Vegas Food - Incidentals

So we covered the main meals on Friday, but Christopher and I obviously ate more than just dinner while we were out there. Here's a round-up of some of our other eating.

Saturday morning - In-room American Breakfast. The package deal we got included "American Breakfast" for each of us one morning. First of all, the waiter who delivered it was great. Very charming as he brought it in and set it all out on the table. He had brought the wrong juice, so he disappeared for a bit and brought back a full carafe of apple juice - which we kept iced the entire time and had for the next two mornings. Each of us got 2 eggs, potatoes, pastries (we each got two croissants and two English muffin halves), bacon (FIVE pieces each), and a broiled tomato. Plus coffee and juice. It was more than I usually eat for breakfast in a full weekend. Seriously.

Saturday afternoon - Paris hotel Creperie. We'd gotten a suggestion that the Creperie in the Paris hotel was a good place for a quick snack. And it was. We got a very nice Nutella crepe and a couple of drinks for about $15. The only issue was one that we stumbled across multiple times: There was never enough seating. Tons of tables, but never enough chairs.

Saturday afternoon (later) - Jean-Philippe Patisserie at the Bellagio. It took a little searching, but we found the massive chocolate "waterfall" and each went down one side of the case. Christopher went for a Napoleon from the pastries, I went for an Almond Croissant from the "bready" side of the case, and also picked up a Madeleine while I was at it. It was really quite good, but the combination of problematic servers (on Christopher's side) and annoying customers (on my side), made this quick bite take a lot longer than expected. And, again, really hard to find anywhere to sit and eat.

Sunday morning - Bouchon Bakery in the Venetian. Christopher had much better luck with his coffee and pastries at the Bakery than he had at Bouchon the night before. Fairly quick service, and the pastries were fresh. I kept meaning to get back there for macarons, but never quite got there.

Sunday afternoon - Max Brenner (Chocolate by the Bald Man) in Caesar's Forum shops. We'd had multiple people say we had to go there, and we'd stopped in to look around the shop on Saturday, so we went back on Sunday to actually have something to drink. Christopher had the Italian Thick Hot Chocolate, while I had the Choco-Pops (which has little balls of crunchy in it). They were both good, but... well... maybe not quite outstanding. (Of course, this didn't stop me from buying chocolates from the "shop" and bringing them home with me.)

And, honestly, I think that might wrap up the food listings from the trip. I've got to say that it's a really good thing we walked all over the place - fighting the wind all day on Saturday - otherwise, I think I'd have come home about 20 pounds heavier.

Friday Food - Vegas style

I realize that putting "Vegas Style" in the header kind of makes it seem like I should be including neon or showgirls or something in this posting. I apologize to anyone who is feeling misled. But the point of this post is to talk about the food we had last weekend when I was out in Las Vegas. And here are the high points for you.

First of all... Most of the places we ate were actually in our hotel complex at the Venetian. Long gone are the days when all the hotels offered were cheap buffets or diner food. We probably spent more on our meals than we usually do on food for a couple of weeks, but we acknowledged that it was going to be a splurge weekend since it was Christopher's birthday, and we went with that. Our three dinners were as follows:

Friday night: Delmonico Steakhouse (an Emeril Legasse restaurant, apparently). Overall, this was our best meal of the trip. The restaurant was a nice mix of bright and cozy (we were, luckily, tucked in a corner), and the wait staff was incredible. We shared the Caesar salad for two which is prepared at the table - but the waiter kind of stood behind me and just did the whole preparation, which was definitely a letdown considering the price and the fact that it's promoted as being done tableside. But the salad was definitely fresh and really good. Christopher had a Steak au Poivre, and I had the Filet Mignon Medallions, and we shared a twice-baked potato. The steaks - no surprise - were amazing. Perfectly cooked, and mine was just melt-in-your-mouth good. The potato... well... it left a little to be desired, and we were surprised that there wasn't a good ole steakhouse hashbrown on the menu. We didn't order dessert, but they presented Christopher with some rum raisin ice cream on a plate with a chocolate "Happy Birthday" since we had mentioned that that was why we were in Vegas. Overall for the meal - A-, mainly because I was looking forward to a showier Caesar.

Saturday night: Bouchon. I *really* wanted to like this place. We made reservations on Saturday for Saturday night and so we ended up with a 9:15 reservation (a tad late, considering we hadn't really adjusted to the timechange, yet), but we were game for it and it seemed like fun. The menu was really promising, and the restaurant - though big and open and loud - seemed rather nicely bistro-y. Unfortunately, the waiter was a little off, and Christopher's Steak Frites came out Medium Rare, instead of Medium Well. By the time it came back from the kitchen, I'd pretty much finished my Gigot d'Agneau. Christopher did enjoy it, but the flow of the evening just never quite got back to speed. We had skipped appetizers in favor of desserts, and my "Ile flottante" was incredible, but Christopher's profiteroles were a little dry and crispy - which is a little strange for a place known for its French food. Luckily, after the issues we'd been having, they did comp us our desserts and Christopher's coffee (okay... we might have mentioned his birthday...). Overall, I'd give them a B-. The food was kind of spotty, our waiter was way off his game, and the place was kind of loud (which, I realize is not really their fault, so I'm not rating them lower than that.)

Sunday Night: Canaletto in St. Mark's Square near the Grand Canal in the hotel. For me, this was the surprise. The menu looked good, but it was simple, and I think that's what won me over. We were sitting right along the "fence" so we had tourists walking by the whole time, but we could also hear the performers in the piazza and see the "sky" above us. I had a Pizza Christina, and Christopher had a Calzone. The crust on my pizza was thin and gorgeous, and I even brought the leftovers home with me - yes, HOME, to Minnesota, for lunch on Tuesday. Our waiter was incredibly attentive and we had a very nice - and fairly inexpensive - meal. Overall: A-, mainly because it wasn't actually better than Delmonico, but it was just very different.

Okay. I have to run ot pick up Christopher at the airport, so I'll have to fill you in on incidental meals later.

The Photo Dearth

I downloaded my photos from Vegas onto my computer tonight. And there are some good shots.

The room looks good. Hoover Dam looks good. Christopher looks good. Even the Bellagio fountains look good.

I, however, look like crap. I'm not sure what it is about how I photograph these days, but I just don't really like how I look a lot of the time. I seem to have this "I'm smiling for the camera" look on my face that I can't get rid of.

Of course, what I should have been doing tonight was a whole list of other things not remotely related to picking apart my photos. But that would have been productive.

Instead, I spent a bunch of time moving them over, and then deciding I really don't like most of them. I'm desperately hoping that Christopher has some good photos of me/us on his camera.

Oh. Alright. I'll see if I can find something I don't mind posting of me, later this week.

Travel Tuesday - It Happened in Vegas

Christopher is currently in Las Vegas for a conference, and since his birthday was yesterday we opted to spend a weekend in Vegas as a mid-winter getaway. (Hence last Friday's video posting.) Considering that, on Friday, my commute took almost twice as long as usual due to cold and snow, the prospect of being in Vegas with highs in the 60s and lows in the 30s was pretty much perfectly timed.

So we flew out on Friday afternoon and landed 3 hours later (give or take) and walked out of the airport to catch a cab in the gorgeous weather. In true Vegas style, we were delayed getting to the hotel because a major week-long gun show had just wrapped up. Apparently it was running concurrently with a porn convention. The marketing teams must have had a field day with that combo.

We stayed at the Venetian (since it was a birthday - and a rare mid-winter vacation - we did a major splurge), and after check-in we went up to our suite. A lovely bathroom, a king-size bed, and a sunken (two steps down) living room. Three phones. Three TVs. And a view of the mountains east of the city, which changed colors during the days.

I'm going to talk about all of the food on Friday, but tonight I thought I'd mention a few things about the hotel, itself.

Of all of the hotels we walked around in over the three days, I would have to say that the Venetian has one amazing thing going for it: You don't have to walk through the casino every time you turn around. In the other casino hotels, you seem to have to walk through the casino any time you go from the hotel to the outer world. But at the Venetian you can stop on the second floor and walk out through the "Grand Canal Shoppes." And we did almost every time we went anywhere.

It wasn't exactly quiet in the shoppes - after all, it's a massive shopping center that's open almost 24 hours a day - but it was so much less frantic than the casino. This is the kind of area that has earned Vegas the nickname of "Disneyland for adults" - the ceilings are painted with sky. The gondolas float down a real canal. People walk around with open containers of all kinds of booze. And it goes on at every hour of the day.

The window shopping is incredible all over the place. Christopher kept saying "Is the shopping at (insert casino name) higher end or lower end than this?" and the bizarre thing is that the same high-end shops are everywhere. There are a few mid-range places, but so much of what you see is just flat-out expensive. And, since we were mainly there to eat and window-shop, that was fine with us.

And, since Monday was the Chinese New Year (the Year of the Dragon), there was a massive (180-foot-long) dragon in the walkway between the Venetian shops and the Palazzo shops. So very cool. The signage said that they took more than 10 days to just do the gardens around the dragon. I can't imagine how long it took to create the dragon. (I hope to have some photos on here, soon. Sorry I don't have them, yet.)

We did our good luck walks around the dragon, then wandered off for drinks and dinner that first night. Of course, since food will be the topic 3 days from now, I guess I should stop, now, so I don't go too far. (I can't imagine that many people say *that* about Vegas...)

Cheap Airfares (?)

I realize that just a few days ago I shared a video on here, which was the first time in quite a while. (Yes, I know, without embedding it - if someone wants to teach me how to do that on a Mac, please let me know.)

Well, I'm about to do it again.

You see, I get shown - or "offered" really - a bunch of videos from people all the time. Some through social media. Some through email.

The following one came from my mom. The woman who taught me almost every swear word I know. And, more importantly, was never ashamed of that fact. (My dad might turn a little red at the fact that I've just written that, but I doubt that Mom will.)

Anyway... She sent me this video - which is not for the faint of ear, nor for the young'uns. Although, most of it is done with an accent, so the swear words aren't really American swear words. (If, however, you're reading this in some portions of the world where British English is prevalent, you might want to be a bit careful.) (Yes, Mrs. Griffiths, this means you. ;-)

Since I'm travelling this weekend on a "cheap" fare, it seemed appropriate to send this out.

So, you know the drill. Click HERE for the video - and make sure you don't stop watching until it's all the way done.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Pooh Day

Today, it just so happens, was A. A. Milne's birthday. The guy who wrote - among other things - the stories about Winnie the Pooh and Piglet and Christopher Robin and all of the characters in the Hundred Acre Wood. (For the record, there are also Eeyore, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, and Owl in the theme song, while Tigger and Gopher simply show up in the stories.)

The odd thing about Milne is that he never started out to write children's books. He was a journalist (as were so many writers at the time), who decided along the way that he might like to write - you guessed it - murder mysteries.

I'm not kidding. He left journalism to write mysteries. And, for a time, he was apparently incredibly successful at them. I've read one of them ("The Red House Mystery") and although it's a very 1920s mystery - so there's an awfully lot of talking - it was quite good.

There's only one problem, though. After writing his mysteries and becoming successful at them, he decided that he didn't want to do them any more. Because he wanted to write - you'd be right, this time - tales about a stuffed bear.

His editors told him he was insane. They figured that there was no way in the world that he could make the transition. But he was adamant that he wanted to change to the other genre, and so he did.

And, while I truly did enjoy the mystery I read, I must admit that I definitely prefer the stuffed friends in Christopher Robin's bedroom.

Either way, here's to a man with imagination and the wherewithal to follow through, even when he was told he was crazy to step out of the comfort zone others had put him in.

I Have Dreams, Too.

(With all due apologies to, and respect for, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

I have dreams, too.

I have a dream that, one day, people will be judged not by who they love, but, rather, by the fact that they are simply loved.

I have a dream that, one day, our politicians will vote for things that are morally right and good and true, not simply the things that people with lots of money and power say they should vote for.

I have a dream that, one day, our religious institutions will get back to the root of all that they preach (you know, the whole Golden Rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you... and loving all of God's creation equally... and judging not lest they be judged), instead of spouting hatred, bigotry, and venom in God's name.

I have a dream that, one day, I won't be looking at a political pool and praying that the least of the evils is elected, but, rather, praying that the best of the best can take office.

I have a dream that, one day, countries won't be going to war over trivialities and will, instead, spend their billions of war-mongering dollars on helping the poverty-stricken, homeless, orphaned, starving, and ignored.

I have a dream that, one day, as much money will go to research into cures for cancers and AIDS and diseases of all sorts as currently goes toward merchandise which supposedly supports that research.

I have a dream that, one day, teachers will make as much as professional sports stars.

I have a dream that, one day, schools will get as much funding as sports stadiums.

I have a dream that, one day, I will be able to donate my perfectly healthy blood to save other people's lives without being told I am unable simply because of who shares my bed.

I have a dream that, one day, the wealthy will realize that their legacies will be better if they are known as benefactors and philanthropists, instead of misers and oppressors.

And, okay, I also have an occasional dream that one day I win the lottery, become a wildly-popular philanthropist, donate blood on my way to my own wedding, and impose two-term limits on all of Congress so that no one becomes complacent. Oh, and in that dream I'm perpetually young and hot and can eat anything I want. But I think I've gotten off the topic.

Here's to the legacy of great people who can inspire us all to dream big.