Disneyland Halloween Time Eats

Happy Halloween! This fall, I was able to make it to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure a couple of times during the Halloween Time celebration. Of course, I had to try out some the Halloween eats and treats in the parks. 

The first thing on my list to try was the Bat Wing Raspberry Sundae at Clarabelle's on Buena Vista Street. The white chocolate raspberry swirl ice cream is to die for. I didn't pick up on the white chocolate flavor too much, but the raspberry swirl was like having a little bit of raspberry sorbet mixed in with the ice cream. The chocolate bat cookies were delicious. I wish they sold some chocolate cookies like them in the candy shops. The sundae is served in a chocolate dipped waffle bowl, topped with a mound of whipped cream, and spattered with raspberry sauce. I'm going to miss this sundae.

One of the the treats offered in Cars Land was the Spoke-y Cone Macaron. It perfectly matches the theme for the location.

Inside the macaron is marshmallow buttercream and candy corn. It is very sweet, but oh so good. It is big enough to share. I would actually recommend that if you don't have a big sweet tooth. 

Just across from the Cozy Cone Motel is Flo's V8 Cafe where I went to try the Car-achnid Pot Pie. It's a chicken pot pie with dried cranberries and a spider crust. This was the only savory Halloween Time food item I tried and I was not disappointed. I wasn't sure how I would like the cranberries in the pie, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well the flavor combination worked. And most of all, I loved the buttery, flaky crust.

The last Halloween-inspired treat I tried was the Spider Silk Ice Cream Sandwich from Clarabelle's Hand Scooped Ice Cream on Buena Vista Street. I've been wanting to try charcoal ice cream since it has become a trendy thing at a lot of ice cream shops. I figured I might as well try this charcoal-tart cherry ice cream sandwiched between a black macaron. It is also topped with raspberry sauce and popping candy. It was really messy, but worth it. I really enjoyed the cherry and raspberry flavors. And for the popping candy, I forgot about them until one popped surprisingly popped in my mouth. They definitely make the dish fun to eat. 

I enjoyed all the the eats and treats that I was able to try this year. I'm impressed that they added so many food items to menus all around both parks this year, but disappointed that I didn't get to try out more of them. Now, I'm looking forward to what appears on menus for the holidays. 

Thanks for an epic Halloween season Disneyland!

Napoleon's Macarons at the Americana at Brand

Recently, I spent some time at one of my favorite shopping centers: The Americana at Brand in Glendale, CA. It is a modern outdoor mall that was built with references to American architecture from a couple centuries ago. It's just a beautiful place to shop, eat, or just hangout. I did a little bit of it all on this visit. I'll share with you my first time having Napoleon's Macarons.

Napoleon's Macarons has their own kiosk inside the Americana. 

For those of you who may not know what it is, a macaron is a French cookie sandwich. The actual cookies are meringues with different flavors. They are filled with different flavors of buttercream, ganache, or jam. Napoleon's displays all of their 15 varieties in the front window. I think I've only had a couple of macarons before from another bakery. So, I was looking forward to trying some different kinds. 

A couple of the flavors that caught my eye were salted caramel and raspberry. They change some flavors with the seasons and holidays. 

I decided to splurge on a dozen. Since I am a member of the Americana's loyalty rewards program, they have a special offer for Napoleon's. During the month of your birthday, you can receive 3 free macarons and 25% off of a dozen. I couldn't pass up that deal. The macarons cost $1.70 each. A dozen was about $20 (~$15 with my discount). 

The flavors I got were intense chocolate, salted caramel, pistachio, pistachio with raspberry, strawberry, raspberry, hazelnut, and vanilla creme brulee. (I think I might have missed one, but I can't remember what it was. Ooops!) I love how pretty, colorful, and delicious they look in the box.

These macarons were all light, flavorful, and yummy. My favorites were (in this order) salted caramel, vanilla creme brulee, and intense chocolate. The vanilla creme brulee surprised me in the fact that you could taste the caramelized sugar inside of the cookie. It was almost like having the real dessert sandwiched between cookies. 

I know I will be indulging in these tasty treats again in the future. They will be hard to resist when walking by at the Americana.

While at the Americana, I also recommend doing a few other things. 

1. Taking some time to enjoy the park and beautiful fountain that dances to music every hour on the hour
2. Admiring the outdoor chandelier hung above the street
3. Riding on the trolley (it only runs in the afternoons)

One last look before leaving from the parking structure. If you look in the background, you can see the lights of downtown LA.