that were mixed in. Really good.

One thing I should mention...all of the culinary demonstrations had a host who facilitated the discussion, kept things things moving along and asked questions that guests may not have thought of. The one I saw both times was Heidi, and she was excellent - witty as well as well-spoken and informative. That really does help - the chef often can get a little distracted by what he's doing, and might be using techniques or ingredients that are unfamiliar to his audience, but a good host will realize that and ask intelligent questions which really contribute to the learning experience for the audience.

After I'd chewed on cheddar, munched on monterey jack, and gorged on goat cheese, I went back to the Festival Marketplace at the Farmer's Market to sample a few things I hadn't tried on my previous visit. The Grilled Artichoke with Lemon Aioli was a very generous serving...of course, since it's an artichoke, how much of it do you really eat? :-) But it was prepared nicely and was tender and flavorful. The Central Valley Strawberries were my biggest disappointment of everything I tried - at $5 I thought it was overpriced - just two large not-fully-ripe strawberries and a little creme fraiche.

Back over at the Lucky Fortune Cookery, I was actually happy to see that all three windows had several people in line! When I asked Cast Members they told me that it had been getting busier each weekend - especially on Saturdays. I tried the California Chicken Skewer with wild mushroom Chardonnay sauce. I'm not a big mushroom fan...maybe if I were I would've enjoyed this more. But it was a generous serving and the white-meat chicken was grilled but not too dry. The Beer-Battered Northern Halibut with spicy remoulade was excellent, though - the batter was crisp and crunchy and the fish was light and flaky. It wasn't greasy at all, and the sauce was flavorful but not overly spicy. I'd happily eat this regularly.

I was able to speak with Jim Ames, a manager in the Food Concepts and Product Development area, who is the Producer of the Food and Wine Weekends Event. At that point Disney had not yet decided if there would be a Food and Wine event next year, but guest response had been quite positive and everyone seemed to be having a good time. One new thing Jim told me they'd done since my previous visit was to put the daily schedules for the complimentary cooking demonstrations and wine/beer/spirit tasting up on the disneygallery.com web site to help people plan their visit a little better. Those sessions, especially the last two of the day, have been at capacity and the paid events have also been well-attended. I think that's quite an accomplishment considering how little publicity there was - word-of-mouth seems to be doing an excellent job.

I attended the 12:30 wine tasting session - the wines were from Silver Oak Cellars and Twomey Cellars. This session was just about full - they had poured wine for 80 people, and ended up having to pour for about 10 more. It was held on the patio of the Golden Vine Winery which was really a very pleasant setting - outdoors, but most of the tables were in the shade. Christianna from Silver Oak talked about the basics of wine tasting and how it involves four of your five senses: sight, smell, taste, and touch. (And did you know that 75% of what you taste is actually because of what you smell, and that if you hold your nose and drink the wine, you won't taste much at all?)

We tried two different Silver Oak cabernet sauvignons - one from grapes grown in the Alexander Valley, and the other from grapes grown in Napa Valley. Though they were produced using the same process, there were still differences in the taste. Angela from Twomey Cellars introduced us to their merlot - I'm not really a red wine fan, but that was my favorite of the three.

The session was 45 minutes long, and afterwards we had the opportunity to purchase the wines we had tasted (as well as others) at the Festival Store. The store had a nice variety of merchandise with the Festival logo - t-shirts and polo shirts, hats, wine glasses and shot glasses, aprons, corkscrews and winestoppers, etc. One thing I learned the hard way: if you buy any bottles of wine, you are NOT allowed to carry it around the park - you have to have it sent to the wine pickup area at the front gate. Or, if you're like me and you're leaving immediately, you have to be escorted to the front gate by a Cast Member. I never had to be escorted out of a theme park before...

I really enjoyed my two short visits to the Food and Wine Weekends. Even though my time was limited I was still able to experience some of the complimentary sessions and try many of the available food items. I'm only sorry that my schedule did not allow me to attend any of the lunch or dinner events - they looked like they would be very interesting. So now I just have to hope that Disney will pick up this event and expand it next year!

Food and Wine Weekends General Information
Food and Wine Weekends Review
Festival Marketplace Menus and Prices
Food and Wine Weekends Photo Gallery