A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Vegas Report 3: NASCAR and a Shout Out

We promised Gene's sister, Linda, that we'd try to get photos of the NASCAR truck parade and we did!  NASCAR's coming to Vegas so about 3:30pm this afternoon a long parade of all the semi's carrying the cars ran right down the strip. The trucks are painted to coordinate with the cars and, I admit, they were very fun to watch running back to back down the strip especialy from our room windows. The sidewalks were thick with people so we wouldn't have gotten to see much (me being so short) but from the 18th floor we had the perfect "fly over" view.  Very cool to see them stretching up and down the street.  I had no idea there would be so many!

On a different subject, a quick shout out to Corbin who made Gene promise to call his cell anytime we got a big winning slot so he could "hear the ka-ching and live vicariously" through us.  Yep, we call him and he giggles.  Makes the wins even more fun.

In local Vegas news happening while we're here, go to the G's Spot blog to hear about RICIN Found in Local Hotel Room(!!!!) and HEP C Outbreak from Local Endoscopy Clinic.

(I'll be posting all of our pics when we get home--I don't have capability of uploading them to this laptop.)

Vegas Adventures Report 2: Conservatory, Cavier, & Cashing Out

I was soo lazy again today.  Having stayed up last night until 4am...I didn't get up until 2PM...but Gene was fine. When I woke up I found a room service table...and then called him on the cell to find that he'd been downstairs playing poker. We were both doing what we wanted to do on vacation. Rock on.

So once I was awake..about 6pm..we went to get a snack and then spent the evening at the Bellagio.  Our intent, first, was to hit the Gallery of Fine Arts but we missed the closing by about 20 minutes. No matter.  The conservatory, decorated gorgeously in Chinese New Year fell next on the list.  I have pics and will upload them when I get home but it was one of my favorite displays of all the times we've been there.  I loved the huge red lanterns hanging from the ceilings like bubbles caught in the air and the ground areas  were all lawned over in azaleas, bamboo, and a ton of different species of orchids.  I thought of my Nannie and how much she would enjoy all the orchids, blooms of every color and marking. Just beautiful!

After The Conservatory and on the way around the corner, I said as I always do "I want to have a martini in that bar sometime", meaning the Petrossian bar in the open mouth of the casino where they have high tea in the afternoon and a pianist in the evenings. I like the layout (Click here for a pic: Pretossian Bar) and the looks.  My fellow RT friends who went to conference and joined me for the Ansel Adams exhibit in '06 when we went to conference may remember me gushing about it then.  Or not. Gene remembers it, though, because I say "I want to have a drink there" every damn time I pass the place.

Tonight was the night.  And yes, it was everything I wanted it to be: lovely music, cushy seats, a wonderful bar menu.  If you go to the link above, we sat at the rail at the table just behind the piano bench. It was the perfect place to people watch.  Cheerily, I ordered my martini and Gene ordered what I thought was one of his favorite Ports only to find out later was a sherry--yum!, by the way.  And then I heard him order what I thought at first was a joke:  caviar.  Hmmmm...okay.

I've only had caviar one time before. That's one of those intimidating things that I've always been curious about but never really had the opportunity to eat.  The ONE time I've ever been close was at an upscale function when I worked at what was the best hotel in Springfield at the time: University Plaza Hotel. Don't know if it still is or not but when I worked there all of the high dollar upscale functions were held there, being owned by local entrepeneur John Q. Hammons.

Whatever that function was that I don't remember who it was now, at the end of the function there were leftover canapes, some being small steamed red potatoes with creme fraiche, herbs, and caviar.  Quite frankly it was salty, slimey, and nasty.  So when Gene ordered caviar, at first I was both thinking "waste of money" and intimidated sitting in the middle of the Bellagio in a bar full of high dollar jewelry and cocktails wondering if I could fake knowing what the hell and how the hell to eat it properly.

I'm not particularly shy anymore but those are the moments in life when, in spite of the "what the hell it's our anniversary week" grin on Gene's face when I suddenly feel once again like the little poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks in a very small Midwest town but I caught the "what the hell it's our anniversary and there's always room in life to do something new" spirit and looked forward to at least knowing that we'd tried it.

Verdict?  That stuff I ate at the hotel was shit, that's what.  What we had tonight wasn't the highest dollar caviar available but it was damn good.  Not salty. Not slimey at all. It was buttery and creamy with a faint salmon taste, like having a much more delicate bagel and lox taste.  Sort of. It's the best comparison I can come up with at the moment.  I found that it was also addictive in the way sushi is addictive. The more I ate the more I enjoyed it and I'm still thinking about it, wanting more.

Our server, Hilda, was a lot of fun and very helpful.  When she brought it out she showed the basket of toast points and blinis, and the condiments of creme fraiche, minced chives, and red onion. She asked if we needed anything else. We laughed and said "We don't know. We've never had this before." You know how some servers get off on being snotty? She wasn't at all.  She, already knowing it was our anniversay, said, "What a great way to celebrate--trying new things!" She told us that everyone, like with most things, eat caviar differently: some naked by the spoon, some on the toast or blini only, and some with all the accoutrments.  We tried them all. Gene preferred just the toast points with a little onion and I liked the blinis and with a dab of creme fraiche.

And after that adventure? We went back to the Luxor with a detour to the giant Wheel of Fortune machine before heading home for the night.  Wheel of Fortune sucks at the moment, and that's all I have to say about that.

Vegas Report 1: Soprano's, Sharks, and Sushi

First, I didn't write anything about Monday because, quite frankly, I didn't do sh** and it was wonderful.  I slept all day.  Literally. Gene said he moved around in the bedroom several times, showered, answered calls in the suite living room three times and none of it even made me twitch so he figured I needed sleep more than anything else.  He was right.  I needed down time.  Okay, maybe it's only me but I'm guessing there are lots of you out there like me that the best thing about vacation is leaving the to-do list at home.  Each time I go on vacation I promise myself that when I go home I'll learn to turn my brain off at some point each day and just "be".  Never happens.

But maybe that's exactly the point of vacation, to remind us to just "be" for a while even if living in the moment means laying in bed for 12 hours, and not in the fun way, and then staying in your pajamas all evening while ordering a huge burger and fries so juicy, so delicious, so filled with fat that you spend an hour in the bathroom paying the price for having eaten (most) of it.  Gee, is that to filed under too much information?  Probably, but I'm not familiar with the laptop keyboard and I can't find the delete button.  :-)

Today. Tuesday. Today was filled with fun.  We were both up by fairly early and ready to hit the town. Okay, "hit the town" as defined by geeky, history museum-loving, National Geographic-reading middle-agers who wouldn't recognize "wild" if it walked up and offered us a ride.

First stop: Mandalay Bay which is really just a nice walk through shop-lined hallways from our hotel, the Luxor next door.   Our goal destination being Shark Reef, still one of our favorite Vegas attractions and one of the most affordable for families.  We went the first year it opened, several years ago at $13.00, and even now the price has only gone up to $15.95.  We both think it's a great value.  When we get home, I'll upload the video I took of sitting in the bubble tube watching sharks swim overhead and of the divers in chain mail cleaning the windows and rocks. I love that the shark pools can be viewed from different angles and heights; I especially love the sunken boat scene where they even play audio with creaks and groans as if it's the shipwreck's timbers shifting in the water. 

In the meantime click here for the web site and info:  Shark Reef

It takes at least a couple of hours to really go through the reef so after that we were ready for lunch.  We talked about eating at the Burger Bar which we'd seen featured in one of Giada's getaway shows but that felt too heavy and we talked about The Noodle Shop but that wasn't "it" either so we settled on Rick Moonen's RM Seafood in the walkway between the two hotels, on the Mandalay Bay side.  There are two dining rooms to the restaurant, the evening formal room, and the casual day room.  Sushi felt perfect for lunch and they served that and more.

Again, I'll upload pics when I get home but I have to say that the best thing about the sushi was that it made us appreciate the sushi chefs at our favorite little sushi bar, Umi, at home.  The sushi was okay, but just okay, and the presentation was boring, as in NO presentation, which sucked for the price.  However,  the soup we ordered as a starter was fantastic! I wish now I'd just had soup and salad instead of the sushi.  It was a beautiful red curry/coconut soup with shrimp stock and slivers of onions and potatoes.  I would go back just for that soup.

Gene noticed that Rick Moonen himself came into the restaurant while we were eating the starters--he recognized the chef from his picture on the menu outside the restaurant. He dared me to go introduce myself and tell him I'd be blogging him but I admit I chickened out.  Then after being disappointed in the sushi I'm kind of glad I don't feel obligated to lie.

The plan for after lunch?  A window shopping stroll back to our hotel and...(whispering) a nap.  It sounds so decadent! It's vacation, we're allowed.  Right?  But on the way to the room, we ended doing a little slot play. My husband plays poker and often wins but I rarely gamble at all. Occasionally I'll shove $10 in a penny or nickle slot machine but it's more about trying to get the bonus rounds, which are like playing video games, than trying to win money.

But guess who has a new slot machine?  The Soprano's! Well, somehow that $20.00 bill found its way out of my pocket and into that machine so I could sing along to the theme music and watch pictures of Tony and the boys pop up on the reels.  Yep.  I admit I fully expected this story to end as "and then I lost my money and walked away" but today was not that day. Today, not  only did I win over $100.00 (on a penny slot!), I won the small progressive twice so was twice "made" as a Soprano family soldier.  Yep. Uh huh. I have pics of that too. Apparently now the casinos don't care if you take pics on the floor. The cocktail waitress even took one for us sitting at the machines.

We laughed about that all the way back to our napping place.

After the napping event and the breakfast for dinner event, of which I took no pics because I'm pretty sure you know what scrambled eggs and wheat toast look like.... we headed over to the Tropicana to see the BODIES The Exhibition, the one where they've dissected and preserved real bodies so you can see all the insides under your outside. 

Wow.  No, really.  I mean it. WOW~! 

The minute you get a chance, run, do not walk to this exhibit. It is incredible. We stayed for hours reading every word at each display and talking about how all the pieces and parts fit together.  Granted, I remembered much more about the workings and names of the pieces and parts in the chest, since that's what I work with, but at least all the names still sounded familiar from Letty's Anatomy class.

As Gene studied one of the hearts, smartass that he is, he asked "And which one of those veins did Dr. Caesar put a stent in after my heart attack?"  Hehehe. Such a funny boy.  But me also being a smartass, I showed him exactly which ARTERY it was and gave him the name: LAD.  Hehehe.  Yes, that was a sarcastic hehehe, not an I'm laughing hehehe.

The exhibit really was incredible.  It was especially cool for me to see all the anatomy after being out of school and working for a while.  It's one thing to see it on paper and in pics, or even in a lab, but so many things make much more sense after you've been working for real with it all for a while.

Click here for more info: BODIES The Exhibition

By that time, it was actually getting late so we ran the strip just to look at the lights and see the new construction before coming home.  Gene's already in bed and I'll say good night. Good night.

Dr's Kitchen Monday: Blackberry Parfait and simple Salads

In the quest for better eating habits I'm experimenting a lot these days.  I'm still eating my home-made granola for breakfast but I'm playing around with ways to dress it up and add more fruit in: parfaits for a fun change.

What made this particularly interesting was that I had not one drop of milk-milk in the house, only soy milk. But you know what? It worked.  Well.  I kicked up the nuttiness of the soy flavor by adding a little almond flavoring along with the vanilla in the custard sauce which complimented the walnuts and almonds in the granola. The blackberries then cut the richness of the custard to make the whole thing very well-rounded lovely start the morning.  (Gene ate his for dessert last night and loved it.)

(Recipe at the end of the post.)

FYI to anyone here in Springfield:  Price Cutter has the packages of blackberries that normally come in at $3.99 on sale for $1.00 a carton right now and they're very good.

I'm also experimenting with salads for every meal and finding new options for flavored beverages that aren't loaded with sugar and don't come in my favorite red can.

Birthday...the Day After...

This was my birthday yesterday.  You can't see it well enough but in both photos taken mid-afternoon it was snowing to beat the shit at the time.  Visibility was pea soup and the weathermen all predicted 6-9 inches of "wintry mix" along with bad driving conditions for the evening.

So even though I had those glorious plans to go with Gene, my brother, my cousin, and several friends to that Discovery Center event "Mistology", when a couple of the folks canceled in the afternoon we decided to stay home and figured the event would be canceled too.

Turns out we were wrong. The "Science of the Cocktail" did take place and my brother, along with his girlfriend, and another friend did end up going. They called afterwards and said it rocked.  Damn! Missed another good time but such is life when you get old and tentative about the weather.  Glad it was fun though. Next time for sure!  Kenneth and anyone else who went be sure to comment about how it was.

Instead, Gene and I bundled up under quilts, made up a quick batch of chili and baked cornbread in the omelette pan like my Nannie always made it, and stayed in to watch the LOST season premiere-- Jack was afraid Hurley would tell WHAT? Oh, I guess that's the hook, eh?  I really wanted all the answers in the first eppy. The only problem with instant gratification is that it takes too damn long.

I have to show my foodie presents. Man, I feel so blessed and excited about new foodie toys!

Everybody genuinely surprised me this year.  Ann remembered me mentioning that I don't have an immersion blender which was very sweet. Sher KNEW there was no way I'd spend the money on myself to get the coveted new Martha Stewart cake book that is WONDERFUL!!! My sister toched me by getting me two of my favorite things:  fruity herbal tea (love to ice it!) and bath crystals and bubbles. The bubble bath is in gardenia which is my favorite floral scent.  Aunti Miranda ordered me calling cards and let me pick out the design. Can't wait to get those.  I used to have business cards, of course, when i worked in catering and then again when I had the cake company, but they're really convenient to for anyone to have. Auntie Miranda has been with me a million times when we've run into folks or we've been out shopping where the subject of the blog came up and I end up scribbling my name and blog addy on a scrap piece of paper.  It will be so cool to be able to whip out a card with my name, blog address, email, etc. when I run into old friends or when someone asks for the blog addy.  What a thoughtful gift. 

Haven't had a chance to play with the stick blender yet but I have been cover to cover on the MS cake book (WOW!) and I'm sitting here sipping tea as I write.  Thank you all so very much!

Oh. Notice the box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch? When I first opened the Amazon box from Sher the first thing on top was the cereal. In my mind, I was thinking "Cereal? How odd, Sher. Hmm...."  And then of course I quickly found out that it wasn't my gift at all. :-)  Pretty effective marketing on the part of Amazon and General Foods to have the individual box along with a coupon. I'd never tried that one before.  It's loaded with sugar but I admit I did like it.

Thank you again to everyone who made my birthday so special--all the greetings on the blog yesterday really tickled me pink! 

Most of you guys have no idea just how depressed I usually get around my birthday. Not because of aging, it's more of a "but I'm not published yet" whine. This year was different. Between the articles here and there on the internet and finally getting into "name" magazines like the Ben Franklin Farmer's Almanac and the Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul, as well as the University of OkIahoma's School of Medicine Literary Journal, I was much happier with my goal-reaching this year. I feel like I'm really heading in the right direction, if that makes sense, so my birthday "accounting" felt in the black this year.

Also, for those of you who have been watching the "Tackiest Gift of 2007" poll, I'll be posting that tomorrow along with photos of the gift for the winner!