~Travel Bear: Food and Drink at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter~

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure is filled with a treasure trove of amazing eats for sure.  From the shelves of candy straight from the story to the savory food that makes you feel like you are in the UK.

Lets start with the candy. If you’re like me you had dreams of Honeydukes and all the amazing magical candy that Harry and his friends partook in on multiple occasions in the books and movies. The Wizarding World brought to life the magic of wizarding candy with the fairly accurate packaging that makes for great decorations and the many options there is something for everyone. You have your best selling chocolate frogs that come with the collectible card of a famous witch or wizard and a large solid chocolate frog. There are Fizzing Wizzbees that have a pop rock chocolate bee shaped candy, Acid Pops, Exploding Bonbons that are orange and pineapple flavored, Jelly Slugs, Bertie Botts  Every Flavor Beans and so much more. It is so much fun to walk around and look at everything.

For breakfast my husband and I went to The Three Broomsticks, he got the American Breakfast which had: Fresh Scrambled Eggs, Breakfast Potatoes, Crisp Bacon, and Link Sausage, With Butter Croissant and I got the Continental Breakfast which came with: Assorted Fresh Fruit, Blueberry Scone and a Butter Croissant. Everything we got was very good and fueled us for the day. My husband got a coffee while I tried my first wizarding drink of Pumpkin Juice. I normally don’t like drinks with pumpkin but the Pumpkin Juice was very good and reminded me of a pumpkin pie cider. It was so sweet though and I wasn’t able to finish it all.

It is seemingly a requirement when your at the Wizarding World to try the Butterbeer. There are three different ones to try: Chilled, Frozen and (sometimes during the year) hot. We got the chilled butterbeer which was sweet and tasted of butterscotch with a thick creamy foam on top that makes it a very enjoyable experience. Many people try to get every kind but after one I was sugared out for the rest of the day.

For lunch we ate at The Leaky Cauldron and as my drink I got the odd Fishy Green Ale which was mint and cinnamon flavored drink with blueberry popping boba in the bottom. My husband tried the Dragon’s Scale Beer which was a nice pairing with the savory British style food we got.

My husband got the Fish and Chips which was very tasty and I got the Toad in the Hole lunch plate that consisted of English sausages baked into a Yorkshire pudding with brown gravy and some roast vegetables. I really liked everything and would order it again for sure. There were several options from: Shepard’s Pie, Fisherman’s Pie, Banger’s and Mash and several other things that all looked tasty.

In the Wizarding World you have many options to dine in at or get treats to walk around with. There are: several types of beverages you can get, ice cream scoops,  soft serve, churros, pretzles, lots of English food, savory and sweet options galore. The next time we go we will try new things to really have a new experience every time we go.

Have you been to the Wizarding World? What was your favorite thing to grab for lunch? Which Butterbeer was your favorite? Did you have a favorite ice cream flavor? Let me know in the comments!

 

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~Travel Bear: Toothsome’s Chocolate Emporium at Universal’s City Walk~

So this past week I celebrated my 5 year wedding anniversary with my Husband by going to Orlando, Florida for a few days. We drove in from Northern Alabama and got to where we were staying (The Cabana Bay Resort) around dinner time. I had found this amazing place at Universal’s City Walk called the Toothsome’s Chocolate Emporium and Savory Feast Kitchen that gave me Wonka Steam Punk feels and knew that would be our first stop on our Anniversary adventure.

The factory look of the restaurant was so neat and the decor was Steam Punk inspired with lots of cools things to look at while you are being led to you table and as you sit. There were so many options for food, drinks and of course massive decadent desserts.

I ordered the Vegetable Press which was a warm sandwich with roasted vegetables, portobello mushrooms, arugula pesto, gruyère and dill harvarti cheeses, on cranberry herb artisan bread. It was so good! Everything about my food was amazing and delicious. My Husband ordered the Vegetable Garganelli that had italian penne pasta, seasonal vegetables, garlic, and white wine. We could have shared either one of these dishes as they were fairly large and filling and so so good.

As we sat eating and enjoying the atmosphere we watched some of the most glorious desserts going by, milkshakes with cupcakes and cookies out the top, chocolate everything and so much more. If you want to come here for just dessert there is an area you can do just that!

Attached to the restaurant is a amazing gift shop/sweet shop. There was countless artisan chocolates, macarons, cakes and other sweet things in cases you can get to take back to your hotel or to enjoy right there. There are t-shirts, packaged candy and steam punk accessories to buy as well. It is lots of fun to really walk around and look at everything in detail.

Going to the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium was definitely the right way to start our adventure and we will for sure go here again.

 

 

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~Trying Mexican Candy pt.2~

Oh man the candy we consumed were not at all good. Our tummys were upset for a few hours after trying all these >_<

Trying Mexican Candy >0<

Me and my daughter decided to branch away from the mostly Asian candy and snacks we try and let’s just say it was an experience. It is so interesting to me the different cultures and what tastes are normal and good to them. 90% of the things we tried were neither normal or good to us . =_=

Have you ever eaten maxican candy? What kind have you had? Did you like it or not? Let me know in the comments!

~Strawberry Love~

I love Strawberry chocolates and candies from Japan. What ever strawberry flavoring they use is so different than what is in our candy and it is so much better. The first time I had anything strawberry from Japan was when I was young and I got to try Strawberry Pocky, it was so good and reminded me of strawberry nesquik milk. Whenever I go to any of the Asian marketsI am always on the lookout for Strawberry chocolates, usually only finding the little appolon cone chocolates.

In april and may however is when there are strawberry fastivals around the  nation and the markets stock a vast array of Japanese strawberry themed treats from: chocolates, cookies, snack cakes, and hard or chewy candies. I always love going this time of year because it is the only time I really stock up on alot of treats.

Ember and I tried all the new candies this year together and had a fun time!

Check out last years post~ https://kawaiihousewife.com/2015/06/29/ichigo-matsuri/

 

What is your favorite kind of candy? Let me know in the comments!

 

 

 

~TravelBear~ The Absinthe Room

On my recent trip to Memphis TN I had the pleasure of visiting “The Absinthe Room” on Beale Street where I got to try three different brands of Absinthe and enjoy the neat atmosphere.

It was really cool getting to watch the process of serving Absinthe and see the color change from the beginning to the end. I am not a fan of licorice but I found this drink growing on me as I sipped my first glass of it.

Have you ever tried Absinthe? What did you think of it? Where did you have it? Let me know about it in the comments!

~Snack Time Heaven~

Two of these items are the best things ive eaten, so good!

Let’s Try: Meiji Biscuits!

Recently I found a few different flavors of Meiji Biscuits I have never had before! If you ever see them check them out!

~Trying Umaibo~

My daughter and I have been wanting to try the ageless popular Japanese snack called Umaibo which translates as “delicious stick”. There are many different flavors and what they basically are is cylindrical corn puffs seasoned. Here we try each one and find out what we think of them.  Spoiler alert: some of them are NOT good =_=.

~Trying Dragon Fruit~

Not long ago my sister and I went to H-mart which if you didn’t know is a very common Korean Market in the states. One of the first things you notice is all the interesting produce when you walk in. There are so many fruits and vegetables that you may not have ever seen or have not seen in person. We grabbed a Dragon Fruit to try for the first time, check out what we thought!