Weekend Cooking - January Las Vegas

January 2015 - Las Vegas NV

January saw us settled into timeshare/condo living for the month which meant mostly cooking in.
However, we did have two sets of friends here at different times so we did eat out.

Planet Hollywood

All locations permanently closed in 2020. Our first Paradise burger was in Maui back in 1995! 

Click here for lots of photos of the Pioneer Saloon!

 Certainly not as good as Cheeseburger in Paradise!

Birthday dinner for B.

2014 - 2015 Winter Las Vegas NV

December 2014 - January 2015

Las Vegas is our home for the remainder of 2014.

We spent a week at Wyndham Grand Desert. A night at New York New York. A week at Grand View and then ended the year at South Point Hotel and Casino into the New Year.

Friends joined us December 20 into January.

Click here to see the last three weeks of 2014 in Las Vegas.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

JANUARY


We spent New Year's Day in Las Vegas, friends were visiting but under the weather, so we headed to Goodsprings outside Las Vegas.
We even had a light dusting of snow this week in Vegas and it was cold.




John got some rounds of golf in with Vegas buddies.



We enjoyed revisiting old spots and finding some new ones. Here we are at Container Park near Fremont, basking in the sunshine.







We had more visitors for Blair's birthday. We went to Boulder and we visited the Mob Museum.

We took a drive through Red Rock Canyon.

Some familiar sights around town.

This Is How We Vegas - Week 6

January 2015 - Las Vegas NV


I made the list!

Had a mention in a friend's blog Taking Routes.


Saturday started with a lazy morning before we drove our friends to the airport. Then some errands, a stop at Fry's to return a charger, buy a USB key, groceries at Smith's, had gone to Whole Foods but that store is hopeless to find anything and then to Staples to print off some documents.
Then back to condo for a day of lounging.

We had a lot of chicken breasts in the freezer so we had chicken divan again.


Sunday - FOOTBALL
The sunset looked like the sky was on fire.

Dinner was a modified version of Spanish chicken stew using chicken breasts and served with mashed white and sweet potatoes. Delicious and enough for tomorrow night.



Watched a couple of gangster movies that were mentioned at the Mob Museum last Friday, Casino and Scarface.

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr Day so it was busy around town.

We had hot dogs for lunch. On a campaign to use up as much as we can before Sunday.

After lunch we set out for the Mormon Fort but when we got there it was closed on Mondays. But the street it is on, East Washington is decorated with ceramic cacti and desert animals. More photos later and we will return to the fort when it is open.

From there a drive down Las Vegas Blvd North.

John cleaning off the bird doo from the other day.

Next on the agenda was to find Atomic Liquors, at 917 Fremont. It is the oldest freestanding bar in Las Vegas. Originally founded by Joe & Stella Sobchik in 1952, Atomic Liquors boasts the first package liquor license and off-sales permit. Atomic, named for a time when customers watched atomic blasts from the roof, was originally built in 1945 and was called Virginia's Cafe. As the story goes; Joe was tired of cooking food, and the customers seemed more excited about sampling his secret ingredient 'Atomic Cocktails' while watching the nuclear blasts from the nearby Atomic Test Site. So in 1952, the couple renamed the business Atomic Liquors, constructed a classically huge, wrap around bar, and built a one of kind landmark neon sign that still shines today. In 2012 a group of investors led by longtime Downtown Las Vegas Attorney Lance Johns purchased the Atomic from the Sobchik's son, Ron, and remodeled it to it's original glory. Like much of old time Vegas, Atomic has showbiz in its veins - The Rat Pack and the Smothers Brothers drank here after their nightly shows, and Barbra Streisand even had her own seat which has been restored and is on display.

I will show more of this lounge in a separate post.

We noticed all the motel signs going down Fremont and took a drive as far as the Boulder Highway.
I have a collage of the signs that is scheduled for Monday.

Here is the gorgeous neon sign for the Western Motel, as you can see only the sign remains.

We parked on Fremont and went to find the Golden Nugget.

This is a sign outside the Golden Nugget.

We went into the D, formerly Fitzgerald's, and upstairs they have many original one-armed bandits, where you can play with coins and receive your winnings in a cup.
We sat and played some poker at the bar.

Dinner was pork chops and mashed potatoes with kale.

Tuesday was a totally overcast day and John played golf at the Las Vegas National.

When he came in we picked up some groceries.

Dinner was fajitas made with flank steak, delicious.

Wednesday was on the cool side but bright blue skies.
We went shopping in the morning, neither of us now need any more summer clothes.
We were going to go out for the afternoon but decided we would be quite content to relax and get caught up on our reading.


Thursday we got dressed up and headed to The Strip for dinner. It was so busy around Mirage, Treasure island and Venetian. Especially the Venetian, I've never seen so much energy around the Grand Shops, all the bars and restaurants were packed. I checked later and there were several conventions around town and there were close to 200,000 people in attendance.

We parked at TI and walked to Mirage.

Looking across at the Venetian, decorated for Chinese New Year.

 

Inside The Mirage.

  Drinks at the Revolution Bar.

Taken as we crossed over to the Venetian.

Click here for details of our dinner at Table 10.


Friday John golfed at Tuscany. He played with 3 great gentlemen from Quebec, 2 who currently live here (Michel, Alain and Jacques). Michel is Celine Dion's brother who is also her Stage Manager. Alain is her brother-in-law and Jacques is Michel's friend. He had a great time getting the behind the scenes scoop!

We decided to use up our South Point Casino credits and perhaps make some of our money back not.


Dinner was chicken, potatoes mashed with kale and broccoli.

Weekend Cooking December Las Vegas

December 2014 - Las Vegas NV

We were in Las Vegas from mid December to January 28, but were in timeshares most of the time so we have done most of our cooking ourselves. We did have friends visiting so we did go out to eat then.
Here are some of the meals we've had out in the month of December.
We ate out a bit more than usual as we stayed hotels for six nights.



Gordon Biersch Brewery

Garlic fries!

Pizza on a freezing cold night on Fremont.

Do the appetizers not the main courses at Todd English.

 Bad cell phone photos but the best fried pickles!

Great mussels

Delicious dumplings at Friday's.

Ahi tuna!!

Our timeshare for four weeks was next to this casino. We also stayed five nights over the New Year holiday here.

Mexican

Italian