So Long, 2014

2014 has been an outstanding year. I am so lucky to have shared it with many old friends, new friends, family and my wonderful husband John. I'd like to highlight a couple personal and fancy things that made this year really special:

Fancy Things:
-A fresh new look on my website (check it out!)
-New Facebook features, like #FancyFridays--art-related videos that I post every Friday on my page
-111 Facebook likes! Over 100! Whoo!
-188 Instagram followers
-1,094 Instagram photos

Personal Things:
-John's parents, Roger and Ann, came out to visit
-John's brother, Michael, visited us as well
-Met my friend Angela in Las Vegas in February
-Met my dad and his three sisters in Las Vegas in July
-I went back to New York City to celebrate my birthday with Angela and visited Ladurée's newest location in SoHo

It's been a great year and I'm looking forward to the next. So many things to be thankful for and so many fancy things to appreciate!

 

Titanic in Las Vegas

The anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic is coming up this week and I figured it would it would be nice to recount seeing Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition when I was in Las Vegas this past February.  The exhibition include lots of artifacts, many photos and documents, and fully recreated rooms from the ship.  Angela and I loved going through the exhibition, and we were each given a 'ticket' that included personal information of an actual passenger who was on board. 

The exhibition also included a large piece of ice that simulated an actual iceberg, which people were invited to touch.  It also included a large recovered section of the ship, which was appropriately nicknamed the "big piece".  

When I returned home from the trip, I coincidentally watched a documentary on Netflix called Titanic's Final Mystery that referenced the exhibition and investigated the atmospheric influences of mirages--a probable environmental causation of the sinking of the ship.  I strongly recommend the documentary, and it was especially interesting to comprehend a referential link between the Titanic and Las Vegas!

Angela and I had a load of fun going through the exhibition, as you can see for yourself in my photos below.  No photos were allowed inside, but we did get some good keepsake shots that we'll remember for a long time to come.  At the end of the show, we discovered if our assigned passenegers survived or not.  I survived!  Sadly, Angela did not.  But as the song goes...'my heart will go on'.  

Bouchon Bakery

Thomas Heller is the chef and owner of Bouchon Bakery, which is a series of bakeries and restaurants around the country.  I became first acquainted with Bouchon when I was living in New York.  Bouchon had a small bakery in the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle, it also had an adjoining restaurant that I unfortunately hadn't tried.  They have added another bakery at Rockefeller Center and they also have a location in California.  My recent trip to Las Vegas took me to Bouchon's flagship restaurant tucked away inside the Venetian hotel.  Celebrating it's 10th anniversary the restaurant is just as classy as ever.

Angela and I decided to celebrate our time together with dinner at Bouchon.  We could not get enough bread!  I think we split at least three loafs of their delicious freshly baked bread together.  Before we could even finish our first course I pretty much shouted that we'd share a plate of 'profiteroles!' to our waiter.  Their choux pastry profiteroles are simple French standards, but they're wonderfully delectable, especially with a drizzle of chocolate ganache on top.

Bouchon offers a playful yet intelligent approach to the traditional French Bistro.  If you find yourself wondering what to choose out so many dining options in Vegas, I highly recommend Bouchon, because it stands out well above the rest!  And try and stop by one of their three pastisseries within the Venetian.

French butter, fresh bread, and pistachios

I even loved their beautiful titled floor!

Duck confit

Las Vegas (Part 2)

In continuing to sum up my recent trip to Las Vegas that I took a couple of weeks ago, it was nice to see an older part of the city that was new to me.  Angela and I had to take a bus, appropriately called the Deuce, to the Fremont Street Experience, which was quite a trek from the newer parts of the Vegas Strip.  Fremont is famous for its covered pedestrian street that is covered in LED lights.  We were just in time to catch the President's Day tribute.  We took in the sights with some fun novelty drinks and decided to walk around the famed Golden Nugget casino and hotel, which looked dated on the outside, but turned out to be modern and unsuspecting inside. 

Beyond the older part of Fremont Street we saw large puffs of fire bursting from some weird creature down the street.  We, of course, began walking in that direction.  Fire balls were coming from a large mechanical prey mantis (Burning Man related?), with the body of a school bus, that was a greeter to Container Park.  Container Park turned out to be an open communal space, full of shops, cafes, and a large playground for children.  The bi-leveled park was mostly constructed out of sea-lockers; large storage containers used for international shipping.  Ironically we had to sit at the entrance of the park for a couple minutes to finish emptying our novelty containers.


The following day, I had decided that I wanted to spend sometime relaxing at an indulgent Vegas spa, so I choose the spa at Aria.  Getting a day pass is a good idea for getting a great spa experience on a budget.  The day pass gave me open access to the spa, which meant I could use the large eucalyptus steam room, several whirlpools, and other great amenities.  The highlights of the spa included an infinity pool on a balcony, especially great since I was the first person to try it out, and the salt room, which was a room with message chairs that featured a beautiful wall of salt bricks that apparently help people to relax.
 
Later on, I met up with Angela and we decided to investigate another place in Vegas that we have never been to before--Circus Circus, an older hotel and casino, known for it's large circus tent-like structure in the middle of the Strip.  I realized after our trip that we totally missed the part where they have a roller coaster.  But our impression of the casino when walked in was...not too positive.  Circus Circus needs to tweak itself along the lines of the Golden Nugget to stay fresh with the changing amenities offered by newer and updated hotels in Vegas.

My second trip to Vegas was spectacular.  The new sights were fun to see, the old sights were great too!  I ate some really great food and next week I'm gonna talk about a very special restaurant I went to my last night in Vegas.

Las Vegas (Part 1)

Last week I had the supreme pleasure of reuniting with my friend Angela while she was in Las Vegas for some trade shows she had for her job.  It was my second time in Vegas and it was filled with some old sights and some new ones too.  The best part of the trip was really spending time and catching up with Angela.

My journey began with paying homage to the peculiar carpet that locals devotedly love at PDX airport.  I joined in the appreciation by purchasing socks that actually match with the carpet.

Once in Vegas, I had the tourist duty of parading through various casinos and hotels to see all the different interiors and show-stopping displays.  Many of the hotels featured large floral tableau's to celebrate the Chinese tradition of the year of the horse (a sign of good luck).  The best treat of Vegas was indulging in many types of food, mostly French pastries.  Included below is a picture of the Payard's version of French toast, which was comprised of two slices of brioche, bananas, whip cream, and Nutella. 

I'll be sharing more photos of my trip in the next coming weeks, so please stay tuned!