Club 33- Disneyland's Secret Restaurant

A number of years ago, we got a very special treat to go to the "secret" restaurant that is within Disneyland. It's called Club 33, which is named for (perhaps...) the 33 Royale address within the New Orleans area of Disneyland, the 1933 prohibition that eliminated legal sales of alcohol or even the 33rd degree of Freemasonry (often debunked). We may never know, that tricky ole' Walt.

It was a Sunday lunch, but why not start with a beverage, right?  Classic cocktails in the perfect glassware.  A whiskey sour (left) and a Manhattan (right)

In a beautiful art deco jazz bar while we waited for our table. Heck, we knew it was ready to go, it was just an excuse to drink a cocktail at Disneyland. It's the only place you can get one, and they were GOOD! 

Hard to decide, but had the 4 course lunch (gulp), which turned into 5 courses when we added the cheese course. Oh my!

1st course for me, BBQ quail with sweet corn served with a sparkling wine.

1st course for him, Pate maison and charcuterie

Second course, My chilled tomato soup with chunks of prawn, lemon sorbet, croutons and other yumminess.  Served with a beautiful, crisp sauvignon blanc ... I think, LOL.

There doesn't seem to be a picture of someone else's 2nd course, a fantastic frisee with pistachios, bleu cheese and fruit.  Nice, but no picture.

My main course was a lobster salad, which is why I elected to have soup for my 2nd course.  It was fantastic.  Crisp, sweet lobster, tangy dressing, bitter endive and purple arugula. It was so beautiful.  Paired with a Sancerre.

His main course?  Smoked chicken ravioli with ham and crawfish.  Beautiful, smoky but light tasting entree.  Served with a fantastic red wine (below)

This red wine made us laugh... what better than a "pirate" wine when you are sitting above Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirate "La Sirena" TreasuRed, about $65 at retail.  We enjoyed a nice tasting with his entree.  Even though I got a white wine pairing with my lobster, the sommelier gave me a healthy taste of this too.  Yum.

We elected to add another course to our 4 course lunch... 
So egads, 5 courses! 

Cheese platter extraordinare with bleu cheese with honey (!), goat cheese and a slightly sweet panna cotta.  Lots of dried fruits and fruit extracts, served with a sherry that made our whole day.  
For this course we had the same thing, I was glad to not share...

I ordered the most unusual dessert I could find,  Sweet corn Creme Brulee with a bunch of other exciting tidbits.  I wish I could tell you more about them, I just remember one was chocolate covered buttered popcorn.

His dessert?  Why Monkey bread and ice cream, what else?

What lunch is complete without a cappucino?

You need some other photos of the place?

The door, knock, knock, please let me in. 

OK, so I'm taking a picture and someone is taking a picture of me doing that.

Look who answered!

From the courtyard, friends are waving to us!

Wine cellar, as you pass through to the bar.

The Ladies room!

One last stop before we ventured out to enjoy some rides. Your dining experience gives you 3 fast pass passes to go to the front of the line.

Where did we go?

Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Space Mountain. I would have gone on It's a Small World, but someone's groaning was too much. Or maybe it was the 5 courses.... and then again, it could have been both.

What a fun and special experience!  

Salzburg- The Hills are Alive...

With the sound of music!

I have no idea why I resonate with musicals so much, but, of course, I do love "The Sound of Music". My sisters and I grew up loving to watch this and sing the songs. I has always wanted to go to Salzburg. We had our chance when we took a trip with friends, we arrived a couple of day before them and easily took a train ride from Munich to Salzburg and had such a great little weekend in this fabulous city.

The first night we booked a Mozart dinner and music event. It poured rain and it was hard to find, but eventually, we got there!

The music was SO good! The dinner was more ho-hum, but all in all, it was fun way to immerse yourself into the Salzburg (and Mozart) culture.

The next morning we walked through the local gardens of Mirabellegartens, which is right in the old town area.

Marching up to the gated fortress on the hill, Hohensalzburg, proved harder than expected but such great views!

Coming back down from the fortress it started to rain again, but we caught a fun photo in a close by town square.

We went to this restaurant as the reviews on Tripadvisor were pretty good.  When we arrived, they had a table available for only 1 hour before being fully booked for dinner.  We agreed to that because we were super hungry and it was so cute inside.

Weiner Schnitzel is pretty great whenever you go in Austria or Germany, but this was especially good.

Meatball Soup

Goulash with a dumpling

We had to try the Apple Strudel too!

Yum, Apple strudel WITH custard sauce.

We strolled along and enjoyed the cute shops and elaborate signs.  There was a McDonalds on this street, but even they had a very elaborate sign in keeping with the rest.

The Sound of Music Tour

I mean, you love the movie and you visit the town? Well, heck yes, you do need to take the tour. Yes, we did do sing alongs in the bus. I absolutely loved it.

Why not sing? You are on a "Sound of Music" tour after all.

We wiled away an afternoon at an outdoor cafe after doing so much walking and sightseeing. Enjoyed a wonderful coffee and a little something-something!

Greek Coleslaw with Feta and Pepperoncini

I like just about everything Greek! I know that using Greek "tag" on this coleslaw is a bit of a stretch, but as it involves feta and pepperoncini, so I'm using it.

This salad is simple to pull together and only needs a short time to marinate. I would recommend that you toss it about 10-15 minutes before your serve it, or it could get to be a bit limp and not so yummy and crunchy. I have enjoyed leftovers the next day, but the texture does change. I made it two ways, once without tomatoes and cucumbers, and once without. Use what you have...

It's great side dish for grilled chicken or pork. Maybe serve with some pita bread and some tzatziki.

Serves 4

Ingredients

4-5 cups of Cabbage, chopped (green, purple or combo)

2-3 Green onions, minced

1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)

1 persian cucumber, diced small (optional)

1/2 cup crumbled Feta

1/2 cup sliced Pepperoncini, drained

2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice (or use pepperoncini brine from jar)

Mix everything into a big bowl and stir to combine. If making ahead, then don't add the oil, lemon juice or pepperoncini brine (if using) until ready to serve.

Vietnamese Caramelized Ground Pork Bowls

We'd bought some ground pork and were wondering what to do with it.

I Googled "ground pork" and made a match with this recipe, Original recipe .

We've made it about 3 or 4 times, trying to perfect and simplify the recipe.  It's very simple and delicious. This will be one that we make again and again.

Funny story, we took this in our groceries at a VRBO vacation we went on, and I premixed the sauce. Unfortunately, I felt so confident to make this recipe that I didn't consult the original recipe before making it. However, I use SIX bird's eye chilies.... please do not that. It was so hot, and yummy, so we ate it all up. However, we had tummy troubles for days, LOL!!!

Ingredients

Serves 3-4

1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil

1/2 onion , finely diced

2 tsp ginger , grated or minced

2 garlic cloves , minced (2 tsp paste)

1-2 birds eye or Thai chili , finely chopped (or sub minced jalapeno)

20 oz.  ground pork

2  tbsp brown sugar (we used Swerve no carb brown sugar with success)

2 tbsp fish sauce

 

SERVING:

1 green onion stem, finely sliced

Steamed rice (or cauli rice!)

Sliced tomato, cucumber for garnish

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat.

Add the onion, ginger, garlic and chili and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the ground pork and cook for 2 minutes or its fully cooked and no longer pink, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon.

Add the sugar and fish sauce. Stir, then leave it to cook without touching until all the juices cook out and the pork starts caramelizing - about 2 minutes. Then stir it and leave it again, without stirring, for around 30 seconds to get more caramelization.

YUM!

Whipped Ricotta with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

 

It's been ages since I blogged, but I'm back at it!

I always seem to have leftover ricotta! You buy a container for lasagna, or something, then the rest seems to go to waste. I hate that!  Now with this recipe, I just might be buying ricotta to make this all the time!  I made this when we had friends over for the weekend at our place in the mountains.  We sipped wine and noshed on this while enjoying the warm air and the view of the trees. A very good weekend.

A note about the cherry tomatoes, I used the small heirloom variety which is why you can see lots of colors in the tomatoes. Any kind of small tomatoes would work out well.

Ingredients

1 cup ricotta

1/2 cup feta cheese

2 cups cherry tomatoes

3-4 garlic cloves, sliced

1/2 onion, sliced in strips

Fresh Thyme

2 Tbsp Olive oil, with more for drizzling for serving

Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a large baking sheets with sides, add the tomatoes, fresh thyme, garlic, sliced onions and olive oil. Stir to combine. Place in hot oven and roast until the tomatoes start to burst and the onions are limp, about 20 minutes.  You might want to give them a stir halfway through. Let cool to room temperature.

In a good processor, add the ricotta and the feta and process until it is smooth and fluffy.  Taste for salt, as feta can be kind of salty on its own, you may not need much.

Add the ricotta mixture to a small serving dish, spreading it about 1 inch thick, top with the tomato mixtures and more fresh thyme.  Serve with crackers, bread, sliced Persian cucumbers or whatever else you like.