À la Table Chez Sandy: My Vacation to Florida

As of yet, I've only posted about food or recipes on my blog but I thought it would be nice to share with you my amazing trip to Florida with my boyfriend. Food was definitely one of the main themes of the trip so I will definitely share those pics as well. (These photos were taken with my iphone so it may not be of the best quality.)

I haven't been on vacation for nearly 18 months so this trip was well deserved. Usually, I love planning things in advance, including options of where to eat but we were taking the more relaxed approach to this trip considering it wasn't our first time to Florida.

I was a bit weary of the weather considering we were travelling in October and this time of the year is known to be hurricane season but we only had one rainy day during our 10 day stay so I can't complain about that! My boyfriend and I went to visit a friend who has a home in Sarasota, we also did a day trip to Tampa Bay and then we went to Orlando.

The trip started off with an amazing stay in Sarasota. Over there, we spent lots of time on the beautiful tranquil beaches and enjoyed many delicious meals around a big table of full of lovely friends.

Siesta Key Beach, FL

Casey Key Beach, FL

This was a meal made by the entire gang which included grilled lamb chops, mahi mahi, veggies, and mashed potatoes. Yum!

My boyfriend and I prepared this lovely breakfast for everyone which included crêpes and an omelet.

After our wonderful stay in Sarasota, my boyfriend and I rented a car and headed to Orlando where we did some shopping followed by a bit of R&R at a nice hotel. Let's not forget about the yummy food we ate!

This was at 4 Rivers Smokehouse in Winter Park, FL. It's my second time there and it's by far my favourite BBQ place. Too bad it's so far away from home!

I had the Messy Pig which is a pulled pork sandwich and as sides I got coleslaw, collard greens, and mac & cheese. My boyfriend got Angus brisket, St-Louis style ribs, corn, fries, and a banana foster bread pudding. It was all amazing and one of my most memorable meals of the trip!

For sure I left a little room for dessert. Their cupcakes looked so good, so good that there's an option where you can take one and add ice cream to it to turn it into the best milkshake ever!!! Think oreo cupcake and moka ice cream = thick deliciousness that I didn't even want to throw out after I was full so I kept it in the fridge and drank some the next morning! Don't judge, it's my vacation after all!

This was my first time tasting an arepa and it was at a food truck outside of Orlando's Hash House a Go Go. There was an hour wait for the restaurant's brunch and we were too hungry to wait and this really satisfied our appetite. So much so that we grabbed another one a few days later as a late night snack. It's always a good sign if you're going back for seconds.

Speaking of going back for seconds, we made our way to Texas to Brazil to eat some delicious all you can eat buffet of salads and grilled meats. This was my salad plate which was complimented by some tasty meats and creamy mashed potatoes. Too bad we don't have this back at home either.

After all that eating, shopping, and chilling by the pool we went to Walt Disney World!!!

This was our second time to Disney World and although nothing beats the feeling of seeing and experiencing it for the first time, this second time was pretty awesome because we knew what we wanted to do and what was not worth the long wait times.

We went to Walt Disney World in 2012 with friends and we never had enough time to really visit the World Showcase in Epcot. So when we found out that we were planning to go to Orlando during Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, we knew that it was a must on our "to do" list! Epcot has little stations which represent different countries around the world, so you can "taste your way around the world"! And that is exactly what we did. We were snacking all day long so here's a glimpse of what we ate!

They even give you a passport where you can get stamped at the different food vendors that you purchase from! I've never travelled so much in one day!

Don't you just love our Mickey t-shirts? We are true Mickey fans!!

Here we go! We started off in Hawaii where we sampled their Kalua Pork slider with Sweet and Sour Dole Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayonnaise and their Tuna Poke with Seaweed Salad and Lotus Root Chips. The Poke was one of our favourite snacks that we tried.

Next up was this nice and light Belgian Waffle with Warm Chocolate Ganache and Whipped Cream from Belgium.

In Japan, we tried the Spicy Hand Roll - Tuna and Salmon with Kazan Volcano Sauce.

Afterwards, we had a craving for one of our Disney's favourite treats, the Pineapple Dole Whip Soft Serve. It's a pineapple flavoured frozen yogurt and it's really refreshing! I mean, look at how fast it's melting! It was a warm day even for the month of October.

We stopped by Patagonia and had their delicious Beef Empanada and their Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce and Boniato Purée.

In Australia we tasted my favourite snack which was a Grilled Lamb Chop with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies.

At the Farm Fresh stand we had some spicy goods. There was Nueske's Pepper Bacon Hash with Sweet Corn, Potatoes, Hollandaise and Pickled Jalapenos and their Griddled "Yard Bird" with Braised Greens and House-made Habanero Sauce.

We landed in China next, where we sampled their Mongolian Beef in a Steamed Bun with Chili Mayo.

I couldn't resist the Desserts station where I got the Dessert Trio for only $4, what a good deal! It included Passion Fruit Coconut Creamsicle, Blueberry Lime Cheesecake Roll, and Chocolate Espresso Opera Cake. So good!!

Of course I washed it all down with a Frozen S'mores Featuring Monin Toasted Marshmallow Syrup.

That was an epic day of eating at Epcot but we did burn some calories by walking and standing nearly 10-14 hours a day!! We spent the following day at Disney's Hollywood Studios and my boyfriend proclaimed that his meal at the 50's Primetime Café to be his favourite meal of our stay in Florida.