Grand Floridian Cafe Meet – July 24, 1997
Grand Floridian Cafe Meet
July 24, 1997
gardenia provides this report…..
And so, yet another get-together of Geeks Meets Real Life occurred Thursday, July 24, 1997 at the Grand Floridian Cafe… this time meeting for lunch!
Dwight Klettke ([email protected]) was the ringmaster and coordinator for this particular RADP meet (thanks so much, Dwight!) and Dwight brought with him his sweet wife and daughter (and ack! I didn't write names *or* email addresses down… such a poor RADP secretary I am *frown*… forgive me y'all!), Jennifer ([email protected])… and I have Jennifer's info since she graciously gave each of us a biz card with the info. 🙂
Also in attendance was Bronwyn and her honey, Steve… Barb from Illinois who's staying at Ft. Wilderness and who said she'd write me (hint! hint!)… Chad Wilson aka m-i-c-k-e-y from irc was there… Ron from Ft. LaDeDah (who was glad he came to his first RADP meet and shall be at the next one! Yay!), and then Rusty Wyatt! and his friend Sean popped in nearly directly from MCO airport! WOO HOO! Rusty hit the Wash DC RADP meet a couple days earlier, so was seemingly on his whirlwind RADP meet tour!
Oh yeah, me and my girls were there, too 🙂
We assembled about noon and were seated along one wall… a long table… and commenced to yakking and ordering *food*!
See, for those of you who don't know… I am a vegan… not eating any animal products (no dairy or eggs either)… and my girls are ovo-lacto veggies (eating eggs and dairy)… so when I go out to the World, I like to speak with the chefs ahead of time (this time I was out there and spoke with Debbie <the chef> a couple hours before we were seated. Debbie and I yakked about the things I liked and such… I letting her know that I prefer not to have menu items modified… instead I *really* like seeing what chefs can do with their free-hands and minds.
I could see Debbie's brain working as she began tossing out ideas… penne with some of the 'shrooms she had in the back… I dared ask for morels (the QUEEN of mushrooms… *swoon*… and succulently delish) but she said they didn't carry them where they were… Victoria & Albert's and Artist Point in the Wilderness Lodge were the only two sites that did, she said. But she had some porcini mushrooms, would that be good? I'd never had them but was certainly game!
She talked with the girls and after they said fettuccini alfredo was fine, she wanted to introduce them also to a different cheese sauce (borzon/bjorn/something like that) and said she would make them separate boats of each so they could taste. My youngest said she thought she wanted grilled cheese. *laugh* Debbie said that would *not* be a problem 🙂
So everyone ordered… Dwight's family had the Mango Chicken Sandwich, Chad a burger, Bronwyn had the Classic Rueben, and her honey had a burger (ohhh, I hope I remembered that right!). Ron, too, had the Mango Chicken Sandwich. Rusty and Sean had just eaten so hung with us for a few as we noshed.
I'd *finally* arranged some RADP pictures (and more) in a photo album and had that to share with everyone. Amazing how many meets there have been since last December! Hard to believe we have been doing these for almost a year already! And how they have grown… in popularity *and* in ways to meet.
*smile*
oh yeah, food!
The girls got 4 boats of cheese sauce… and 4 small plates of pasta… they each loved the two sauces, but my youngest still wanted that grilled cheese and fries *laugh* so Debbie made one for her.
*My* meal… *oh MY!* Apparently, my server confided, Debbie went *up* to V & A's and nabbed some of their ingredients for my amazingly beautiful and *delicious* *DELICIOUS* pasta dish. The bed was saffron fettuccini (such a lovely golden color!) and sprinkled throughout were baby carrots, baby zucchini, yellow squash, bright green sugar peas, the orange-ish porcini mushrooms, sliced portabello mushrooms, two types of tomatoes, and lo and behold!!! *MORELS*! WOO HOO!
I *did* swoon.
Sprinkled on top were pignoli nuts "for texture," Debbie said. *gentle smile*
One of our servers took a bit on a plate and had some… and she, who hates mushrooms, tried a morel (I made her!) and *loved* it! Debbie came out a couple times to check on us… and I couldn't gush enough about what a beautiful job she did with my meal.
I *really* recommend that y'all be a vegan for a day at WDW… let the chefs go wild with your food! Just notify them ahead of time, otherwise it is just pasta and stir-fried veggies. I also do vegan breakfasts out there and get yummy pancakes made with apple juice and apple sauce. With notice, I swear, *anything* can be made at WDW!
Okay, so we all needed our picture taken before Rusty and Sean headed out so we filtered out the back door (grabbing Liz from the DVC table to take the pics) and we lined up (sorta)… squished together… and got several pictures taken 🙂 During the pic taking, a lovely CM came up and offered pink carnations to all the ladies in the group! What a sweet touch!
Front row; Chad, Bronwen, Barbara, gardenia
Back row; Rusty, David, Pat, Dwight and Jenn Klettke, Ron
After pictures, we had dessert! Gluttons all! Bronwyn and Steve had a moussie thing in a white chocolate shell (well, it *was* white chocolate before the chefs swirled lovely colors through it!), berries and dashes of colored yummy sauces decorating the plate… including a Mickey Mouse! Down at Dwight's end, I recall another of the moussie shell thingies… a bowl of berries… and an angel food cake (dipped in oj with berries!)… but not sure who had what! My youngest had the chocolate mousse cake, my middle child had the cheesecake with strawberries… and I had my requisite berries with a glass of Frangelico… Mmm! Ron and Chad showed the only restraint in the group, not ordering, nor sharing, in anyone's dessert.
We got a big bunch of Mickey Mouse straws from one of our 3 servers (delightfully wrapped in a togo box dolled up in aluminum foil… looking like a picnic basket!) that the group opened in the lobby as I, once again, thanked all the servers and the manager, and apparently a little girl thought the straws were for *everyone* there… and came by and grabbed a few! *laugh* Oh well. So after we took our straws and said our g'byes… everyone went their merry Disney way!
