I Ate Sushi At The Re-Imagined California Grill

Last week I attended a preview of the re-imagined California Grill at Walt Disney World's Contemporary Resort.

California Grill is located on the 15th floor of the Contemporary Resort. Floor to ceiling windows allow you to enjoy an amazing view of the Magic Kingdom and the Seven Seas Lagoon. Sunsets are pretty incredible, too.

The re-imagination was inspired by mid-century modern California design. The lights were one of my favorite touches, they have a great sculptural feel.

The kitchen is open to the restaurant. If you sit at the sushi bar, you can see the fresh fish, and watch the chefs as they prepare your meal.

California Grill is beautiful, and the view is amazing (more about that later), but I know what your real question is: How was the food?

Sushi Bar
The sushi looked so colorful and fun. Even though it is way outside of my comfort zone, I wanted to try it. I reminded myself that Disney is the perfect place to be adventurous, and went for it. I was not disappointed.

I ate sushi, y'all. I ate sushi, and I liked it.

Don't worry if sushi isn't your thing, and you aren't ready to make that adventurous eating leap. The California Grill also has dishes with pork, chicken, fish, beef, and duck. There is something for everyone. If you do want to eat the sushi (trust me, you do), they have a 12-course omakase menu that will allow you to try a variety of fresh creations from the chef.

Entrées
Roasted Squash Ravioli with root spinach, parsnips, petite herb salad, sage brown butter, and 12 year balsamic.

Oak-Fired Filet of Beef served with heirloom tomato risotto, marinated baby vine tomatoes, basil, and tomato butter. Eating food with tomatoes - yet another step in adventurous eating for me.

A slightly blurry picture (mostly because I was so excited to pick up my fork), but I had to include it because the Oak-Fired Filet of Beef was my favorite entrée. I would be happy eating it every day.

There were other great looking dishes like a 24-Hour Short Rib Filet, Bell & Evans Chicken with a teriyaki barbecue glaze, Wild Columbia River Salmon, but I had to save room for dessert. I definitely want to try the Bell & Evans Chicken the next time I visit. It is served with truffle macaroni and cheese, glazed vegetables, and chicken sausage.

The most important part of the meal: Dessert
One of the cutest desserts was the Sundae Sampler. Created by California Grill Pastry Chef Jeff Barnes, it includes a Coke float, a strawberry sundae, and a caramel corn sundae.

The tiny containers and mini spoon were a great touch. How can you not love them instantly? The Caramel Corn Sundae was the winner of the trio. The caramel sauce was delicious, and it is a perfect dessert for fall.

Chocolate Pudding Cake with Nutella Filling, meringue kisses, and mint Chantilly cream. It is very dark chocolate and very rich. I loved every yummy bite of it.

The Banana Bread Fritters were amazing as well. They were warm, and sweet, and had the right level of banana. The toasted caramel marshmallow wasn't bad, either.

California Grill is a dessert paradise.

You remember the great view? It extends outside to two observation platforms. At the end of the night we stepped out to watch the Wishes firework display at Magic Kingdom. You can see Cinderella's Castle and Space Mountain from the observation deck, and before the sun went down, I was even able to spot Belle's Castle and Fantasyland in the distance.

The music from the show can be heard from the speakers on the observation deck, so you are able to get the whole Wishes experience.

The perfect finale to an amazing meal.

*I was provided with a free meal, but I was not required to write about it, say nice things, or stuff myself with dessert. Those choices were all mine, as are the opinions in this post.

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Candy Crush Level 265 Is Trying To Blow Me Up

Candy Crush Level 265 does not look very hard at first.
You need to clear eight squares of jelly. Easy-peasy, right?

But once you start clearing the jellies, you realize bombs are going to fall from those candy dispensers every time. Every.single.time.

I hate when the easy looking levels turn out to be the hardest. And I've been stuck on this one for over a week. I think the answer is crossing polka dot chocolate pieces with striped candies, but it has yet to work for me.

How do you pass Candy Crush Level 265?

I need Candy Crush help. Sad, but true.

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Nine Months

Nine months is the time it takes to grow a baby. It feels like a sacred time in that way. A time of fullness. A time of completion that leads to a new beginning.

I sit here in the ninth month (no, I'm not pregnant, I am referring to the ninth month of the year), and I can't help but look back at the beginning.

I chose a word to focus on this year. Act.

Action.

Am I acting? Am I taking action? Am I making moves and stepping out?

Maybe. Some. A little. More than last year.

Not enough.

I am still struggling to understand action. Not action as a word, but action as a daily act in my life. And here I am at the nine month mark, and not yet ready to birth this baby, this plan, this new me. Longing for that completion that leads to a new beginning, and not yet sure how to make it happen.

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Yesterday I read an old verse with new eyes:

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you." ~Luke 17:5-6

In the past I have read that as, "Just have a little bit of faith, and you can do stuff," and thought about all the sermon illustrations about just how small a mustard seed really is. But yesterday, I saw something more.

These men asked Jesus to increase their faith (so often I have asked for the same thing), and Jesus looked at them, these men who clearly had some faith - they were following Him, they were apostles, they believed He had the power to increase their faith; that is at least a mustard seed - and, in effect, He told them to use the faith they already have.

It isn't about an increase in faith; it is about using your faith. Use it. Tell that tree to move. As you see your faith working, it will increase.

Action.

Later in that same chapter, Jesus heals ten lepers. Only one of them comes back to say thank you, and after Jesus points out that only this one, a foreigner, returned, this happens:

Then He said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” ~Luke 17:19

Your faith has made you well.
You used your faith, and something happened. It was not a question of how much faith he had, or how much faith the other nine lepers had. It was a question of using their faith. It was a question of action. The action of using their faith made them well.

Don't just stay here in this place; rise and go.
Go share your story. Action.
Go share your praise. Action.
Go share your faith. Action.

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I looked back at my post from the beginning of this year, when I chose act as my one word to focus on, and saw the words from a friend that convicted me, and helped me choose this word:

"However many inspiring or encouraging words, truths, and promises we read or speak, what good will they do you if we do not act on them?"

What good is knowledge if I do not act on it?

What good is faith I do not use?

What good is life that is stagnant?

What good is a tree that does not grow, a branch that withers, a vine that does not produce grapes?

Action.

I think that was a contraction I just felt.


Did you choose a word for the year? How is that journey going?
Have you read something with new eyes or new understanding lately?
I would love to hear about it.

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Two Stories About Lilith

I have two stories to tell you about a book. That is a lot of stories considering I am only 20 pages into it. The book is Lilith by George MacDonald. It has been on my reading list for a long time. I've read other MacDonald books in the past, and enjoyed them, so I had high hopes for this one.

Story number 1.
I borrowed Lilith from the library using Katarina's Nook last week. I started at the first page which seemed to be a prologue, and immediately hated it. I set it down before finishing the page. The next day I tried it again, and the same thing happened. It did not appeal to me at all. The third day was another repeat.

This morning I was determined to get through it - even though it didn't feel like any George MacDonald book I had read before, even though it didn't even make clear sense to me, even though it seemed far removed from the description of the book, even though I thought he might be writing about bees who drive carriages and let their horses walk into their houses (I am not entirely sure if that interpretation is correct); I was going to keep going.

Four flicks of the nook pages later, I realized that it wasn't George MacDonald at all. It was a quote from Thoreau's Walking.

No wonder it felt so wrong.

Confession: If I had been holding a paper version of the book, I would have seen that it was a section from Thoreau, and I would have skipped right past it.
Sometimes you get tricked when you use an ereader, because you don't always get to see the page in its entirely until you have flipped to the next screen. It is possible ereaders are trying to mess with my brain because of the unkind things I have said about them in the past. I knew they weren't to be trusted.

Confession: I don't like Thoreau. I don't like most poetry, either.
This information shocked Thomas when I shared it with him this morning, but I am sure I can't be the only person who feels this way.

Story number 2.
Once I got past the Thoreau opening, I made it to the first page of George MacDonald. It was wonderful from the very first word. Then I reached this special moment on page 8,

"The house as well as the family was of some antiquity, but no description of it is necessary to the understanding of my narrative."

One of the most beautiful word groupings in the English language just happened there. Did you catch them? "No description of it is necessary to the understanding of my narrative." I was delighted.

Confession: I don't enjoy extremely descriptive writers.
Sometimes you read a book, and you look back at the end and realize that it would be a fourth shorter if there hadn't been so many detailed descriptions of what every single person wore (*cough* Robert Jordan fulfilling what I can only assume was his secret desire to be a fashion designer in every scene of Wheel of Time that takes place in Tel'aran'rhiod with ridiculously involved descriptions of every outfit change, of which there will be at least four in each scene. *cough*). You keep reading it, because you enjoy the story (and because all books must be finished), but by the fiftieth outfit change you find yourself wishing that every character would spend the rest of the book naked.

I immediately thought of a scene in the movie Stranger Than Fiction where Dennis Hoffman tells Will Ferrell:

"I've written papers on 'Little did he know.' I've taught classes on 'Little did he know.' I once gave an entire seminar based upon 'Little did he know.'"

This is how strongly I feel about the phrase "No description of it is necessary to the understanding of my narrative." I want someone to write a paper about it, teach a class on it, spend an entire seminar telling people they can omit descriptions that are not necessary to the understanding of the narrative. Please.

I am happy to report that after that wonderful declaration, MacDonald went on to only describe things that you needed to visualize (namely, the library, and who doesn't like to hear about a wonderful library), and not the entire house.

Lilith. First 20 pages (minus the Thoreau)? Complete win.

Now I have questions for you relating to each of my confessions:

• Do you like super descriptive books?
• Do you enjoy poetry? (If you do, tell me your favorite. Maybe you can convert me into a poetry lover.)
• Do you ever skim over long pieces of poetry or songs written in books?

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Now Accepting Submissions for the September 2013 Edition of the Blog Against Child Abuse

The Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse is a monthly event. Its purpose is to raise awareness about the serious issue of child abuse. All forms of abuse (physical, emotional, sexual, spiritual, verbal) are discussed.


After a four month hiatus, it is time to bring back the blog carnival against child abuse.

How does a blog carnival work?
A Blog Carnival is a special kind of community. Blog Carnivals collect submitted links pointing to blog posts and articles on a specific topic. It is similar to a magazine - each edition is a special blog post that contains links to all the contributions that have been submitted, often with the organizer's remarks.

The September edition of the Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse will be hosted here, at From Tracie.

All of our regular categories will be open:
-Advocacy and Awareness
-Aftermath
-Healing and Therapy
-In the News
-Poetry
-Survivor Stories
-Art Therapy

The deadline for submissions is September 18th, and the carnival will be posted on the 20th. I'm excited to see what y'all share this month. You can submit something written especially for this edition, but please feel free to submit an older post as well.

To submit a blog post, please fill out this form.

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The Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse provides an opportunity to raise awareness about the serious issue of child abuse and to share important posts with others who might not be frequent readers of an author's blog. There are so many wonderful bloggers who are contributing to the cause of ending and recovering from child abuse. If you, as a reader or author, know of other blogs that you find helpful, please encourage them to submit to an upcoming issue of the Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse so we can continue to receive high quality submissions from a wide swath of bloggers.

Many thanks to all of you who shared your hearts and stories with us, and to all of you who read the submissions and show your support. You keep this carnival, the awareness, support, and healing going each month.

To provide another way for you to stay in contact with the blog carnival, and make sure you don't miss any updates; you can like the Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse Facebook Page.

Thank you for raising your voice and speaking out against child abuse!

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