Dave's Thoughts of the Day: November 20th

This one's for Beebs, Cap, and Lubsies.   I miss doing the personal blogs on a regular basis.

The issue for me lately is time.   Work is too busy, the apartment is too busy, sports are too busy, and often I don't have the time or the energy to compose a full persoblog.  Or a "daveblog" as I call it.  So here's what was on my mind in the weeks since my last personal entry.

You ever notice that when you shower the feet get left out?   Do any of you scrub your feet?   I never thought about it.  You soap down all the other parts of your body but then when it gets to the feet I always forget.  I keep thinking "well its gonna step on the floor again w all the other gunk, is it worth it?"   I haven't done it much.   Do the feet care?  I think there's a chance it can avoid disease by simply washing it w some soap... remarkable that this never came up before.

So I have a story to share with you all from a recent Vegas trip.   A friend of mine had an idea to go to a night club in Vegas to see Lil Jon there.   And, wouldn't you know, we're walking around the Wynn/Encore complex and there's a lil dude with the wild hair walking down the other way.  Lil guy too... yep, that dude was LIL JON.   Good stuff!   So the friend is like "let's go see him tonite at the club!"  So, for the first time ever, I thought "you know what?  That sounds like a good idea!"

Remarkably, we found the tickets... the concert didn't start until 10:30!!   Can you even imagine that?   They don't even open the doors til 10:30... so the two of us had to go back to the hotel into our respective rooms, then we return iono about 9, and I'm playing dollar slots at the Encore after winning two out of three NHL over/under bets at the Wynn casino.   The dollar slots weren't going so well -- I made the crucial mistake of trying a Double Diamond Machine with the stinkin' "Megabucks" Jackpot.  Do me a favor will you?  Don't ever play a Double Diamond w/ Megabucks Jackpot machine.  Man was that eating away at my money.  After a while, I gave up and tried the regular double diamond $1 machine while waiting for the Lil Jon Nightclub to let people in.   This time I put in only 20 bucks, but this $1 machine had some staying power!  I didn't win anything there either but I got a good vibe from it.   So we are dressed up here.. a bunch of #HelloDeahs in the line and we're ready to roll.  A bunch of douchebag clowns are right behind us, one of them drops his phone.  That group was getting instantly untrustworthy, but on we went into the club.   It was a good time, and it was apparently "early" by the club's standards.. we're all dancing at about 11... it was dark in there, some smoke machines in effect, drinks, even some black jack tables, but the ones with the auto-machines instead of the shoe.  Those auto-machine tables are bad news, so I avoided the blackjack completely and we all kept dancing...... but after a while it was like "when is Lil Jon going to get here?" and eventually we gave up.  I had no idea when he even showed up... for all I know he might have started at 2.   Alas, it wasn't to be.  I might consider trying it again on another date... he's at this nightclub fairly often, YEAHHHHH, OK!

and the buffets... OH the buffets!   Life is good when you can pick apart the nuances of the Wynn lunch buffet and the Cosmopolitan brunch buffet from Sunday.  For me the Cosmo was the clear winner.  Last time out, I tried both on the same weekend and the difference was closer.  The distinction was that this was the first look at a Cosmopolitan Wicked Spoon Sunday Brunch.  Man was it good!   They touted the thick sliced fresh bacon, but their regular bacon was also so amazing.   They don't do prime rib here, but they serve a pretty succulent beef culotte.   The culotte, as great as it is even with the creamy horseradish sauce ohhhhh so good, still gets lost within a whole arena of great foods.   The angry mac and cheese, now known as "Wicked Mac" is stupendous.   The French Toast blows me away.  The gingerbread pancakes with marshmallow topping hit the spot.   There was some "mystery juice" served to us along w/ the usuals: orange juice, coffee, and soda at your option.  I didn't take the soda, but the others were stellar as usual.  Now this "mystery juice" was revealed by our server as a raspberry puree with some passionfruit and other assorted fruits.   Amazing!  Then it was time for the desserts.  I didn't partake in too many of them this time, but the gelato guy, didn't really have much to say but he was very enthusiastic w/ his action and took great pride in his gelato, served up some vanilla for me to top it all off.  He would go "WHICH GELATO?  [after your pick] VANILLA YES?  OK"  Something like that, he used very few actual words but his communication was effective.  

To give you a picture of how expansive this buffet is:  you never even *touch* the Italian Pastas, the Chinese/Thai/Japanese cuisines, or anything else on the right hand side of the gallery.   It's best to focus on the left side anyway, because the primo breakfast foods and excellent carving station are all on that end.  I must not forget the braised pork eggs benedict.  Simply delicious!

One other note, going back to the Wynn Buffets... the Wynn buffet served the single greatest flank steak I've ever had.   I don't regard flank steak as very tasty, succulent, or even interesting, but Wynn nailed it.  They cooked the flank steak in a marvelous sweet glaze, and grilled it over mesquite flames.  I could see the chefs grilling each slab to perfection.  When I saw it the first time I said "hey how come they only have the end of the meat?"  I didn't realize it was a flank cut, which is already flat by its definition.  Best flank steak I've ever had.  So good that I want to go back and try it again.

When I retire, I will make it a point to go to vegas for a whole week, trying every dish in these two buffets, provided they're still around.  If they aren't, I'll attempt the same project for two similar buffets in town.   That would be a dream of mine.  Maybe one day I can play blackjack at a table with Lil Jon and Al Michaels.   Listen folks, I do believe in miracles and playing with those two would be a blast!

If we add Jennifer Lawrence and Taylor Swift to that table, then we got a party.  Doncha think so?

Some other thoughts...

Mortadella is the grown up cousin of bologna.   Very good, and proving to be one of my favorite meats.

I have some seriously chapped lips right now that I've tried to fix with Chap Stick.  It works but then the lips dry out again.  I tried swimming on Tuesday and it made the lips even worse.   It's so painful that I can't even smile without my lips tearing and or bleeding.  Oof.  So I keep pounding the 'stick.   Eventually I hope the lips get enough moisture.

I think any situation, even ones with high tension, can be improved with cookies.

There may come a week soon down the line where I'll take a vacation from sports.  Just stop following it.  I'm interested to know how it goes...it'd be less to think about, anyway.

Nothing beats sleeping with several warm blankets on a cold night.   A very good feeling.

I think that's all for this time out.  Hope to see you again soon...