The Wise Words of Lumiere

No, I am not talking about some romantic French poet or lyricist. I really am talking about this guy.

Try the grey stuff, it's delicious.

The song, "Be Our Guest" from Disney's Beauty and the Beast has many fantastic moments, especially for us 90's kids. But the best line ever?

LUMIERE:

If you're stressed

It's fine dining we suggest!

Yup. That little gold guy is truly enlightened.

"Hi. My name is Gina. And I am Foodie."

I love good food. I love the ambiance of restaurants and chefs and people enjoying life over a table. I love comparing a single dish at several different restaurants and trying new dishes that sound amazing. I love watching the Food Network despite the fact that my cooking skills are akin to the skills of an eight-year-old.  Mexican, French, Asian, Indian, Italian, Greek, steaks, salads, desserts, burgers, pizza. Fancy, casual, or hole-in-the-wall.  It doesn't matter, as long as it's good.

Luckily for me, I have two great enablers: 1) My husband is a foodie too; and 2) We live five hours from Las Vegas.

Some people may think of Vegas as Sin City, or the City of Entertainment, or even just a pit of gambling and nightclub madness.  But for Pete and me, the city of lights serves as a Foodie Paradise. It also helps that we have a soft spot in our hearts for Vegas, given that we got engaged and married there, so we have good reason to return every so often. In the past 5 years, Pete and I have made 8 trips to Vegas, totaling 27 days (including our wedding and honeymoon). A while back, Pete thought it would be fun to compile a list of all the different Vegas restaurants we have eaten at over the years, and we thought it might make an interesting blog post (or, rather, we were just incredibly bored one night). 

So, as of our most recent trip (last week), we have eaten at...

...wait for it...

47 different Las Vegas restaurants. 

Several were revisited multiple times, so the number of occasions is actually higher, but the location count stands at 47. Yeah. I wasn't kidding when I said we were foodies.

So here's the list (in chronological order, thanks to my eidetic memory):

Margaritaville, Victorian Room, Bellagio Buffet, Harley Davidson Cafe, Nine Fine Irishmen, Eiffel Tower Restaurant, Mon Ami Gabi, Trevi, Primo Gelato, Sirrico's Pizza, Le Creperie, Venetian Food Court, JJ's Boulangerie, The Drugstore, Kokomo's, MGM Buffet, Gordon Biersch, Zoozacrackers, Serendipity3, Grand Lux Cafe, Rainforest Cafe, Dick's Last Resort, Smith & Wollensky, Encore Lobby Cafe, Bartalotta, Yolo's, Tableau, Chipotle, Todd English Olives, The Sugar Factory, The Buffet at Wynn, Wolfgang Puck's Postrio, Origin India, Ferraro's Italian, Tao, Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, Flamingo Pool Cafe, Le Buffet at Paris, SW Steakhouse, Buddy V's, Society Cafe, Wazuzu, Lavo, Guy Fieri's Vegas Kitchen, Canaletto, and Carlo's Bake Shop.

And now here's a little trip down memory lane...

Trevi, 2009

Eiffel Tower Restaurant, 2009 (Yes Pete is wearing a
a wedding ring two years before our wedding...long story...)

Eiffel Tower Restaurant, 2010 (I look so stupid nervous because I was
expecting Pete to propose right after the photo...but he didn't...)

Eiffel Tower Restaurant, 2010

Kokomo's, 2010 - The biggest slice of prime rib known to man

Chipotle, 2011 - Yes, I really do love Chipotle that much

Chipotle, 2014

Dick's Last Resort, 2011 (Our bachelor/bachelorette party dinner - kudos to
Holli for the awesome photo bomb)

Dick's Last Resort, 2011 (The first cheeseburger I had eaten in six months
thanks to pre-wedding dieting. It was the best burger EVER)

Tao, 2011

Tao, 2012, while pregnant with Baby K

Serendipity3, 2010 - Frozen Hot Chocolate

Serendipity3, 2012 with Nathan and Angela

Serendipity3, 2013 - Frozen Hot Chocolate
and a very excited little boy

Wazuzu, 2014 - Drunken Noodles (featured on Food
Network's Best Thing I Ever Ate)

Wazuzu, 2014 - Potstickers

SW Steakhouse, 2014 - Caesar Salad Boat

SW Steakhouse, 2014 - Chili Rubbed Ribeye (featured on Food
Network's Best Thing I Ever Ate)

SW Steakhouse, 2014

Tableau, 2014 - Best Eggs Benedict I've ever had

Buddy V's, 2014 - New Jersey Lasagna

Carlo's Bakery, 2014 (It was still under construction in this pic, but we ate
there three months later)

Lavo, 2014 - Giant meatball (about the size of a softball)

Lavo, 2014 - Tiramasu

Smith & Wollensky (Wedding Welcome Dinner), 2011

Our wedding reception food catered by Masterpiece
Cuisine, 2011

Sugar Factory, 2011

Society Cafe, 2014 - Prime Rib Egg Sliders (featured on Food
Network's Best Thing I Ever Ate)

Society Cafe, 2014 - Lemon Riccota Pancakes

Guy Fieri's Vegas Kitchen, 2014

Yes, our love of food has its drawbacks (those pesky things called calories), but we usually make up for it by crash dieting and binge workouts before our trips - which makes the food taste that much better once we get there!  But even despite the calories, I cherish the fact that Pete and I have been able to make so many great memories over the years while sharing meals (both the good and the bad), watching the Food Network all night, and pinning delicious recipes on Pinterest that will most likely never appear in out kitchen.  Our trips to Vegas - and all of the 47 restaurants on our list - bring back memories that not only make my stomach growl, but also make me smile. And for that, every calorie eaten and every dollar spent has been worth it. And I look forward to many more.

Okay it's time to wrap this up. This post has made me hungry. And I want to go watch Beauty and the Beast. 

Don't forget - If you're stressed, it's fine dining we suggest!

Au Revoir.

Independence Day

I have returned!

Where have I been for four months??  Well, I've been in Vegas, and I threw a graduation party, and I redecorated our bedroom, and I threw a Luau, and I repainted and redecorated the bathroom, and I've been setting up a business, and I got hired for a summer teaching job, and I've been making lesson plans, and I was in Vegas again, and I've been busy with kids, and then my teaching job got canceled, and then I was in Vegas a third time...and now suddenly here it is, Independence Day, and I feel like the summer has been flying by so fast I've almost missed it. So it is time to write before even more time slips between my fingers.

I realized this morning that it was 10 years ago today that I was lucky enough to spend our nation's birthday in our nation's capital. What an unforgettable day it was.  It was pouring rain all day, the parades and fairs were canceled, and the streets were flooded.  I remember trying to walk through water over a foot deep before taking sanctuary in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, and I had to buy a sweatshirt at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum to keep me warm - in July! The rain stopped in the evening, however, and my ex husband and I camped out on the stairs of the Lincoln Monument for hours, just waiting for the fireworks. Man. The fireworks in Washington DC - as seen from the top of the Lincoln Monument, bursting over the top of the Washington Monument - are a memory I will never forget. And I have no photos of it either, so it has become one of those memories that live solely in my mind and thus take on an overly-magical quality.  It is hard to believe it has been a entire decade since that day - since that life.  I was so young, so naive, so jaded. But I was also happy, on that day especially, and I am always thankful for memories of happiness.

Independence Day is my second favorite holiday behind Halloween. And not just because I am an over-patriotic history teacher, but mostly because some of the happiest memories of my childhood took place on Independence Day. My family was always together on the Fourth of July, we spent years taking trips to Sedona, swimming at Slide Rock, eating picnics under the fireworks. As a teenager I spent the holiday with my friends - watching fireworks, laughing, reviling in our innocence, and enjoying our own brand of independence. The Fourth of July always seemed to be a good day...no matter how awful the rest of year may have been, and often was.

As evidenced by where I was ten years ago today, my Independence Days as an adult have been pretty good too. Here's a look back at the past few years...

July 4th, 2008, in Sedona

July 4th, 2008, in Sedona

July 4th, 2009, watching fireworks in Peoria

July 4th, 2009, watching fireworks in Peoria

July 4th, 2010, watching fireworks in Peoria again

July 4th, 2013, my sweet baby girl

July 4th, 2013, my sweet boy at the Freedom Parade

Tonight will be Kennedy's first fireworks (she slept through them last year) and we are going to the street fair downtown.  I can only hope to make memories with my kids that, maybe someday, they will cherish the way I cherish the Independence Day memories of my childhood. And if not...well, at least there's usually always good food and pyrotechnics to get us through the night.

Happy Independence Day, America.