Las Vegas, Nevada: We both exercised for an hour this morning (DT covering nearly double my mileage - show off) after our big meal last night. The weather was just outstanding, so it was a pleasure to run in the warm sunshine. I've been up and down every lane inside this resort and would guess over half of the RV's are here on the monthly rate. There are also several C-Class rentals holding foreigner tourists.
For lunch today we visited one of our favorite taco shops in Las Vegas - Roberto's Taco Shop, a small regional chain. A new location has opened near the RV resort on Las Vegas Blvd (same parking lot as the outlet mall), and is open 24 hours. Roberto's tacos are fried (not soft shell) and are $2.59 each.
After lunch we drove across the interstate to the Bass Pro Shop - a huge mega-store selling everything needed to find, kill, clean, preserve and cook game and fish. This is their only store in Nevada; we do not have a Bass Pro Shop in Oregon at this time.
I have no idea why we get so excited to visit this store. We don't hunt or fish. It's like a wildlife museum and curiosity shop for us. We were in the store for two hours and my pedometer racked-up 1,900 steps! (Didn't buy a thing.)
So much taxidermy!
Sheep & Elk
Live (not stuffed!) sturgeon swimming in huge aquarium
Cub up a tree; Man with a fish pillow
Massive store!
A high school kid walked by the moose display and said, "Look at the deer!" Really?And, why did Lisa and Lenny go to Africa? They could have just visited a Bass Pro Shop.
Creatures from around the corner and around the world
For only $9.99 you kin git yerself a RedNek Party Cup. Oh. My. Goodness.
Guess we bought our golf cart too soon? This BAD BOY was on sale for $13,000. Ouch.That was just too much stimulation. We had to return to the motorhome for a rest.
Me, with pretty pink (plastic) flowering trees at the Venetian HotelWe had reservations this evening at the B&B Ristorante in the Venetian Hotel. The first "B" is for Batali (as in Mario) and the second "B" is for Bastianich (as in Joe). Joe's Mom is one of my favorite Italian food writers/chefs and I was hoping the apple didn't fall from that tree. I'm late to the Batali train, but will probably grow to love him if he ever opens an Eataly in Los Angeles.
Things were looking good as we arrived early to our reservation and had a drink in the bar - a perfectly prepared Negroni. We were then seated at a table for two and ordered a starter - house-cured sardines with roasted peppers (shared). Our second course was (shared) orecchiette pasta with a spicy lamb sausage. We were each about to order an entree when we over-heard our server offering a special pasta to our neighbors.
We asked and - oops - seems she forgot to tell us about the special... which just happened to be tagliatelle ribbons with fresh (only in season but a few short weeks) ramps (wild leeks). Excuse me? Call us tacky, but we shared this (2nd) special pasta course, the waitress lost-out on two entree orders and we will not be returning to B&B.
Dang.
Verdict: everything was just so salty. Really, really salty. It's not that we do not love salt (we do). It's not that we don't appreciate salt (we do). It's not that I don't have at least eight different salts in our motorhome at the present time (I do). It's just that the food we were served tonight was over-the-top salted. DT said the sardines were the least-salty dish we had tonight - a dish one would expect to be salty.
That makes this trip 0-2 for fine dining. Rao's and B&B (except for the Negroni) were not good choices for us. Wolfgang Puck's Chicken Salad at Spago, Max Brenner's chocolates and Roberto's $2.59 tacos still rule.
Mariners and Giants won!
Meanwhile... Lois sent this photo of our tomatoes back at the Motorcoach Country Club:
Someone should probably buy some fresh buffalo mozzarella and basil.And, while his grandparents are splurging in Sin City, Little Leo has been trying to get in touch with us - using a slice of pizza as a phone.
He certainly is deep in conversation with someone. Play with your food, peeps!Until my next update, I remain, your "I'm cooking dinner tomorrow" correspondent.
RV PARK: Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort. Full-service RV resort very close to the Las Vegas strip and right off I-15. Pool, hot tub, bath house, restaurant, wifi (fee), pet area, activities.