Goodbye, Mr. Ebert.

In the early 90's, when the internet boom was just beginning, I was fortunate enough to subscribe to CompuServe, the main competitor to AOL, where I met and interacted with a man named Roger Ebert. Roger was the first celebrity I had ever personally talked to (although he would cringe at being called a 'celebrity'), and I enjoyed discussing my favorite films and getting feedback from the world's best known (along with Gene Siskel) film critic. He was always polite and appreciative of the opinions of everyone on the site, even those who posted near-illiterate drivel about the misunderstood genius of Pauly Shore.

I love movies. I always have, and since my days working in a video store, always tried to see "good" movies. I realize that everyone has their taste, and what is "good" to me may not be to you.....but in my opinion, if it was good enough to receive the much-coveted "two thumbs up" rating from Siskel and Ebert (and, later, Ebert and Richard Roeper), it was good enough to warrant my attention. Of course I wasn't able to see EVERY film they recommended, or even close to it, but I went out of my way to search out films they championed. In many cases, they were films that I had not heard of, or had no interest in seeing. Off the top of my head, I can think of so many great films that I saw based solely on their specific recommendations:

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover
Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down
Life is Beautiful
Do The Right Thing
Schindler's List
The Joy Luck Club
Fargo
The Player
Short Cuts
Leaving Las Vegas
Evita
The Full Monty
In The Company of Men
In The Bedroom
City of God
Thank You for Smoking
Barney's Version
The Artist
Midnight in Paris

....and this little beauty with the strange title, from 1994:

Oh, how many hours of entertainment I owe to them. The films listed above are just the ones that come to mind right now. I am sure I am missing dozens of other great films that I would not have searched out on my own.

Do a search for "Roger Ebert" right now and you will find hundreds of thoughts and tributes to a man who touched so many lives. There is little I can add.

When Gene Siskel passed away in 1999 (my GOD can it really be 14 years ago??), Roger hosted a beautifully touching tribute to his friend and colleague. This is one of a handful of VHS tapes I had kept until less than a month ago when I transferred it to DVD. The quality is pretty awful, but that one will stay in my collection until it's my turn to join them in the balcony.

He was more than a movie critic; he was a champion for smaller independent films (ask Michael Moore where his career would be without S&E's glowing review of "Roger and Me", or Quentin Tarantino). He also was fast to highlight up and coming performers; Siskel and Ebert both panned the 1987 Christopher Reeve movie "Street Smart", but highlighted a terrific performance by a then-unknown actor named Morgan Freeman. Freeman was nominated for an Oscar, likely due in large part to Siskel and Ebert's praise of a great performance in a film that few people saw, or liked. He was a strong advocate for documentaries, often criticizing Hollywood for his perceived lack of support for them, and for their over-reliance on digital effects and what he called "gimmicks", such as 3-D. He railed against the Motion Picture Association of America's rating system, claiming it railed between being too restrictive and too lenient. He was the first film critic awarded the Pulitzer Prize for journalism, in 1975. And, he is one of the only film critics to have actually written a screenplay, for Russ Meyer's 1970 film "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls", which is still considered a cult classic by many.

He cared, and wrote, about many things other than movies; from religion to politics, from pop culture to the state of the internet, Roger always had an opinion and was happy to share it with his readers.

And, in the last few years of his life, he became a role model for those dealing with illness. When he lost the bottom part of his jaw, disabling him from speaking or eating, he just said "whatever" and kept doing everything he had already been doing. He was not going to hide his illness, or surrender to it. He even published a cookbook on meals that could be made with a rice cooker....despite the fact that he couldn't eat them.

Although I didn't always agree with his reviews (particularly stunning to me was his horribly-negative review of last year's Les Miserables, my favorite film of the past season and one I know I will always cherish), I always respected his opinions. Most often than not, if he enjoyed a film, I knew I would enjoy it, too.

Two days ago, Roger penned his final blog entry, in which he announced that his cancer had returned and he was planning on taking a "leave of presence". Not going away, but planning on reviewing less films. He wrote:

"It really stinks that the cancer has returned and that I have spent too many days in the hospital. So on bad days I may write about the vulnerability that accompanies illness. On good days, I may wax ecstatic about a movie so good it transports me beyond illness.

So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I'll see you at the movies."

No, thank YOU, Roger.

Mr. Ebert was once asked what movie he thought was shown over and over in heaven, and what snack would be free of charge and calories there.

" 'Citizen Kane' and vanilla Haagen-Dazs ice cream," he answered.

Rest well, Roger. Gene has your seat waiting for you; and I'm sure he has the film and ice cream all ready to go.

When Food Meets Art; dinner at Victoria & Albert's

OK so here is the blog I promised with details of our dinner at Victoria & Albert's, the only 5 star restaurant in Orlando, which is in the Grand Floridian hotel.

Dinner actually started 4 days before we left on the trip, as they called me to ask for menu details to personalize our menus. They removed any reference to anything remotely close to be considered seafood for Tracey.

Menus were literally "personalized", as they had our names printed on them and we took them home.

The prix fixe menu was $135 each, with extra charges for anything listed on the menu with a price beside it. I declined the $210/oz. caviar.

We also added on the wine pairings for an extra $65 each.

It started with the best champagne I have ever had, Piper Heidsieck Cuvee 1785 NV Btut

We didn't get pictures of all the food but I'll include what we have below. Keep in mind that neither Tracey nor I EVER take pictures of food in restaurants, but this was special.

For our first course, I selected Mango Crusted Gulf Shrimp with Ponzu Vinaigrette. This was paired with a fabulous off-dry Reisling from Poet's Leap, in the Columbia Valley of Germany. Fabulous.

This was Tracey's first course:

Preserved Artichokes, Roasted Eggplant with an Olive and Black Garlic Aioli. Paired very nicely with Paco & Lola Albarino Rias Baixas, 2010. Yeah I don't know what that is either but it was excellent.

For our second course:

 

The nearest dish is Tracey's Poulet Rouge with Hedgehog Mushrooms and Gnocchi. Mine is a Diver Scallop with Fennel, Leek and Minus 8 Verjus Vinaigrette. I am not a big fan of Sauvignon Blanc but that was what was paired with this course and it was terrific (Jules Taylor, Marlborough, 2012). Tracey's pairing was a fantastic Italian Ceretto Rossana Dolcetto D'Alba.

My next course was a Braised Oxtail and Cherry Ravioli (because when you think Oxtail, you think cherries, right????). It was absolutely incredible. It came paired with a 2008 Highflyer Centerline, a red blend from California. Outstanding.

This was Tracey's next course:

Mangalitsa Pork with Roasted Beets and toasted Caraway Vinaigrette. This one was the only wine pairing "fail" of the night, as it came with a Malbec that she didn't like. However, the fail turned into a big "win" as they offered her a choice of any other wine to replace the Malbec (and left the Malbec for me!). She got a glass of the Cabernet Sauvignon that I had with my next dish, which was this one:

I had the choice of the steak on the left, which was Austrailian Kobe Beef (a $35 surcharge) or the beef on the right, the KING of steaks, Iwate Japanese beef ($90 extra). Since I couldn't decide, they offered to split the difference and bring me half of each!

I've had Kobe beef before, and it was just as amazing as I remembered. The other one, however, was something that I cannot describe. It was so good, it probably ruined me for Kobe beef!!!! Unreal.

As if that wasn't enough, the wine that came with it was absolutely the best Cabernet Sauvignon I have ever had. It was from Silver Oak, in California, from the Alexander Valley (2008). I've looked this one up and we can get it here, for $100 a bottle. The winery also makes a "better" one, if you can believe that, from the Napa Valley, which is $135 a bottle. Our server told me this is a very collected wine. I will be finding a bottle for a special occasion.

The fifth course was a palate cleanser, and Tracey selected the following:

Sottocenere Al Tartufo, Parmigiano Reggiano, Colston Basset Stilton, Gouda Reypenaer XO. I honestly don't even remember what this was, but I know she liked it. It came paired with a Portugese Port from a winery we are quite familiar with, Quinta do Crasto. We have a Douro from that winery quite often.

I had a White Chocolate Gelato, paired with an incredible Moscato from Italy. Simpy sublime.

Now it's time for dessert.

Tracey's:

Hawaiian Chocolate Souffle

Mine:

Carmelized Banana Gateau

Both desserts were compelling and finished off this incredible meal in the most perfect fashion possible.

Oh, and one other little added bonus:

Every lady in the restaurant was given a rose as she finished her meal.

If that wasn't enough, we were serenaded by a harpist, about 6 feet beside our table.

This was the food experience of my life, and it is an absolute "must do" when in Orlando.

Hope you enjoyed the read!

Dean

Orlando Day 15

8:35 AM - I'm up and finishing packing. Tracey has already begun The Process as we prepare to leave the resort. All the details have been finalized for checkout, we just need to drop the room keys with security on the way out. Flight is scheduled to leave at 6:45 so we have lots of time to have one more fun day before departing the Sunshine State.

9:50 AM - We are off and the resort portion of the vacation is officially over. We are headed to Epcot but first stop to play some mini golf. I won't say much about the golf because Tracey had one of the all time bad games that someone could have at Disney mini golf.

It wasn't all sunshine and roses for me though. This is me digging the ball out of the lake.

And this is me....well, you can tell what I'm doing.

Not sure exactly how the ball even managed to get in there, it seems to have defied the laws of physics.

How bad was it for Tracey?

See this fence that really isn't in play?

She manages to hit that fence, the ball ricochets back, nearly hits me in the nuts, and comes to rest here:

Good luck on your next shot, honey.


We leave the car there and walk to the Boardwalk, which is very nice, and do a little shopping. Next we are off to Epcot so we hop onto a boat that takes us right there. The BEST way to get into the parks! They have boats that can take you to three of the four major parks. Awesome.

When we get to Epcot we have a little time before our lunch reservation so we hit up a couple of the pavilions for some wine flights. The dessert wine flight from Germany was fantastic! Tracey also has a sample of Gewürztraminer and its very good. Who would have thought Germans could make Gewürztraminer??

We have lunch at San Angel Inn, inside the Mexico pavilion. Best authentic Mexican meal I've ever had. The only thing that Tracey's first husband (who was Guatemalan) left her with (thank Christ) was a fondness for Mexican food. This place is slightly better than my usual Mexican place, El Taco De Bell-o.

After lunch we meander back to the car and head to the airport. It has been a fabulous trip but time to get back to balmy Chilliwack, and 9 degrees and rain. Yee-freaking-ha.

5:40 PM - Sitting at the gate waiting to board. Tracey is thirsty so I offer to get go us drinks. My bad. She chooses something from StarSucks. I actually have to go up and order a "Venti Black Tea Lemonade Half Sweet". I feel like such an ass.

I get the only thing I would drink here, a bottle of water.

I will seriously never understand the success of this company.

6:00 PM - On the plane and we notice there is a menu for our dinner, we get the choice of Pork Tenderloin or Beef Wellington. We both select the Welly. It comes with a beautiful salad, mashed potatoes, and something called "Chocolate Decadence" for dessert. The best meal I've ever had on a plane. After dinner, we are presented with warm nuts (insert your own "warm salty nuts joke here") and a hot towel. I LOVE Alaska Airlines.

2:15 AM - Yeah I skipped a bit because we are finally home and time for bed. This was an absolutely fantastic trip.

Tomorrow I'll be posting all the pictures and details from our incredible dinner at Victoria & Albert's, so check back then.

Orlando Day 14

9:00 AM - the penultimate day of our adventure begins a little earlier than I would have liked. Since I don't expect to see the wife awake for some time, I'll have to find something to entertain myself for a while.

11:00 AM - Tracey stirs, makes herself some tea, and begins The Process while I get her pancakes ready.

We noticed yesterday that our jacuzzi tub stopped working, so I call maintenance to have them look at it, as well as at the leak that seems to have materialized under or behind the stove. When I pick up the phone I notice that the phones aren't working either. No wonder its been so quiet here the last few days! Oh well I guess I'll have to head up to the desk and report it in person. I almost turn around when I get there and see there are a half dozen people ahead of me, but they are all little issues and they get to me quickly.

We head to the pool while maintenance comes to fix the tub and leak. Maintenance guy is very friendly but has such a thick accent I can't understand a word as he tries to explain the issues to me. Not that I really care, they get fixed and I'm not really worried about the phones since we are leaving tomorrow morning anyway.

I go back and forth from the townhouse to the pool a couple times. Tracey puts in a full day. What she finds "relaxing", I find "mind-numbingly-boring", but she has to go home to a job and I am going home to nothing so she gets to relax all she wants. Next time we come down here I will bring my golf clubs and go play golf while she chills out all day.

4:30 PM - I'm back at the townhouse to finish the bulk of the packing before we head to dinner. We are going to brave the crowds of Olive Garden, which probably means we won't get seated until 9, but at least we know what we will get.

The weather is brilliant today; actually it's been very nice all trip, but we were spoiled on our last visit in 2011. Not a drop of rain, and no wind or humidity to speak of, for the entire two weeks. That is the vacations against which all other vacations will be measured for weather. It's nearly impossible to get such great weather for two full weeks down here.

5:30 PM - I drop Tracey off at Olive Garden while I go put a little gas in the car, aware that we will be waiting a long time. There are already people waiting outside the door. By the time I get back, she is already seated!! Amazing.

We have a very good dinner, and as we are leaving, there are about 40 people waiting outside for a ttable. I overhear someone say "two hours". Apparently everyone eats a late dinner in this town.

8:44 PM - Just back to the townhouse after one last late night pool/hot tub adventure. An absolutely perfect night to cap off a fabulous vacation!

But I'm talking like the trip is over! Not so; we have a late flight so we are still going to be doing some stuff tomorrow, including a few afternoon hours at Epcot. Loyal readers can expect another blog post at some point tomorrow.

Orlando Day 13

8:30 AM - interesting fact: as I am writing this, it is currently one degree warmer back home than it is here. Accuweather says it is 8 in Sardis and 7 here. It warms up quickly today though so that makes dressing a bit of a challenge. If we dress for cold, we will be way too warm by the mid morning. I guess we will have to put up with the cold for an hour or so. Virtually no wind today so that helps.

Another interesting fact: TONS of Ontario plates here, and a few from Quebec. Leads me to the unscientific conclusion that Easterners drive more than we do. We don't see anywhere near that many BC plates in Cali.

Second day in a row that the wife has to "take one for the team" as she slept better last night but still not enough. We have breakfast reservations this morning so we are out the door shortly. This is our last visit to the Magic Kingdom this trip so we have a few things (Space Mountain!!!!!!!) left to do but hopefully we can get home early so Tracey can catch up on sleep.

On the tram, a kid asks his mom where they speak French. It takes her a while (too long) to come up with "France". Next question is "where do they speak Spanish?" She immediately answers Mexico, and Argentina. Both correct of course, but only in America would the first answer not be "Spain"!

10:00 AM - Breakfast buffet at Crystal Palace. Visits from Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet only add to a damn fine buffet. All the usual buffet fare plus something called "Pooh puffed French Toast" (in the immortal words of Jessica Simpson "I dunno what it is but I wan it") and "Breakfast Lasagne" which I think is illegal in most countries. It involves layers of pancakes, waffles, pound cake, strawberries and bananas, topped with custard and sugar. Holy shit.

1:00 PM - We are done what we came here to do and it's time to leave the MK for the last time this trip. Four visits here (albeit not full days) was the perfect amount to see just about everything.

We were able to get pictures with Tiana, knocking my Princess List down to one: the White Whale, Pocahontas. It could be argued that she doesn't need to be on the list as she is not technically a Princess but I'm making the judgement call to leave here there. And then there was one.

2:15 PM - off to our local pool. Clearly the wife hasn't had enough "relax" time yet. Oh and did I mention that tomorrow is a "relax-in-other-words-don't-do-a-darn-thing" day??

5:20 PM - Tracey returns from the pool. While she was there I went to Target and picked up some more pasta sauce to make spaghetti for dinner. Trying to use up all the food we bought before we leave. In that vein, we sacrificed and ensured that all the Pop-Tarts and Apple Jacks were eaten tonight. No Pop-Tarts get left behind!

9:30 PM - off to bed. We are going to get up when we get up tomorrow. Tracey mistakenly thinks that we will be able to get chairs at our favourite pool area when she gets up sometimes around noon, but she will discover the truth tomorrow :)

Orlando Day 12

10:30 AM - up and well rested for another big day.

11:15 AM - Tracey is up but had a terrible sleep. Going to be a very long day for her.

1:00 PM - She lays down for a mostly unsuccessful nap. She's keeping up a brave face so as not to mess with our plans but she's really tired.

2:00 PM - we are off to Epcot. It's windy today so we brought our jeans and sweatshirts to make sure we aren't too cold after dinner. It's not too busy today but we aren't planning on any rides anyway. We are here to roam and do the "wine walk" (2 samples from each of Germany, France and Italy).

As we walk through the gates a kid screams "BEST VACATION EVER!!!!!!!!". Guess he had a good day!

We go to a show at the US pavilion which is good, but during the closing montage there is an image of Lance Armstrong. Yeah, might want to edit that one out!!!

We have lunch in Morocco. Food is pretty good but the rest of the area doesn't interest us much. Definitely the best thing about Morocco is Princess Jasmine (who is outside the pavilion posing for pictures in her cute little outfit). Me-ow.

7:00 PM - dinner time at Monsieur Paul's, the nicest French restaurant at Epcot. We get seated by the window, the perfect spot to watch the fireworks. Tracey has literally the best seat in the house. Dinner is fabulous, and our waiter is excellent. I try to speak French but I quickly realize I need a refresher on that. Pretty sure at one point I ordered French Onion Socks.

9:00 PM - as the fireworks are just beginning we get dessert, an orange soufflé with ice cream and Grand Marnier sauce. Best. Soufflé. Ever.

Wow. So good.

Gotta give my wife mad props, she made it through the day despite being half asleep all day. What a trooper. And we are up early tomorrow for our last foray into the Magic Kingdom, starting with a breakfast buffet. Hope she gets some sleep tonight!!!!

Orlando Day 11

11:05 AM - Wow I can't remember the last time I slept in until 11 unless I was sick. That immediately makes me wonder, AM I SICK!?!?!? Hmm no I don't feel sick.

I pick up my iPad and it says that it's only 10:05. So much for the epic sleep in. Seems as if the "daylight savings" setting on the alarm clock kicked in but it did so a couple of days late, after I had already manually changed it.

10:30 AM - Tracey is still asleep, I hope she feels better when she gets up. I know she won't screw up the rest of the trip but it will be harder for her to enjoy things if she's under the weather.

11:15 AM - She's up and although she's not really feeling better, she isn't feeling any worse and she got a good night's sleep so that's something. After breakfast we are headed to the fitness centre and pool for a few hours before heading back to the Magic Kingdom this evening.

After our workout we are dismayed to find that the pool area is packed, not a lounge chair to be found.....so we head back to our local pool and spend some time there.

4:00 PM - Back to the room getting ready to head to the MK. No specific plans for tonight except for the Main Street Electrical Parade which starts at 9. The wind is making it a little chilly tonight so we are actually going to GASP leave the shorts at home and wear jeans tonight.

10:00 PM - Home from a nice but crazy crowded day at MK. 105 minute wait for the Jungle Cruise. No that is not a typo. Needless to say that other than the parade, we didn't accomplish a heck of a lot tonight. We still have a few rides to tackle, so we will be busy on our last visit to MK on Friday.

We're sitting in a restaurant having dinner and a family comes and sits down next to us. A guy with his wife, mother. 2 daughters (ages around 8 and 13). The jackass is wearing a T shirt that says the following:

"Heads I get tail, tails I get head".

Stay classy, Orlando. Jesus. I'm not sure I'd wear that shirt to a Vegas strip club, let alone a Disney park with my family.

Off to bed, tomorrow back to Epcot for dinner at Monsieur Paul, the signature restaurant in the France pavilion.