Sticky Toffee Pudding has got to be my favorite dessert from my last trip to Walt Disney World. It is very much like a Bread Pudding but has a little British twist. I enjoyed this dessert from the Rose and Crown Pub while dining at the United Kingdom in Epcot. I’m not sure how I managed to fit all of the food I ate in and still enjoy this pudding but somehow I did and then I went back to my room and passed out in a food coma LOL. I was so happy to find this recipe on Deb’s website AllEarsNet.com because it was so tasty that I would like to try and make it at home. The recipe doesn’t look too complicated other than the long list of ingredients. I’ll have to give it a try at home over the Christmas holidays when I have a few days off from work. If you haven’t experienced this before I highly recommend eating at the Rose and Crown Pub on your next vacation or making this one at home!
Sticky Toffee Pudding
“Pudding” Ingredients
12 oz. dates, chopped and blanched
8 oz. hot water
2 tsp. vanilla bean
2 tsp. baking soda
1 lbs. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
4 oz. unsalted butter
12 oz. sugar
2 whole eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
Method
1. Chop dates and add to hot water.
2. Stir in vanilla and baking soda.
3. Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs one at a time.
4. On low speed add half flour and baking powder and all of the liquid; mix until combined.
5. Fold in rest of flour to mixture.
6. Fill greased molds halfway and bake 15 minutes at 325 degrees F.
Butter Rum Toffee Sauce
Ingredients
1 oz. butter
4 oz. heavy cream
3 oz. dark brown sugar
1/2 oz. dark rum
Method
1. Combine butter, sugar, and cream; bring to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and add rum. Stir until all is incorporated. Serve hot.
Custard Sauce
Ingredients
8 egg yolks
3 oz. castor sugar
1 vanilla bean
½ pint milk
½ pint heavy cream
Method
1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until well blended.
2. Scrape the insides of the vanilla pod, if using, into the milk and cream, add the pod too, and bring to the boil.
3. Sit the bowl over a pan of hot water and whisk the cream into the egg yolks and sugar. As the egg yolks cook, the custard will thicken.
4. Keep stirring until it starts to coat the back of a spoon, then remove the bowl from the heat and the pod from the custard.
Serve warm or cold. Stir the sauce occasionally until cool, to prevent a skin forming, or cover with greaseproof paper while it cools.
One of my favorite rides as a kid visiting Disney World was Pirates of the Caribbean. The ride is your typical “boat” ride that kinda just coasts along on a track and brings you to different rooms or scenes similar to It’s a Small World but it is fun never the less. The ride has become more popular in the last few years thanks to Disney’s trilogy movie series that was developed from this very ride. The ride has undergone a series of renovations in the past few years as well updating the ride and adding in a few elements to link it to the movie.
So what can you expect when you go to Disney? As stated above, a pretty mild ride. The ride is on the darker side which may make it a little scary to small children but it isn’t too bad. There are also a few skeletons and a few “bombs” that may seem scary but it goes by quickly. There is lots of singing in a few scenes so you may get a little song stuck in your head for the rest of the day. But hey, yo ho yo ho a pirates life for me isn’t nearly as bad as it’s a small world to some people. lol
This video I found is a pretty good video showing the ride and what you can expect. It is shot in black and white so it makes things a little darker than the ride really is. It’s about 5 minutes long and shows the ride from start to finish so if you haven’t been and don’t want to ruin the excitement just skip over the video part.
After reading some positive feedback on how these videos are helping people plan their Disney vacations I have decided to find a few more videos to share with everyone. Today, I am featuring the third and final Magic Kingdom Mountain (the other two are Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad), Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain is your basic “log ride” as I like to call them. I believe some people call them flume rides? The theming of this ride really makes it worth riding the ride once because it has the story of Brer Rabbit and gang and ends with you going into the briar patch like Brer Rabbit did. It is a fairly long ride but the story as you to to the top keeps your attention and you really don’t notice how long you have been on the ride.
Pros: great on a hot day (you get a little splash at the end of the ride), interesting story line, you get to see Brer Rabbit and gang which is hard to do nowadays, the drop is very fast
Cons: If you are a chicken like me you will not like the drop - there are no safety bars or belts - and it is pretty high, the ride is long so it may seem like it is dragging on, if you get offended by Song of the South skip this ride!
So now that we have that out of the way on to the video!
There are many questions that come up during trip planning to Walt Disney World but one that I don’t see that often that people should consider is regarding travel insurance. Travel Insurance covers things like illness of family members and weather. It really should be a no brainer. I mean WDW is located in Central Florida and hurricane season stretches from June to November so if nothing else you should purchase the insurance if you are going in those months. More often than not though people opt-out of the insurance thinking it is a waste of money. I view insurance as something that offers piece of mind in the case that a natural disaster strikes or a family member falls ill. There are a few different ways to shop around for travel insurance if you are new to this: either purchase directly from WDW when you make your reservation or visit a site like insuremytrip.com which allows you to input the value of your trip and how much coverage you want. It then queries insurance agencies to give you a comprehensive listing of policies and prices. Travel insurance really is not that expensive and something you should consider purchasing for any trip - Disney or not.
BTW if you are heading to WDW in the next few days Tropical Storm Fay has formed south of Florida and is project to hit Tampa. Please plan accordingly and visit the National Hurricane Center to stay current.
One of the most important things you will need on your Disney trip (other than a pair of mouse ears) will be a backpack that you can bring to the parks. This backpack should be large enough to carry everything you need yet compact enough to fit in the secure pockets of the rides. You also want to make sure you don’t purchase too large of a bag and thus overpack the thing and make it way too heavy and uncomfortable. Since it is back to school shopping time, now is the perfect time to go try on different backpacks out there and find a good one for your trip. Maybe you can even catch it on a sale right after school starts!
So let’s move on. Now that you have a backpack, what goes in the thing?
Travel guide books - We stick with the Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World guide book. It is thin and compact. The colored pictures are also great. You could get more info with the Unofficial guide but it would be a PITA to carry in the parks
Daily itinerary - Before the trip, I usually pick up a folder with brads and make a few pages in Word that have our itinerary for the trip such as Airline info (Flight numbers, times, reservation numbers), Hotel information, Dining reservation numbers, and any special events in the parks that we will want to make sure not to miss
Now here is where things will vary but that we have in ours (party of 2): roll of quarters and pennies, 2 bottles of water, Water Bottle drink mix (lemonade/kool-aid/propel), 2 granola bars, small battery operated hand fans, 2 throw away ponchos, 2 pairs of cheapo sunglasses, trading pins, spray sunscreen, Off bug spray, hand sanitizer, chap stick, digital cameras, spare batteries for camera, wallet, and a wash cloth/small towel.
If I think of any other useful items I will make sure to post them. I should be starting my packing in the next week or so. I can’t wait!!
