Matt's 25th Birthday Fun

June 27th was Matt's 25th birthday and we celebrated by taking him to see the Tournament of the Kings at Excalibur. This dinner show is basically like Medieval Times (iuf you've ever been or have seen The Cable Guy) where you watch a jousting show and eat a cornish game hen with your bare hands. Thank goodness for the Guinness and shots of tequila or else I might not have made it through the whole thing. It's a very family friendly show and if you're 10 years old (or Matt) you will love it. It's totally cheeseball Vegas- but it was fun. Huzzah! (thats what the wizard made us say as a toast. Kinda like "cheers" but more medieval.)

Carrie & I with the King of Ireland

After the show we went to Hofbrahaus for the first time. We had heard that it was really fun and had great beer so we finally decided to check it out. We met up with some friends (shout-out to Kyle, Jill & Colby) If you've ever been to Hofbrahaus you know that you can get a plastic boot filled with 3-liters of beer, known as Das Boot. Matt obviously needed one of these to properly celebrate his birthday. It also turns out that anytime you take a shot at Hofbrahaus, one of the beer maids, gives you a big smack on the butt with a wooden paddle! Since it was Matt's birthday, we all had to have a shot and get a spanking. That beer maid sure can hit hard! I wish I would have worn jeans instead of a dress!

Das Boot

A spanking for the bday boy!

Wheel of Fortune

YAY! We won 4 tickets to see Wheel of Fortune LIVE! Pat Sajak, Vanna White and crew will be in Las Vegas filming episodes of Wheel of Fortune from the Venetian later next month. Call me a nerd, but I really can't wait!

Holy Holly

When Carrie, my roommate, first moved to Vegas, one of the first things we did was go to the opening of Peepshow at Planet Hollywood, starring my favorite girl next door, Holly Madison and Aubrey O'Day, formerly of Danity Kane. If you haven't seen Peepshow, I would highly recommend this fun, musical-burlesque show. It's basically the sexy side of Little Bo Peep and a cast of fairy tale characters. I did have an awkward moment when I recognized a girl I went to high school with, dancing topless in the show. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, this is Vegas afterall. All I can say is thank goodness for her bedazzled pasties!!

Holly Madison

Happy Birthday Stephanie!

Cinco de Mayo was my friend Steph's 26th birthday so we celebrated poolside at Moorea at Mandalay Bay. The weather was perfect, the drinks were delicious and we had an amazing day hanging out by the pool! I love these girls :) We took a lot of pics but here's a fun one from the end of the day:

Me, Catie, Carrie, Steph & Lori

The Slider Truck

Let me tell you about my latest obsession. The Slider Truck. Actually, it's really called Slidin' Thru and basically, its a tricked-out truck that goes from place to place cooking up delicious gourmet sliders in the back. Ric, the founder of the Slider Truck, is a culinary school dropout and a super cool kid from Vegas who has perfected what the Mexicans have been doing for years with their street carts. He has an Eggplant Caprese slider and even a Korean BBQ slider (my personal fave!) and sells Coca-Cola and Fanta in glass bottles. You can check him out at www.slidinthru.com. Next time you're in Vegas, ask me to take you to the Slider Truck! DELISH!

Slidin' Thru on a Saturday

Joël Robuchon

I work with a great non-profit organization in Las Vegas called the Epicurean Charitable Foundation (ECF) comprised of the city's top food & beverage executives whose main charitable endeavor is the development of a scholarship program to aid deserving and promising students in their pursuit of a hospitality degree and career. Through working with ECF, I have been so lucky and honored to have met Joël Robuchon at a couple of events. If you know anything about the culinary world, you know that Joël Robuchon is like, the messiah. He operates 18 restaurants across the globe and has a combined 25 Michelin stars (2nd is Gordon Ramsay with 16 stars) This is why Joël Robuchon has been touted "Master Chef of the Century." I first met Chef Robuchon at the Epicurean Charitable Foundation's annual fundraising gala. Rarely am I speechless, but I really didn't even know what to say. Not that it would have mattered anyway since he doesn't speak a word of English and travels with a translator.

Me & the homie Joël at ECF's fundraising gala

My French is a little rusty but he kissed my hand and said "Oooh la la" to me, which I'm pretty sure translates to "Oooh la la." Not bad at all ;)

I was able to spend some more time with Chef Robuchon just a few weeks ago during Vegas Uncork'd, a high-profile food and wine festival sponsored by Bon Appetit magazine. I was shocked to discover that Joël remembered me from the ECF gala! I know this because his translator du jour came right up to me and said "We've met you before, at the Epicurean gala." After a few minutes of awkward chit-chat (again, the man doesn't speak any English) they invited me and a guest to a private sake tasting being held at Shibuya at MGM Grand that evening as one of the Vegas Uncork'd events. Since I had basically been invited by Joël Robuchon himself, I had to go. I called Carrie, my roommate, immediately and told her we had plans.

Carrie & I at Shibuya

So we went. We double-kissed cheeks with Joël Robuchon, ate fresh sushi and tasted a ridiculous amount of sake. We discovered a few we loved (Love Princess Red Sparkling Sake- omg delish!) and we found a couple that were terrible. We laughed at the fur-bikini clad go-go dancers and reveled in our faux-fabulosity.

Sake!

This is how we roll... get it?

PS: Joël gave me his business card.
So if you're in the market for a $500 dinner for 2, give him a call:

Bikram Yoga

So like I mentioned, never being one to let a good trend or fad pass me by, I obviously jumped on the yoga bandwagon. And not just any yoga. I signed up for bikram yoga, or as I like to call it, "Sweat Your Ass Off Yoga." Basically, its 90-minutes of low intensity yoga in a 95-degree room set to about 40% humidity. YIKES! That's like Ohio humidity with Nevada heat in the summertime. Or like the rainforest or something else equally miserable. Anyhow, let me explain why I thought this would be a good idea: I have been told that there are several health benefits to bikram yoga, most notably that the "fat literally melts off." Um.. say no more, I'm sold!

When I got there for the first time, I almost didn't make it all the way into the class at all. We were greeted by a lobby full of the sweaty, shirtless people still mingling from the class before us. The smell alone was overpowering and suffocating in the heat and humidity! Imagine: 60 people per class, sweating profusely for 90 minutes, 10 times a day. GROSS. You leave class feeling absolutely disgusting, yet oddly cleansed, soaked all the way through your clothes and obviously, you smell terrible. Sounds fun right? Well, 4 classes later, I've gained 5lbs and haven't been back. Peace and Namaste.