It's Still Summer... Trip #8

We're off again tomorrow to the Pacific Northwest where it's 20 degrees cooler then here. We're heading out there this time with a serious project. Hopefully within a week, we'll find a house we like enough to compromise so that by early next year, some people here would no longer be threatened by 'our' presence. A big sigh of relieve for them muahahaha! You know who you are 'coz I know you're still reading :s Go do some bloody work for crying out loud - or do you need some help hahaha?! I have nothing interesting to say for now. But I will someday and when I do, trust me, you'll hear all about it.

Hanging Out At T-Nails

Just returned from spending a couple of hours hanging out with the 'crew' at T Nails - a fun and hilarious group of people who remind me of home. That's what I miss about being so far away from all my crazy cousins... talking a bunch of bullshit that means nothing to anyone else but us; and having a ton of laughs at each other's expense! They even got me a white chocolate mocha today! I'm gonna' miss all of them and having a comfortable and super clean place to get my nails done when I eventually leave this town... like I said, I'm not gonna' miss this city other than my house and some special people I've met here.










If you're ever in the Memphis area and need to get your nails done, you can certainly rely on the skills of Tina, Kristy, Alan or Jenny... Kristy is also an eyebrow sculptor. I call her a sculptor 'coz she's awesome at waxing - even when some ladies come in with practically no eyebrows HAHAHA! I kid you not lol. Plus I get tons of compliments on my eyebrows; so if you need help, head down to Winchester. They're located at the same strip mall as Huey's and Half Shell and they do walk-ins.

Cousin Tara & Damien Head Home Today

It was fun hanging out with Tara and Damien both in and out of Memphis... they got to see Graceland, eat bbq and see what their cousins on the other side of the world live like - I'm sure a report to my parents will follow upon their return home lol!

In Case You Missed Us On NBC LOL

Ignore my fat arms and back fat. I should have changed my outfit I know... but gimme a break - we were heading out to the airport and didn't know the tv crew was really coming till 2 hours before. Ok, I have no excuse for not changing. I THOUGHT I looked HOT HAHAHAHAHA!

Us On Inside Edition - AIYOH!!!!

Don't ask me why we sat there like twins with arms half crossed onto the other arm. I never noticed we sat alike LOL. OMG I look so moronic LOL! I guess that explains why I'm not a TV superstar hahahaha!

Exciting Last 24 Hours

Wow! I thought the highlight of the last fews days would have been my cousin and her boyfriend visiting - but the husband's interview last night at home with nbc blew us all away lol. Yes, NBC like the television network!!! Talk about being married to a celebrity huh lol! Tara and Damien sooo thinks we're paying people to impress them lol! First the guy who came up to us at the Commissary who identified the king as the (ex) Mathematics teacher featured in a newspaper article he read earlier this year(?) or late last year... and then the the bloody tv crew at the house setting up for the interview LOL.

Elvis Presley's 30th death anniversary at Graceland was wild... but we're all EP'd out. I will have a post with tons of pictures soon. I'm at our 'shameful unidentified destination' and am hitting the pool so blogging isn't exactly a priority... besides, no wireless arrgh!!! Guess where we are! :D

Trip #8 Of Summer '07

Yes we're off again tonight. This will start a line of travels right into the Fall. Oooh, I'm so excited!! :) We're traveling with my cousin Xiaoyan and her boyfriend Damien tonight. Destination - unidentified lol. We'll be back early Monday morning for a few days and we'd be off again to Seattle after that :) Of course, before we leave Memphis later, we're heading out to Graceland this morning. Not a very smart thing to do on Elvis' 30th death anniversary but I suppose what better time to see it then with the rest of the world and all the tv crews and tv personalities :)

Foodies In Argentina

I know I know... this is long overdue... I can no longer taste the dulce de leche in my mouth - not that I don't crave it - and I am even almost over my please!-no-more-steak-'diet' LOL. Yes, all these years, I have been eating what I thought was yummy steak dinners at Ruth's Chris not realizing that the best steaks sits in Buenos Aires patiently waiting for me :) Did you know that Argentinians eat more beef then anyone else in the world!? Yup, the average person consumes about 140 pounds of beef a year! That's like 50% more than the average American! ...I'd hate to be a vegetarian there; ok I'd hate to be a vegetarian anywhere hee hee.

We went to two parrilla (Spanish word for 'grill') restaurants while in Buenos Aires. The first one, Cabanas Las Lilas (review can be read here) and the second one El Mirasol. Cabanas Las Lilas had always been popular in Buenos Aires and the king went there on his first trip. He had such a good time he wanted to take me there. Even though the more up-to-date reviews of this restaurant claim that the standards have slipped and the quality of the food isn't as stellar, I can't say I have any complaints whatsoever about my meal there... between Cabana Las Lilas and El Mirasol, it's hard to pick a favorite. The quality of meat at Cabana Las Lilas was absolutely amazing! I cannot say I have had a better piece of rib eye where every mouthful of meat was perfectly marbled. Absolutely orgasmic, I kid you not! The meat was also extremely good at El Mirasol... the service at was much friendlier, less stuffy and I think I can safely say I had the best appetizers of my entire trip here. The empanadas here... yummy spicy ground beef. Hmmm... curry puff LOL! Sorry I digress... it's a Singaporean trait when it comes to food. Oh, and the bbq sausages with the chimichurri... wow!!

Believe it or not, while food is usually the highlight of our trip, I believe the weather was more exceptional. It certainly was nice to get out of the Memphis heat to fly into cool wintery Buenos Aires. Can't say I wouldn't do it again. I know we could have flown over to Australia where we wouldn't have to pay for hotel but ummm... Argentina is so much more exotic :)

Speaking of exotic, we even went to the oldest cafe in Buenos Aires HAHAHA! Cafe Tortoni. OK, not exactly my kind of scene (at all) but hey, I get to say we did the touristy thingy :) Plus I had a churros and the husband had an alfajor (right) and we were out of the huge cafe quicker then it took us to be in line to gain entry lol. Just get me a bloody mocha frapaccino for crying out loud! Speaking of which, Starbucks will soon make her entry into the Argentina market this year.

If you want a nice meal, go to Sucre. This would be my favorite restaurant amongst all the places we went to eat in this city. I enjoyed every dish we had here. From the salmon ceviche (we also got the Peruvian style ceviche), jamon y queso croquettes (it sounds so fancy but it's just ham and cheese croquettes lol), to the very simple but super delicious and garlicky orechietti pasta with pancetta and brocolli - I can't say I have had a better pasta dish to date!! ...to the best coconut tart dessert I have ever had with a scoop of rich mango sorbet (it was so rich it tasted like ice cream). The food was simply spot on and service was absolutely excellent as well! I'm not giving Sucre justice by not writing a piece just on them but there is just too much going on right now to do so. I have procrastinated and now, a day before my cousin arrives, I'm doing laundry past 10 o'clock in the pm lol. Shame on me! :(

Who is she? Well, she walked out of her family bakery just as we were walking by and she offered us samples of their pastries. Full sized samples! None of that cut a bloody pastry into forty-two pieces like they do here, if you're even that lucky lol! Of course after having a fresh warm cinnamon roll in the cool crisp morning air, we marched right in and got us more pastries we certainly didn't need lol. They get my vote for best coquitos - coconut macaroons - I have ever had! Hmmm... there seems to be this pattern of yummy coconut desserts here...?!?

Our last 'meal' in Buenos Aires consisted of the most awesome combination of ice-cream from Freddo. Despite the locals complaining about the cold weather - it really wasn't that cold with the high humidity; even though the recorded temperature was only in the 30s. It still wasn't too cold to eat ice-cream (it never is!) in the Galaria. It was hot and stuffy in there. So we took the opportunity to have us a little Freddo. YUM! Talk about the perfect blend of flavors we picked!!! The bitterness of the mocha ice cream (with coffee beans) together with the white chocolate'y flavor adding to the rich sweetness of the dulce de leche ice cream and the crunchiness texture of the very generous serving of almonds... OMFG!!! I'm salivating right now just thinking about it :)

Sorry the writing on this piece sucks lol. I know it... the flow... yuks the flow. But I want this out today or there really wouldn't be time until we return from our trip next week ;) Yup, we're heading out again soon.

One last thing before I go. The drink of my choice when I next go to Buenos Aires... diet pomelo soda! A slight bitterness to it (just like the pomelo fruit) added to what-tastes-like a semi-sweet carbonated lemonade. YUM! We walked into Disco (not the disco dance lol but the grocery stores ol) and browsed to see what their stores were like. I had to try this. I love this drink!!

If you're interested, you can see more pics of our trip to Argentina here.

Time to get the morning started.

No Such Thing As A Salt-Free Diet Here

We had walked past Emeril's a gazillion times in the last three stays this summer at the Signature at the MGM Grand. I can't say we have ever questioned ourselves about wanting to eat there. I mean... we have had the best in New Orleans! ...and Emeril Lagasse, to us, is more of an entertainer then a chef. But on our last day, our casino host invited us to have a meal within the MGM compound. The budget, $50 per person. Not bad for lunch. So we decided why not give Emeril's New Orleans Fish House a try... after all, we've just about tried every restaurant at the MGM and was running out of new places to try!

While everything was tasty, I have to preface by saying that almost everything I had was waaay too salty for my liking! Even the rosemary bread - though good, the salt factor spoiled it for me...

I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised by how the dishes were overly 'seasoned'. I mean, have you seen the amount of salt Emeril 'bams' his bloody way through his shows? Apparently, the chef that day was also doing his take on his boss's style. I like Emeril - as a tv entertainer behind his fancy little kitchen in the studio... studio in the kitchen? Anywayz, he makes people laugh and unlike Bobby Flay, I don't find him sickening and/or annoying. But I honestly don't see him as a chef. I mean, how many gazillion dishes can you put the same bloody seasoning on?!










To start, I had the shrimp remoulade salad - nothing special. I wish they'd given me some extra remoulade sauce on the side... it was barely enough to taste - however, the little I tasted, it made me want some more - the one bloody thing they don't give me more of is the sauce I want - of course! It was good but it could have been far better. The king had the blue crab and bell pepper fondue - he loved it and said it was very well executed, whatever that means. Think he's also been watching too much Top Chef :) We got the seafood gumbo to share - yes we were being complete pigs! Shit, we were being comped $100 by the casino for our meal so don't think we were going to be coy and not take full advantage of it :) ...surprisingly, the gumbo was very tasty! I've had my share of bad gumbo (even in New Orleans!) so I must say, I was nicely impressed.
For entrees, we had the seafood pan roast with jambalaya and the fish special of the day; striped bass with corn macque choux. Both the jambalaya and the corn macque choux were absolutely delicious! As for the the fish in both dishes, they were omg way too salty! ...so was the butter sauce on the pan roast. Insane! Nice thing was, when I brought it up to our second waiter, he was very good about it and actually offered to get the kitchen to redo my dish. No, I didn't let them - after all, by that time, I had enough food in me to last me another week!

Our first waiter (unlike our second one) was the most depressing looking service person on the job. When he was serving us and telling us the specials, he never once smiled nor looked like he wanted to be there... but when he was either standing with his other colleagues chatting away or when he was standing by himself talking (to himself) - I kid you not - he looked like he'd taken some serious happy pills! It was quite funny - especially when it looked like he was at a stand-up comedy routine all by himself. Yes he was laughing! Ok, I was obviously a little too distracted by this guy...

Three stars (our of five)! If it wasn't for the saltiness of the food, I would have given it at least a 1/2 more star... the weird waiter didn't bother me too much. It was just funny to me. Will I go back to Emeril's? Sure... especially if the casino would like to pay our way again. Our tab that day (before tipping) came up to a whole dollar over the $100 comped :D Hey, we're pros at this by now :)

Hiding At Home

OMFG!! Can it get any hotter then it's been the last few days!? I hate hate hate this horrible horrible unbearable ie 'untahannable', weather! I want to go back to Buenos Aires where it's nice and cloudy and cold!! Arrgh!

Do Phone Companies Only Hire Morons?!

via Consumerist by Meg Marco on Aug 06, 2007

Slate's Seth Stevenson shares this verbatim chat his girlfriend had with a Verizon rep:

A Verizon Wireless online pre-sales specialist has joined the chat.
You are now chatting with chelsea.

Chelsea: Hello. Thank you for visiting our chat service. May I help you with your order today?

You: I am interested in the international BlackBerry and am looking for detailed information for rates on data and voice when making calls from different countries in Asia.

Chelsea: Please hold on while I check that information.
Chelsea: Unfortunately you will not be able to use the phone in Asia.
Chelsea: I do apologize.

You: Hmm. OK. Actually [I] am nearly certain the international BlackBerry can be used everywhere but Japan.

Chelsea: I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.
Chelsea: I will be right with you.
Chelsea: I just tried to look for Asia in the countries list, and it was unavailable.

You: Yeah. Asia is more of a continent than a country (like Europe--not a country, France--a country). I'll stop by a store I guess and try to figure it out.

Chelsea: Ok.
Chelsea: Thank you for visiting Verizon Wireless, I look forward to speaking with you again. Have a great day!

Your chat session has been ended by your Verizon Wireless online agent. We wonder if Seth's girlfriend really did have a great day.

Ads We Hate [Slate] (Thanks, Wade!)
(Photo:Maulleigh)

The Simpsons Movie

Wait for the DVD - but that's just my opinion.

We saw the movie the day it opened here in Memphis. The husband is a huge(!) Simpsons fan; so when we got off the plane from Argentina, as exhausted as we were, he was determined to be the first on the block to see it. ...and see it we did! I was afraid it would be packed with kids. I mean, it's summer holidays and who wouldn't go hide in the movie theatre with some popcorn and soda especially with the opening of the much awaited Simpsons movie!?! Well, apparently very few people in Memphis felt the same lol!

I was a little disappointed with the movie. I was hoping it would be a laugh out loud like the South Park movie but what I got was a longer version of a Simpsons tv episode with practically none of the other characters that makes the show so hilarious! If you saw them in the movies, they hardly had any lines... it was a let down for me. No Mister Burns nor his loser sidekick assistant Smithers, bartender Moe, and not even my favorite, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. Why did they have to go introduce new characters?! ...and what's up with that little Irish kid?! ...and what happened to spider pig!?

It wasn't bad. It just could have been better. Funnier. Stay and watch for the credits where little Maggie says her second word (anybody knows her first?! :D) and the 'few' Korean names in the credits that surprised me :)

Happy To Be Home

It's nice to be home. I said 'home', not 'here' :) It looks like we're going to be home for a little bit. Ten days to be exact. Then we're off again somewhere else. No, not Japan, yet.

The school year is about to start and usually, I will be fanatically looking for somewhere else to visit before the king returns to work and settled into his new, always hectic routine. But this year, it's really nice to sincerely welcome August with open arms. I'm sure the husband misses the students (I know he does!) but life goes on. There are a ton of other students out there he can educate if he so chooses. If not, there is always money to be made somewhere else where he will be appreciated.

I'm looking forward to my cousins visiting in a week. It's not often I get family coming onto this side of the world so it's very exciting for me.

I have a ton of blogging to catch up on, so stay tuned while I get my act together ;)

David Burke Las Vegas

Although dinner at David Burke is filled with flavor, the creative and ingenious presentations makes this restaurant special. Our table of four was wowed again and again.

We were 15 minute early for our 7 pm reservation; but the hostess was welcoming and seated us immediately. In a stylish place where we might have expected to encounter some attitude, we received none from any of the staff. The decor of the place is eye-catching but not too distracting, and the center installation is awesome - it's something I would love in my house lol! Ok, I would need a bigger house first :) But, a woman can dream, can't she?

The service was attentive, but unusual. We had two waiters who performed in tandem to serve us. Since there were still times where neither was around, it didn't really lead to better service. My husband and I disagree on the pacing with one thinking it was too fast and the other too slow, so maybe it was just right. Yeah right! I'm correct, of course :D

I don't want to give too much away tho' I think my uploaded pictures might already - at least I didn't upload EVERY picture :) The list of appetizers is appealing and fun! We opted for two of the signature appetizers, the 'crisp and angry lobster' and the 'pretzel-crusted crabcake'. The lobster was delicious, though trickier to eat than I expected with the utensils given; even my Boston-born husband struggled a bit. The crabcakes were delicious and different than what we might have expected from the name. My girlfriend's boyfriend ordered oysters which looked plump and tasty, but I wasn't able to manage to steal one from him (OK he didn't offer LOL but who could blame him?!).

For entrees, I had the special of the evening (Alaskan salmon) - it was SLIGHTLY more cooked then I would like it so it wasn't perfect but tasty nonetheless. I'm glad I ordered it also because, in contrast with most of the entrees at our table, the portion of my salmon was smaller than I expected. I also ordered a smoked gouda croquette on the side. Contrary to a lame review on Yelp, neither the king nor I had trouble discerning the smoked gouda flavor in the potato mousse within. YUM!

My husband had the lobster steak with curry fries and candy grapefruit - also a special of the evening. The lobster steak was delicious! The mountain of super skinny fries was crispy, and the candied grapefruit provided a sweet and sour counterpoint to the dish. My girlfriend ordered the DB take on Peking Duck; it looked appealing on the menu, but wasn't the kind of dish I would order since I have very high expectations/standards for anything relating to Peking Duck. The dish is actually just duck in rice noodles but very flavorful; I would have liked the noodles a little less cooked but my girlfriend absolutely loved this dish. I still wish they didn't name it Peking Duck - arrgh!


You HAVE to leave enough space for dessert! You just have to! Or, you could just do as we did and make pigs of yourselves LOL! Our table of four each ordered a dessert and one more to share for the table. I had the white chocolate "faberge egg" with mango, and my girlfriend's boyfriend thought this was his favorite of all the desserts. My girlfriend had the banana split with ostrich egg; this was nice, but it was pretty much a bloody banana split, so I would have opted for the selection of ice cream and sorbets in mini-cones if I had this to do over (and was ordering for her hahahahaha). Her boyfriend had five tastes from five states creme brulee. The mini creme brulees came in shotglasses in what looked a little like a test tube rack. He loves creme brulee and was very happy, but the waiter who presented this let us down here and wasn't able to clearly explain what the five states and five flavors were. My husband had panna cotta with butterscotch, curry (!?!), and caramel, topped with meringue cigarettes. My personal favorite! The combinations of flavors were well matched and not contrived; it was popular at the table and also husband's favorite. We also had to have the signature dessert, the cheesecake lollipop tree with bubblegum whipped cream. This sounds like something out of Alice in Wonderland, looked the part, and was great! The dessert featured 3 different flavors of cheesecake bites: strawberry, dark chocolate, and heath bar. The concierge at our hotel enthusiasticaly recommended this specific dessert, and it lived up to its advanced billing. I hate whipped cream, but I loved the bubble gum flavored whipped cream especially when I dipped the raspberry garnish into it.

A solid 4 stars our of five!

OK, so with a great dinner, why not five stars? For me, the principal reason is that I ate at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon earlier this summer and it was a little better in every dimension. The service was crisper (one waiter who knew EVERYTHING about every dish and wine); the dishes were more consistently executed (every presentation and taste was spot on), and the atmosphere was more romantic (DB is loud, but if you're having a boisterous celebration you'll fit right in).

DB was great fun! Put yourselves in the hands of the Mad Culinary Genius, and you' ll never know what's around the next corner. But it will taste delicious!