“Told you I did. Reckless is (s)he.” - November 2017 Trips - 12/30 Bonus - Magnolia (Italy Trip)

No, unfortunately not. We said we were gonna skip WDW next year in favor of a trip to Disneyland before they mess up the original with Star Wars land. But the thought of not going to the world is already starting to build up. Whichever we do, it won't be until August.

I get that. It's weird for me not to be going to Disneyland in 2018 after having gone every year since 2015! 2018 is a more low-key year for us so we can have another large vacation in 2019 and get some things done around the house. We keep debating on what we're doing in 2019 though. I need to look through the Tauck catalog some more. Hawaii in 2016 and Italy in 2017 were budget killers if we wanted to do anything to the house. This year will be a lot cheaper since we already have our Annual Passes and we own DVC.

Here's our schedule:
January 4th to 8th - Boardwalk Villas for Marathon Weekend
February 22nd to 25th - Boardwalk Villas for Princess Weekend
April 19th to 22nd - Animal Kingdom Villas for Dark Side Weekend
July 19th to 22nd - Wisconsin for a wedding
August 30th to Sept 3rd - Grand Floridian for Opening F&W Weekend (Mother/Daughter Trip)
November 1st to 11th - Boardwalk Villas for Wine & Dine Weekend + Food & Wine Festival

Looks like Casey on a plate and in a cup. IHOP is her all time favorite place to eat. She and my Dad go so often that they apparently know her and she knows what specials they have each day. Being the good mother I am, I've never taken her :-)

That would be Casey on a plate! It's sweet that she goes with your dad and is a 'regular'. That's a great grandparent/granddaughter outing! Totally fine you never take her :) We go to Ihop like twice a year usually - typically on Thanksgiving Morning and Memorial Day on our way home from our race.

Ritz Carlton and Spa? Yes please and thank you! Sounds like a perfect Thanksgiving to me!

It was! So relaxing before stuffing my self silly with my next update!

Well you are continuing to sell me on the Ritz. I “need” to try it. How marvelous to get the suite upgrade and complimentary champagne sounds like perfection. The spa looks very relaxing. All in all looks like a lovely Thanksgiving!

I think you need to try it too! Since they are still in the middle of some renovations - I think the rates probably aren't as bad as they can be but I didn't find the renovations to take away from the property at all - it just meant I couldn't walk certain places. Definitely less of an issue this trip with the construction than in July where they were working on redoing their entire lobby! It's also nice that you can use the Marriott's pool for their lazy river but they can't use your pool.

Nice spa day. And I love pancakes with eggs, it is my most favourite breakfast, and those looked amazing!

It was a nice spa day! They were amazing pancakes. My husband loves Ihop's scrambled eggs so he's right along with you!
 
Morimoto Asia - Omakase

For our main Thanksgiving meal, we made our way to Disney Springs where we would be sitting at the Sushi Counter. I was going to have the Omakase for my dinner - my mother was going to have Peking Duck, Miso Soup and Stir-Fried Veggies. I forgot pictures of her food. We were sat at the very end of the sushi bar with our own private sushi chef. The omakase at Morimoto Asia is $150 (although it is like $250 if Morimoto is in town) and the meal is customized to you. If there is something you absolutely hate, let them know and they can adjust with the sushi. I will preface that with saying, if you do not enjoy sushi and other raw things - I would skip it as that is a big part of the meal. I told him I don’t like cooked egg sushi or certain strong fish like mackerel but not much else.

Here was my set up. The first picture is of the finger towel to ensure you are clean for the food you are about to eat.

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I ordered a refreshing cocktail, Sparkling Belvedere, that was a nice mix of vodka, yuzu juice, calpico, cranberry and Moet sparkling rose. I had 3 of them over the course of my meal so I would say it was a great choice with this dinner :)

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Sparkling Belvedere

I’ll admit I had to put on a brave face for my first course. These were three raw oysters, each prepared with a different type of sauce and topped with caviar. I’ve never enjoyed raw oysters but I wasn’t going to refuse the chefs first dish to me, especially since I hadn’t told him I don’t like raw oysters. I think I shocked my mother that I ate all three including the caviar. The yuzu sauced one was my favorite! The fish sauce one was my least and the cocktail sauce one was just ok.

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Oysters - 3 Different Sauces

After this, he began the sushi portion of the evening. He set up a wooden platter in front of me that he would place the piece of sushi as soon as he finished it. The red snapper was the mildest of the three. The smoked trout was just the right amount of smoke to not over power the fish. I most enjoyed the flounder as it had nice flavor and wasn’t something I normally have had in sushi form before.

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Sushi - Red Snapper

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Sushi - Smoked Trout

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Sushi - Flounder

The next sushi was a seaweed flat filled with spicy tuna. I really enjoyed this!

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Sushi Taco - Spicy Tuna

The next piece was a piece of cooked shrimp that had a yuzu sauce baked on top of it.

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Shrimp

My next course was a rice bowl of fatty tuna with uni and freshly grated wasabi root on top. The uni was perfectly creamy to enjoy with the tuna or some of the rice. I did leave a fair amount of the rice behind because I knew I would have much more food coming but I made sure to eat all good parts of the dish!

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Tuna/Uni Bowl

The dumplings were cooked in front of me on a hot plate that had boiling water along with the vegetables stirfried. It was fun to watch! These dumplings were perfection. The flavor of the meat was exactly what I know Wagyu A5 to be and I had no problem quickly finishing them off. The chef was also very nice and served one to my mother so she could enjoy the wonderful flavors of this dish.

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Wagyu A5 Dumplings

The next course was huge! This was a hot pot full of vegetables and half a main lobster! It was close to this point where I knew I would be rolling out of here. There was so much lobster meat that was balanced with the richness of the broth.

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Lobster Hot Pot

For the main course of the evening, the meat was cooked in front of you on a hot stone as shown below. Once cooked, it was placed on top of a rice bowl and topped with sauce. The hot stone was coated with fat from the cow to ensure the meat did not stick along with keeping the flavor of the wagyu pure.

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Cooking Wagyu

While this may not look like a lot of meat on the bowl, I promise you, it was enough. The meat was melt in your mouth tender. The dashi flavors really worked well with the meat to make the dish feel balanced. I did have to throw in the towel on the rice again but I was stuffed at this point and I knew I had dessert coming still.

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Wagyu A5 Dashi Bowl

The first part of dessert was refreshing after all the heavy food the last few courses. The yuzu sorbet had sake poured on top of it which was nice. It also helped clean the palette before the next dessert.

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Yuzu Sorbet

This dessert is off their main menu and I was perfectly ok with that! The chocolate panna cotta is nice but I couldn’t eat much of it; luckily, I had my mother to help. I didn’t share the tempura oreo though.

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Chocolate & Cream

With that dessert course, the meal was over. I was filled to the brim as was my mother as the peking duck is for two people and she put a good dent in it by herself. Doing the omakase was a great non-traditional Thanksgiving meal and I could see doing this again with my husband. We’ll just make sure we eat almost nothing for breakfast or lunch that day though.​
 
Wow! That looks (sounds?) like an incredible meal!! I may need to do this with DH on our August trip.
 
What a great choice for a fun and unique Thanksgiving dinner! I love that your mom was able to order off the menu. Sometimes for special stuff, places require the whole party to do it - this makes it easier/nicer. I am not a big sushi fan (and would embarrass myself with chopsticks) but it all looks amazing! What attention to detail and beautiful presentation! I may stop in just for that cocktail and some appetizers!
 


Love your take on Thanksgiving!!! What a great idea to go completely out of the typical tradition and have sushi. I'd never heard of the Omakase option before. It looks like an amazing experience and a pretty good deal. Any idea of they let you share? I could totally see Jason and me trying it sometime
 
Wow! That looks (sounds?) like an incredible meal!! I may need to do this with DH on our August trip.

It was an incredible meal! I know my husband wouldn't enjoy the first half of it as he isn't a big raw fan outside of tuna or caviar so this was a great time to get to enjoy it! You have to call the restaurant directly to book it as it isn't something you can book through Disney.

What a great choice for a fun and unique Thanksgiving dinner! I love that your mom was able to order off the menu. Sometimes for special stuff, places require the whole party to do it - this makes it easier/nicer. I am not a big sushi fan (and would embarrass myself with chopsticks) but it all looks amazing! What attention to detail and beautiful presentation! I may stop in just for that cocktail and some appetizers!

It was a nice different type of Thanksgiving Dinner. My mother was glad she didn't have to do it either (although she probably would if it was the only option). They may have allowed it to be done as I was the only one doing the Omakase that night and there wasn't a ton of interest from others to take over the entire sushi bar. You just have to hope the person with you is ok with a 2 hour + long meal even if they aren't eating the whole time. You would love that cocktail!

What a fun Thanksgiving dinner!

It was! I'm glad we did something unusual!

Love your take on Thanksgiving!!! What a great idea to go completely out of the typical tradition and have sushi. I'd never heard of the Omakase option before. It looks like an amazing experience and a pretty good deal. Any idea of they let you share? I could totally see Jason and me trying it sometime

It was great to go outside of the box. My husband and I never have a traditional thanksgiving as he's been in retail since we met over 13 years ago that we don't do Thanksgiving. Last year, my mother and I were in hospice having Boar's Head Turkey Slices. I'm glad this year we did outside the box as the meal was totally lovely. They don't advertise the Omakase on the Disney website but I've seen it mentioned in a few places online so we decided to inquire. I don't know if they will let you share the whole meal but they did let my mother order off the main menu while I had my Omakase. The chef did give her a sample of 2 of my courses and I did share some of the lobster dish with her. You could always try it that way!
 


Highball & Harvest

One of the perks from my mother using an AAA rate for our room at the Ritz is that the breakfast buffet is included. LIke July, Highball & Harvest is still a hipster decorated area but the food is pretty good so I can overlook the mason jar, burlap theme.

My breakfast was actually kinda small. I enjoyed my bacon, manchego cheese, watermelon and 2 small donut holes. Nothing too special but enough to give me energy for the day!

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50’s Prime Time Cafe

After some fun around Hollywood Studios, we headed for our planned lunch at Prime Time Cafe. They were all decorated for Christmas, which was nice! It took a bit after our reservation time to get seated but we eventually were placed at a table in the back. Our server played his role well and had fun. I never go to Prime Time with my husband as he doesn’t like the gimmick here.

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We each got a drink. My mother went with a chocolate shake as she was looking forward to that here with our selection of eating here. I went with an electric lemonade as I knew I would be eating fried food. Having a shake with lots of fried food no longer works well for my stomach. I think that means I’m an adult now that I realize that.

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Chocolate Shake

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Dad’s Electric Lemonade - Bacardi Rum, Skyy Vodka, Blue Curacao, Sweet & Sour, Spring

My mother and I both only ordered off the appetizer menu for our meals. We each got an order of the Fried Herb & Garlic Cheese. I’m so happy to see this back on their menu after it disappearing for some time. Its nice on the toasted bread or on the apple slices! I’m also glad we didn’t have to share.

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Fried Herb & Garlic Cheese

For my second dish, I went with onion rings. This is why I went with alcohol over a shake! The horseradish sauce was well done and the onion rings were exactly what I wanted them to be - crispy, greasy and not limp.

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Beer-Battered Onion Rings w/ Horseradish Sauce

My mother went with a side order of french fries. They were standard french fries but made her happy.

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French Fries

After lunch, we had our FP+ for Toy Story Mania so we headed that way.​
 
After some fun around Hollywood Studios, we headed for our planned lunch at Prime Time Cafe. They were all decorated for Christmas, which was nice! It took a bit after our reservation time to get seated but we eventually were placed at a table in the back. Our server played his role well and had fun. I never go to Prime Time with my husband as he doesn’t like the gimmick here.
I love 50's but Jason is in the same camp as your hubby. He actually doesn't mind he schtick but thinks their offerings are just way too heavy. So we end up at SciFi, every single trip.

We each got a drink. My mother went with a chocolate shake as she was looking forward to that here with our selection of eating here. I went with an electric lemonade as I knew I would be eating fried food. Having a shake with lots of fried food no longer works well for my stomach. I think that means I’m an adult now that I realize that.
Welcome to adulthood :rotfl2: Just wait until you know to take a prilosec before a meal. That means you really know what you're doing :P

My mother and I both only ordered off the appetizer menu for our meals. We each got an order of the Fried Herb & Garlic Cheese. I’m so happy to see this back on their menu after it disappearing for some time. Its nice on the toasted bread or on the apple slices! I’m also glad we didn’t have to share.

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This looks so good and right up my alley. Will definitely get this if i can ever eat there again.

For my second dish, I went with onion rings. This is why I went with alcohol over a shake! The horseradish sauce was well done and the onion rings were exactly what I wanted them to be - crispy, greasy and not limp.

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Love the idea of ordering two apps vice an entree. Maybe I can use the onion rings to lure Jason here :-)
 
YUM!! That looks like the most perfect lunch ever. Fried cheese and onion rings. Genius!! I also am not a big fan of the “show” in the dining room but sometimes luck into a seat at the bar. Will keep this combo in mind, for sure! And with apples and grapes the cheese dish is healthy!
 
Sooo... I may have to stalk you in April! We will be ther for the week staying at Kidani Village.

I love your Thanksgiving dinner. That bowl of fatty tuna looked just like heaven!
 
I love 50's but Jason is in the same camp as your hubby. He actually doesn't mind he schtick but thinks their offerings are just way too heavy. So we end up at SciFi, every single trip.
The offerings for entrees are pretty heavy! I think the last time I ate in the main dining room with my mother which was a few years ago - we split the fried chicken. (I can't find my report on that so I know its been a while)


Welcome to adulthood :rotfl2: Just wait until you know to take a prilosec before a meal. That means you really know what you're doing :P
I'm glad I haven't gotten to that yet. I've taken Prilosec post meal before but I've learned what foods create those problems for me. I can't drink sweet tea more than 2 days in a row or I get the worst acid reflex. Luckily, living in Naples, FL - that doesn't affect me much. It was more of an issue in Georgia.

This looks so good and right up my alley. Will definitely get this if i can ever eat there again.
It was so good! Best dish there!

Love the idea of ordering two apps vice an entree. Maybe I can use the onion rings to lure Jason here :-)

Hope it works for you! I love the option of ordering two apps from time to time depending on my hunger levels! (This is why I love Tables in Wonderland over DDP)

YUM!! That looks like the most perfect lunch ever. Fried cheese and onion rings. Genius!! I also am not a big fan of the “show” in the dining room but sometimes luck into a seat at the bar. Will keep this combo in mind, for sure! And with apples and grapes the cheese dish is healthy!

I've done the bar thing once or twice but its always so crowded at that tiny bar that it isn't something I plan on. The times I've done it I was solo and had no plans. It was a great park lunch! I love how its a different fried cheese than normal since its boursin cheese rather than mozzarella or cheese curds.

Sooo... I may have to stalk you in April! We will be ther for the week staying at Kidani Village.

I love your Thanksgiving dinner. That bowl of fatty tuna looked just like heaven!

You're allowed to stalk. We're usually friendly people (except immediately after a race on our way back to being cleaned up) We're doing Sanaa for lunch post half marathon!

That tuna was heaven! Haven't had tuna that good since we left Hawaii![/QUOTE]
 
Snacks

After our lunch and in the midst of killing time before our FP+ time, we did a few things like have a drink, visit a cute robot and a cute lord of the stars and adorable root. I was actually shocked how much my mother adored Groot! The main show they do of Star Wars Characters in front of the old Great Movie Ride was really lame. You can tell its something added to try to pacify crowds since half the park is closed.

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I really liked my cranberry mule. It felt Christmasy which it was already at Walt Disney World. Can’t go wrong with vodka, cranberry juice and ginger beer!

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Cranberry Mule

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After I kicked my mother’s butt at Toy Story Mania & got the highest score of the hour (over 300K for the first time) and missed getting a photo of the achievement, I decided to get the special holiday popcorn on our way out of the park back to the hotel. I liked it as a nice twist on the normal WDW popcorn. It was their normal popcorn topped with caramel, chocolate, marshmallows, pretzels and m&ms. They actually layered it throughout the box so the goodies were all throughout!

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Holiday Popcorn

We drove back to the Ritz and had a drink at the lobby bar as my mother has a bartender there that she’s known for years. She had a glass of prosecco while I had a nice complex cocktail called the Aviator. I can’t find the exact recipe now but it was similar to an “Aviation” Drink but it didn’t have gin. It did have Vodka, Sparkling Wine, Maraschino, Creme De Violet and Lemon Juice. I found it to be really pretty as it was tasty! I totally picked it because of the name and my job.

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I think you are at the wrong Ritz and your cover doesn't match the plate

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The Aviator

We headed back to the room to relax a bit before heading out again for dinner!
 
Citricos

We headed to the Grand Floridian about an hour before our reservation time. This would allow us to look around the lobby at the decorations. You can also see the expensive European dress I was force to buy in Italy when my luggage was missing for almost 3 days. (You can bet I wasn’t happy about that!)

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We headed up stairs around our ADR time and were sat towards the back of the restaurant. We each ordered a glass of wine and made our selections.

My mother started with the crab salad and was really happy with this choice. The crab with the watermelon was a good combination of textures.

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Citricos Crab Salad - Compressed Watermelon, Avocado Crema, Pickled Rind, Lemon Vinaigrette]

As I was going with a really rich entree, I decided against their pork belly that I do love and went with the arancini. Their arancini is always excellent with just the right amount of cheese and a tomato sauce that isn’t too overpowering.​


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Arancini - Crispy Risotto, Mascarpone, Zesty Garlic Poma Rosa Sauce

When the food runner brought my mother’s main course (which was really off the appetizer section of the menu) - the plate kinda fell out of her hand. This made the plate look ugly and got some sauce on the pillar next to us but it didn’t get on our clothing so it's all good. The poor food runner was super embarrassed about the incident but we kept insisting it wasn’t a problem as stuff happens. My mother was glad she went with this for her entree as it was just the right amount of food to not over do it.​


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Key West Shrimp - Trofie Pasta, Puttanesca Sauce, Baby Spinach, Parmesan

After debating between a few items this time around, I decided to go with the beef short ribs and what a great selection that was! The meat melted in your mouth as it should. The polenta worked well to balance the richness. If it weren’t for the gross mushrooms, I would have been a member of the clean plate club.​


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Red Wine-Braised Beef Short Ribs - Polenta, Exotic Mushrooms, Spinach, Pickled Cipollini, Gremolata

Sometimes I embrace my inner child. There was nothing I really wanted off the dessert menu today but I had seen a kid get a Mickey Mousse! I wanted it as well! It was cute and who doesn’t love Oreos?​


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Mickey Oreo Mousse

Overall a really good meal! We headed back to the Ritz for the night.

My treats from the gingerbread house:​


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Gingerbread Treats
 
I got so far behind on the DIS and you've had so many amazing meals that i can't comment on all of them! I am still envious of your Festival of Holidays selections. I've still only been out there for one evening. We stayed last weekend, but didn't get to any of the booths!

Thank you for sharing your Omikase meal! I just heard about this for the first time when chunkymonkey did it on her trip last weekend. You answered a bunch of my questions ecause while i would love to do this, Fran can't eat raw fish because if her immune system, so she could just order off the menu while I enjoy the overindulgence! Also the fact that you can tell them what you don't like is great too. I may even try to talk my parents into this when we go for F&G in 2019.

Your 2018 plans look good. We overlap on Labor Day weekend. I'll be getting off the Fantasy with six other people whom I met on the DIS that Saturday and we have 3 nights in a Grand Villa. Hoping to switch it to OKW at 7 months.

Looking forward to hearing more of your dining adventures!
 
Jumping in late here & I know this is "Off Topic" but DH & I travel with Tauck too & had one of our Welcome Dinners at the same restaurant on the Appian Way. Sooo yummy!

Sorry, back to what's relevant-great reviews! I think Il Mulino will be on our must do list for July, can't wait!
 
Your luggage was missing for 3 days in Italy?? :scared: Oh dear, I’d be a wreck. Sounds like you made the best of it though and the dress is pretty! Glad you’re getting more wear out of it. I’ve only been to Citricos once but really liked it. I’m not sure why I haven’t been back. :confused3 I love arancini and short ribs so seems like a return should be a no-brainer. Your dessert is adorable. Anything shaped like Mickey automatically tastes better.
 
WOW! Those trees are incrdible!!

They are! I love the Grand Floridian at Christmas time!

I got so far behind on the DIS and you've had so many amazing meals that i can't comment on all of them! I am still envious of your Festival of Holidays selections. I've still only been out there for one evening. We stayed last weekend, but didn't get to any of the booths!

Thank you for sharing your Omikase meal! I just heard about this for the first time when chunkymonkey did it on her trip last weekend. You answered a bunch of my questions ecause while i would love to do this, Fran can't eat raw fish because if her immune system, so she could just order off the menu while I enjoy the overindulgence! Also the fact that you can tell them what you don't like is great too. I may even try to talk my parents into this when we go for F&G in 2019.

Your 2018 plans look good. We overlap on Labor Day weekend. I'll be getting off the Fantasy with six other people whom I met on the DIS that Saturday and we have 3 nights in a Grand Villa. Hoping to switch it to OKW at 7 months.

Looking forward to hearing more of your dining adventures!

Life happens! The Dis will always be here (well most likely). Hope you get to enjoy your Festival of the Holidays before the season wraps up! It was such a nice event!

I'm glad I answered a bunch of your questions about the dinner! It would be a nice overindulgence, especially since Fran can have 'normal' food.

Maybe we'll run into each other during Labor Day! I know we're going to do the Narcoosee's Brunch on Sunday. Not sure what else we're going to do until the F&W Events are posted. Hope you have an awesome cruise! Glad you have lots of travel in the plans for 2018!

Jumping in late here & I know this is "Off Topic" but DH & I travel with Tauck too & had one of our Welcome Dinners at the same restaurant on the Appian Way. Sooo yummy!

Sorry, back to what's relevant-great reviews! I think Il Mulino will be on our must do list for July, can't wait!

That is awesome! We loved our trip with Tauck. I'm 99% certain we are doing the Polar Bear adventure with them in November 2019. We'll probably do Tuscany in 2020 if we don't do Asia or Australia. That Appian Way restaurant was very unique!

Il Mulino is a great place! Hope you enjoy it in July!

Your luggage was missing for 3 days in Italy?? :scared: Oh dear, I’d be a wreck. Sounds like you made the best of it though and the dress is pretty! Glad you’re getting more wear out of it. I’ve only been to Citricos once but really liked it. I’m not sure why I haven’t been back. :confused3 I love arancini and short ribs so seems like a return should be a no-brainer. Your dessert is adorable. Anything shaped like Mickey automatically tastes better.

Oh, I was a wreck. The first full day in Positano, we attempted to find me some clothes but being um, larger, it was hard! I found 2 pants, 2 dresses that day. We ended up taking an expensive taxi ride to Sorrento the next day where we could accomplish buying undergarments, shoes and a few more items. I was so happy to get that luggage back!

There are so many restaurants there, it happens that you don't get back! We haven't been to Jiko in a long while, despite liking it - we skipped Yachtsman for a few years as well like that. Monsieur Paul is probably the one dinner place we keep saying we want to go back to but keep not making it happen!
 

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