Orlando Food & Wine Festival

Today I met my beautiful friend, Christie, and her boyfriend, Matt, at the Orlando Food & Wine Festival.

After enjoying myself at Epcot’s International Wine and Food Festival a few weeks ago, I was very excited to experience the localized version. The Orlando festival housed 32 booths representing various local restaurants, bars, and wineries. It was foodie heaven.

I had purchased a ticket to enter the event and then purchased food & wine tickets once I entered to pay for any item I wished to sample.

At first I thought each item would just require one ticket, but some items required 2 or 3.

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving Challenge I arrived with only $20 in cash to stop myself from going overboard. The $20 worth of tickets was more than enough for just me. In fact I probably would have been able to get away with a little less.

Once inside we didn’t waste anytime surveying the options and digging in.

Cabot Cheese Samples

Pitas & Hummus from The Vineyard Wine Company

Meatball Hoagie from Il Mulino New York Trattoria

Italian Ice Cream Sandwiches from Primo <—My Favorite!!!!

Egg Salad Sandwich from Bikes, Beans & Bordeaux Neighborhood Cafe <– Need to check this place out in person

Amberbock

Scallop Salad from The Boheme

Steak Sliders from Ruth Chris <— Split this one with Christie

Finally Cupcakes from Icings

I was STUFFED at this point, so was very thankful when they offered to serve my Carrot Cake cupcake in a to-go cup for later.

I did have a bite of Christie’s Red Velvet Cupcake. Yum!

The theme of the day was definitely stuffing my face. Somehow the idea of moderation went completely out the window. At Epcot’s Festival I had the pleasure of sharing all of my sample plates with Derek, but today it was just me. Everything tasted good and it was hard to stop myself from eating it all.

I left the even feeling stuffed and uncomfortably full. I was so full I found it a little hard to breathe – not a good sign and not a good way to feel. I loved everything I tried, but if I could do it again I would only have a few bites of each sample instead of the whole plate.

I stayed full the rest of the afternoon and the majority of the evening. Around 8:00 I knew I needed to have something for dinner, but nothing was really appealing to me. After staring at fridge I made a small snack plate.

Apples

Carrots

and an almost empty jar of almond butter for dipping.

Don’t know how this piece of cake made it on my there.

I will happily bringing the rest of this cake to work tomorrow morning.

I hope my coworkers enjoy it!

It has been a very long day and my bed is calling my name.

Good Night!!