"Strong am I with the Force, but not that strong." - April Dark Side Weekend 2018 - 5/15 Boma

The chocolate macaron lollipop looks so good. We didn’t try that in April. Wish we would have,

Shrimp is my favorite seafood as well. The chowder and shrimp looks yummy. I have never been to Paddlefish and don’t see many reviews so nice to read yours!
 
Paddlefish is another spot I haven't tried. You are really complicating my F&W trip planning with all these new ideas. :goodvibes Vowing to put at least a visit to the rooftop lounge on the agenda. I love a good Caesar as well -- that looks perfect. And I also share your husband's love of a french fry... do you or he have a view on the best fries in WDW?
 
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Pineapple Beer Flight - Coastal Empire Beer Co Coco Pina Gose, Maui Brewing Company Pineapple Mana Wheat, SweetWater Brewing Company Going Coastal IPA with Pineapple
I'm totally with your hubby, love me some gose!

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House-Made Potato and Cheddar Biscuit with Smoked Salmon Tartare
Biscuits really are a thing of alcohol soaking wonder aren't they :P

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Spicy Blackened Shrimp and Stone Ground Cheddar Cheese Grits with Brown Gravy w/ Local Sweet Corn Relish
Yum, this looks really good and fresh. Kudos to Disney for the good sized shrimp too.

Overall a decent food meal. The service was eh but at least it wasn’t a David level service goof (That’s for you @pepperandchips & @Vernie822) so it will be less memorabile as time goes on. We’ll probably skip it in November but we’ll back sometime in 2019.
Sorry the service was bad, but it looks like the food hit the spot. We've only done Paddlefish once but liked Boathouse better so I'm not sure when we'll be back.
 
Happy ADR Day! Yes, about that. I got up at 6:00 to do my ADRS, but it only let me book for 11/1/18. I remember being able to do them for the whole week last year. Were you able to get all of yours booked? I tried the app and the website. I booked Tokyo Dining for our first dinner, but that's all I could get.

I only have been able to get them booked for the first half. I guess I could have called DVC for the second half since I have 2 DVC reservations but I figure I'm ok to wait until tomorrow as we aren't 100% decided on what you want. When I'm like that - I see what's available for the day and pick from there based off times. That will be my Tuesday Night activity once I get home from picking Gantu up from Daycare. I have an idea of what we want I think - Flying Fish, Homecoming, Wine Bar George, Citricos are the set ones we want - the others will just be decided based off availability and what I think we're going to be doing that day.

I see on your trip report you figured out why you couldn't get the rest of yours done, glad it worked out for you!

MUST. HAVE. THIS.

It was very pretty. Some people don't like that its expensive ($18) but meh, it's Disney. Everything is expensive!

The chocolate macaron lollipop looks so good. We didn’t try that in April. Wish we would have,

Hopefully you got to try some other yummy goodies though!

Shrimp is my favorite seafood as well. The chowder and shrimp looks yummy. I have never been to Paddlefish and don’t see many reviews so nice to read yours!

Yay fellow shrimp lover! Fulton's used to be my husband's favorite restaurant before Boathouse took that over and it was redone. We do enjoy Paddlefish but we don't love it as much as we loved Fulton's.

Paddlefish is another spot I haven't tried. You are really complicating my F&W trip planning with all these new ideas. :goodvibes Vowing to put at least a visit to the rooftop lounge on the agenda. I love a good Caesar as well -- that looks perfect. And I also share your husband's love of a french fry... do you or he have a view on the best fries in WDW?

Too many yummy restaurants and not enough time! We haven't tried the rooftop lounge but I'm sure its awesome! I think Keri has gone there and enjoyed the fries.

As far as my husband's favorite french fry - I really think there isn't a french fry he doesn't like as long as they are cut small and are not wedges. Boathouse are his favorite though especially with the topping they put on top!

I'm totally with your hubby, love me some gose!
Glad others exist that love the Gose! My husband's taste buds have totally grown over the past few months!

Biscuits really are a thing of alcohol soaking wonder aren't they :P
They totally are! Bread in general is a great alcohol soak. Although, I was watching The Americans this weekend off the DVR and there they suggested to a new spy - take a shot of Olive Oil to prevent getting drunk. Now I know this is a TV show but that does seem like a novel idea...hmmm...

Yum, this looks really good and fresh. Kudos to Disney for the good sized shrimp too.
Agreed! I hate when they have tiny shrimps for these dishes. They seemed to have been better this year for the couple of shrimp dishes we had at the festival.

Sorry the service was bad, but it looks like the food hit the spot. We've only done Paddlefish once but liked Boathouse better so I'm not sure when we'll be back.
Boathouse is totally our favorite of the two but we had just done Boathouse in January so we felt we should switch it up some. We have too many places we like! We luck out that we go so often but I know you are more limited on your trips.
 


Sprinkles

As we skipped dessert at Paddlefish, I wanted to see if anything interested me at Sprinkles to enjoy when we got back to the room. They had a special cupcake that wasn’t listed on the menus that was great. The bailey irish cream icing was yum! Got a little smushed on the journey home to the room but that didn’t take away from the taste!

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Special Cupcake - Black Velvet Cake with Bailey’s Cream Cheese

My husband wanted more ice cream. He got a milkshake with two scoops of peanut butter and one scoop of vanilla and a drizzle of caramel. He very quickly devoured this by the time we made it back to his truck.

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Peanut Butter Milkshake with Caramel

We were back to the hotel before 7PM and got our stuff all ready for our 2:45AM wake up call. I think I was asleep by 8:30PM.​
 
Star Wars 10K/Cosmic Ray’s

The 2:45AM came early. We got up and got dressed. I think we both were really phoning this race in. Neither of us were well trained. We even didn’t take our standard prerace photos in the room! We were downstairs a little before 3:30am and were shocked to not see a bus there waiting for boarding. Usually - the first bus takes off at 3:30am to head to the start line. Nope - this time the bus showed up at 3:30 and then stopped at Kidani and we didn’t make it to the start line area until after 4AM. By that point, all the characters had super long lines so we skipped that. We both visited the porta potties as it was still early enough that they were clean. I won’t use a gross port-a-potty! When the corrals opened, we headed into our corrals and people watched and waited. We started not long after 5:30AM and went on our way. My husband and I do not run together as we would murder each other if we tried.

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This is a dining review so here’s the food box at the end:

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Probably one of the most meh boxes outside of the oreos and the fake cheese/chips. The thought of eating anything that resembled apple pie after finishing 6.2 miles just sounded nasty. I miss the cliff bars that used to be in there! I also spilled some of the fake cheese on the bus so opps. I fail! The wet nap in the box did clean it up well!

After getting back to the room and cleaned up, I felt like a human again. We left Animal Kingdom Lodge a little after 9:30AM (I think there was some bus lateness involved but meh) arriving at 10AM.

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Aren’t we cute?

We had Fastpasses set up for the Mine Train between 9:30AM and 10:30AM so that is directly where we headed. Afterwards, we both were starving and probably going to bite someone’s head off if we didn’t eat soon. I remembered Cosmic Ray’s actually opens at 10:30AM and it wasn’t long after that time. We hadn’t eaten here in a long time but they had changed the set up so that you can order all the food at the same bay which was nice as that three bay set up always used to annoy me.

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I went with the pulled pork sandwich. I was pleasantly surprised with how good this was, especially once I added all the crispy onions on top. I had the sandwich gone in no time! If I had any complaint, it would be that it needed more bbq sauce but I like to drown my bbq.

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Pulled Pork Sandwich

My husband changed his mind a few times in line but decided on the chicken nuggets. They are an easy win as Disney hamburgers at fast food tend to suck. He was a little jealous of my pork once he saw how much I enjoyed it but he’ll remember that if there is a next time he has to pick between the two. The nuggets were a hit for him!

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Chicken Nuggets

You now have to buy your plastic cheese at Cosmic Ray’s. It actually is a larger and warmed version of the cheese that you get in the RunDisney boxes. It’s better when warm and its perfect for fresh french fries. My husband was also happy with it for the chicken nuggets.

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Fake Cheese & Way Too Much Ketchup

After lunch, we headed straight to Space Mountain as that is what you do after you eat.​
 
I completely get why they do it but oh that early start. :scared: Congratulations to you and your husband!! I really want to get into running but... :rolleyes:

My husband and I do not run together as we would murder each other if we tried.

:rotfl2::rotfl: Well, at least you know it. :laughing:

Love your rose gold ears -- very cute! Good call remembering Cosmic Ray's early open. Both meals look pretty good and I bet hit the spot since you were 7.5 hours into your day at that point -- not to mention probably as many miles or more!
 


The race looked like a lot of fun. I think the character photo ops make it so unique. I am the opposite of a runner and will never experience this race, so it's nice to see it here :)
 
I love the guy with the BBQ porg sign :) And that's great they changed the set up at Cosmic Rays. The separate bays used to annoy me too.
 
I completely get why they do it but oh that early start. :scared: Congratulations to you and your husband!! I really want to get into running but... :rolleyes:
No judgments there on not getting into running! Running and I have a love/hate relationship. I should get better about training.

:rotfl2::rotfl: Well, at least you know it. :laughing:
That I do! We love each other but we don't run well together. We've managed to do 2 5Ks together and that was miserable. I could only imagine how bad a 10K would be!

Love your rose gold ears -- very cute! Good call remembering Cosmic Ray's early open. Both meals look pretty good and I bet hit the spot since you were 7.5 hours into your day at that point -- not to mention probably as many miles or more!

Thank you! I think we ended up doing like 14 miles this day by the end according to my Apple Watch.

The race looked like a lot of fun. I think the character photo ops make it so unique. I am the opposite of a runner and will never experience this race, so it's nice to see it here :)

I love the Star Wars races as they are so much fun! The local 501st comes out as well so you have more character than normal since Disney ins't having to provide all the characters.

I love the guy with the BBQ porg sign :) And that's great they changed the set up at Cosmic Rays. The separate bays used to annoy me too.

That sign made me so happy especially at that point in the race! It totally made us all laugh.

I remember during my husband's first trip to WDW, we ate at Cosmic Ray's with the couple friend we were traveling with and that separate bay thing caused such a hot mess of crankiness as everyone wanted something different and the timing to get through each of the lines was off. I'm so glad my husband gave me another chance to show him WDW isn't just a hot mess all those years ago (we went 4th of July week because of the other couple's travel schedule)
 
EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival

We were quickly done with Magic Kingdom due to the crowds. When we got off Space Mountain, all the rides had over a 30 minute wait except for Philharmagic or Teacups so we were done. My husband and I split upon leaving Magic Kingdom as I was going to go to the RunDisney meet up at Hurricane Hannah’s that was at 2PM. As we were leaving a little before noon - it didn’t really make sense for me to get back to the hotel and immediately leave shortly afterwards. I went to the bus stop for Beach/Yacht Club, fully expecting to have to wait a bit for a bus. Why is it when you aren’t in a hurry, the bus shows up in no time? I was at the Beach Club in no time and I had some time to kill! I decided to walk over to EPCOT and get a dish that I know I love along with a glass of cider I know I enjoy. The lemon scone was perfectly warm enough with the cool creme fraiche. This is one of my favorite dishes of the festival, if only all scones could be so well done! The cider was also enjoyable but I knew that from the day before.

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Freshly Baked Lemon Scone with Creme Fraiche and Mixed Berries
Ciderboys Grand Mimosa Apple Orange Hard Cider

 
Hurricane Hannah’s

So I arrived at Hurricane Hannah’s ridiculously early for the RunDisney Meet Up. This meant I needed to go to the bar and get a drink to kill some time and play on my phone. I got basically a blue long island and it was yum! I ate some french bread as well I had picked up in France so I could make sure I didn’t get too drunk over the course of the afternoon. This was a good stomach soaker!

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Storm Chaser - Skyy Vodka, Bacardi Superior Rum, Blue Curacao, Sweet-and-Sour and Sprite

The RunDisney meet started at 2PM and I had a fair share of the following drink. Who doesn’t love Frose? #FroseAllDay I’m not sure how many I had over the course of the event but it was at least 3, if not more.

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Frose - Meiomi Rose and Tito’s Handmade Vodka

Overall, the meet was a lot of fun! I got to meet a lot of various Disboard people - @Keels, @Bree, @BikeFan, @KevM, @Goofy2015, @mrsg00fy, @JM725 & his significant other, @MommaoffherRocker, @PaDisneyCouple, possibly someone else but well, I had multiple Froses. I had a lot of fun! Keels’ name for Star Wars characters were the best as they made me laugh so much! Probably became too honest after too many drinks but well, that’s me! I have few filters in the first place and a couple drinks makes them go away! Hopefully I’ll see some of them again at Wine & Dine!
 
Fun afternoon. The ability to "pop in" to Epcot from Beach Club is one of the many reasons it is my favorite resort. I'm just hoping the International Gateway doesn't become a complete mess with the Skyway and that pop in ability goes away. :rolleyes:

The lemon scone is another dish I missed. I really didn't pay attention to the F&G booths this year -- I don't know what happened! The meet sounds super fun and that frose looks really good. Definitely making a mental note on that for next trip!
 
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Freshly Baked Lemon Scone with Creme Fraiche and Mixed Berries
Ciderboys Grand Mimosa Apple Orange Hard Cider
This looks delicious. I love how the Epcot resorts are so close to Epcot you can just pop over for a quick snack.

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Storm Chaser - Skyy Vodka, Bacardi Superior Rum, Blue Curacao, Sweet-and-Sour and Sprite
I used to drink Blue Long Islands in college. These are strong! The last time I had one I was so hung over the next day I've not been able to go near one since. I've never actually knew what was in them so thanks for the description :)
 
Hurricane Hannah’s

So I arrived at Hurricane Hannah’s ridiculously early for the RunDisney Meet Up. This meant I needed to go to the bar and get a drink to kill some time and play on my phone. I got basically a blue long island and it was yum! I ate some french bread as well I had picked up in France so I could make sure I didn’t get too drunk over the course of the afternoon. This was a good stomach soaker!

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Storm Chaser - Skyy Vodka, Bacardi Superior Rum, Blue Curacao, Sweet-and-Sour and Sprite

The RunDisney meet started at 2PM and I had a fair share of the following drink. Who doesn’t love Frose? #FroseAllDay I’m not sure how many I had over the course of the event but it was at least 3, if not more.

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Frose - Meiomi Rose and Tito’s Handmade Vodka

Overall, the meet was a lot of fun! I got to meet a lot of various Disboard people - @Keels, @Bree, @BikeFan, @KevM, @Goofy2015, @mrsg00fy, @JM725 & his significant other, @MommaoffherRocker, @PaDisneyCouple, possibly someone else but well, I had multiple Froses. I had a lot of fun! Keels’ name for Star Wars characters were the best as they made me laugh so much! Probably became too honest after too many drinks but well, that’s me! I have few filters in the first place and a couple drinks makes them go away! Hopefully I’ll see some of them again at Wine & Dine!

I’m so happy you joined us!! I’m always down to buy drinks for DISers - the meet-ups are easily the highlight of my race weekend!

#FroseAllDay
 
They totally are! Bread in general is a great alcohol soak. Although, I was watching The Americans this weekend off the DVR and there they suggested to a new spy - take a shot of Olive Oil to prevent getting drunk. Now I know this is a TV show but that does seem like a novel idea...hmmm...
Hmmm, indeed. Think I may need to try that.

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Special Cupcake - Black Velvet Cake with Bailey’s Cream Cheese
Bailey's Cream Cheese????? Yes, please and thank you!

This is a dining review so here’s the food box at the end:

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:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2: That does not look good

I went with the pulled pork sandwich. I was pleasantly surprised with how good this was, especially once I added all the crispy onions on top. I had the sandwich gone in no time! If I had any complaint, it would be that it needed more bbq sauce but I like to drown my bbq.

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Not too shabby for Cosmic Rays

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Freshly Baked Lemon Scone with Creme Fraiche and Mixed Berries
Ciderboys Grand Mimosa Apple Orange Hard Cider
Now this looks amazing!!!!!!! I'm a sucker for all things lemon so I'd totally be all over the scone.

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Frose - Meiomi Rose and Tito’s Handmade Vodka
How did I not know this was a thing? I'm not generally a fan of frozen drinks, but rose and vodka? Think I can make an exception.

Overall, the meet was a lot of fun! I got to meet a lot of various Disboard people - @Keels, @Bree, @BikeFan, @KevM, @Goofy2015, @mrsg00fy, @JM725 & his significant other, @MommaoffherRocker, @PaDisneyCouple, possibly someone else but well, I had multiple Froses. I had a lot of fun! Keels’ name for Star Wars characters were the best as they made me laugh so much! Probably became too honest after too many drinks but well, that’s me! I have few filters in the first place and a couple drinks makes them go away! Hopefully I’ll see some of them again at Wine & Dine!
How much fun! I know its a ways off but I think Jason is gonna do Star Wars again next year!
 
Potato Pancakes w/ House-Made Apple Sauce
These look great but Orange Bird makes the picture!

As we hit Italy, we explored the wine store and I got a glass of white wine as I was thirsty. I remember the wine being enjoyable and refreshing on this hot day. I don’t remember what type of wine I got though.
Whit wine on a hot day is always a good choice!

We also took a nice people watching break here while he had his beer and I ate the potatoes out of the hash. I love people watching around EPCOT!​
Love, love, love people watching in World Showcase!

My husband went all in with his ice cream and got a double cone! He went with two flavors he knows he loves. As he was finished with this cone before I was even half way through my single scoop of sorbet, I think I can attest to how much he enjoyed it.
I'm a big fan of the ice cream at Les Artisans de Glacee, especially the coconut white chocolate. I will have to try the lemon sorbet this summer!

Millenial Pink Champagne
So pretty!

Pineapple Beer Flight - Coastal Empire Beer Co Coco Pina Gose, Maui Brewing Company Pineapple Mana Wheat, SweetWater Brewing Company Going Coastal IPA with Pineapple
Yum!

La Vie en Rose Frozen Slushy: Grey Goose Orange, St. Germain Liqueur, White and Red Cranberry Juice

We also got the chocolate macaron lollipop to share! We really enjoyed this as the macaron was cooked correctly (unlike the mickey shaped macarons around the park) and perfectly chocolatey. We probably should have each gotten one rather than share!
This looks great too!

Special Cupcake - Black Velvet Cake with Bailey’s Cream Cheese
Baileys and cream cheese would be perfect together!

Freshly Baked Lemon Scone with Creme Fraiche and Mixed Berries
Ciderboys Grand Mimosa Apple Orange Hard Cider
I love lemon scones and that one looks perfect.

Storm Chaser - Skyy Vodka, Bacardi Superior Rum, Blue Curacao, Sweet-and-Sour and Sprite
Drinks at Hurricane Hanna's are always so yummy. I especially love the Sunken Treasure.
 
Fun afternoon. The ability to "pop in" to Epcot from Beach Club is one of the many reasons it is my favorite resort. I'm just hoping the International Gateway doesn't become a complete mess with the Skyway and that pop in ability goes away. :rolleyes:

The lemon scone is another dish I missed. I really didn't pay attention to the F&G booths this year -- I don't know what happened! The meet sounds super fun and that frose looks really good. Definitely making a mental note on that for next trip!

It is awesome to be able to pop in! Makes life easy! Can't wait until November when we do that from the Boardwalk! I'm hoping they expand the turnstiles or something for the Skyway. We'll need that for all the extra people!

You seemed to have missed so much this year at the Festival! Just don't do that at F&W ;).

Yes! Frose is so yum! Unfortunately our blender died (it did last 12 years - go Kitchenaid brand!) so no Frose for me currently unless I'm out and about.

This looks delicious. I love how the Epcot resorts are so close to Epcot you can just pop over for a quick snack.

I used to drink Blue Long Islands in college. These are strong! The last time I had one I was so hung over the next day I've not been able to go near one since. I've never actually knew what was in them so thanks for the description :)

EPCOT resorts are awesome! People are getting some pretty lucky getting to move to those resorts due to the AKL pool closure and hopefully they get to enjoy the full awesomeness that are those resorts!

I can stick to one Blue Long Island without getting a hangover nowadays. The amount of drinking I did during the afternoon did make it so that I couldn't have anymore alcohol at dinner unless I wanted a hangover or something.

I’m so happy you joined us!! I’m always down to buy drinks for DISers - the meet-ups are easily the highlight of my race weekend!

#FroseAllDay

It was so much fun! Too bad you won't be at Wine & Dine Weekend (although for very good reason!) but at least we can see you Marathon Weekend!
 
Hmmm, indeed. Think I may need to try that.
I need to plan when I'm going to be drinking a lot and I'll try it too. I've been sticking to half bottles of wine lately so no need to try it with that.

Bailey's Cream Cheese????? Yes, please and thank you!
Exactly!
:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2: That does not look good
Probably one of the worst boxes in a while. Oh well!

Not too shabby for Cosmic Rays
I was happy it was tasty and it avoided the hangry mode.

Now this looks amazing!!!!!!! I'm a sucker for all things lemon so I'd totally be all over the scone.
Lemon Scones are awesome. Wish we had a place around here that made good scones!

How did I not know this was a thing? I'm not generally a fan of frozen drinks, but rose and vodka? Think I can make an exception.
I'm with you. I don't often order frozen drinks but when I do - I want them to be tasty! It wasn't overly sweet which helped!

How much fun! I know its a ways off but I think Jason is gonna do Star Wars again next year!
While it is a ways off, we did our booking for it last weekend. 3 nights at Grand Floridian Villas in a Standard Studio. Glad we got those booked before they were taken.

Enjoying the reviews! Thanks for sharing.

Glad you are enjoying them!

These look great but Orange Bird makes the picture!
He is very cute! He's enjoying life on top of our fridge so he can be safe from the puppy teeth.

Whit wine on a hot day is always a good choice!
Exactly! Although currently, we only have 1 bottle of white wine in the house but I have 2 bottles of rose so those will be taken care of today!

Love, love, love people watching in World Showcase!
It is so much fun! There was a corporate scavenger hunt from some conference going on too which made it even more interesting!

I'm a big fan of the ice cream at Les Artisans de Glacee, especially the coconut white chocolate. I will have to try the lemon sorbet this summer!
If I liked coconut, I would be all over the coconut white chocolate. I did try that once in a martini and it was good but I ended up tossing half the ice cream (also 2 scoops of their ice cream is too much for me nowadays!).

Baileys and cream cheese would be perfect together!
I'm glad I asked about the 'special' since it didn't tell you what it was!

I love lemon scones and that one looks perfect.
It was! Hopefully they bring it back next year too!

Drinks at Hurricane Hanna's are always so yummy. I especially love the Sunken Treasure.

Oh, I haven't had a Sunken Treasure in years! My husband was addicted to those for a while about 10 years ago and I think we may have burnt out. Probably about time to try it again!
 

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