Hoop de Doo!

We have never done this before as we thought it was too expensive and probably would be corny. We were not disappointed! It was our 45th anniversary after all!!

The food was wonderful. We were in the balcony section and our chair swiveled so we could watch the show. The meal started with salad, corn bread, beer and wine served in Mason jars...all you wanted!

While we ate, the piano player and bango player entertained us. In between courses, the singers danced and sang as well as doing slapstick. 

Dolly and 6 Bits Flirting

Dolly and 6 Bits were the ones who came to our table. First Dolly visited to find out where we were from and we said Florida. Of course, she made fun of that by doing a drawn out southern drawl of "and these people came ALL the way from Florida".

We then were served fried chicken, BBQ ribs, corn, mashed potatoes and cowboy beans. Everything was delicious and we couldn't eat it all. Unfortunately, there were no to go boxes!

The show continued and then 6 Bits came to our table to ask our names, where we were from and how long we had been married. We said, "Karen and Perry", "Florida and upstate New York" and "45 years". Of course he turned that into fun by repeating it all and adding, "no wonder they've been married so long...they live in different states"! So much fun!!

The players then presented their next to last act...

and it was almost the best part of the meal!

They had picked 4 people from the audience to participate in their skit and they did a great job. It will be a memory they will cherish and so will we.

We will definitely do this show again and hopefully we'll be able to book earlier for better seating. To rid us of some of those calories, we went over to the Magic Kingdom and walked to the back of the park to ride the Dwarf Train. It was fun but very tame...that's our speed these days...lol! We were in the front seat though...take a look!

Train Ride

Behind the Seeds Tour at Epcot

Today we did the Behind the Seeds Tour at Epcot. Our tour guide was Rhiannon from upstate New York. She said we all wouldn’t know the name of the little town so she wouldn’t mention it. Of course, being from upstate, we asked! It was Ilion and, of course, we know where that is. My roommate in nursing school was from there!

First stop was the Biotechnology Lab where we learned about the Leaf Miner Fly (bad) and the Parastoid Wasp (good)! We watched a video of how each does its thing. We also learned that they keep lady bugs in the refrigerator and bring them out of “hibernation” to help rid plants of aphids and other pests.

Next we were off to the Tissue Culture area. There is only one person allowed in that room. They have to be very careful that nothing is brought into that room that would contaminate the new growth of plants. 

We also learned later that the only way pineapple is grown is by tissue culture and not pollination. Each pineapple plant bears 4 fruit. The first is very sweet and big and is served fresh. The second is less sweet and usually used for canned pineapple. The third and fourth are smaller and even less sweet and are usually used for juice.

We spent a lot of time in the hydroponics area and were even given a taste of one of the cucumbers grown that way. We have had hydroponic tomatoes before and we think everything tastes better grown that way!

Let me create a salad for you with hydroponics, string planting, and some plants rooted in coconut shells…

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Why can’t my basil look like this so  can add it to the salad?

And how about this rosemary!!!

There were many edible flowers.

This looked like 4 leaf clovers but it’s called Sushni, which is an Asian herb. 

This is a cassabanana fruit which people don’t eat. It’s very bitter and they use it for its fragrance. Just cut it up and put it in your garbage pails!

Grafted Tomatoes in the back

Watermelon needing support!

Citron: Budda's Hand Variety

Bananas…who knew there were so many varieties. One was “Ice Cream” but this is Dwarf Cavendish.

No wonder we like coffee so much, the beans almost look like grapes!

The red light calms the fish and alligators but not the shrimp. The shrimp fight and eat each other. There was only one left in the tubes…no wonder shrimp are so expensive! The tilapia in the second photo must not be claustrophobic!

There were so many more interesting things (to us at least) and so many pictures but I’ll spare you! BUT one final photo of one of our favorite spices and characters…

Black Pepper Tree

Ciao and buon appetito!

Epcot Food and Wine Festival 2014

Pork Belly at Brazil

Japan and our Favorite Drummers

Potato and Leek Waffle with Beer Braised Beef plus beer flight at Belgium

Rib Eye Taco at Mexico

Beef Skewer with Chimichurri and Boniato Puree at Patagonia

Chocolate Croissant from wherever you can find them!

Seared Scallop on  Spinach Cheddar Gratin at Scotland

Flan at Puerto Rico

Sausage in Pretzel Roll at German

My special date for 45 years

MK Fireworks from Ft. Wilderness Campground