You Used a Snack Credit on a COKE? - WDW, Universal, Sanibel - **COMPLETE**

[Guest]

Hello all!

Normally I excise the meals/food bits from my TR and post them here in the dining report...

...but for our time on Sanibel there is very little "food news" to report. Check out the main trippie if you are keen to see our non-food adventures, and I'll be back next week with a wrap-up of Sanibel/Naples dining.

[Guest]

Days 23+



Sanibel Island and Naples Food



Our first full day on Sanibel, I stayed behind at the unit while the others headed into Naples to go to the farmers' market and have lunch.

Now Hans and DM left his phone behind with me in case of emergencies - my phone doesn’t work in America - so when I heard my mother’s voice I assumed she was calling from the hospital.


Um...no - her “emergency” was of a very different sort…



Her: Ja - we’re in Naples...


Me (worried): Uh-huh?


Her: Having lunch…


Me (less worried): Uh-huh?


Her: And Poot tells me that you let him lift his ENTIRE bread roll to his mouth and eat it that way, instead of buttering one bite at a time and eating it properly. I told him that you would never allow poor table manners - but he insisted you did. So I told him I’d call you and ask.


WHAT?


Now I really do appreciate that my mother taught me good table manners (she had less success with my brother, aka: “Og the Cave Boy”) - but seriously? She was calling me (and embarrassing Poot in public) about this?


Me: Mother, if this is really important to you, can we talk about it later? Why don’t you just enjoy your lunch now…


Her: Oh, no. That’s not the worst of it, April. When I corrected Poot - he accused me of having a “grandma-lanche”!



I decided that now was probably NOT the best time to admit that I was the one who coined the term grandma-lanche at our house...

Look out below!



Eventually things must have settled down over in Naples - DM sent me a happy snap from the restaurant:

Here’s what Poot has to say about lunch:



We watched the dolphins (from the Naples pier) for a long time and we were all feeling hungry - but not for dolphins haha. Hans took us to Ridgway’s Restaurant for lunch.

I got in trouble with Grandma there but the food was good. I had a Caprese salad ($16), because I love mozzarella and pesto.

It was pretty good, but the mozzarella in America never tastes as good as the mozzarella here in Europe. Americans just don’t appreciate cheese enough.


Grandma had a spinach salad ($18) which she said was good but far too big. I can’t remember what Dad had but I’m pretty sure Hans had a burger.






I was not done hearing about “Bread roll-gate”, though - my mother made a point of seeking me out later in the day and telling me that my brother’s FOUR YEAR OLD has PERFECT manners.


“Poot is NINE, April. There’s really no excuse.”



I am a still, cool pond. I am a still, cool pond. I will not allow this nonsense to trouble my waters. I am a still, cool pond.



Seriously, though - we LOVE Grandma, even if she is a bit of a stickler. If you read my Boston/Washington trippie you may remember that her family nickname is “The Queen”.

And no one argues with The Queen.



Anyway...



Before we left England I had talked with The Queen about going to an Everblades (hockey) game over on the mainland while we were down on the Gulf Coast.

But their only home game during our time on Sanibel was tonight - so Hans had detoured on the way back from Naples to pick up tickets for the five of us. Yay! It’s Hockey Night Tonight!

R.I.P., Stompin’ Tom...


We had our dinner (such as it was) between periods.

Well...it was hockey rink food - DM, Hans and R.C. had hot dogs, and Poot and I shared some sort of chicken strip basket-y thing.


And it all tasted exactly like you’d expect hockey rink food to taste.

This was just the second hot dog of R.C.’s life (not counting the corn dog nuggets I ordered for him back at Disney).


The first hot dog story goes like this:


We were at a baseball game and the only food choices were hot dogs or peanuts. R.C. likes to do the ordering - but he had no idea what to say to the girl at the concessions stand…


Him: What do I ask for?


Me: Just say, “Two dogs, please.”


Him, to the girl: I’d like two dogs, please.


Girl: How ya want ‘em?


Him, to the girl: I’ve absolutely no idea.


Him, turning to me: How do I want my dogs?





We let Hans do the ordering tonight.



No free tap water here - they don’t have soda fountains. R.C., Hans and I had bottles of pop and Poot & DM had Dasanis - I think for all the food/drinks it was around $45.


And that was it for our "away from Casa Ybel" food.


BUT - just in case you ever have to have lunch with my mother...



How to eat a bread roll:


Set your roll on your bread plate. Tear off a bite-sized piece of bread. Hold the piece with your fingers (not in the palm of your hand and not on the plate), use your knife to butter it - and eat it.

One of the things I love about Casa Ybel? They have all sorts of kitchen-y bits that you can borrow. Crock-pots, roasting pans, waffle irons…


And one day we borrowed a waffle iron - because we had a chicken and waffles night - yum!


“Artistic” chicken and waffles shot:

I know, I won’t give up my day job.


You can get chicken and waffles at the ESPN Club (on the Boardwalk at Disney) - but we somehow never found the time to go over there. These turned out pretty good, though.



Monday night I cooked up our Publix frozen pizza - Poot had chosen this one because the box featured a “pop-out moustache”:

Poot sporting said moustache:

Another night I made the potstickers - but I had forgotten to get tamari when we’d stopped for groceries - so R.C. had to run up to Jerry’s to get me a bottle. I always get a *little* nervous when R.C. goes to the supermarket - I never know what he’ll bring back…When we were first married, I asked him to bring home some vanilla ice cream - and he came home with frozen tofu. Hmm…


But mission accomplished on Sanibel! Potstickers with tamari - and mounds of salad. Mmm...I could have that for dinner once a week.


And Gill H - if you are reading, Poot and I did the Easter shopping at our tiny Waitrose...where they DO INDEED stock potstickers (in Tuna, Prawn and Vegetable varieties). Many thanks for your excellent suggestion! PumpkinKitty - I looked at M&S first - but they let us both down. They were selling some very unusual chocolate bunnies, though…

Hmm...looks like someone let Frank Gehry loose in the chocolate factory…



A lot of American supermarkets offer a sort of “semi-homemade” Thanksgiving feast - and DM and I both thought that this would be a fun treat for Poot (he got to experience American Halloween AND Thanksgiving on this holiday, lucky chap). We looked into it - and sure enough Jerry’s had us covered.

On Wednesday Hans and The Queen drove up to Jerry’s to collect the fixing for our big Thanksgiving feast - DM and I decided to cook everything up on the Wednesday so we wouldn’t have to spend so much of the “big day” in the kitchen.


The feast was pretty good! It was very similar in content to the grub we’d had at Liberty Tree Tavern earlier in the holiday. There was a turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potato mash, “proper” mash (though no “turnip mashed” ), green beans, gravy and cranberry sauce - and a pumpkin pie.


As I think I have mentioned, DM is a chef - so between us we managed to doctor the food up pretty well. I was so caught up in getting all the bits on the table, though - that I forgot to take a snap.


But we looked nothing at all like this:

And even less like this:

Among R.C.’s many talents: sabrage - and he used the longest knife in the kitchen drawer to open the Asti. I’m a child of the seventies - I miss seeing sabrage in restaurants. That, and tableside cherries jubilee.

I won’t lie - I love to watch a man open a bottle of fizz with a giant knife. Très sexy!

I also like to watch men chop wood - and tie proper Windsor knots.



Sorry, I’m really hopeless, aren’t I?


I don’t think Poot was bowled over by the traditional Thanksgiving food - he is very pro-sausage when it comes to stuffing, and there was no cheese on the table at all. But it was still fun - we went around the table and talked about all the things in our lives for which we were thankful.


If I posted them all here, you’d need your sick bags - but I will give you R.C.’s: “I am thankful for all this delicious-looking food.” Mr. Sensitive, him.



Since R.C. and I had purchased the groceries to “stock” the unit, Hans paid for the Thanksgiving meal ($100). It (easily) made three lavish dinners - which we ate on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.


Thursday (Thanksgiving itself) I just heated everything back up - after we watched the Vikings game.


On Friday I deconstructed the leftovers and made turkey croquettes. Mmm...crunchy…

By the time we left Sanibel most of the Publix/Jerry's food was gone - Poot and I threw the non-perishables in our cases to snack on up at Portofino Bay (Universal). Annoyingly, the rooms there STILL do not have fridges. But I think all the rooms at RPR now do? Help me out if you know…

[Ycryan]

Oh fantastic, just caught up with your food. Those croquettes look amazing, although I can't imagine cooking on holiday. As always your humour has had me smiling all the way through, so funny. x

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Ycryan

Oh fantastic, just caught up with your food. Those croquettes look amazing, although I can't imagine cooking on holiday. As always your humour has had me smiling all the way through, so funny. x

See more...

Thanks for sticking with us, Ycryan!


Next week I'll be returning to a more "typical" dining report - with our first meal/s at Universal.


I don't mind cooking on an AMERICA holiday (especially when I have DM to help!) - especially when I get to use ingredients we can't get here. I rolled those croquettes in pulverised Flipsides (pretzel crackers)...and they were just .

[Guest]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this and am waiting for universal meals too. We are staying offsite for 3 weeks as we like to cook and eat quite healthily, my husband doesn't cope too much with all you can eats either. Our of interest of paying oop which restaurants would you recommend in Disney parks?

[lovedisney]

Absolutely Brilliant ! thats all !

[Going soon!]

Giggling away to your report... can't wait to read more!

Hx

[fudgie]

Originally Posted by GopherLass

Him: What do I ask for?


Me: Just say, “Two dogs, please.”


Him, to the girl: I’d like two dogs, please.


Girl: How ya want ‘em?


Him, to the girl: I’ve absolutely no idea.


Him, turning to me: How do I want my dogs?

See more...

That is without doubt the funniest thing I have ever read on here. I can picture the scene - just brilliant

Discovering this trip report has been an absolute joy. Thanks to both you and Poot for taking the time to write it

[Guest]

Originally Posted by stephdav

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this and am waiting for universal meals too. We are staying offsite for 3 weeks as we like to cook and eat quite healthily, my husband doesn't cope too much with all you can eats either. Our of interest of paying oop which restaurants would you recommend in Disney parks?

See more...

NONE!

No, I jest - but only a little - the WDW restaurants are HOPELESSLY overpriced.

QS:

I would pay OOP for the Fajita platter at Pecos Bills ($15) - you can PILE ON the veg at the toppings bar - but even without that - one meal easily feeds two people. You can also pay for extra tortillas (thanks to collybird for that info) to stretch that meal even further. But for me by that point in the holiday I didn't really want MORE carbs.

For a yummy but bad-for-you meal I like the corn dog nuggets at Casey's Corner - you get a LOT of nuggets and a good portion of fries for around $8.

And lunch at BOG is pretty good value. Somebody can get soup - and somebody else a sandwich or salad and then just share everything out.

In Epcot the meals at Tangierine Café are huge and good value. We always go there when paying OOP.

I like the look of that Satuli Canteen at AK, too. That will be "proper" food, and served up like at BOG. Here's the link:

allears/dining/menu/satul...n/lunch-dinner


Oh, and don't miss Blaza Pizza at Disney Springs - one pizza and one salad easily feeds two. And it's


TS is harder - but I really like the Cobb salad at Brown Derby (DHS) and that's under $20 (and the restaurant is like a little oasis in the desert of Disney). The Sci-Fi has some cheaper choices and it's a FUN experience - the food's not FAB, but it's fine.

Use your Landry's card and eat at Yak & Yeti on your Animal Kingdom day - the food there is different - and pretty good.

I also like The Wave at the Contemporary for something different.

Paying OOP we often go to TS places and have starters and desserts - it's always enough food, you get to try the places out - but you're not shelling out $50 for a steak. And I OFTEN find that the starters are much more interesting than the mains anyway.


My personal OOP TS list for our last non-DDP trip:

Brown Derby
Sci-Fi
Yak & Yeti (Landry's card)
Il Mulino (at the Swan)
Beaches & Cream
Biergarten (DH's choice - for the beer)



We had a car and ate a couple times at the Crossroads (Perkins, Sweet Tomatoes, etc...), too. Paying OOP it is VERY difficult for me to make the Disney TS restaurants "worth it" in my mind. I don't mind eating dinner off-site after a park day - I know some people feel differently, though.


Thanks for following along! Let me know if you have any other questions -

Originally Posted by lovedisney

Absolutely Brilliant ! thats all !

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Why thank you, lovedisney! What a kind thing to say - that's all!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Going soon!

Giggling away to your report... can't wait to read more!

Hx

See more...

Thanks, Going soon!

I'm going to try and get the first Universal bits up today.

Originally Posted by fudgie

That is without doubt the funniest thing I have ever read on here. I can picture the scene - just brilliant

Discovering this trip report has been an absolute joy. Thanks to both you and Poot for taking the time to write it

See more...

Why thank you, fudgie - what a splendid compliment.

I will pass your kind words on to Poot - he loves hearing that he has impressed adults.

See you at Universal!