"You'll find I'm full of surprises" - Marathon/Princess Half Marathon - 3/11 Raglan Road Brunch

I've had the fish with potato scales and you are right, the sauce is to die for. DH had the duck and loved it. I really enjoy Monsieur Paul's.
 
Wow! Monsieur Paul looks so good. Your plate is a work of art! I’ve really got to think about working a dinner here into an upcoming trip! I once made a tipsy perfume purchase in France... I still can’t believe I spent that much :laughing: but it is good and reminds me of World Showcase and that trip every time I wear it.
 
Both meals look great! I’m sad we didn’t see a yummy appetizer and dessert but you all had a nice day at Epcot! Looking forward to hearing about your races! Condolences to you and Mr Dis_Yoda.
 


Your meal at Monsieur Paul looks amazing! I'm so glad you posted it. Monsieur Paul has been on my list of restaurants to try but I needed the extra push. Now I am definitely grabbing a reservation for a trip this year!

Glad to give you the extra push! It is very well worth it! We don't go there often but every time we do, we kick ourselves for taking so long in between visits!

I've had the fish with potato scales and you are right, the sauce is to die for. DH had the duck and loved it. I really enjoy Monsieur Paul's.

I was really torn between the duck and the fish. Glad to hear that the duck was also amazing!

Wow! Monsieur Paul looks so good. Your plate is a work of art! I’ve really got to think about working a dinner here into an upcoming trip! I once made a tipsy perfume purchase in France... I still can’t believe I spent that much :laughing: but it is good and reminds me of World Showcase and that trip every time I wear it.

It is a work of art which is one of the reasons why I love fancy French food! You should work in a dinner there or at least visit during F&W at a Frunch (or whatever they are called now) Well - his cologne wasn't completely an unplanned purchase as we knew he was out of his Pi, but if we didn't buy it there at France, we would have gotten it elsewhere. My purchase was totally impulse! I'm 100% ok with that as at least its something that was needed in our lives. You enjoyed your purchase though which is what matters. Better than a knick knack that collects dust and is forgotten about eventually!

Sorry about your husbands's grandmother.

Thank you.

Both meals look great! I’m sad we didn’t see a yummy appetizer and dessert but you all had a nice day at Epcot! Looking forward to hearing about your races! Condolences to you and Mr Dis_Yoda.

Well, we do get dessert but just not at Monsieur Paul! They do great classic French fare!
 
Boardwalk Desserts

On our walk back to the room, my husband and I both were tempted by the items at the various dessert places on the Boardwalk. My husband went into Ample Hills Creamery and I headed into Boardwalk Bakery.

My husband got himself a vanilla and cookies and cream shake. As it was gone by the time we finished walking to the room, I would say he liked it.

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Vanilla/Cookies & Cream Shake

I got the new pretty rose gold cupcake. I didn’t like it because the icing/cupcake ratio was WAY off. Too much icing! I was glad I had a fork and knife to use so I could cut back on the amount of icing and not make a huge mess but in the end I threw out about half of it as it was too much sugar. I could see why people would like it if they love lots of icing. It was super pretty though and I’m glad I got to try it!

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Rose Gold Cupcake

We enjoyed the view from our boardwalk before heading to bed!

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View from Room
 


Enjoying the reviews, we were there until 2/24 and had beautiful weather. The tequila flight and margaritas look awesome although pricey.

MP entrees look awesome, I don’t see many reviews from there so that was nice

I saw the rose gold cupcake but didn’t try it, it sure is pretty, I suppose to make it look so nice they need all that icing!
 
The cupcake is very pretty!

I’m sorry about your husbands grandmother. Even more so because we are supposed to get a nor’easter on Friday. I hope you miss it and have safe travels. I live about 45 minutes north of Boston in New Hampshire.
 
That view and those desserts look like a perfect ending to a nice day!

It was a great way to end the day!

Yum, and that view is stunning!

It was! I love the Boardwalk and the views. We had reserved a pool/garden view so we were happy to see we got one of the garden views that were actually Boardwalk Views and in a dedicated studio!

Enjoying the reviews, we were there until 2/24 and had beautiful weather. The tequila flight and margaritas look awesome although pricey.

MP entrees look awesome, I don’t see many reviews from there so that was nice

I saw the rose gold cupcake but didn’t try it, it sure is pretty, I suppose to make it look so nice they need all that icing!

It was very nice weather! We get spoiled by mostly good weather living in Florida that we forget its really nice to people outside of the area!

I don't know why MP doesn't get more love outside of the special Food & Wine Events. We've always loved our meals there. Unfortunately, with the amount of places we love now, we end up not going there as often as some of the other places but we've never had a bad meal there! My mother and I were planning our September trip today while I was driving to meet my husband for dinner after work - we ended up deciding on some places just because we hadn't done some in the while.

It was very pretty. The icing and the chocolate mickey head did help with the looks. It probably didn't need half the cupcake carved out and filled with icing though! I think children and teenagers would love it though! Sugar overload! I'm glad I got to try and I'm glad for people that wanted the Rose Gold ears, they were able to get some as they were readily available!

The cupcake is very pretty!

I’m sorry about your husbands grandmother. Even more so because we are supposed to get a nor’easter on Friday. I hope you miss it and have safe travels. I live about 45 minutes north of Boston in New Hampshire.

It was very pretty.

You may have just ruined my evening (although the weather isn't your fault and thank you for the heads up!) Last I looked at weather - everything was ok - maybe snowing a little Saturday. I forgot that could change quickly. I don't own clothes for this weather anymore - at least not since college. I was looking at my clothes trying to pack tonight - I own 1 thicker long sleeve shirt that isn't a RunDisney shirt and even that is a Porg Sweater Top. I do at least own jackets. Most of my long sleeves are thin breezy material to help keep sun off of me. I'm such a Floridian! We may have a frozen Dis_Yoda come Friday.

I am really glad we decided to rent an SUV rather than car and I told my husband if there is any snow on the ground - he's driving. I refuse. He grew up around it whereas I didn't.
 
Pecos Bill

We were up by 6:30AM as we wanted to get to Magic Kingdom by rope drop for EMH.

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I will say I hated the way they handle EMH now as our bands had to be scanned twice and the scan prior to Fantasyland/Tomorrowland was a horrible over crowded mess! Oh well. We walked straight onto Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Ariel, Buzz Lightyear, People Mover and then we were supposed to get on Space Mountain but it was down so we used the FP+ for Jungle Cruise and Pirates. It was then time for Haunted Mansion FP+. We also got to catch the end of the Muppet show which was super cute!

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We then headed to Pecos Bills as they had recently opened for the day. By going there so early, we knew the toppings bar was still fresh and less germy than later in the day as it’s flu season and we think about such things.

These nachos were better than the current chicken that is offered at Moe’s but not as good as what Moe’s chicken nachos used to be. Seriously, why did Moe’s have to change their chicken? It is so nasty now! This was filling, especially with the ability to put lots of toppings on top. We both were satisfied and were happier than would have been if we went to Skipper’s Canteen and couldn’t get the Pho dish we used to love there.

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Chicken Nachos

We did Thunder Mountain and headed out of the park back to the room to relax. My husband went to the gym and I dealt with some work drama.​
 
I LOVE your reports!!! Your national margarita day drinks looked fantastic. I don’t think I would have been able to stand afterwards! Lol
Both the fish and filet looked yummy too. Can’t wait to hear more about your trip.
 
I’m so sorry! If your staying in or close to Boston you may just get rain. I usually just layer. A tank a long sleeve shirt and a T-shirt. Fingers crossed it isn’t too bad!
 
Looks like you had a fun morning at MK and a yummy lunch!

Travel safe this weekend and stay warm! No Dis_Yoda popsicles aloud! Lol
 
Sorry to hear about your hubby's grandma. Hope you were able to get to Boston ok.

Wait...running shoes? Is he no longer a chef/stay at home dad? This is a new development!
He started working at a running store part-time last summer. He's still the stay at home Dad as he works a few hours while Casey is at school. And while not a professional chef anymore, he still keeps my belly full! He enjoys the job. Let's him do something out of the house for a while and he enjoys talking to people about running. He also gets to do a lot of races for free.

had one goal - drink tequila as it was National Tequila Day! My husband was actually on board as he wanted to see what tequilas La Cava had. We arrived there a little before 3:20PM and had a 2 minute wait for a table which was perfect. Upon looking at the menu, we initially decided to split the premium tequila flight along with some queso as our lunch was 5 hours ago and our stomachs needed something if we were to be drinking. It worked well for that job!
That's a pretty short wait on National Tequila Day!!!! We haven't been there in ages because on non-national tequila's days its just too crazy.

To show how premium the tequilas are - here is their price point for a new bottle:
Codigo Rosa Blanco - $61.99
Casa Noble Reserva De La Cava Joven - $45.99 for a Joven but this is a special release for La Cava so probably about $60
Herradura Ultra Anejo - $89.99
Avion 44 Extra Anejo - $159.99
Casa Dragones Joven - $299.99

When taking this into consideration, it wasn’t badly priced for a bar to offer this flight at $57.
Wow that is some serious premium tequila! I don't think I'd appreciate good tequila, but that is certainly a good price considering what you got.

My husband ordered the filet and was ecstatic with it. The Bone Marrow was lucious and the reduction around the beef added the right amount of richness to his filet. It was gone in no time! The potatoes got left behind as they were just ok. He didn’t feel like wasting his stomach space on them.

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Wow, this looks amazing. I'm a total sucker for filet and bone marrow though. How was the bone marrow served? Was it part of the sauce?

There were so many great choices but I ended up deciding on their black sea bass. I’m so glad I made this decision! The rosemary sauce should be put on everything as it was so good! The fish was perfectly cooked and the potato scales were a nice touch to add some differing texture to the dish.

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Man, this looks too. Would have been a total Sophie's choice moment for be deciding between the two.

I got the new pretty rose gold cupcake. I didn’t like it because the icing/cupcake ratio was WAY off. Too much icing! I was glad I had a fork and knife to use so I could cut back on the amount of icing and not make a huge mess but in the end I threw out about half of it as it was too much sugar. I could see why people would like it if they love lots of icing. It was super pretty though and I’m glad I got to try it!

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That is definitely beautiful. Sorry it was a bust though.

These nachos were better than the current chicken that is offered at Moe’s but not as good as what Moe’s chicken nachos used to be. Seriously, why did Moe’s have to change their chicken? It is so nasty now! This was filling, especially with the ability to put lots of toppings on top. We both were satisfied and were happier than would have been if we went to Skipper’s Canteen and couldn’t get the Pho dish we used to love there.

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We don't have a Moe's very close to us anymore so I had no idea they switched the chicken. Though while I loved it, everyone yelling Welcome to Moe's - grated on my last nerve.
 
I LOVE your reports!!! Your national margarita day drinks looked fantastic. I don’t think I would have been able to stand afterwards! Lol
Both the fish and filet looked yummy too. Can’t wait to hear more about your trip.

Yay! Glad you love my reports! I have a high tolerance for alcohol, I guess! Lots of practice! Home from Mass so I can focus on this trip now.

I’m so sorry! If your staying in or close to Boston you may just get rain. I usually just layer. A tank a long sleeve shirt and a T-shirt. Fingers crossed it isn’t too bad!

For the most part, it was just rain and wind. Its the other series of unfortunate events that caused some fun stories.

Looks like you had a fun morning at MK and a yummy lunch!

It was a good MK morning! We had skipped MK a lot recently so it was nice to go back for a bit!

Travel safe this weekend and stay warm! No Dis_Yoda popsicles aloud! Lol

Dis_Yoda did become a popsicle. I know you aren't on my FB but if you were - you would have learned how much went wrong this weekend. If this was a vacation rather than a funeral trip, I think I would have ended up at meltdown hysterics. I need to work on my letter to the hotel chain as I deserve some refund of my cost there.

So for everyone not on facebook, here is a summary of what went wrong with this trip.

1) Flight delayed 9 Times by Jetblue. JetBlue did send my husband and I $100 each in Credit due to the issues. Some of the delays were their fault, some was weather.
2) While waiting at the airport, saw a guy scream at his wife/girlfriend that all of us were sure if people weren't around, he would have started beating her. He ended up arrested by the police at the airport.
3) Arrived at hotel in Rockland, MA at midnight for a Non-Smoking King Room.
1st Room - Full of Smoking Smell
2nd Room - Someone else was in there
3rd Room - Night Front Desk let us in as the keys wouldn't program. She brought us keys back to the room about 20 minutes later. Next day keys didn't work.
4) Power went out at 3:30PM on Friday at hotel. While we know the power was out of their control with the weather, the response to the power outage was horrible. 0 lights in the hallways initially or in the staircases. When we left to go to the funeral home, we're both lucky we didn't fall down the stairs. When we returned Friday evening post wake, the fire department had put some lights in the hallways but there was still nothing in the stairwells. When we left for the funeral, a glow stick was taped to the wall. Got to sleep Friday night in jeans, a long sleeve shirt, a sweater and socks.
5) While at the wake, power went out around 7:15PM (again, not their fault) but 3 places were on fire around town that we could see
6) The Catholic Priest that went to the wake was more concerned about himself than the grieving children and rudely took the 'selection' sheet for the funeral way earlier than originally told. This plays into the next day.
7) Funeral was done by candlelight at the church in Rockland. The priest was so unprofessional, it was comical. I'm not religious so I knew some things were different about Catholic Funerals than what I was used to but that wasn't the bad stuff. Here is where is went wrong:
a) Interrupted a reading to let us know the sun was finally peaking out from behind the clouds!
b) Went way long on the explanation of the blood and flesh of Christ to the point that even those that were Catholic (i.e. most of my husband's family sans us) were confused
c) Forgot to call my husband's sister up in the 'presentation of gifts'.
d) Forgot to call my husband's sister up for any of the readings that she was supposed to do
e) Decided it was ok to make other jokes during his speeches
f) Forgot to call my husband's sister up to sing Ava Maria
g) Made the funeral shorter than it should have been (I'm trusting other people on that)
8) Hotel removed the hallway lights on Saturday despite no power. Glad we could charge our phones in the rental so we could use it as a flashlight.
9) Husband's sisters room had a huge hole in the wall at hotel
10) Rooms there were missing windows as well.
11) No offer for partial refund despite all the missing power, heat, housekeeping.
12) Avis decided to charge me for fuel like I had brought in the vehicle with 5/8 of the tank full. No. That tank was full. They also charged it onto my business credit card rather than my personal card. Got those charges reversed after raising it up to a supervisor today since the first agent was unhelpful and basically accused me of lying. No, your attendant at Logan didn't want to leave his warm van so pretty sure he didn't do his job right. Now I have to do an expense report for work to show a charge and refund because of their mess.
13) And to top off the weekend, after we got home and I was backing out of my garage - I hit the tree I always have to turn quickly to avoid. I'm drinking bottle of wine with dinner tonight and purging this weekend from existence.

As I said earlier, I'm so glad it wasn't a vacation. We can laugh at all that went wrong as well, Nana went out in style. There wasn't much family drama which was nice. Overall, the family did well together despite all the crazy with the weather and situations outside of our control.

Sorry to hear about your hubby's grandma. Hope you were able to get to Boston ok.

Thanks! I've never been so glad to have the forethought to rent a SUV (ended up with a Jeep Renegade Trail-hawk Edition) as the weather was bad but you also had the bad weather so you understand! I made my husband drive through the weather so that was also helpful.

He started working at a running store part-time last summer. He's still the stay at home Dad as he works a few hours while Casey is at school. And while not a professional chef anymore, he still keeps my belly full! He enjoys the job. Let's him do something out of the house for a while and he enjoys talking to people about running. He also gets to do a lot of races for free.

That does sound like a great part time job for him! Glad he was able to find it!

That's a pretty short wait on National Tequila Day!!!! We haven't been there in ages because on non-national tequila's days its just too crazy.

I have no idea how we got that lucky with the wait. We have skipped a lot because of the wait but the odds were definitely in our favor that day!

Wow that is some serious premium tequila! I don't think I'd appreciate good tequila, but that is certainly a good price considering what you got.

I think you'll appreciate good tequila! I mean you like good wine! When we looked up the price - we were shocked it was priced what it was as with Disney - it would have probably been more. This isn't the only 'deal' we got with alcohol this trip. The next one is coming up in the next update!

Wow, this looks amazing. I'm a total sucker for filet and bone marrow though. How was the bone marrow served? Was it part of the sauce?

The bone marrow was part of the sauce on top. It helped melt into the steak. Different than the way marrow is handled at Yachtsman or California Grill for sure! I do like a good marrow as well!

Man, this looks too. Would have been a total Sophie's choice moment for be deciding between the two.

That's why its good to order different from the spouse! I almost went with the filet but he went with the filet so I changed. At least we could taste the different dishes. We didn't follow that the next night as we both got close to the same thing but with different proteins.

That is definitely beautiful. Sorry it was a bust though.
Busts happen from time to time! At least it isn't too common for us!


We don't have a Moe's very close to us anymore so I had no idea they switched the chicken. Though while I loved it, everyone yelling Welcome to Moe's - grated on my last nerve.

Luckily, my stores played down the yelling thing. Probably because it's Naples and people complain about everything. I don't go there as much since the change. I will only go to get queso on a bad day.
 
Enzo’s Hideaway

After our nap, we headed over to Disney Springs to do some shopping. My husband needed a new foundation for his Snow White as the one he bought was way off his skin tone and would look weird. We also needed to get him eyeshadow. I think we scared the poor sales lady at Sephora! I also wanted to go to the Lego Store to see if they had the Saturn V Rocket to add to my growing lego collection. Luckily, I had a $30 gift card from Reddit Secret Santa and I have $40 in VIP Points from my UCS Falcon purchase so it made the purchase a lot more palatable. I also got myself some porg/chewy socks as I couldn’t not get myself porg socks.

We were hot and ready to sit down so we headed into Enzo’s Hideaway Tunnel Bar at 4:30PM to check in for our 5:00PM reservation (made through Open Table) They don’t start serving food until 5:00PM, so we went to the bar to get a drink. My husband went with The Peacekeeper as he loves Scotch now. This was refreshing along with being really pretty. My husband didn’t care about the pretty though.

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The Peacekeeper - Monkey Shoulder Scotch, Pineapple, Maraschino Liqueur, Lemon, Angostura, Prosecco

I went with a bourbon/tequila cocktail. This was lovely! I’m a little obsessed with ginger beer currently so this was a perfect option for me. Very similar to a Moscow Mule except that it had the richness of the bourbon instead of the crisp vodka taste.

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Bourbon County Tequileros - Maker’s Mark, Maestro Dobel Tequila, Lime, Simple Syrup, Angostura, Q Ginger Beer

While we were sitting at the bar, we noticed that there was a bottle of 10 Year Old Rip Van Winkle on their bar. While the MSRP of this Bourbon is only $59.99 - it has a secondary market value of $200 to $550. It is a limited release and it is hard to get it on the first hand market. It wasn’t listed on their drink menu as being available either. We asked how much a pour was and it was only $20, so my husband ordered a pour on the rocks. This bourbon really is that good but we would never pay the secondary market price for it. If we ever found it for less than $100, we would be all over it!

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10 Year Old Rip Van Winkle

Shortly after 5:00PM, we were taken to our table. My husband decided to stop drinking since we did have a 10K the next morning. I didn’t do that. I got a glass of Sicilia Bianco after the Wine Manager let me try a sample. We also ordered a bottle of sparkling water.

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Graffiti like it really is a prohibition tunnel

So this meal’s tone wasn’t the best as shortly after we ordered, I noticed something on facebook from his mother’s store’s facebook page that there would be limited hours due to a death in the family. As we hadn’t gotten a call about a death, he stepped out of the restaurant to make a call to figure out what was going on. At this point, his grandmother was still alive but she had been given her last rites (Catholic) and it was expected to occur soon. While he was on this call, we were given an amuse bouche which I ate since it would have been awkward to just sit there. The cheese was so good! My husband got to enjoy some when he returned while we discussed the phone call.

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Amuse Bouche - Ricotta Cheese w/ Olive Oil

We ordered the following appetizer mostly due to the 24 month cured prosciutto and 24 month Parmigiano-Reggiano. The others were just additional goodness. We really enjoyed this selection of meats and cheeses. We avoided the vegetables included like the plague but it was easy to avoid them since they were off to the side! It also worked out that the items I liked that weren’t the main two were different than the ones my husband liked so it made it easy to split!

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Dolce Vita - Prosciutto Cured 24 Months, Salame Piccante, Finocchiona, Aged 24 Months Reggiano-Parmigiano, Pecorino Romano, Fontina Val D'Aosta, Caponata, Giardiniera, Olives, Grissini, Mostarda di Frutta

My husband and I both ordered the same entree as it sounded really good to us both. We both loved this dish! The short rib was super tender and not very fatty, but that is always a risk with short rib. The meatball was one of the best meatballs I’ve had. I couldn’t tell you a thing about the sausage as I was full from the other meat items. The sauce on top was nice and the tomato gravy was just the right amount without being overpowering with all the other goodies on top!

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Nonna’s Paccheri - Large Pasta Tubes, Braised Short Rib, Meatballs, Sausage in Tomato Gravy Topped w/ Nonna’s Secret Recipe (Three Cheeses and Farm Fresh Cream

So despite the emotional backlog that was this meal, my husband and I loved this place. The drinks were awesome as well the quality is the food. If it wasn’t the night before a race, we would have really explored more of the drink menu but I now reserved it for Thursday prior to Dark Side races so that we can have more!

After this meal, it was back to the resort where I watched Celebrity Big Brother and went to bed way later than I should have before a 3AM wake up call for the 10K.

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Laid out for 10K
 
Dis_Yoda did become a popsicle. I know you aren't on my FB but if you were - you would have learned how much went wrong this weekend. If this was a vacation rather than a funeral trip, I think I would have ended up at meltdown hysterics. I need to work on my letter to the hotel chain as I deserve some refund of my cost there.

So for everyone not on facebook, here is a summary of what went wrong with this trip.
O-M-G! Can’t make that up! Nope! Maybe you should open a second bottle! Haha! All joking aside, I’m sorry for your loss and way too much trouble for one weekend!!!
 
Oops, forgot to comment on Enzo. Yum x everything! Yum yum!

Looooove your 10K outfit! Can’t wait to hear about the race!!!
 

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