Yesterday, C and I went to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. Yay!

I missed R, of course. For years, he and I went together. We ate escargot and bison and he tried everything with an enthusiasm that made me quietly hum with pride and delight in him. I think, in fact, that somewhere on youtube there’s a little movie I made a few years ago of us at the Food & Wine Festival.

But missing R was not meant to be the point of this post! C and I had a good time. It was ridiculously, uncomfortably hot–sweat dripping down my back and down the back of my legs kind of hot–so we went into all the little shops between food stands. It was fun to browse in the stores and see all the jewelry and glass and perfume from around the world. For obvious reasons (ie, total lack of interest from the boy), R and I never spent much time doing that.

And our food choices were spectacular. We ate at Scotland: Seared Scottish Salmon with Cauliflower Puree, Watercress and Malt Vinaigrette and Vegetarian Haggis. Also Canada: Seared Rainbow Trout with Bacon, Frisee and Maple Minus 8 Vinaigrette and Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter Sauce. Also New Zealand: Gratinated Green Lip Mussels with Garlic and Herbs, Lamb Meatball with Spicy Tomato Chutney, and Venison Sausage with Pickled Mushrooms, Baby Arugula and Black Currant Reduction. (If you’ve never been to the Food & Wine Festival, these are all tapas-sized portions, about $5 each and consisting of six or seven bites of food, not a full-fledged meal.)

My favorite was definitely the salmon from Scotland. It was delicious. Least favorite, the vegetarian haggis also from Scotland. It was not delicious, at least not to me. C liked it, though, so it wasn’t wasted. The beef from Canada was good, although really heavy on the mushrooms this year (and I’m not a mushroom fan). The rainbow trout was pretty yummy, but I probably wouldn’t bother to have it again. The mussels were remarkably good, better than I expected, because the garlic butter on them was yum. The lamb meatball — honestly, it tasted just like a meatball sandwich with tomato sauce. Nothing wrong with it, but eh. And I liked the venison sausage, but not the pickled mushrooms, while C thought that it wasn’t particularly appealing. Overall, though, it all added up to a really good meal and a remarkably nice afternoon.