Friday, April 13, 2007

Whirlwind trip to Vegas....

Well, despite our efforts, we were not able to post any updates while we were traveling! Our laptop conked out on us and decided not to cooperate! Late Monday night we flew out to start a quick vacation to Las Vegas!

We decided to give jetBlue a try for the first time... we will definitely have to fly with them again! I loved the fact we could listen to satellite radio or watch DirecTV - especially when it was a 5 1/2 hour flight to get there! It was fun being able to see how fast we were going and where we we located at any given time as well - here's a snap... planes are not known for good lighting, so forgive the picture!

While there were a few "fancy" restaurants that looked exceptionally good, we decided to keep it more low-key this trip and check out some of the others. We decided to not worry about taking pictures of the food and just enjoy it instead - so I apologize for lack of photos! I think the most surprising hit was Border Grill which was started by the "Two Hot Tamales" Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. It just had a fun feel to it - Jeff had one of the biggest pork chops we have seen with a dish of Smoked Pork Chop with Cholita Glaze over a generous portion of boniato mashed potatoes. I went with the Chicken Chilaquiles which was just as delicious - the only downside to this place was that we felt a little ignored by the staff... but they were pretty busy. They did keep the theme interesting on the inside!

Some other highlights were Wolfgang Punks Bar and Grill at the MGM - we ordered the Tomato, Burata Mozzarella and Basil pizza and the Ricotta Gnocchi with Sweet Fennel Sausage Bolognese. We both had half of each - the Gnocchi won out though and was way too good to split... I would have loved to had just that alone! We stumbled upon Cento & Fanti Gourmet Market for lunch one day and it turned out to be much better than we could have planned on!

Nothing else was too remarkable - we did, of course, do a buffet... the lunch run at the Bellagio. While it was fairly good for a buffet, I'm not sure it is one I would run back too... the one item that I had more than my fare share of was their "blondie" from the dessert bar. I don't know what they did, but it was so good!

We walked way too much... we went from the Luxor area down past the Wynn on more than one occasion - we did have a car, but it was way too nice outside to justify using it! The Wynn was beautiful, the next time we go back I think we are going to have to stay there.

Here are some random pictures we took along the way....

You rarely find me in pictures... but the Coke bear just would not let me get by without taking a snap - (okay... okay... Jeff insisted he at least try and get me in at least one - so I obliged... here's my dorky self!)


These two are from the Wynn.


The Luxor...

MGM...

And of course Paris in Las Vegas - probably the closest we will ever get! One day I wish to actually go!

Finally, how could one not stop to watch the gorgeous fountains at the Bellagio - we lucked out, while it was very warm - we stopped at just the right time to watch the show as the sun was taken over by a large cloud while we watched!

We took the red eye back and got into Washington around 6am... got the luggage, drove the hour back home and then went and picked up the dogs. We didn't sleep on the plane at all - we did take a nap this afternoon, but we are still pretty exhausted. Dinner tonight? Umm, no cooking as we need to grocery shop - while we could have ordered out, we just decided to keep it simple and make a couple fluffernutters (with "real" fluff of course...) with a side of chips!

Oh and I didn't forget about the Marbled Chocolate Caramels Bars I mentioned on Monday... don't fret - I promise I will get them posted tomorrow after we get some sleep! I will also get to your e-mails and comments as soon as I can!

11 comments:

  1. So glad you're both ok, I got used to seeing daily postings and I started to worry about you.

    Glad you had a good trip, welcome home. I finally made one of your recipes, the date and fig bread, although I didnt have any figs so I tried with prunes and it was very nice!

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  2. Boarder Grill is probably in my top 3 places in Vegas! I love their watermelon fresca. I'm so glad that you had a chance to try it :)

    Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

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  3. Glad you had a nice trip! This so reminds me of my week a friend and I went together, we had so much fun and we walked eveywhere too, we also had a rental car, but I agree it was so nice that we just had to walk. Is the Border Grill still in Mandalay Bay? We went there too as we had concert tickets to go see Matchbox Twenty at Mandalay. I think it is time to make another trip!

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  4. Thanks for the restaurant recommendations in my city! Since I live there, I rarely go to The Strip area. But there is so much great dining in that area I need to make a point of doing so! I've never even been to the Wynn yet!

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  5. Been reading your blog since I found out about you via Farmgirl's blog...

    Love your recipes and your blog in general.

    Thanks for the tour of Vegas! Glad to hear that you had a nice time...

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  6. Welcome, back Joe & Jeff! So glad you had nice time :-) I remember Two Hot Tamales from the early days of FN....loved that show! Was able to try the Border Grill in Santa Monica...I agree with you, great food! Did you guys gamble....how did you do?
    Val

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  7. We go to Vegas so often; wish we'd known about your trip so we could have steered you to a few faves. We also did the Luxor - Wynn walk, roundtrip, and my foot felt like it had been run over by a truck. Not like a "walk" as there's so much people dodging. Looking forward to your regular posts again.

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  8. I wished I was on trip with you guys. Can't wait to visit that part of the country. I ate at Wolfgang in Florida, last yr, and had a great experience. Off to pack, I'm going house hunting at the other end of the country: Vancouver Island.

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  9. Thanks for sharing about your trip! Looks and sounds like you had a blast and a well-deserved break.

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  10. Welcome back. We missed you. Nice to see you and the Coke Bear. When can you turn the tables and show us Jeff? Hmmm?

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  11. It was a fun trip - we can't wait to go back again!

    Border Grill is still located inside Mandalay Bay.

    Feel free to send us any tips H&D! We'd still love to hear them for next time!

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