Two meals in the last full day in Las Vegas

Brunch was our traditional stop at Bouchon, Thomas Keller's wonderful bistro.  We enjoyed mostly breakfast foods, but we always split the pastry board.

Click an image to see a larger version.

Dinner took us to Jaleo, Jose Andre's Spanish restaurant in the Cosmopolitan, another traditional stop of ours.  No trip there would be complete without some Jamon Iberico de Bellota Fermin and some pan con tomate.

Wow, was this a delicious combination--and my most frequent snack in Barcelona whenever I can get it.

In between, we walked shops, people-watched, and had a little gelato. 

After dinner, we took in the La Reve show at the Wynn.  A magical, water-based show, it was a great conclusion to a fun trip. 

By the way, for those who noticed, I am posting this Sunday morning because I had to get up in the sixes and so crashed as soon as I could after I returned to the room and caught up on work.

Sunday goes to flying home!

On the road again: Las Vegas, day 1

Kyle and I, and soon others, are here in Las Vegas for our annual trip for his birthday and some UFC fights.  I tweeted a few of the key moments from my flight, so check there for what I enjoyed experienced.

We both landed in the late afternoon, so after dropping our stuff in the hotel room, we headed to dinner at Jaleo.  The food there was as delicious as always.

Next on our plan was the Cirque show, Mystere, which we've seen before but still quite enjoy.  It was, as always, wonderful.

We walked back to our hotel and along the way stopped in the Bellagio for some gelato, another Vegas tradition.

I'm exhausted, so that's it for today.

On the road again: Las Vegas, day 1

I had every intention of writing a nice long blog entry about an interesting day, showing you several pictures, and generally being more entertaining than I have been lately.

The thing is, though, I slept less than three hours last night, and I've now been up 21 hours, so I am just too tired.  I will try to make amends tomorrow.

In case I blow it then, I will note that the day included dinner at Jaleo and my first viewing of the show Absinthe.

Now, to sleep.

On the road again: World Fantasy Con, Washington, D.C., day 0

Driving in the D.C. metropolitan area sucks.  Most of the drive here proceeded uneventfully, the traffic never pleasant on I-95 but never horrible, either--until about 30 miles from D.C.  From that point on, it was unpleasant. 

Still, I'm safely at the World Fantasy Con in Crystal City, so I shouldn't complain.  The con cranks up in earnest tomorrow, but registration and the hospitality suite open today, and it feels like a good quarter of the people have already shown up.

Dinner tonight was a delicious meal with friends at Jose Andres' Jaleo in Crystal City.  We shared a wide variety of small dishes before waddling back to the hotel.  Any evening that includes Jamon Iberico de bellota Fermin is a very good evening indeed.

Work filled part of the drive and all the rest of my time except dinner.  Despite the timestamp on this post, it's after three a.m. in the morning, so I'm outta here.

Tomorrow, I will head into D.C. for some Global Entry paperwork, eat dinner with friends, and moderate a panel.  Oh, yeah:  I'll do a ton of work, too.

On the road again: Las Vegas, day 3

We slept in a bit, which was great for me, and Kyle and Sarah grabbed brunch from the Bouchon Bakery.  I was still full, so I skipped the food.  We then headed out for a day of sightseeing at casinos and stores entirely too hip and expensive for my taste.  Such places, do, though, yield many photo ops.

Such as this one, of Kyle and Sarah standing near a water tornado exhibit that sits for no good reason on the floor of one shopping area in Crystals, the fancy shopping space between Aria and Cosmopolitan.

As always, click on an image to see a larger version.

Later, at Cosmpolitan's rooftop club and skating rink, Princess Fancy (so self-named after I declared myself, "Mr. Fancy") reclined in the best outdoor snuggling seat in Vegas.

Later, she tried on a very special red shoe.

Kyle tried on the same shoe, but he declared it not to fit him very well.

In the course of the day we also enjoyed gelato (twice), caught up with some friends of Kyle's who had just landed, watched the wonderful Cirque show Zarkana, and had a great dinner at Jose Andres' Jaleo.

A very nice day again.

Why is this shoe on the table at Jaleo?

You have to wonder.

(Click on it to see a larger version.)

We did, but we didn't worry about it for long, because the croquetas in the paper in the shoe were so amazingly good that their container didn't matter.

I'm sure Jose Andres meant something by it; I just don't know what.

Perhaps we'll eat there again this coming weekend, when I will be back in Vegas.  I have to hope so.

On the road again: Las Vegas, day 3

Any day that begins with brunch at Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bistro immediately has an edge over most other days.  Eating perfect eggs, some of the best bacon ever, delicious sausage, and amazing pastries was just a wonderful way to start the morning.  Of course, it also left us all insanely full, so we spent the next several hours wandering the high-end stores and watching people.  People-watching is amazing here.

We then taxied over to the Bellagio for more gawking and a small amount of tasty gelato.

Dinner was at the absolutely wonderful Jaleo, Jose Andres new restaurant here.  The food was beyond good; it was full of joy.  We found ourselves smiling uncontrollably.  Kyle likened biting into a croqueta to being hugged and made to smile by someone who loved you, and he wasn't exaggerating; it was that good.  I've tasted more different croquetas than I can remember, and this one completely redefined for me how good this wonderful little item can be.  The flan was similarly amazing, a dish I thought I knew redefined and made more perfect than I thought it could be.

More walking, a few art galleries, and then we hopped into a cab to the Rio to see Penn & Teller.  I've seen them multiple times before, but this might have been my favorite show.  They're both so very good and so very smart.  I highly recommend this show if you haven't seen it.

Tomorrow, I hope to sleep a great deal, because the downside of working and also sightseeing is that I am getting very little rest.  The results are worth the cost, but I do look forward to sleeping without an alarm.