Vegas Baby! Crazy amounts of food and LOVE

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Over the past few days, I've been trying to figure out how I feel about Vegas. Mostly, I'm just curious, because it's a rather fascinating place. Everything here is so opulent, so over the top. My hotel suite has two big rooms and two bathrooms. Everywhere we eat, the portions are enormous. You can get anything you want, right here in the hotel, which even has a wedding chapel and a tattoo parlor! During the day, you almost never see the sunlight, and I breathed in fresh air today for the first time in two days! It's such a surreal place!

Tonight, though, I realized that Vegas makes me a little sad, because it's so over the top. I think it's just too much for any one person to enjoy, and yet there are people here who just want more and more. It makes me appreciate my little life back home. That being said, I did have a really great day today!

At first, I was feeling like I reverted to my old food-only discussions for my blog, since until this evening, I hadn't done anything worth writing about besides eating! Yesterday was especially uneventful, with free time until our three o'clock board meeting, which went very well (the board meeting as well as the free time). We then had to find our way to the welcome reception and dinner, which was no small feat. Even though I'd already been to the location where we were having the evening, I still got lost. It was great. We told everyone that it was a challenge designed for them, and a few people joked that they wished they'd left a trail of breadcrumbs to get back to their rooms! We dined in an alcove officially called the "Mandalay Bay Foyer Window," which overlooked the lights of the strip (well, mostly the pyramid) and cast a warm glow into the room. The food was good - buffet style (in Vegas, what else?!) - and so was the conversation. Jet lag caught up with many of us early though, including me, so I headed up to bed around ten.

This morning, we started with our business sessions. The first part of the morning was dedicated to an update on the network, as well as a discussion of the impact of the market on law firms. The second part of the morning was a presentation on jury trial vs. arbitration, which was very interesting as well! (Though I'm sure it's less interesting to my readers!). Finally, it was time for some lunch. We went to r.bar.cafe, which is part of RM Seafood, Rick Moonen's restaurant here at the hotel. The waitstaff was superb and very attentive, and although the menu was fixed, it was delicious. I started with a green salad, topped with a light vinaigrette, which was followed by a filet mignon with potatoes and spinach (don't worry, I avoided the green stuff!). The highlight was dessert though, which was a heath bar cheesecake. We decided it was worth eating, even though dinner was early tonight to accommodate our tickets to the LOVE show (the Beatles Cirque du Soleil - can't wait!). Plus, when have I ever been known to pass up a dessert?? The only downside to lunch was that one of the waiters insisted on calling me "young lady" whenever he would bring me a plate - what am I, twelve? So that was a little funny.

We gave everybody a free afternoon, since we were meeting at four fifteen to go to dinner - yes, the senior's earlybird special! Dinner was actually right at five, so it wasn't too bad, even though I felt like we had just finished lunch! I'd heard really good things about Sushisamba (try to say that out loud a couple of times), so I wanted to make sure it was on our list to hit while we are here. The restaurant is in the Palazzo, which was on our list of potential hotel destinations, and it was a sight to see! Talk about opulence! We walked in to a huge domed entryway with a magnificent fountain in the center, and the whole place just smelled peaceful. Of course, it wasn't, with hordes of people crammed in everywhere! I had been concerned after being at my hotel for a few days that Vegas was being affected by the economy, but if the scores of people we saw in the Palazzo and the Mirage are any indication, they're doing just fine here.

We made our way through the crowds and a casino, of course, and found the escalator that took us upstairs to the restaurants. Sushisamba is dark and cavelike, with grey walls, and a movie screen showing Godzilla (no joke). I tucked myself into a little chair at one of the tables, and we proceeded to have a culinary adventure. The food, Asian inspired, was being served family style and was almost all seafood. So yes, I didn't eat very much. But it was fun to dig into the meal together and try some new things. One of our waiters was very passionate about the food, so we always hoped that he would be the one to explain what we were about to eat!

We started with what they call the Otsumami platter, which was edamame, green bean tempura, and shishito peppers, which were very hot apparently. My friends were kind enough to teach me how to eat edamame last week, so I was able to show a couple of people and not make an idiot out of myself. I also had some of the green bean tempura - I know some of you are falling off your chairs right now, but calm down, I'm not turning into a vegetable eater or anything. The first course or small plates, then came out, which consisted of chicarron de calamar, beef maki roll, pork gyozas, and yellow tail taquitos. Although, as I write this, I think only the fish side of this ever arrived on the table. Following that, the second course of tuna and shrimp ceviche and salmon and yellow tail tiraditos was put on the table, and king crab was next to arrive. The group all said they loved the food, and my dad later said it was some of the best seafood he's ever had, so although I didn't eat it, I can confidently recommend it!

But we weren't done yet! Our waiter brought out a very weird dish, which looked to be rice with some large bulbous thing sitting on it (it was really dark in there). It turned out that it was a large hot rock, sitting on a bed of salt, with which we were to cook the kobe beef slices they brought out for us. The woman across from me and I were responsible for doing the "cooking," which wasn't easy using only our chopsticks. I dropped more than one piece right on the table! But it was a fun way to get involved in the meal, and the beef was delicious. Everyone was about stuffed when they brought out the chef's selection of sushi, and I even tried a piece with kobe beef and avocado. Unfortunately, it only served to remind me that I really don't like seaweed! They also brought out yet another plate of meat, from which I had a little cheriso. It was so much food, that I was actually pretty glad that I didn't want to try most of it!

We were running a little behind, so I wasn't seated for dessert. One of the tables was kind enough to offer me one of the little sugared donuts dipped in chocolate, which was so good that I snagged two more on the way out from my own table! We fought our way through the crowds and back onto the buses, which drove us just across the street to the Mirage. This city is so wacky, that we had to take a coach just to cross the street!

So it was on to the LOVE show, and my first ever Cirque du Soleil experience! I wish we'd been able to take photos or video, because it is so hard to explain the show, which was really incredible. Basically, Cirque du Soleil has interpreted and illustrated a number of Beatles songs, including some of my favorites like Blackbird, Sgt. Pepper, Hey Jude, Something in the Way She Moves, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and so many more. In the beginning, I was feeling a little bit as though the creators must have been doing drugs to dream up the show, but by the end, I was just amazed by everyone's performances. The highlight for me was one scene, when they had ramps set up on stage, and four guys wearing white fur boots with skates in the bottom cruised up and down the ramps. I was sure someone was going to fall! I'm sure it's a pretty cool job to have too - everyone looked like they were having such a great time doing the show. But I can imagine that it's pretty tough on their bodies! Someone mentioned that this show was more dance oriented, and less circus oriented than some of their other shows, but some of the tricks that they performed still looked incredible! I'd love to see another Cirque show to be able to compare!

LOVE had a few haunting scenes, as well as clips of the Beatles together - I always enjoy the little glimpses into how silly they were with some of their banter. I bet John Lennon would have gotten a real kick out of the show if he was still around. They definitely focused on the theme of "love" too, ending the show with the song "All you need is love," which always reminds me of Love Actually (my favorite movie). All throughout the show, too, they had one man who was all dressed up and carrying around a bouquet of flowers. He keeps trying to find a girl to give them too periodically, but they're always all paired up. He finally meets one, only to lose her to someone else just as "Yesterday" started playing! He tried different outfits and different approaches, but was always rebuffed. He even upped his game by carrying a heart-shaped box of chocolates too! At the end, he came out carrying a HUGE bouquet of flowers, and wandered around looking for love, until one of the other men took pity on him and called out all the girls in the show to give him a kiss. It was a triumphant moment!

Jet lag is still stalking me though, so once it was over, I was happy to get back to my room for a mango smoothie before bed (I need something to eat 😊). Tomorrow, we get up and do it all over again, and the adventure continues with the Richard Petty driving experience. Maybe I'll be able to post a picture of me in a Nascar!

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Comments

[Mandy]

Love
Love Actually was on last night here!!!