Bite of Las Vegas

Saturday was a hot one! The mercury reached over 90 degrees. Not exactly the best weather for an all-day food and music festival. It was pretty toasty out there, but then there was relief once the sun began to set.

Gates opened at 11:00 for Bite of Las Vegas, but Mike and I didn’t care to see Katherine McPhee or Parachute. So, we got to Desert Breeze Park around 2:30. Parking was free, but a long walk. Valet parking was available for $15.

I donated a bag of canned goods so we each were able to get a dollar off admission; we paid our $14 and we walked right in. We walked around the grounds to check everything out. We got freebies and stopped at spin to win tents, Mike won two Wranglers hockey tickets. I won a sun tea pitcher and glasses. There were quite a few local restaurants serving food; personal favorites such as Amore, Hash House a Go Go, Stripburger, Gordon Biersch, and Paymon’s were there. Water and pop were $2, Beer was $4 and most food samples seemed to be priced between $3-$5. Overall, prices were pretty reasonable.




There were rides for the kids and a rock wall. I also noticed that in addition to regular port-a-potties, they also had trailers that offered flushing toilets and running water. However, to use them you had to pay $3 for all-day access.

Uncle Kracker took the stage at 4:30 we waited about an hour beforehand so we could secure a good spot to watch the show. Meanwhile, Jimmy Stafford of Train took the stage, and we were told Train would not be performing. Pat Monahan was sick. That was a bummer. Blue October would now play at 8:00 instead of 6:30 and local bands now had the opportunity to play on the main stage. Neither of us particularly wanted to see Blue October so we decided to leave after Uncle Kracker.


Before Uncle Kracker set up, Le Reve from Wynn performed. It was the quickest performance I’ve ever seen. If you blinked long enough it was possible to miss it.




Uncle Kracker was great. They played Smile off his new album, Happy Hour, all his hits, plus All Summer Long since he wrote it with Kid Rock. So, even without Train it was well worth going.





I felt so old, though. I didn't feel I fit into the crowd, it was young teens or parents who brought their kids. There was a group next to us that were incredibly annoying - four girls and one guy. The guy was all proud that he was a self-proclaimed stoner. He's gotten better since his freshman year, he claimed. Now he only drinks and smokes – and he was sure to clarify he didn’t mean cigarettes. Two girls of the group were swooning over him. One was asking what his parents thought of him being a stoner and he said they were hippies so they get it. The other was fascinated with his lighter, running her finger thru it endlessly.

Also, Uncle Kracker sang The Joker by Steve Miller Band. He tried to get the audience to sing along, but it failed miserably. They were too young to know the words.


Crowds got really heavy by the time Uncle Kracker ended. We did a quick walk around before deciding to leave. Lines were longer, it was harder to get around, people were drunk. I was ready to go. I guess I am old. There was a long line to enter when we were leaving and a good number of cars were streaming in. Luckily, since we left early getting out of the parking lot was a breeze.

Even if it didn’t go quite as expected, I’m glad we went. It was a good time.

It's Friday!

Tomorrow is Bite of Las Vegas. Mike and I have plans to go. However, Mike came down with the flu yesterday. I haven't heard if he's feeling any better today. Hopefully, it's only a 24 hour bug, and he'll rest today and be well tomorrow.

Uncle Kracker performs at 4:30 and Train at 8:15. Those are the two bands we are interested in seeing. If need be, I can drive to Pahrump tomorrow morning to pick up Mike and we'll still have plenty of time to enjoy the festivities.

Over 40 restaurants are supposed to participate this year. Food portions will be priced between $1-$5. It sounds like it we'll be able to sample several things. I prefer it that way instead of how San Gennaro was set up with large expensive portions.

You know, I still haven't had good Italian sausage to make up for that poor excuse of sausage and peppers we had there. Minuto's (trop/jones) our regular place for fresh sausage closed. I was bummed. It looks like it'll be reopening soon as another Italian Deli. It seems Siena Deli is the only decent option for sausage right now. I tried a new place in the NW called Parma (buffalo/washington). Their sausage was greasy and bland, it was pretty bad. Although, they did have excellent fresh baked bread. The make their own pastas in house, too. I'll have to check those out sometime.

Speaking of Italian Delis, that was the topic for this week's "Vegas Values" Siena Deli, Satisfy a Craving. I could really go for an eggplant parm sandwich right now.

How about you?

Plan B

Last year we weren't able to take our annual trip to Xpu-ha, Mexico. Buying the house and getting stuck with the condo wiped out our savings. We held out hope thinking somehow we'd scrape the funds together, but December came and went. We swore we'd go in December 2009. It's nearly here once again. And the situation hasn't changed all that much. We really Really REALLY want to escape to the beach for solitude, fun in the sun and pure relaxation. But it's not in the cards for December.

This year we finally got rid of the condo, but the debt we racked up still lingers, our salaries were cut, and monthly expenses have gone up despite our attempts at cutting back. Our savings doesn't look any better this year than it did last year.

Fortunately, we did manage to score unbeatable airfare to San Jose, great rates for a hotel in San Francisco and we'll rub pennies together to cover grub and see the sites. So, I'm thankful we do have a vacation on the horizon. It'll be wonderful to unwind and discover a new city.

However, by going to San Francisco the Mexico trip is out of the question this year. Yet, we're shooting for a trip in February. That will be the next time, after December, that Frank can take time off from work. We'll be free to go after Superbowl. Those extra months should allow us to get funds together. Looking at airfare, today, flights are even cheaper then, compared to December. The hotel is a bit more expensive so it'll likely wash in the end. That's okay with me as long as we are able to go.

That's the plan, let's hope it sticks. I miss the white sandy beach, the sound of the waves, the ocean breezes, days and nights wasting away in the hammock, cold cerveza and delicious eats from La Cueva Del Chango and other eateries. I need a fix.

Frank will have two weeks off in December, now that we've scrapped plans for Mexico, that means more time at home. Bob, his brother, will be visiting from Louisville. He'll stay with us for a week. Before we were planning on being away during the period Bob could take vacation. In the end, it seems it has all worked out.

Spreading the word

Yesterday, a Press Release was put out to announce my weekly column "Vegas Values" published every Friday at Living-Las-Vegas.com.

Check it out: Living Las Vegas launches "Vegas Values"

Cream of Broccoli Soup

1 can of cream of celery (Healthy Request)
1 can of cream of mushroom (Healthy Request)
2 cups of frozen broccoli
1/4 c low fat shredded cheese.
2 cups water

I boiled 2c water, added broccoli, brought to a boil. Added the canned soups and returned it to a boil. The added cheese and let it simmer until it thickened.

This recipe was ridiculously simple. I thought it couldn't possibly be tasty, too, but it was. Frank and I both liked it. It's nice to have a low fat/cal cream soup alternative (2 WW pts/serving).

Hot showers and fun ahead

I’m happy to report we have hot water. Frank found a plumber on Craigslist, he’s just starting his business. We saved over a hundred bucks by buying the new water heater through him and having him install it. We priced Sears, Lowes and Home Depot. He came the same day, within a couple hours, did good work and worked fast. Craigslist is awesome.

Hot showers are simply wonderful! Two days never seemed so long.

Switching gears…

San Francisco is a month away. We booked our hotel; we’ll be staying just outside Fisherman’s Wharf. The location should be very convenient. We won’t be renting a car so easy access to public transport was important. We haven’t done a trip without a rental or own transportation since days of visiting of Las Vegas, over seven years ago. The trip will be here before I know it. It’s time to start researching places to eat and things to do. We definitely want to take a Bay Cruise and visit the Ferry Building for tasty eats, everything else is up in the air.

Besides the trip, we have other fun stuff ahead to look forward to. First, this Saturday is Bite of Las Vegas. Frank will be working, but I’m going to take my brother. Train and Uncle Kracker will be playing along with a handful of other bands; Le Reve is supposed to have some sort of performance, too. In addition to music, there will be restaurants from all over the valley selling their specialties. Tickets are only $8 at the gate and if you bring a canned good, they’ll take $1 off. It should be a fun-filled day.

Later this month, Frank and I will attend an awards dinner at Red Rock inside Cherry Nightclub. My company was nominated for Best Places to Work. Hopefully, we’ll take home an award.

Then, on the 31st Frank and I have tickets for NHRA at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. We’ve been to the venue before for NASCAR and Midnight Mayhem, but this will be the first time seeing NHRA. We saw street-drags, years ago, when we lived in Chicago, at the Joliet Motor Speedway. It was a great time. Cars were loud and fast! We saw a semi-truck with a jet engine rip down the track. It was a sight to see. NHRA Finals should have dozens of top fuel cars; they are supposed to have top speeds of 300 mph and more, and quarter-mile times anywhere from 4.42 to 5 seconds. That is sick!

Frank will be off that whole weekend. It’ll be great having time off together. Sunday will be a lazy day in front of the TV watching football. It’ll be a nice treat.

Odd sight

Spotted this on Saturday in Northwest Las Vegas

It was one of those weekends

You know the kind where nothing goes according to plan. I thought Friday night we might catch a movie. Instead, Frank worked late, I made dinner and we had a quiet night.

Saturday, I went to Gilgrease Orchard to pick apples and eggplant, but it’s the end of the season. I came home with 6 apples, apple cider and a honey dew melon. It took me an hour to get home because of traffic and road construction.

Normally, it wouldn’t matter, but I was in a hurry because Frank had called to say the hot water heater was flooding the garage. Before he left for work, he turned off the water to it and hooked up a hose to drain the tank. Thankfully, he had it under control because it took me forever to get home. All was ok when I arrived.

Except for having no hot water, of course. It’s always amazing to learn what you take for granted. I couldn’t run the dishwasher, I couldn’t wash sheets or towels, we can’t even take a cold shower because we have single knobs in every shower they don’t allow enough water pressure when using only cold water. At least the tub has two knobs, we’ve been able to use that for “bathing”. It’s damn cold, too. Fortunately, we live in a warm climate, I realize the water sitting in the pipes could be much colder if we lived back east.

We should have a new water heater today, assuming we can get cash together. Today is a holiday and we can’t just run to the bank. Ahh! The timing, gotta love it.

But that’s not even the end of the hassles this weekend.

Mike was due to arrive at 6:00 Saturday night, but his connecting flight from Austin was delayed. His flight came in at 7:10 instead. Normally, it wouldn’t be much of an issue except we made dinner plans expecting him to be in at 6:00. We were all quite hungry when he arrived. We waited at the carousel for his bags but they never arrived. We went to Southwest’s office and they told us they might be on flights arriving at 8:10 or 8:40. I asked if we could grab dinner and come back, they said that wasn’t an option because they close at 9pm. Meanwhile, Frank went back to the car we knew the meter would be expiring. He was too late a ticket had already been written. Meter maids waste no time writing tickets these days. He waited in the car and was hounded by security endlessly, you can’t wait here, you need to pay, you have to move, etc. 9:00 rolled around by the time the last flight’s baggage made it on the carousel. Mike’s bags weren’t on either flight. We ran into the office before they closed and they then had a record of one bag, it would arrive 9:15am Sunday. They assumed both bags were found, but only one made it into the system. I told them we’d be back in the morning to pick up his luggage. I told Mike I wouldn’t be taking him to my mom’s that night as planned, we’d wait until tomorrow after another trip to the airport. We met up with Frank just before 9:30, two hours wasted. We were beyond hungry. We were famished.

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings for boneless wings and beer. Service was terrible. When our waitress finally brought our order, we had no silverware. She left us sit for 5 minutes staring at our food while we waited on utensils. Then, we finished our beers and asked for water. It took another 5 minutes before she brought them to us. You'd think they'd be a little quick on their feet, we order hot and mango habanero for goodness sake, to leave us with nothing to drink is pretty cruel. I don't know why but service is always terrible at that location (Hualapai/Flamingo), but it is. We quickly remembered why we carryout from there.

Sunday when we returned to McCarran, Southwest had retrieved one of Mike’s bags, the other was still missing. They have no record of it. Thankfully, the bag found is the one with Mike's stuff in it. The other was a bag Amy packed with misc stuff for my mom. We made the claim. If they find it they can overnight it to my mom's house. Or I could pick it up at the airport and receive $100 travel voucher. I opted to do the latter. I tried to get Mike drink tickets for the aggravation, but they said all they can offer is the voucher if I pick up the bag. I haven't heard from them yet. Once this is done, I figure we'll write a letter. We wasted 2 hours on Saturday, got a parking ticket, and had to make another trip on Sunday only to find out they only had one bag. I wished they would've just offered us the option to come back on Sunday rather than wasting all that time Saturday night.

They called today they still have not found his bag. They hope it will turn up.

With any luck, it will be found. And we will have a new hot water heater installed this afternoon. A hot shower would be a great treat tonight.

New Column

I've moved up in ranks at Living-Las-Vegas. Not only will I have the LLV Blog, but I will also write a weekly column, Vegas Values, it will be featured every Friday. Today is the big launch!

Each Friday you can find Vegas Values on the homepage. For those of you that use Google Reader you can subscribe by adding my author page:
http://living-las-vegas.com/author/kellee-kunovic/feed/

Click below to read my first article.

Vegas Values: Tapas and Comedy for Less.

Come join me on this new adventure!

Progress

My mom has been out of work for a year this month. She injured her back and she was unable to keep her job. Standing or sitting for long periods is troublesome for her, and even driving is an issue. She can only handle driving for 30-minute stretches.

She’s seen numerous doctors, a physical therapist, surgeon, pain specialist and now a year later she’s finally getting somewhere. She had a discogram done a couple weeks ago. Today, she got the results. She needs surgery to repair L4-L5 disc ruptures. She has an appointment Nov 6 to meet with the surgeon that performed Frank’s back surgery.

After Frank had his surgery he felt better immediately, recovery took sometime but he was worlds better right away. I hope my mom finds the same.

That’s not all she’s had to deal with, she was also diagnosed with diabetes in June while she was being treated for pneumonia. She’s getting more comfortable now living as a diabetic. When she didn’t fully recover from the pneumonia her doctor requested a CT Scan of her chest. Fortunately, her lungs looked pretty good; as good as they could be for a smoker, anyway. But the test revealed stones in her gallbladder. Surgery was recommended right away to prevent the need for emergency surgery. That was months ago. She’s been in a referral nightmare. Just this week, she was finally able to meet with a surgeon to discuss the removal of her gallbladder. Of course, more paperwork must get in order before her surgery is scheduled. With any luck, it will be very soon. I’m not sure how much longer her gallbladder can hold up. Her flare ups keep getting worse and worse.

Still, that’s not all. Amid all this she had abnormal cells on her leg that needed to be removed. Last week, she finally had the patch removed. She had been waiting since July. My mom has had melanoma before. You’d think they’d act quickly but nope. Evidently, three months is appropriate. Another biopsy was taken, I hope those results come back alright.

She’s been in pain for a very long time. It seems like there is finally light at the end of the tunnel. I hope both of these surgeries go well and recovery is quick so she can be well on her way once again.

Because of all of this, she needs an extra set of hands at the house. She’s too far and has too many animals to care for, I cannot be there often enough to help.

Mike, my brother, is the only one of us kids that isn’t working or in school so it made the most sense for him to come out and lend a hand.

He’ll fly in on Saturday, he’ll stay until mid-November. We haven’t seen him since February it’ll be nice to catch up. I’m looking forward to his visit.

Gettin' some

Dragon on pony action spotted at Target.

Even freebies can lack value

Red Rock actually sent us a monthly mailer. They must have finally straightened out our account. It’s only taken two years – we stop by the rewards club regularly and each time they’d lose the information we gave them before. It'd be great if they finally got it right. Anyway, inside this mailer was a 2-for-1 coupon to the buffet. We’ve tried it before and were less than impressed, but we decided to give it another shot. After all, it’d be a cheap dinner and it meant I didn’t have to cook.

We waited about 20 minutes on a Wednesday night just to get to the cashier. She asked if we wanted to use comp points to cover our tab. Sure! Free meal, score!

After a 10 minute wait for a table we were finally seated. Off to the buffet we went. I sampled a variety of dishes: spring roll, broccoli beef, pad Thai, chicken wings, fajita, and sushi. The fajita was the tastiest, but the tortilla was dry. The next plate I tried ravioli, Stromboli, garlic bread, Caesar salad, provolone cheese. The cheese was the highlight. I covered the entire buffet with the exception of desserts and I only had consumed a few bites. It was sad. I hit the dessert selection to see if there were yummy treats to fill up on. I had a scoop of cappuccino and butter pecan gelato. The former was awful. I ate all of the butter pecan at least that was good. The only other dessert offering I found decent was the shot glasses filled with tiramisu. Although, it seemed more like pudding. I made another loop around the buffet and ended up with a sweet potato, fruit, and cottage cheese. The sweet potato was good. I wished I had found that earlier. Frank didn’t find much he liked either, but he created his own salad concoction in order to fill him up. I snacked enough to not leave hungry, but I was not full by any means.

Service was good. Our plates were cleared, refills were made timely.

Frank asked if I wanted to return, assuming we’d have a similar offer again. My reply? No. He said not even for free, huh? He didn’t think it was that bad. And it wasn’t I’ve had worse – Orleans and Southpoint – but it’s not worth the wait.

Damn, it's cold!

October is supposed to be beautiful weather month, but it's been abnormally cool. Last weekend, we had triple digits, since then we've dipped into the 70's and been hovering around 80 degrees. Talk about a shock to the system. This morning it was in the upper 40's when I got up. It was tough to drag my ass out of the comforts of my nice warm bed.

I wish I could say, well, at least I can open the windows and get some fresh air. But nope, they've been tightly closed. Saturday insanely fierce winds decided to rip through there's no way I can subject myself to the nastiness that gets kicked up in the air - My allergies would kill me. Even with the shots and keeping my house sealed, I still manage to get a sore throat and suffer from watery eyes.

I will admit the cooler weather was appreciated on Saturday morning for the Making Strides Against Cancer Walk. It was chilly while we waited to get started, but it was great walking/running weather. The event had a great turn out. I definitely enjoyed taking part to support such a great cause. The JW Marriot was a great venue for the walk, the palm trees and mountain views made the walk quite enjoyable.




I will participate in the walk again next year. I'll likely join other walks as I hear about them. The next one I'm planning on is the Las Vegas Santa Run, in December. It should be fun!

I'm a sucker for a classic

Over the weekend we attended the Super Run Car Show in Henderson. You can read details over on living-las-vegas: Super fun, Super Run 2009.

I was in heaven, I wanted to take nearly every car home. Quite a few were for sale, too. The only thing that stopped me from taking one of the beauties home was the lack of cash. If I had $15k or so burning a hole in my pocket I'd know just how to spend it. The hard part would be picking just one.














It wouldn't need to be a Camaro, I'd gladly take a Chevelle, too.




Or maybe another Firebird


The show had all kinds of classics, plus new versions and those from yesteryear.

This International was really neat, little sliding doors like the one right below the driver window were found all around the vehicle. Helps fight off the bad guy or maybe aids in a quick getaway?



I would've loved to hear this Nova start up



Nice custom work



I fit perfectly underneath this truck


Keep in mind Frank is 6'3"


Check out the details in this ride

Making Strides

My six week “slug no more” challenge has come to an end. I set out to complete 42 consecutive 30-minute daily workouts and I did it. As a result, I’ve lost one pound and shrunk 2 ½ inches. I had hoped for more, but the scale didn’t budge much. However, considering Restaurant Week fell during this challenge, I gotta say I’m pretty happy with my progress.

I want to lose more weight and inches so I plan to start a new challenge next week. I’ll incorporate more strength training and hope to improve my running. Right now, I can only run in 5-minute intervals before getting exhausted. I want to at least work myself up to completing a 12-minute mile like I was able to do in 2007.

I’m continuing to exercise this week but I didn’t want to take on anything new. Saturday, I will be participating in a Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. I’ve raised over $300 for the event, I want to be sure I’m able to support the cause without any issue. My luck, I’d overdo it and pull a muscle or something equally ridiculous. Next week, though, I'm all over it.

In seven weeks, I hope to report back a few inches smaller and several pounds lighter. At the very least, I’ll settle for more progress.

Lagasse Stadium

Frank and I were invited to the grand opening celebration for Lagasse Stadium at Palazzo. We attended the VIP event on Friday evening. It was star-studded with Emeril, former athletes, some of the cast from Entourage and others. I only spotted local celebrity, food critic, John Curtas. He has red carpet photos on his site Eating Las Vegas.

We checked in and we were given our "tickets".


Upon entering we were greeted by a handful of cheerleaders.


Once inside, we had a look around.



We poked our heads in the areas set up for private parties.


And then stepped out onto the patio.



Overall, it didn't seem like much had changed. It still looked like the 40/40 club and felt no different than the previous version of the sportsbook. Only differences noted were added tv's and boards.



There are no betting stations inside Lagasse Stadium you must walk out to the entrance to place bets. There are only a few windows, I imagine they must experience long lines during peak times.

More than anything it seemed the launch of Lagasse Stadium was an excuse to throw a party. If you've stopped in before, it won't look much different now.

Fall has arrived

With triple digits and near record highs over the weekend, you'd never guess fall is here. However, Wednesday is supposed to be cool, only 75 degrees. I might freeze - that's a heck of a drop in temperature. Good thing no matter the temperature outside, inside Bellagio's Conservatory is perfectly comfortable. I enjoyed this year's fall display a bit more than the other seasons this year.

Almost forgot

I never posted a link to my living-las-vegas article this week. Here, on my blog, I've shared about recent visits to Mount Charleston. You must know how much I enjoy it, learn more about all it has to offer by reading Mt. Charleston: Choose your own adventure. This article was also chosen to be featured on another site, www.roadtripamerica.com. You can find a link there as well.

Desert Sunset

We all have times in our lives where days are just tough. Shit storms hit you from every direction. It mounts up and becomes overwhelming. You lose perspective of what's truly important. At least, I do. Err - did earlier this week. However, with love and support, I was reminded tomorrow is a new day... one filled with promise. A desert sunset also does wonders to lift your spirits, and a nice long drive in the desert is definitely good for one's soul.

Learn. Live. Hope.

Back in the kitchen

The days keep getting shorter that leaves me with plenty of time to fool around in the kitchen and try out new recipes. Last night, I made two from Allrecipes.com



Sun-dried Tomato Basil Orzo

2 cups uncooked orzo pasta
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add orzo and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain and set aside.
Place basil leaves and sun-dried tomatoes in a food processor. Pulse 4 or 5 times until blended.
In a large bowl, toss together the orzo, basil-tomato mixture, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Serve warm or chilled.

Halibut with Cilantro Garlic Butter

4 (6 ounce) fillets halibut
1 lime, cut into wedges
salt and pepper to taste
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat a grill for high heat. Squeeze the juice from the lime wedges over fish fillets, then season them with salt and pepper.
Grill fish fillets for about 5 minutes on each side, until browned and fish can be flaked with a fork. Remove to a warm serving plate.
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic; cook and stir just until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in the butter, remaining lime juice and cilantro. Serve fish with the cilantro butter sauce.

Both dishes came out well. Instead of grilling the Halibut I pan-seared it until flaky. Frank thought the cilantro was overpowering, next time I'll cut that back. The leftover orzo made a tasty lunch today, I added shredded rotisserie chicken to it for a complete meal.