Disney World: Planning

Our family went on vacation to Disney World this summer.  The last time we went was about 19 years ago, so this trip was much anticipated, and excitement was high.  Disney World is amazing and really like a whole other planet.  And so, we put about as much time into planning this trip as would be necessary for a mission to Mars.  There are a couple of reasons that I think careful planning is important for a Disney trip:

1)  It is big.  Disney World covers more acreage than the island of Manhattan.  So clutching your map on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom with the seven other members of your party and saying, "I don't know, what do you want to do?" is burning time.
2) It is busy.  You can spend hours standing in line behind the 300 other people who also want to ride Space Mountain.  Restaurants are booked months in advance.

My mom masterminded the whole plan: she booked our rooms (we stayed at the Pop Century Resort) and dinners about six months in advance, and rented a fifteen passenger van.  With eight of us going, it was easier to ride together than to caravan it in three separate vehicles.  Staying in the resort has some great advantages: the bus service picks you up at the hotel and drops you off at the various parks; your room key is also your admission ticket which is also your Fast-Pass ticket (more on that later); and, you get to take advantage of early (or late) park hours (called Extra Magic Hours).

I took over planning the itinerary.  I found a copy of The Unofficial Guide Walt Disney World by Bob Sehlinger and Len Testa, which is a Type-A planner's dream come true.  The book has detailed itineraries for each park; descriptions of every ride, show, and event; a chart showing travel time between each park and hotel; a fright-potential rating for everything; and a lot more.  I devoured the book and used it to plan our itineraries.  The trouble with using their itineraries as they were was that our group was very diverse.  It included my parents (who don't do roller coasters); my sister (no coasters) and her husband (who would do roller coasters) and their two-year old (height restrictions); my 14 year old cousin (he's a roller coaster nut); Jordan (ditto), and myself (I ride baby coasters).  So basically, we had a group that wanted to hit the thrill rides and a group that wanted to watch the toddler.  But, a lot of the rides actually appeal to both groups.  So, what I did was create an itinerary that split the two groups and then brought them back together.  This is an example from our first day, at Animal Kingdom:

Monday: Animal Kingdom (Extra Magic Hours am)

Catch bus around 7:00 am; arrive around 7:20
Ride Kilimanjaro Safaris
Walk the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail in Africa	Get Fastpasses for Expedition Everest, then ride DINOSAUR
See It’s Tough to be a Bug! And exhibits at The Tree of Life on Discovery Island	Ride Expedition Everest
After the rest of the park opens:
Ride TriceraTop Spin	Ride Primeval Whirl
Play at The Boneyard	Ride Kali River Rapids
Watch Flights of Wonder (if wait more than 20 minutes, switch with Maharajah Jungle Trek)
Walk the Maharajah Jungle Trek
Take Wildlife Express Train from Africa to Conservation Station and Rafiki’s Planet Watch.  Tour the areas and take the train back to Africa.
Meet characters along the way to Camp Minnie-Mickey
See Festival of the Lion King
See Finding Nemo—The Musical in DinoLand
Anything else we want to do or see.
Return to hotel to swim, nap, refresh, as time permits
At 5:50, catch bus to Magic Kingdom and transfer to monorail or walk; Dinner at Chef Mickey (Contemporary Resort) 6:50

Yellow was the thrill group, blue was the chill group, and green was for the combined groups.  I also included our travel times and dinner times on the itinerary.  I should make clear that the itinerary represented an ideal: not absolutely everything on the list got done, but we made quick decisions in the moment, and really, we got to do and see everything we wanted.  And, here's the thing: we spent almost no time waiting in line.  We more or less walked onto everything, but our absolute longest waits were maybe 15-20 minutes.  And this was in peak season when the parks were filling up each day.  We were usually done a little after lunch and could leave about the time the park was getting crazy.  There are a few things that allowed us to do this:

1)  The order of the rides: I based this primarily on the suggestions from The Unofficial Guide.  They have done extensive research on crowd flow and movement at the parks and know which rides get busy quickest.  We followed their suggestions with some changes based on our preferences.
2)  We got there early.  Very early.  Like, a half hour before the park opens, even when we had Extra Magic Hours.  This was absolutely worth it.  And, at Magic Kingdom and Epcot they have cute "opening ceremonies."  We also ate lunch early, usually around 11am.
3)  We took advantage of Fast Passes.  For many popular rides, there are kiosks in which you insert your park admission card and you are given ticket with a time to return.  You come back and walk onto the ride.  Amazing.

I am including our full week's itinerary:

Domestic Scholar's Disney World Itinerary

Any tips on how you planned your Disney World trip?  Any questions you would like to see answered here?--I am not an expert (and there are definitely Disney experts out there), but I'll tell you what I know!

Work Referenced: Sehlinger, Bob and Len Testa. The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World  2011.  Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley, 2011.

Book Review: Ann Patchett's State of Wonder

At first, I resisted Ann Patchett's recent best-seller, State of Wonder.  It begins with death, and I have a cowardly disposition toward such painful subjects.  But, it kept appearing on "must-read" lists, so I gave it a shot, and the novel proved worth it.  It does begin on a somber note: the protagonist, Dr. Marina Singh, a research scientist at a pharmaceutical company, learns of the death of her colleague Anders Eckman and must face, first, relaying the news to Eckman's wife, and then, traveling to the Amazon where Eckman died while trying to locate a rogue scientist.  The first part of the novel is uncomfortably morbid, as Marina reflects on the Eckman's death and the resulting destruction in the life of his wife and sons.

The novel picks up pace, however, as Marina transitions to Brazil, commissioned both by Eckman's wife and her employer to discover what happened to Eckman and locate Dr. Swenson, the scientist Eckman was trying to reach.  Swenson was also Marina's professor during her medical residency years earlier, and Marina harbors a deep reverence and also fear of her former teacher.  Swenson is formidable, growing almost legendary before she ever enters the novel midway through.  Her research centers around extended fertility among an Amazonian tribe--a pharmaceutical gold-mine that could deliver babies to women in their 60s or even 70s.  The company is then, understandably worried that Swenson has apparently gone AWOL.

Marina's adventures are many: breaking through the gates and gatekeepers Swenson has left behind her, surviving fevers, snakes, and angry tribesmen.  The novel, however, is not merely action-packed.  It raises a number of interesting questions, especially when measured against what obviously must have been the inspiration for the story: Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.  The disciple-like reverence that so many develop for Swenson mirrors the devotion shown to Kurtz; thus, a good part of the novel is spent considering how Marina will, like Marlow, experience the disillusionment that comes from seeing the dark heart of the idol.  The novel, too, raises questions, if obliquely, about colonization and its effects, both on the  native populations and the environment.  Indeed, even the research that seems so miraculous, comes under intense and painful scrutiny.

The novel continues to unfold unexpected twists, and even if you have read Heart of Darkness, the resolution of the novel may come as a surprise.

Ultimately, an exciting story, but one that doesn't leave your mind behind.

The Fourth

 Because the Fourth of July fell in the middle of the week, Jordan and I had a rare holiday on our own.  Although it was sad not to be with family, we did make the best of it.  We spent most of the day working on the packing up of our apartment (which has descended into a level of disarray that will probably persist until we totally move out in a few weeks).  However, we did dinner up right with turkey burgers with bacon, lettuce, and pineapple; corn on the cob; and sweet potato fries.

 For dessert I made a Peanut butter-banana-ice box pie; it has a cinnamon-graham-cracker-crust and layers of chocolate and bananas at the bottom.  It was delicious, but even better the next day.

 After supper, we walked over to the local Arts Center, where they were putting on a Music Festival (which was really just one band inside and a DJ out on the ball field).  The band was really great, very talented, and played an evening's worth of oldies and beach music

 The band wound up and directed us outside for the fireworks, which were impressive.  We had never been to this venue before for fireworks, so we weren't entirely sure which direction they would come from, so of course we parked ourselves under the only tree that could obscure our view.  But, it wasn't bad and we had a pretty good view of the show anyway.

Overall, a happy fourth.

Monthly Miscellanea

Good things in May:

1.  I have a job!  I interviewed at C University, and I am going to be brought on as an adjunct in the fall.  I am so, so excited that Jordan and I will be teaching at the same university.  After five years of heading in different directions every morning, how cool will it be to be at the same school!

2.  My birthday was great--so many sweet calls and notes from friends and family and a special dinner out with my husband.  We went to local restaurant and ordered homemade pita chips and hummus as an appetizer--the most amazing pita chips ever.  I am now keen to try to make some on my own.

3.  School's out!  I love summer-time.  I love having time to cook and crochet and swim and run.  I am trying to stay on a schedule and get work done as well--since I am going to be starting from scratch with my courses in the fall, I will definitely have plenty to do, not to mention all the packing that will commence later this summer.

Looking forward to June:

1.  Disney World!!  We will be headed to Mickey Mouse's House in a few weeks.  I have been put in charge (kind of self-appointed) of the itinerary, and I have had entirely too much fun poring over the guide-book and optimizing our experience by crafting the most awesome, carefully-calculated plan, ever.  I still have a few tweaks to make, but I think I will probably be sharing the itinerary later on, just because I am so proud of it.  I may also share some thoughts on packing for the trip.

2.  House-hunting.This is kind of nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time.  And, of course, calls for more intensive, type-A research and planning.

3.  Summer-fun stuff.  Already planning some photography trips (maybe some star photography!), movie-nights, cook-outs, and pool-time.  I have already gotten sun-burnt, which is not a good thing, but hopefully won't happen again.  Sunscreen is my friend.

So, what are you looking forward to this summer?

We Like to Eat Around Here

 Seriously, we love to eat.  I like to cook, so it all works out.  Here are some of the things we have been eating.  Above is the Lemon-Orange Chiffon Cake that I made for a church dinner (it won a Facebook poll for what I should make, over a banana-pudding).  I think it turned out great--the recipe was from Southern Living.  The icing was particularly spectacular, but nobody wanted to eat the candied orange slices.

 In the plate above is Herbed Chicken, Panko-Crusted Squash, and Creamy Russet Potatoes.  The chicken was a new experiment that turned out well.  I seasoned thin chicken breasts with a Mediterranean herb blend and pan-fried them a bit in olive oil until the outside browned, then transferred to a baking dish to roast in the oven with chopped garlic.  I poured some lemon juice into the frying pan and scraped up the bits that were left and then poured it over the chicken to keep it moist.

 Strawberry and Asparagus Salad: a mix of green leaf and spinach, roasted asparagus, strawberries, feta, walnuts, bacon, and a Vidalia onion dressing.

Roasted Veggie Quiche:  roasted asparagus, onion, carrots, and squash; eggs mixed with heavy cream, feta, mozzarella and Parmesan in a store-bought refrigerated crust.

I didn't take a picture of the blackberry cobbler I took to some friends' cookout last night, but it was tasty, though a bit of an adventure (way, way too much liquid in the berries, which Jordan helped me pour off).

I am so excited that summer is here and that vegetables are everywhere: we have been eating so much squash and asparagus and corn and tomatoes.  Love it!

What are your favorite summer recipes?

Housekeeping Routines

I considered starting here with a little philosophical musing about housekeeping--I do, after all, specialize in domestic fiction and wrote my master's thesis on a novel called Recollections of a Housekeeper.  But, if you indicate that you are interested in housekeeping, people often suppose that you are very strange (I may be) and have a freakishly clean house (I don't).  So, I will dispense with (most of) the musing and get to the basics.  Most people do some housekeeping.  I am generally interested in how people do it. I think those manuals and descriptions from the 19th century on housekeeping practices (or domestic economy, as it was sometimes called) are fascinating.

My favorite modern-day housekeeping tome is Cheryl Mendelson's Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House (Scriber, 1999).  The book is a wonderful reference guide, nearly 900 pages long with answers for nearly every conceivable quandary on laundering, polishing, laying out, and making up that you could imagine.  My favorite chapter is the first, in which Mendelson writes of her "secret life."  She writes, "An off-and-on lawyer and professor in public, in private I launder and clean, cook from the hip, and devote serious time and energy to a domestic routine not so different from the one that defined my grandmothers as 'housewives'" (3).  She goes on to describe those grandmothers, one of Italian ancestry and the other of British Isles descent who are equal in their passion for domestic arts, though they often conflicted on ideas of airing beds or ironing shirts.  Ultimately, housekeeping seems to be part of identity--how we do things tells us something about who we are and where we come from; but the purpose is unifying--we all seem to clean house because we enjoy having a comfortable, welcoming space in which to live.

So domestic routines both create comfort, and to some (myself included) are comforting in themselves.  When I was younger, I learned the nineteenth-century housekeeping litany from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books: Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, Mend on Wednesday, Churn on Thursday, Clean on Friday, Bake on Saturday, Rest on Sunday.  While some of these activities are obsolete (or have become hobbies, rather than chores), the idea of having a list of daily tasks makes sense.  I have tried the other method--clean when it gets dirty--but have found it to be far more exhausting than a pre-emptive routine.  After much experimentation, this is now my weekly routine:

Monday: Clean the Kitchen, Buy Groceries
Tuesday: Laundry (Clothes)
Wednesday: Dust and Vacuum
Thursday: Laundry (Sheets and Towels)
Friday: Clean Bathrooms, Buy Groceries

These activities are, of course, supplements to the daily "neatening" tasks of putting away items and making beds and so on. This list is specific to my needs, as it's just my husband and myself in a small apartment.  I put the lighter tasks (laundry) on Tuesdays and Thursdays because those are usually teaching days for me.  My very least favorite task is planning meals--for some reason, my brain freezes up and I look with dread at the refrigerator and drag my feet on the way to the grocery store.  It has become somewhat easier since I go to the store twice a week now.  Instead of having to plan seven meals, I plan meals for Monday through Thursday, and then Friday through Sunday.

I don't always get through the week perfectly, but it is easy enough to catch up and Saturday morning is a good time to pick up any tasks that were missed during the week, but your whole day isn't spent in drudgery.

So, what are your domestic routines?  Any tips on making meal planning less painful?  Any thoughts on housekeeping as identity? 

Favorite Favorites: Pimento Cheese and Strawberry Jam

Way back when I was in youth group, we played some kind of game that required us to choose the one food we would be happy eating the rest of our lives.  I don't remember the point of the game, but I do remember my answer: pimento cheese.  Back in those days, I was eating the spread on white bread sandwiches.  Since then, more wonderful things have happened.

First, homemade pimento cheese.  My grandmother and mother and aunts all make homemade pimento cheese, but for some reason, I had never tried it myself until recently.  It is ridiculously easy.  Although there are many different versions of the recipe, this is the one my mother taught me:

1 (8 oz.) block sharp cheddar (grated)
1 (8 oz.) block mild cheddar (grated)
1 (4 oz.) jar diced pimentos (drained)
mayonnaise
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
pepper

Mix the grated cheese and pimentos with enough mayonnaise until it becomes a thick, creamy spread.  Add in the Worcestershire sauce and pepper (freshly ground is particularly good).  Momma recommends grating the sharp cheddar with one size of holes on the grater and the mild cheddar with a different size, just to make the texture more interesting.

Then, my brother-in-law introduced us to grilled pimento cheese.  Again, this is so obviously good that I can't believe I hadn't tried it before.  The crisp buttery bread, the melty cheese.  Mmmmm.  However, the February 2012 issue of Southern Living took it a step further by adding bacon to the grilled pimento cheese and suggesting serving with strawberry jam--what?  Strawberry jam?  Let me tell you, it is unreal.  Jordan is not a fan, but then, he generally doesn't like sauces and condiments--such a purist.  For me, however, a thin slather of strawberry jam on top of a grilled pimento cheese and bacon sandwich is amazing.  I have always been a big fan of cheese-and-fruit eaten together, so this is tops.

It is especially good with the year's crop of strawberry freezer jam.  We picked two bucket-fulls not long ago, and I made enough jam to fill up a dozen half-pint jars (one of which went to work with Jordan and disappeared inside of four days!)  Here is my previous post on freezer-jam making.

But, the pimento cheese and strawberry jam goodness does not end there.  Also in the February Southern Living was a recipe for pimento cheese rolls.  Super easy, very tasty.

Pimento cheese seems to be a very personalized food.  Any other variations out there that are your favorites?