Mickey and Minnie Macarons, A Trip to So Cal

One of my favorite treats at Disneyland is

their fresh raspberry Mickey Macaron, found

at the Jolly Holiday Bakery, just at the far end

of Main Street.  My grandkids just can't

get enough of French Macarons, so I decided

to make some for a family dinner.

I used my macaron silpat and picked a spot where

there were three circles.  I started with the center

circle and piped it extra large and to the top of the circle,

and then piped the ears on, using the regular size

of the circle, but bringing it a little closer to

touch the center.  

For the complete recipe click here.

These were so large that I only got 5 double

sided ones out of a batch, so we had the kids

split them.

These are large, but they have to be to fit

all of those luscious raspberries in on top

of the buttercream frosting.

I added a little fondant bow for Minnie's.

I was thinking Disney, because we were heading

to southern California.

My niece and I were headed down to Los Angeles for a Laker's

game.  My friend's husband is one of the coaches

there, so we got to eat in the family room and

have our picture taken in the tunnel.  She is a huge

Laker's fan and we were lucky enough to see

LeBron James play his last game this season,

and Lakers won!!  

Our friend joined us at Disneyland for a day,

and we got to enjoy the gorgeous sunshine -

lacking here at home still.

(The castle is still wrapped up for repainting,

so disappointing!)

Of course, we ate our way through Disneyland.  

These were Butterscotch Beignets - one of their

best seasonal flavors so far.

We always have to enjoy something from

the Cozy Cone.  We got the Chili Cheese and

the Fiesta Cone.

But my new personal favorite is the

Lobster Roll from the Harbour Galley,

right across from the

Haunted Mansion, down by the water.

How had I missed this place for so many years.

The Food and Wine Festival was also going

on.  We tried fried artichokes which were lukewarm

and soggy and disappointing, and a Ghost Pepper

Mac and Cheese, which was hot and spicy, but

quite overcooked.  

But this little Mickey Mouse Chocolate Mousse

was fantastic.  I have to say that saved the Food

and Wine Festival, because we weren't that impressed

with the quality of the other two foods we tried.

Then my niece and I headed over to The

Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal.

We just completed a big 5 week Harry Potter competition

with our Young Single Adult Ward, which I will

post soon, if I ever stay home!!!  But that made

it a perfect time to stop and pick up some prizes

for our Harry Potter competition.

Of course, I had to be dressed in my

Gryffindor sweater, and

we had to eat at the Three Broomsticks.

My niece got Bangers and Mash, which had a wonderful

onion gravy on it,

and she ordered a Butterbeer Potted Cream.

Both were delicious.

I tried the ribs and some Butterbeer ice cream.

We awarded ourselves 150 points each for our

Harry Potter Cup competition, since we traveled

all the way to Hogwarts!

Spoiler alert, Gryffindor still didn't win, but

we picked up some fun prizes for the competition.

I will be posting our whole month's activities

soon, but now hubby and I are off to Highpoint,

for the furniture mart.  We have never gone to it

before, so I hope I have some things to share.

We are always off on some adventure!

Happy Valentines Day Disney Style

Are you all decorated for Valentine's Day with

hearts and flowers and fun?  We are ready here

at Purple Chocolat Home!!

We decided to run away for a couple of days

to get out of the cold and celebrate

Valentine's Day since we will be entertaining

a houseful of our

 Young Single Adults on Valentine's Day.

We loved seeing Disneyland at Valentine's Day.

There were hearts everywhere.  We had never

been for Valentine's Day before so it was

fun.

The truth is, we had looked at the weather the week

before and we would be exchanging the 20's and 30's

for high 70's.  As luck would have it, we ended up with

rain, rain, and more rain!

Now Disneyland can be fun when it is raining

a little, because a lot of people stay away, but

when it is a deluge - wow!!

We got there the first day, and fortunately they

had our room ready, so we hung out in the room

until the downpour was over.  It was quite a sight

seeing little families dragging back to the hotel

dripping wet.  We were lucky and the rain stopped

for the rest of that day and the next.

So off we went to enjoy all of the Valentine's Day fun.

I just loved all of their great displays and windows.

Minnie was in this darling dress I have

never seen before.  This dress is for Mickey's

Get Your Ears On celebration.  She was

just adorable.

There were Valentine's banners and hearts all up

and down Main Street.

We celebrated by signing

 up for another year's pass.  We are just

two kids at heart, and it is just a short

plane flight for us. 

But in the end, I think it may be all about food!  

As long as Disney keeps coming up with

fun foods, we will probably keep coming back!

Their seasonal flavoring on their Mickey Beignets

for Valentine's Day is Chocolate Strawberry.

Wow, this was such a hit!  (We try to share everything

so we can try more things!)

The new Tropical Hideaway, just around the corner

from the Tiki Room has a Raspberry and Pineapple 

Twist float that we ordered and Loaded Pineapple 

Whip with fresh fruit and those little chocolate

sticks!  There is a really nice place to sit and enjoy

that now and at night it is beautiful with the Tiki torches.

Of course, on the first day - rain, rain, rain, there was

no line for the Dole Pineapple Whip.

Last time we discovered Harbour Galley,

right across from the Haunted Mansion.

It is so tiny that I never even noticed it -

but wow - their lobster roll.  I couldn't get

enough of that.

We discovered these Garlic Cheese Breadsticks

after we watched a kids' show at the Royal Theater.

They are warm, so great on a colder day and they

come with a marinara dipping sauce.

We were craving warm things so this 

yummy treat from the Cozy Cone just hit the spot.

We don't wait in line at Car's Land - we go

for the single rider line.

Have you had a chance to try the

Nom Noms in Disney California?

They sell them right after the

Incredicoaster - Jack Jack has been

chasing them all through the coaster.

They are heated right before you buy

them and that makes them so soft and

melty!  Wow, they were great on a

cooler day.

At the last minute hubby wanted to try and get

in to The Blue Bayou.  As you may know, those

reservations are made months in advance, but

they do have space for walk-ins.  We got lucky.

We enjoyed our gumbo 

and Monte Cristo sandwiches,

but we had to try the Passion Fruit Pillows for

dessert.  

Oh wow!  Happy Valentine's Day to us!!!

This dessert is just for Valentine's, so you

would have to try it pretty soon.

Imagine layers of passion fruit mouse with

a thin layer of cake, covered in what I assume

is a white chocolate spray, and then topped

with a raspberry mousse heart.

It really does look like a pillow with a heart

placed on it for your Valentine!

Notice the garnish of gold on the heart and the

mini candy hearts all over the plate.

It was truly amazing.  We loved it so much

that we ordered one to go and took it back

to our room to have the next day.

The chocolate layer cake paled in comparison,

and only had a few bites taken out of it.

What a great Valentine's Day celebration,

despite the rain.  It was fun to do it

early and see what Disneyland had to offer,

and to kick of February in such a fun way.

We had to agree that if you were going there

to celebrate Valentine's Day, and wanted to get

engaged, or wanted a romantic photo in front

of the castle, you would be truly disappointed.

The Castle is all covered up for painting right now.

Fireworks with that were a bit of a let down,

but everything else was a lot of Disney magic!

Disneyland Paris - A Christmas Delight

Well, here we are at Disneyland Paris,

and we had the great fortune to stay at the Disneyland Paris

Hotel again, which is a marvelous confection of

Victorian pink!

This time we took the TGV train for Charles De Gaulle

Airport rather than ride the bus to Disneyland Paris.

It cost us 19 Euros, and Euros are 1 to 1.09 US dollars

right now, so travel to Paris is quite reasonable.  The TGV

train takes only 10 minutes to travel to Disneyland.  The bus,

which we took last time, took about 40 minutes and was

about the same price, so we loved that.  The TGV and RER

trains stop right on the property, but you do have to haul

your own bags through the security line and to the hotel.

Don't take the RER, it takes you all the way back into Paris

and then back out to Disneyland.  That would take away a little

of the magic.

We arrived at the magnificent Disneyland Hotel to 

be greeted in the lobby by a gigantic tree across from the

magnificent fireplace.  Next to the tree is an almost lifesize

gingerbread house that puffs smoke out of it's smokestack.

I felt like I had walked into one of the Historic Landmark

Homes that I posted about.  Everything is so beautiful and the

people are all so helpful and have that Disney smile.  If you

are worried about being in France and having the people

be friendly and helpful, hang out at Disneyland, Paris!

They are all wonderful and so friendly.

My favorite memory from our last trip here was the 

Hot Chocolate up in the second floor lounge, so we

had to have that again.  It is a block of chocolate

that you melt into your creamy milk, served with a

cookie spoon.  I want to make this for Christmas Eve,

although I will probably just use my chocolate spoons.

I had so many people ask me to let them know what

it was like to travel here at this time of year.  Of course,

we are used to Disney being in warm climates, and we

could have had snow, but the weather was about a high of

50 and down into the 40's by the time we left the park.  It is

definitely a more humid climate here, so we bundled up

and often had to take our gloves and hats off as we

entered buildings or rides.

I would describe it like being in a Christmas wonderland!

It is like being in New York for Christmas only much less

walking and stunning Christmas music being played over

the loudspeakers all day.  You couldn't have a more magical

Christmas experience.

The window displays are amazing, as only Disney can do them.

They remind you of the window displays in New York, just 

featuring Disney characters.

Unbeknownst to me, our reservation included what

is called Half Board.  I assumed that included a beautiful

buffet breakfast in their dining rooms overlooking the park,

as we had the last time.

But no, half board included dining once a day at the 

restaurants in the park or at the hotel.  What you may not

know is that in Disneyland Paris, it is more of a weekend park,

so some of the restaurants, and even rides may not be open

until the weekend.  We couldn't get into dinner for Walt's which 

is on Main Street for either night, and we ended up eating

at the California Grill in the Disneyland Hotel. 

We almost opted for the Buffet, which looked incredible, but

a waiter pulled my husband aside and said that the California

Grill was excellent.  

As all of Disney, the prices are very expensive, but this meal

was completely covered, three courses and a drink, at more than

70 Euros per person.  

We were lucky enough to be seated at the only table that had

a full view of the kitchen and we adored that experience.

Shown above is my Roasted Beet Appetizer, which was

wrapped around goat cheese - amazing!!  Hubby's dessert

was a chocolate ganache bar with creamy ganache on top.

Heavenly!  It was an amazing and elegant meal,

and it was all included.

Our other major surprise was that our three

day ticket to Disneyland was included in our hotel

price.  I had read online that some of the lower

end Disneyland Hotels offered that during the

summer season, but was delighted to find that

it was included in ours.

Our other meal that we opted for was the following day

for lunch at

Bistro Chez Remy.

Of course, the French are enchanted with the little rat,

Remy, from the movie Rataouille.

He has his own little area of the park in Walt Disney Studios,

(which was closed down last time we came), and he has

opened his own restaurant.

Again, the food was amazing and very high priced, 

but we again were given a three course meal, including a drink.

This had to be the most charming themed restaurant I

have been in.  You can see plate racks that make up the booths,

with forks stacked in between for coat racks.  Little corks for

stools, bottle cap backed chairs, wine label tabletops - charm

everywhere.  

Of course, they had to serve ratatouille with each plate.  

It was beautiful and delicious.  Fois Gras was the appetizer,

and it was like eating butter.  The beef tenderloin was so

tender and flavorful, and the sea bass was served with a

delightful Beaurre Blanc sauce.  I think hubby could

have drunk that!

They even wrote Pehr Chef Kirk on

hubby's plate for his dessert of a hazelnut chocolate eclair.

My favorite was the use of drink umbrellas

as table umbrellas.

Remy has outdone himself.

What a delightful way to celebrate the Christmas season,

with sparkling lights, fabulous music, incredible parades,

and firework shows and of course, amazing food.

I highly recommend this as a Christmas destination.

(By the way, we purchased our flights and looked at

hotels before any of the attacks in Paris, and this is

a very inexpensive time to travel to Paris.  The hotel

we are off to was over $1200 in May a year and a half

ago - we did not choose it that time - and is now under

$300!)

Off to Paris proper!!