Hello, gourmet chefs and those who are proficient with a toaster oven, and welcome to a place that's near and dear to the beans little black hearts -- the kitchen! Actually, this isn't your average little stove and fridge setup - nope, this is the big show in dining. Today the beans are exploring the hidden side of the Disney Cruise Line - an area that only the chefs, servers, and 6-foot tall animals usually get to see. This is the main galley on board the Disney Magic, which serves the three main restaurants for the ship - Lumieres, Animators Palate, and Parrot Cay. (There are actually 8 different food locations, plus 24 hour room service. So nobody goes hungry unless they choose to.)

Since it's vacation and all, the beans felt we should start with dessert, so first up we pass the pastry station. If you look carefully, you can see that the head pastry chef is in the back making a cake for a wedding that would be held the next day. The beans tried to recommend that they be placed on top of the cake instead of the traditional mini-bride and groom, but somehow that offer didn't go over so hot. Gee, imagine that.

To help the crew feed the 2,400 hungry passengers, the food preparation lines are divided into three sections - seafood, chicken and pork, and beef. And for those who are aghast at the thought of carnivorism, they do have vegetarian selections available, which are prepared in a separate area, so that there is no chance of cross-contamination. (Chili sans carne is a good things sometimes, too.)

So how much food to they go through? Well, according to Mickey's helpers at Disney.com, they go through 8,260 cups of coffee every day on board, and in a month they'll serve up 15,776 cans of soda. So the beans are mighty glad to know that there are ample "W.C.s" available. (Ask your Grandpa what that stands for. He'll know.) Of the 5,000 eggs served up every morning, an average of 1,956 are scrambled, 552 are served sunny side up, 480 are eaten soft-boiled, 984 are used in omelets, and 976 are made into other dishes. (So get cracking! Har, har.) Each day aboard the ship, cruisers typically consume 1,150 pounds of bananas, 462 cups of strawberry yogurt, 1,000 baked potatoes, and 2,000 steaks. Exactly how many bushels of black beans they go through each week is unknown, but our beans are fairly certain of one thing: "It's never enough."

We all know that the beans like to make friends, and when at sea that need is twice as strong. (Must be all that salty air that brings out the extrovert in them.) Anyway, here the frijoles meet up with Jose, their new friend and head chef of Palo. Palo is the Magic's upscale adults-only Italian restaurant, where couples are invited to come spend a little romantic time together while the offspring are off enjoying hot dogs with the kid's club. Imagine - an evening of soft music and 5-star cuisine, all without a single high chair, dropped chicken nugget, or Crayola-covered menu in sight. (I know parents who would kill for such a night!)

So here the beans are hard at work, trying to convince Jose that frijoles would make a wonderful accompaniment to his outstanding fare. He's smiling, so we're hoping that's a good sign that we'll find a black bean carpacchio or perhaps a frijole frittata available the next time we're on board.

Of course, when the party is over, it's time to pay the piper. Or in this case, it's time to wash the dishes. But good news - we're the guests, and we don't have to do them! (Unless your credit card happens to be rejected. In which case, you'd better make yourself comfortable down here...)

The beans were tempted to offer to help clean up a little bit - it seemed like the charitable thing to do - but they were afraid of ending up with dish-pan can...and wouldn't you know it, they're fresh out of Palm-Olive to soak their lid in.

Anyway, the beans really enjoyed seeing what it was like behind the scenes of the Magic, and thank Jose and everyone involved for their kindness and hospitality. To show their appreciation, they'd like to invite all of you back to their can for bean dip and daiquiris. How does 5 o'clock sound?