Wolfgang Puck at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas

This post is long overdue. I need to post it because I get stressed out very easily when I forget to post things!

I'm pretty excited! Today I am going to meet one of my blog friends. Before food blogging, I used to blog on Livejournal heck, I still blog on there from time to time. I started my first livejournal 10 years ago. Way to make me feel old. Anyway one of my blog friends, Laura is in town for a few days and we are going to go out to brunch. We've been blog friends for over 7 years, I think!

Anywho, on to the food. I figured I might as well post about our last meal in Las Vegas. I am so behind on posts but I really don't want to post more than once a day if I can help it. So here it is.



We decided to go to Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in the MGM Grand. It was a first for all of us. I ordered the pork belly BLT. I had never tried pork belly like this before and was intrigued after reading Jenna talk about it in her blog.



The sandwich came with a side of pasta salad. It was supposed to be veggie pasta salad but I didn't see enough veggies. Just noodles. Blah.



The pork belly blt was difficult to eat. It was the kind of sandwich you had to either deconstruct to eat or simply risk tearing up the roof of your mouth. I really had no desire to tear up my mouth so I deconstructed it. The bread was perfectly toasty and the tomatoes set the sandwich over the top. The pork belly tasted like bacon, no surprise there. I think it was a little thick and hard to eat. I would have preferred it sliced up on top of pasta or pizza. I think BLTs should have bacon. (And avocado)



Andy got a lamb gyro wrap with couscous and a cucumber salad. His dish was way better than mine. I know because I stole bites. Why else would we have gotten married?



The lamb in the wrap was so delicious. I used to be scared of trying things like lamb but it honestly tastes like beef to me. (I'm no culinary genius, what do I know?)



Tiffany got a cuban sandwich. OMG. I stole bites from her too. The four of us always share food. We're family. I loved the cuban, I need to order these more often!



Gary got a burger with a crap ton of fries. As far as I remember, he didn't even really eat the fries! The burger had an onion marmalade on top of it that was delicious. I do remember that.

Overall, it was a decent lunch. I think Wolfgang has his hand in way too many pots but his food is good so I guess I can't hate on him. Well, I could but I won't.

Thoughts on Wolfgang? Do you think he's a sellout?

Parasol Up/Parasol Down & Bouchon Bakery

One of my favorite places in Las Vegas is a little lounge called, "Parasol Up/Parasol Down. It's located inside of the Wynn near the casino area. I've been five or six times and I always enjoy it.



I decided to try some red wine sangria this time and Andy got his usual whiskey sour. The sangria was refreshing but not too easy to drink. I can't roll with more than two.

I also love that sangria isn't overly sweet like most cocktails. The last thing I need is a weird blood sugar issue while on vacation.





This is me after one sangria. I don't need multiple drinks. I'm already a little nutty on my own.

(This is another point when I forgot to use my camera. Sad.)



We requested a late checkout since we stayed up ALL night chatting with some friends and walking around the strip. I decided to go grab some treats from Bouchon Bakery for us to share. (Since I can't handle all that sugar on my own!)

On the left is peanut butter & jelly brioche and on the right is a TKO cookie. Gary suggested that TKO meant "total knockout" and I agree. It's like the classiest, richest oreo you've ever ingested. The buttercream frosting...words cannot express. We could only handle one bite each. It's just too rich and heavenly. You don't want to overindulge in treats like these.



Okay. You do WANT to overindulge. You just CAN'T!



Dessert was a vanilla bean european yogurt parfait. It comes with a berry medley on the bottom and crunchy currant granola on the top. Andy is obsessed. He loves parfaits. Andy's tried the mango yogurt and the raspberry also. I stick with vanilla bean, thank you very much. European yogurt is thinner than greek but thicker than traditional soupy yogurt. I dig it.

Only one more Vegas post left, then you'll see how we recover from 3 days of going a little overboard. I even tried spaghetti squash for the first time. The insanity!

Getting cuh-razy in Las Vegas

Stupid title. Forgive me. I have been job searching all day. I'm trying to find a job that will work with my busy student teaching schedule. Mostly because I want to buy a DSLR, go to Ireland and buy more Lululemon yoga pants.



We did some damage at Hash House a Go Go. None of us finished our plates but we still felt pretty full. The Palazzo has an amazing gym & spa called Canyon Ranch Spa so we decided to check it out. I took a yoga class and the boys went to the gym.(Andy walked at an incline with his huge bandage on. He is intense.)

Tiffany and I took part in the sauna, steam room, igloo room, jacuzzi, rainforest showers and relaxation rooms. We felt incredibly relaxed afterwards.

Which obviously meant we needed more alcohol.





This is the dress I wore. It's made by Free People and I am obsessed. Unfortunately it's a little short and I HATE my legs so after a few hours, I changed into jeans.

I try to be a lady, I really do.





We went to Taqueria Canonita for happy hour. Andy's parents have been and told us it was delicious. I started with a blackberry margarita.



Tiffany ordered a mango margarita? I think.



And Gary ordered a long island iced tea. Aren't they a cute couple? I love double dates.



Andy ordered a beer. Which is boring. Right?



For food, I ordered chicken flautas.



Andy ordered ceviche. (And I tried the ahi tuna!) The ceviche was delicious. It came with three different kinds and the seafood-phobe in me was scared. Then I tried it. Love. Getting over my fear was delicious, gotta love that. Taqueria Canonita is a fun place to grab a bite, get a few drinks in and people watch. Go to their happy hour, it's from 2-7. Order the guacamole and think of me.

And I stopped taking pictures at this point. Maybe it had to do with my second margarita. I'll never tell.

I'm also sad because we went to a fun champagne bar with another couple (triple date!) and I forgot to take pictures. Sometimes I seriously fail at being a blogger.

Do you ever forget to take pictures? Or am I alone here?

Hash House A Go Go

Amanda is currently sleeping. In my attempt to write more, here I am.

As noted previously, we went to Las Vegas last week. School starts again soon, so it was one last good time before the grind of work again. Breakfast, being the most important meal and all, needed to be done right. Luckily, I watch the travel channel religiously and had noticed on Man vs. Food, that the lovely host of that glutton fest had been to this place called Hash House A Go Go. So we went. I had been previous, to the one in San Diego. But it had been several years.

So, I find the show itself to be much like a car accident. I don't want to watch, but I can't stop. I don't enjoy over eating. I don't enjoy fried food. I don't enjoy food that could potentially kill me/needs a signed waiver before you eat. However, breakfast is my weak point. Thankfully no one died. And aside from Man vs. Food, Bjork likes it.

Here is the food. Giant portions of ungodly combination of goodness. And coffee. My photography skills are lacking so Amanda took it for me, but this was a Chorizo Hash. Eggs, a biscuit, potatoes, chorizo, cheddar cheese and jalapenos. And Amanda loves me and carries individual packets of tapatio in her purse for me, so I unloaded a few packets on top.

Our friend Gary ordered the Chicken Benedict. What is a Chicken Benedict you ask? Here is the menu description: Andy's sage fried chicken w/ fresh spinach, hardwood smoked bacon, market tomato, griddled mozzarella, chipotle cream and scrambled eggs .

Insanity.

Tiffany ordered a giant brown sugar and banana pancake.

It is literally like 18 inches in diameter. 

Amanda ordered an Avocado and Bacon Scramble with griddled mashed potatoes.

(The potatoes were not great.)

We should have taken after pictures. It looked like we barely touched any of the food. The prices are pretty good for the portion, but we would probably had been better off sharing 2 plates. However, after a night of drinking in Veags, it was pretty solid. And, of course, breakfast is the most important thing...out of the things we eat.

I assume it is only a matter of time before the Man vs. Food guy has a massive coronary, live, on TV. I would love to see what his contract looks like. There has to be some serious liability issues. Food is dangerous.

Vegas again? Getting Started

Oh heck yes!



Comps at The Palazzo? Totally worth jumping on the bed.



Meet Gary. Gary is one of our best friends.



Andy couldn't jump on the bed so he chilled on the couch.



I got the party started with some sangria in a purple plastic cup.



Andy stuck with beer from the Stone Brewing Company.



I used Bandit's boxed Sangria. I know box wine sounds terrible but I sampled Bandit's wine at the Foodbuzz Festival and it's decent. Chilled sangria is my favorite.



The boys.

For dinner we walked over to Wolfgang Puck's restaurant Postrio. It's in the St. Mark's Square area of The Venetian.



We started with a pizza to share. It was topped with pesto, shrimp, goat cheese, tomatoes, broccolini and basil. Basically heaven in pizza form.



Tiffany ordered some pasta that tasted like gnocchi. It was really delicious!



I drunkenly ordered pancetta wrapped meatloaf. Eeesh. I really enjoyed it though. The mushroom gravy on top of it was full of flavor.



Andy ordered mussels in bearnaise sauce. That bread on top was covered in bearnaise (weird.)



Gary ordered a lobster sandwich. I tried it and thought it was great! I'd never had lobster in that form before.



After dinner we headed to The Wynn and sat in their lounge. Parasol Up/Parasol Down is my favorite lounge. The atmosphere is quiet enough for you to chat with your friends but has enough going on. It's a classy place.



Andy and Gary had whiskey sours. And matching green shirts...



I had a shot of bubblegum vodka with a squeeze of lime. It's semi-disgusting because it tastes JUST like bubblegum. I'll spare you any more pictures of me acting nuts.

Or not. We'll see tomorrow.

Guest Post: Amanda's little sister!

Hi everyone! This is a guest post from Sarah, Amanda's younger sister at Love in the Time of Text Messaging (not a food or health blog). Amanda asked me to post the remainder of our Las Vegas pictures while she vacations in Kauai. From the sound of it, they are having a wonderful time!

Our second dinner while in Vegas was at Fiamma in the MGM Grand. I'm not sure my amateur food photography does it justice!

The love birds started off with a bellini.

When our waiter brought us he had to ask us if it was alright that the bread had pork lard in it. Yes, pork lard. Don't worry, we said yes and let me tell you, pork bread ftw. It was perfect for dipping in olive oil and didn't taste anything like bacon.

Amanda started off with a Caesar salad, while friends Tiffany and Gary split calamari.

Amanda ordered spaghetti with meatballs. I should mention at this point that all the pasta is made fresh daily and was phenomenal, meaning even regular old spaghetti with meatballs was delish.

I split an order of agnolotti with Italian sausage and tomatoes with my younger sister. It was AMAZING. Even the half order was filling, thanks in part to having devoured the pork bread.

I can't exactly remember what Andy ordered. Obviously some kind of delicious meat.

We finished off our meal with chocolate dipped biscotti.

That ladies and gentlemen, was the first blog post, I've ever written about food. Ever since Amanda started this blog, I've become obsessed with food/health/nutrition bloggers of all sorts.

Now a question for you. When I'm at home, I get tired of eating out so much because I stick to the same restaurants and tend to be the opposite of adventurous. On the other hand, when I'm on vacation I love to try new places. Are you a more adventurous eater when you're on vacation?