Vegas!!

For Memorial Day weekend, Ben and I went to Vegas with Carl (Ben's dad). Deena wasn't able to go, but we called her often, missed her, and wished she was there!! WARNING: I will talk a lot about food in this blog since I ate some of the most fabulous food ever! I'm also going to post all my pictures under the picture gallery to the right, so I'll only pick and choose select pictures for this post.

We arrived late Friday night to a shrimp cocktail as an appetizer in our humongous suite at Treasure Island. Yum!

We had dinner at Phil's Italian Steakhouse (Phil is apparently the owner of Treasure Island), where Ben had filet mignon with bernaise sauce and garlic mashed potatoes, I had chicken lasagna, and Carl had chicken parmesan. The food was probably better than most meals we eat in Louisville, but compared to the rest of the weekend we ranked this meal as just average (I sound so spoiled, don't I?).

Saturday morning, we got up early and had breakfast in bed (basic eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and toast) and a movie, "It's Complicated"- a nice, leisurely way to start the day, especially since we got up at around 6:30 Vegas time! Then we packed up and switched hotels- suite was just a one-nighter. We stayed at Aria and Carl stayed at Caesar's. Our room at Aria was so high tech! Upon entering, the curtains opened automatically and the lights turned on. Everything was controlled by a touchscreen device on the nightstand. Our alarm the next morning was the curtains opening, the lights turning on, and the TV turning on! Ben was in heaven playing with that touchscreen. And by the way, the view was gorgeous!

Our day got started with shopping via "Name That Price" (a game we play with Carl), followed by a fabulous lunch starting with olives, tapenade, and bread as appetizers at a great place called Todd English's Olives in the Bellagio.

Carl and Ben aren't big olive fans, so I literally ate all of those olives and tapenade myself! For lunch we split caesar salad, flatbread with figs, gorgonzola cheese, and prosciutto, and a chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans. We all loved it!

Dinner was an experience all its own. We ate at Aureole's in Mandalay Bay, and the whole experience was probably the best part of the trip! Because it was so fabulous and blog-worthy, I am devoting the whole next post just to that dinner. So stay tuned for those details!

After dinner, Ben and I saw the Cirque du Soleil show "Viva Elvis".

I'm sure if you've never seen a Cirque show, you would be completely blown away and would absolutely love it! Ben and I, being the spoiled people that we are, have seen several Cirque shows and gave it a 7 out of 10. If you love Elvis, you'll love the show! All Elvis music, and lots of dancing.

Sunday consisted of pastries for breakfast, yet some more shopping, and a delicious meal at Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris. Highlight of that meal: carrot, ginger, and apple soup.

Oh my goodness, so delicious, so light, so unique...we all loved it! My meal was a macaroni gratin, Ben's was a ham and cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top, and Carl's was skate with capers and a lemon butter sauce which was to die for! A great spot to eat for sure!

After lunch, I finally got some pool time at our hotel, and it was PACKED (although I took the picture below in the morning when there was hardly anyone there). It was nice and hot, so no wonder. There were 3 pools there, with zero-depth entries (the water just runs over the edge of the pool)...so cool!

Dinner was at Mesa Grill in Caesar's, one of Bobby Flay's restaurants.

I happen to love spicy, southwestern food like this, so this was probably my favorite meal of the trip (although Aureole's was definitely the best experience and the food was better there overall). I had a chili relleno (a fried chili pepper stuffed with beans and rice- oh baby, it was good!) and salmon served over beans with an ancho chili barbecue sauce. YUM. That's all I have to say about that. Ben had a New York strip with an amazing steak sauce and mashed potatoes (Ben had steak and potatoes every night- he said if he died today, he'd want to know that he'd taken every opportunity he was given to eat steak).

Carl had a shrimp tamale that was so amazing and a very spicy black bean soup. For dessert, we had a chocolate cornmeal bread pudding (tasted like chocolate cornbread- so interesting!) and a very tall piece of coconut cake, aka a little piece of heaven!

Did I mention that I gained weight on this trip?!! Looking back on this, I can't even believe how much the 3 of us ate!

That night Ben and I saw another Cirque du Soleil show called "O". 10 out of 10. Incredible. Water stage. Unbelievable. Great music. Best Cirque show we've ever seen. Need I say more?

We left for home bright and early Monday morning. Deena picked us up from the airport and we went to dinner at Red Robin, where I had a spicy burger with jalapeños and salsa...

...not quite Vegas, but I guess it's back to reality! It was still yummy...sometimes after all that fancy food you just need a good burger. :)

Carl was so generous with us on the trip and I can't even begin to thank him enough! We are so blessed to be able to do things like this because Carl and Deena's generosity. I'm already ready to go back. Say the word, Carl, and we'll book a flight!!!!