Tag Archives: Churros

MYWTM Greatest Hits

Leave a comment Posted by on July 31, 2011

Every good band needs a greatest hits album*. Even the ones where you buy the “greatest hits” album and you have never heard of 3/4 of them and truly wonder what the standard is for “greatest” or “hits.”

*(yes, album. I mean, practically nobody buys CDs anymore either so we might as well go back to the original terminology, because it sounds all hipster-y retro)

Anyway, I’ve added a bunch of new readers lately (welcome!!) and I know it’s difficult to sit down and read an entire 6 months worth of past entries, so I’ve compiled a list of some of my most popular posts. Enjoy! Or enjoy again, if you’ve already read them!

Star Tours: The Adventure Continues…in which I describe rather frenetically what it was like to preview this totally awesome new ride (or I should say, new version of this ride).

Pinocchio’s Daring Journey…in which I forever traumatize my young son by forgetting how weird the story is and how terrifying the actual ride is.

My Awkward Social Situation…one of my earliest posts in which I describe how becoming a blogger also inexplicably turned me into a pathological liar.

It’s Snack Time–Popcorn and Churros!…in which I lay down an extremely compelling argument (or not) for eating these amazingly scrumptious treats. Especially churros.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh…the search terms people use to find this one are a little disturbing.

The Little Mermaid–Ariel’s Undersea Adventure…climb into your clam shell and take a brief ride through this newest of Disney California Adventure attractions.

Fruit Carts, Lockers, and a Surprise!..in which I write about the fruit cart, lockers, and a surprise on Main Street.

Jedi Training Academy Part 1–Selection and Training…kind of self-explanatory, but wondering how you can get your kid into the Jedi Training Academy? Try my tips here. And you should check out Jedi Training Academy Part 2: Confronting the Dark Side as well.

Wonder where you can catch a Princess for a meet and greet that isn’t crowded? Try the Castle Secret Passages Part 1: Frontierland and Part 2: Tomorrowland.

Have you ever taken some time to just Look Up?

Okay loyal readers–what are some of YOUR favorite entries? Leave a note in the comments!

 

 

 

 

Everything Else , , , , ,

It’s Snack Time–Popcorn and Churros!

23 Comments Posted by on March 10, 2011

Disneyland makes more money on food than anything else. Or at least that’s what someone told me once, but I would totally believe it. I’m not going to eat at all of the restaurants for this blog (unless you want to open up a donation fund for me to eat everywhere), but I am addicted to Disneyland snacks. Well, two really–their popcorn and churros.

Popcorn and Churros are sold from carts conveniently labeled “Popcorn” and “Churros.” Your very first introduction to Disneyland snacks are the popcorn and churro carts on Main Street. After that you will find them scattered throughout the park.

Now, all popcorn is made of corn, fat, and salt, so it shouldn’t be any big surprise that Disneyland popcorn is also made from corn, fat, and salt. However, Disneyland has perfected this snack treat without even making you add your own artificial butter flavoring (which I love, but would be messy at Disneyland). The Disneyland popcorn carts have a large receptacle for popcorn:

You will be shocked to hear that this is where the popcorn comes from

And then the second area is the cash register hidden by a cute little miniature popcorn turner thingy. Well, it would be cute if it didn’t have a clown. Clowns freak me out. Fortunately, these little clowns are trapped behind glass cranking away at their popcorn thingies in perpetuity.

Push, little slave clown--PUSH!

The popcorn cart by the Matterhorn has a little Abominable Snowman instead of a clown. Now THAT is cute.

This past trip to the park, I decided to get a churro to show you all. Churros are awesome. First I had to find a churro cart. Fortunately my friend Kelli knew exactly where one was–this was on the way to Small World.

Hi Kelli!!

The various popcorn and churro carts are subtley decorated to blend in with their location. This churro cart, being near Small World, had very Small World-like styling

It's a churro after all, it's a churro after all...

I should probably take a moment to mention that the churro and popcorn carts all have a little annexed cooler with beverages available at the low low price of a million dollars a bottle (or whatever). Here’s a good tip from Shelby–bring your own water bottle.

ANYway, the churros at Disneyland (I was horrified to find that they were different at the Mouse-in-Law) are frozen, and then they stack them up on one of those heater conveyer belts, like when you were in college eating dorm food and they had the toaster death trap that you put your piece of bread on and then waited a bit and hoped it came out on the bottom in some sort of edible condition? Like that. Except there’s no risk with Disneyland churros, since the little piece of heating machinery is pretty much made precisely to heat up frozen Disneyland churros.

So the toaster thingy heats it up, and the outside of the churro gets this nice crisp that can only come from fried foods that aren’t good for you. Once it comes out of the heater, the cast member drops it into a bin of cinnamon sugar and rolls it around. If you’re me, you ask them to give it a second roll before they hand it to you.

Pour some sugar on me

The thing that horrified me at the Mouse-in-Law was that their churros are not heated fresh before your eyes, and they’re not hand-dipped in the cinnamony-sugary goodness. They’re pre-heated and pre-dipped. I was so disappointed I almost cried. Theo ate it though. He’s not as picky as I am.

Anyway, then they wrap your delicious churro in a piece of paper and off you go! Delightfully crunchy on the outside, deliciously chewy in the middle, hot and sugary.  And if you’re with Theo, you will hear an endless litany of “bite? bite? bite? bite?” until you can physically prove that the churro is gone and there are no more bites to be had.

Oh yeah, come to mama

Seriously, if you ever visit Disneyland, you have to try a churro. I will buy you a churro at Disneyland. If I am not with you at Disneyland, I will Paypal you the money to buy a churro for yourself when you are there.

The churro cart cast member was very nice to me so I’m putting her picture here.

Thanks for the churro!

Happy snacking!

 

 

Stuff To Eat , , , , ,

Main Street Musings

9 Comments Posted by on January 27, 2011

I went to the park to take the missing pictures of the Emporium and was a bit alarmed to find this:

The Emporium is the building behind the green walls

Which reminds me to say that the disadvantage of visiting Disneyland in the off-season is that it’s also park improvement time. Like those states that get a ton of snow and their four seasons are Winter, Winter, Winter, and Construction. It’s like that.

However, even though it’s not the most scenic thing in the world, it’s still worth it to come in the off-season if you can to avoid the crowds.

Anyway, so the giant green walls were a bit disconcerting. There were also two giant green walled boxes next to the two snack stands in Town Square (which is what this entry was originally going to be about–the snack stands).

A bit alarmed and confused, I sought out the nearest cast member to ask what was going on. I spoke with Jackie, who in addition to being super-sweet and helpful, is also quite adorable.

Meet Jackie, and admire my advanced photography skills

Regarding the construction, they are re-paving the street in front of the Emporium and Jackie said that they should be finished with that around the 5th (of February). Additionally, the two green boxes will soon become sinks for hand washing for the two snack carts.

Which brings to me to the carts.

There are two carts in the Town Square: a popcorn cart and a churro cart. Jackie is at the churro cart. You may have noticed the “churros” on the side of her cart–a dead giveaway.

So what is a churro? Well, this snack is described as a “Mexican donut” which I have always found kind of odd given that it’s very little like a donut in my opinion. It’s basically dough that is extruded to be long and thin, which is then deep-fried and rolled in cinnamon sugar. I should have taken a picture but I didn’t buy one on that visit. They’re pretty much all kinds of awesome. The best churros can be found on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles, but the Disneyland ones are nothing to scoff at. In fact, I often buy them. The next time I buy one, I shall photograph it for you all.

The other snack cart is a popcorn cart. I have an odd weakness for Disneyland popcorn. I don’t know what they cook it in or whatever, but there’s just the right proportion of saltiness and artificial butter flavor to make it very yummy. You can pretty much buy an entire 6-pack box of microwave popcorn for the price of a small Dland popcorn, but that wouldn’t be any fun, would it?

The popcorn cart, and by popcorn cart I mean light pole

So those are your two immediate snack options when you enter the park. I do recommend both.

I have no idea why I took this picture of Town Square:

What is this a picture of? Why did I take it?

It seemed like a good idea at the time *shrug*.

Main Street , , ,

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