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LV 2008
May 16, 2008
It was a nice trip. After all these years, and all these trips, Spouse and I are pretty laid back when it comes to Las Vegas. We tend to spend our time relaxing by (or IN) the pool, indulging in the many fine dining opportunities, squandering vast amounts of time at the spa, and doing a bit of gambling here and shopping there. And since my number one rule to make it truly a vacation is NO COMPUTERS ALLOWED, I manage to get in a decent amount of good old-fashioned book reading.
Shopping, in Spouse�s case, always includes at least one trip to Don Pablo�s for cigars, and in my case, this trip seemed to be all about the nail polish. I may have gone a little nuts between what was on sale in the nail salon at the spa, what they had for sale, at the relatively un-inflated price of eight bucks a bottle, in the gift shop (If I�d had doubts about staying at TI, the fact that they sell all that wonderful OPI in the gift shop killed �em all dead.), and a stop at Pure Beauty out in Green Valley (OPI Half Off!!)--well, I stopped myself at six:
- Didgeridoo Your Nails? (Pure Beauty sale)
- Suzi Loves Syndey (Pure Beauty sale)
- Don�t Melbourne the Toast (Pure Beauty sale)
- Mauving to Manitoba (Pure Beauty sale)
- Tijuana Dance? (TI gift shop)
- I�m Indi-A Mood for Love (WET Spa nail salon at TI)
Plus a bottle of the RapiDry topcoat (Pure Beauty sale).
�I�m Indi-A Mood for Love�. incidentally, was my color choice for my spa manicure. Which followed the spa facial. That came after the spa massage.
Like I said--nice trip. The massage, from an ex-marine named Kurt, was a yummy mix of deep tissue, Swedish, and some hot stone action to iron out my piriformis muscles. He had a helluva grip, too. WOW.
The facial was rewarding, if embarrassing. It was hard to own up to the fact that I don�t exfoliate regularly, I don�t use a special facial moisturizer, I don�t wear a sunscreen, and my last facial was somewhere around 1996. But on the upside, she nailed those blackheads.
And the manicure was a treat; it included a paraffin treatment (WOW x 2), plus the manicurist was a real sweetie and fun to chat with. (I usually don�t get to chat with the manicurist--mine doesn�t speak much English, for one thing--and it�s usually so damned noisy in the salon I can�t hear anyone anyway.)
The dining highpoint came early, our first night in town: Thomas Keller�s
Bouchon, where things started out as soon as we were seated, with a dish of warm, freshly roasted pistachios, and a baguette that was so butter-laden, it was better than the best croissant I�ve ever eaten. Served, naturally, with even more sweet butter.
That was such a perfect treat that we ended up considering that the hors-d�oeuvre course. So we went straight to the entr�e: Spouse had the Steak Frites off the menu, with pistachio ice cream for dessert--and I had one of the specials. The dayboat scallops, pan-seared, with mixed wild mushrooms, a savory pain perdu, and a pan reduction with applewood-smoked bacon in it. My dessert was also off the board--a raspberry chocolate cake that was so ridiculously complex, and so far beyond delicious, that it defies any more detailed description.
We shared a split of a remarkable French Chardonnay. I can�t remember what it was called, but it was the Selection du Sommelier, so we tried it and both of us loved it. Spouse and I both like Chards, but only when they are not oakey or overly dry. This one was perfect and fruity and went brilliantly with my scallops. Spouse was happy with it too, and he is much harder to please when it comes to wine.
And if all of that didn�t quite satisfy�they handed us each a bag of their caramel corn as we walked out. Huge popped kernels, thickly coated with rich, buttery caramel, and studded with plump, fresh, roasted peanuts. We actually saved that for later, and ate it at the airport while waiting to board--so that the first and our last things we ate in LV this trip came from Bouchon.
But it isn�t like we ate poorly the rest of the time, though. To satisfy our yearning for old favorites, we had breakfast at The Peppermill, for that old Las Vegas thrill, and our customary dinner at Samba, which I�m happy to say is as great as ever. And for more �new tries�, did both the breakfast buffet and the coffeeshop at our hotel, both turning out to be excellent choices. And we went out to Henderson and had lunch at Lucille�s, where the fresh peach iced tea and the pulled pork were right up my alley.
As for the rest of our time�like I said. Pool, some slot play, a lot of window shopping, and just plain kicking back and relaxing--even napping. Which wasn�t hard--our newly remodeled hotel room was quiet, and the beds were like what I always imagined big poufy clouds felt like when angels went to bed. And since our view was a perfectly unobstructed view of this blight on the landscape, we were more than happy to keep the drapes closed.
All in all, a lovely vacation--but not without its bumps, I have to say. Flying today is, of course, a miserable experience.
And for some mysterious reason, I fainted in the ladies room at The Mirage on Monday night. I have NO idea what that was all about. I wasn�t drinking, I was reasonably well-rested, and I make a point of staying hydrated. Just a sudden blood pressure drop, I guess. But I felt very shaky after, and it kind of put the kibosh on the evening.
Reading:Back to David McCullough�s �John Adams�, after a vacation sidetrack through Botswana, for �The Good Husband of Zebra Drive�, by Alexander McCall Smith.
Surfing: looking up links for this entry, and catching up on favorites.
Listening: They played so much of what I liked at the TI, it seemed like I had my own private soundtrack. Sarah McLachlan, Peter Gabriel, Sister Hazel, Warren Zevon--I swear, it was like having my earphones in.
At Random: click here
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