Cheap entertainment on The Strip, Las Vegas, NV, part 1

A colleague and I went to a national education conference in Las Vegas last week. Somehow my summer has turned out to be crazy-busy, almost as busy as the school year is. Between major summer projects going on at work and some voluntary home improvement projects going on at home, I'm not really getting the lazy, low-key summer the teacher legend says we get. The only difference is I don't have to greet the kids at 7:45 a.m. during the summer; I can sleep in a bit. So, the conference in Vegas turned out to be my summer vacation. I know, I live on the edge.

We decided to make it our challenge to find cheap evening entertainment in Vegas. Long gone are the days of $5.00 all-you-can-eat buffets and 2-drink-cover comedy shows, at least on The Strip. The cheapest shows we could find were $20.00. Bummer. So, instead we aimed for free. In a city where back-row-balcony seats for the popular shows can run $80.00, there is plenty of free to be found. We managed to stay out until well past my bedtime without spending a dime. (Granted we did skip gambling. Big money savings there. And I'm not counting the cost of dinners and drinks. Those things can be hugely entertaining as well depending on where you go, although not exactly cheap. There are food courts a-la-shopping-mall if you need cheap eats too.)

We were staying in the Venetian. Turns out this casino/resort is amazing for free entertainment. This summer they had a Carnevale celebration going, a lot of bonus freebies. We spent one whole evening walking around and checking out the offerings. The Venetian complex is gorgeous. I know these days it is one of the "older" casinos, but it is definitely well worth the visit. After spending five days in the Venetian and walking around to some of it's neighbors, the Venetian is quite impressive.

Some random ante-room on the way to the hotel suite tower. It looked like it could be some alternate check-in area. I loved it. I would love to see it as a swanky cocktails reception area.

The famed Grand Canal shopping area. Gondola rides are pricey, but it is free to watch and listen to the gondoliers sing. This is a picture of the turn around point at the end of the canals. 

The Waterfall between the Palazzo and the Grand Canal shops. This was the location of several of the free performances we watched.

Vegas abounds with shopping areas. The shopping around the Grand Canal is very tempting. Buying wouldn't coincide with our self-imposed challenge. However, window shopping is free. We stopped in several art galleries. I really liked the Venetian mask shop. There is a wide variety of high-end shopping for anyone with expensive tastes. 

  

LOVED this shop, Bauman Rare Books. They have an amazing display of rare books, documents, and signatures. A must-see for any bibliophile. At the time of our visit they had an exhibition of Revolutionary War documents. 

As we walked around the Grand Canal and St. Mark's Square area, little shows took place in multiple locations. The following pictures are only a couple of the things we saw. There were living statues in several locations. A group of jugglers and singers gave a 30-minute performance on the Grand Canal Shoppes stage while we ate dinner at Mario Batali and Joe Bastianci's Otto Enoteca Pizzaria. They were followed by the trio. On the performance stage by the waterfall, the piano trio performance pictured below was just the first of several. They were followed by a performance of the Carnevale parade characters, followed by a marionette show. 

In the area called St. Mark's Square

The performance stage at the bottom of the waterfall. We watched from the balcony on the second floor.

The Venetian's website says this is their second annual Carnevale celebration. It is fun. I have been to the Venetian previously, and the Carnevale atmosphere does add to the whole experience. At check in Carnevale characters are walking around greeting customers and pointing the way to check-in. An accordion players performs by the fountain. The added shows with the celebration make free entertainment abundant.

My colleague with the Carnevale character that freaked her out. She didn't like the large looming head. 

This guy had a naval ship on his head. There were lots of different characters: spaghetti dinner headdress, fruit, flowers, a birdcage. 

Carnevale characters waiting around a corner for the parade to start. One guy spotted me taking a picture and waved.

Broiled Summer Peaches

A friend of mine brought me a bag of peaches fresh from her orchard. Is there anything better than succulent peaches, juicy and ripe, and picked at their prime? I ate two for breakfast just as they are. Sweet and drippy and a little warm. So good.

For dinner, I felt a little more creative. I know, how can you improve on a perfect food? And maybe you can't, but you can certainly be different. Broiled Summer Peaches with goat cheese, honey, and pecans. Amazing. It can be an appetizer or a dessert. Or like me, just make it dinner.

If you want it to be a more savory appetizer you can slice the peaches on some fried slices of crusty french bread before you follow this recipe. You can top with a little less honey or a little more goat cheese to add to the savory idea. For dessert, you can add a bit more honey if you like your desserts sweet. Cinnamon would go well too. If you're not a goat cheese nut like me, you could try cream cheese instead. You could use other choices of nuts, as well. Walnuts, slivered almonds, pine nuts or pumpkin seeds would all taste wonderful.

Broiled Summer Peaches
INGREDIENTS
2 fresh, ripe peaches, halved, pit removed
4 tablespoons goat cheese
4 pecan halves
honey

1) Preheat broiler.
2) Place each halve on a broiler pan. Top each with 1 tablespoon of crumbled goat cheese and 1 pecan half chopped.
3) Broil until the cheese is melty, lightly browned and the nuts are toasted, about 15 minutes. The time is only a guess. Watch carefully; you don't the nuts to burn. 

4) Carefully remove the peaches from the broiler pan and plate. The skins may peel easily from the peach. Drizzle with a desired amount of honey, a little goes a long way. 

Serve. Makes four appetizer-sized servings or two dessert-sized servings. The peaches would also be fabulous served on a bed of baby arugula as a salad with a little light lemony dressing.

Broiled Summer Peaches

Monday Treats, Mini Cheesecakes

At my work, we all take turns bringing treats for the staff on Mondays. It's a nice way to ease ourselves back into the work week, a little something to look forward to on Monday. We are such a small staff we all have multiple turns to bring snacks.

This kind of thing is right up my alley. I love to cook (obviously if I have a food blog). But this year I am an empty-nester. Cooking for myself just isn't very fun. Monday treats provides an excuse to try out new recipes and not be the only one eating it.

These cheesecakes are super easy, only six ingredients. And they are light and fluffy, mildly sweet. They are
an excellent spring treat. They'd be great to take to a potluck.

Mini Cheesecakes

INGREDIENTS
12 vanilla wafers
2 8 oz packages of regular cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Desired topping such as cherry or other fruit pie filling, chocolate chips, pecans, any variety of jam, caramel, whipped cream, etc.

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place 12 foil cupcake cups in a cupcake pan.
2) Place 1 vanilla wafer in the bottom of each cup.

3) In a large electric mixer, place cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. (If you want you could also add lemon or orange vest for flavoring.) Beat together until well blended and smooth. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides.
4) Turn the mixer on medium and add one egg at a time. Blend until fully incorporated and smooth before adding the second egg.

5) Mix on medium high for another 2-3 minutes. 

6) Use a spoon to scoop the cream cheese batter to fill each foil cup about 3/4 of the way full. Share it out evenly between the 12 cups. 

If you are using chocolate chips, nuts, jam, or caramel topping, now is the time to add about 1 teaspoon to the top of each mini cheesecake. You can swirl in the jam or caramel a little with a toothpick. If you are using canned pie topping, as pictured above, or whipped cream save it until after the cheesecakes are cooked and cooled.
7) Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Cheesecakes will puff up a lot. They will sink back in as they cool creating a perfect little divot for pie filling or whipped cream. Cool completely before topping with pie filling or whipped cream.

Easy Mini Cheesecakes

Monday Treats, Asian Chicken Salad

I love making new recipes. Often I come across a new recipe. Fix it. It turns out wonderful. And I never make it again. There's just so many recipes to try, there's not really time to make recipes more than once.

And then there are my reliable stand-bys. The recipes that I make over and over. The ones that I just have to have from time to time. This Asian Chicken Salad is just one of those recipes. About once a month, I eat Asian Chicken Salad. I have a wide range of variations I make. You can use lettuce or cabbage or both. You can make it with leftover grilled or roasted chicken breasts or thighs. I like to buy a cold rotisserie chicken from the grocery store to make it quick and easy. You can add cucumbers, snow peas, green onions, orange segments, bean sprouts, cooked ramen noodles, blanched broccoli florets. You can top with cilantro, mint, basil, ramen noodles, wonton strips, almonds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, peanuts, chow mien noodles. The dressing can be store bought Asian style dressing. Or you can make your own with rice wine vinegar, canola oil, and sugar and any add-ins such as the flavoring packet from one package of ramen noodles, juice from canned mandarin orange segments, grated fresh ginger, lime zest, a few drops of sesame oil.

Here is a basic recipe for Asian Chicken Salad. Feel free to make any variation you like from it. Just think of your favorite flavor combination from any Chinese, Japanese, or Thai dish, and add those ingredients.

Asian Chicken Salad

INGREDIENTS
1 small Napa cabbage
1 small savoy cabbage
6 green onions
1/4 pound snow peas
1 grocery store rotisserie chicken
2 packages chicken flavored ramen noodles
(Save 1 flavoring packet)
1 cup slivered almonds

Dressing: 3/4 cup canola oil, 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup juice from canned mandarin oranges, 1 flavor packet from chicken flavored ramen noodles

1) Put all of the dressing ingredients into an empty, clean medium-sized jar. Shake well for 1 or 2 minutes until well blended.
2) Thinly slice Napa and savoy cabbages. Slice green onions and snow peas on the diagonal.






3) Take all of the chicken off of the bone from the rotisserie chicken. Dice.







4) You can toast the ramen noodles in a pan over medium heat until they start to turn light brown. Add the almonds at this point and toast a little longer until the almonds turn light brown as well. You don't have to do this step, but it does add a nice toasty flavor. Just be careful to stir a lot and watch the pan carefully. Ramen noodles and almonds can go from too light to way too toasted very quickly.
5) Add everything to a very large salad bowl. Give the dressing a good shake again. Pour over the salad and toss.

Asian Chicken Salad, delicious, versatile recipe

Easy Tomato Bruschetta (inspired by the movie "Julie and Julia")

I like the movie "Julie and Julia", maybe it's a bit of inspiration for my entire blog. I know it's the inspiration for one item on a bucket list, to cook my way through an entire cookbook. I won't be cooking my way through Julie Child's book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". I love french cooking, but I do not want to commit myself to an entire aspic chapter. Ugh.

I do have one more inspiration from that movie however. Early on there is a scene where Julie and her husband are eating the most amazing tomato bruschetta for dinner. The movie shows Julie frying the bread before serving. I've watched the movie a couple of times recently and was just craving the bruschetta they gushed over.

I created this very easy recipe simply from what Julie's looked like. It may not be their recipe at all. But it is delicious, quick, and simple.

EASY TOMATO BRUSCHETTA

INGREDIENTS

Fresh tomato, diced, the fresher the better, it is the entire basis of the flavor in the recipe

Fresh basil, thinly sliced

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt to taste

Sourdough baguette

Butter

Olive oil

Parmesan

1)Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl and set aside so the flavors can meld.

2) Slice the baguette and butter one side. Fry in a pan with some olive oil.

3) Pile the tomato mixture on each slice of fried bread. Top with a little shaved Parmesan if desired. 

That's it! Sever and eat! So good! 

I had it by itself for dinner. More commonly it is served as an appetizer. Or you can have it with a nice piece of cooked fish, chicken, or beef with a green salad and have a complete meal. 

You can also add all kinds of things to this recipe; crushed garlic, a little balsamic vinegar, shredded tarragon, finely chopped olives, a few capers, ground pepper, parsley, or whatever you think works. Go wild. Be crazy. The best bruschetta I've had lately was strawberries and kumquats with mint and goat cheese on a rustic whole grain bread. It was absolutely amazing.

Strawberry Kumquat Bruschetta from Thomas Hill Organics

Pottery, piece 2

My second pottery piece

Here is my second pottery piece ever. I started it the same day as my first piece. Recently I threw down for the first time. I think that's the proper way to say I used the pottery wheel. That definitely takes some talent and skill. I have way more appreciation now for the handmade pottery I see. I started okay, but somehow always managed to dig a finger in too deep. I'd get this deep groove or gauge in the pottery that I couldn't figure out how to work out. Time and practice, I'm sure that is the key.

I've glazed the two thrown pieces I made and left them to be fired. I will post pictures soon.

Pottery

For about three months now I've been going to hang out with a friend on Friday nights at a local pottery studio. Oh my wild party life.

I've never done pottery before in my life, but it's fun. A lot like being a kid playing with playdough. I always loved playdough. My first two pieces were trays. You cut a chunk of clay out of a block of clay and roll it flat through a press. Then you mold the clay into a form. On my pieces, I stamped designs. After they dried, and when I could finally make it back to the studio, I painted each piece. I left them to be fired. I do wonder if the glaze I used gives it the high gloss finish just by being fired. You would never know to look at the unfired item to know what the finished product will look like. Unfired they are dull, porous, and not glossy at all. Here is my very first piece.