Las Vegas 2015 - Day 2 [Part 1]

A couple years ago, W went to Disney World in Orlando and tried Earl of Sandwich. He came back and raved about their awesome and affordable sandwiches to me. Naturally, I had to try it out too when I found out that there was one inside the Miracle Mile shops of Planet Hollywood.

 

I ordered the Hawaiian BBQ which consisted of grilled chicken, ham, swiss cheese, pineapple, and barbeque sauce.

The juicy and sweet pineapple went really well with the grilled chicken and salty ham. This was a very good hot sandwich, yum!

W went for The Original 1762. With roasted beef, cheddar and horseradish sauce, it was savoury, melty, and meaty with a bit of kick. Just as delicious but of course, I liked my sandwich more!

After our quick brunch, we hopped back in our car and drove out the Valley of Fire State Park. Located about a 1 hour drive away, northeast of Las Vegas, this state park featured red sandstone formations, large and small, created by the shifting sand dunes since the age of the dinosaurs!

Up close or from afar, the fire-y redness of the sandstone really stood out against the blue sky. So beautiful! I was just full of awe and felt so inspired by nature.

One of the many different red sandstone formations was the beehive. There was even a little cave-like hole that was large enough for me to duck into and hide from the scorching hot desert sun =__="

 

Just off Mouse's Tank Road, into Fire Canyon Road, another view point was Fire Canyon and Silica Dome. Even from far away, you could see the different coloured striations in the rock. Standing at the top looking down into the dessert valley, with the hot wind blowing against my skin, and just listening to the quietness of the surroundings, I was so mesmerized by the moment. Buuut, after a couple minutes, I couldn't stand the blazing sun beating down and me and crawled back into my air conditioned car LOL...

After spending a couple hours at the Valley of Fire, we left for our next destination: Red Rock Canyon. This conservation area was closer to Las Vegas than Valley of Fire, just a 30 minute drive from The Strip. It, too, also boasted a scenic drive where one could see the natural red sandstone peaks and rock formations.

Red Rock Canyon was smaller in size compared to Valley of Fire and there were not as many rock formations either. Coming straight from Valley of Fire, we were not that amazed or wowed by Red Rock Canyon. If you could only go to either one as a day trip, I would totally recommend Valley of Fire.

There were lots of different trails all along the scenic loop. Although we didn't hike on any of them, we did stop and walked to the site of a former limestone quarry. Left behind were these large slabs of limestone, cut like marshmallows and strewn about. If it wasn't so hot outside it would be pretty cool to climb about here!

After completing the scenic loop at Red Rock Canyon, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up and have dinner with Bobby Flay....I mean, AT Bobby Flay's restaurant!

Las Vegas 2015 - Day 1

Even though Las Vegas is not one of the most "must-go" travel destinations, W and I always love visiting Sin City because of the short plane ride away and relatively cheap vacation packages that are available.

 

We planned a trip for the end of summer so we could experience the warmth and sunshine a little longer.



 

The first thing we did after we picked up our rental car was to go to the closest In-n-Out Burger and have lunch! Not only was it the cheapest meal we had during the whole trip, their burgers and fries were so so so good... We miss In n' Out so much!!



 

This time, we stayed at Montel Carlo because of its relatively central location and because I really wanted to float around their lazy river on the pool deck! The warm (not scorching hot) temperature was perfect for lying around the pool and dipping in the water.

Because I played the My Vegas Slots game pretty religiously for the past year, I racked up enough points to earn a prize: a 2-for-1 dinner buffet at Aria!! Yay!! The last time W and I went to Vegas, we stayed at Aria but their buffet restaurant was still under renovation so we didn't get the chance to try it out. We sort of had high expectations because Aria itself was such a nice hotel.

Not to say that Aria's buffet was bad, it was just a little underwhelming with their selections. We were surprised to see so much crayfish in the seafood section. I don't think we saw much crayfish at any of the buffets we visited the last time we were in Vegas.

They looked appealing but seemed too much of a hassle to eat haha...

There was a curry station with jasmine rice and naan bread.

There was a baked potato bar too! You could either pick the pre-dressed ones, or add your own toppings to a plain baked potato.

One of our plates: prime rib roast, chilled snow crab legs, clams, sushi, salad etc...

The dessert station was kind of disappointing for me. There were the usual staples like cheesecake, carrot cake, lemon meringue pie, chocolate mousse cake, cookies, and there were some other interesting items like Banana Foster, cannoli and panna cotta. However, it just seemed like there weren't enough selections to wow my senses.

 

Their ice cream station looked pretty cool and futuristic though! The strawberry sorbet was refreshing while the Thai milk tea ice cream was full of fragrant and floral tea flavours! Really surprising and delicious!!

After having dinner, we decided to hit the sack as we had a jam-packed day tomorrow. This definitely was not going to be a relaxing vacation like I had originally wanted it to be =___=

Oregon Road Trip - Day 4 ~ Photo-log

Welp, the last day of our Oregon trip :( As we had to travel back to the border in time, we had breakfast at the Lake Oswego St. Honore Boulangerie and then hit the road for most of the day.

The pastries, sandwiches, and coffee always make good photos at St. Honore! I have a new favourite now: the mini raspberry croissant! Perfect size to satisfy my sweet tooth without as much guilt from the bite-sized buttery croissant!

Goes well with my cafe au lait!

I shared a ham and cheese croissant with W in addition to my mini pastries.

My sis and bro-in-law had the Quiche Lorraine and a few cakes and pastries to round out their breakfast.

After being on the road for a couple hours, we arrived in Seattle late in the afternoon. My bro-in-law suggested making a pit stop at Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream Shop. Having ice cream was a great incentive to stretch our legs out under the afternoon sun!

Leaving the decision making up to me (as always), W let me choose the 2 flavours for our double scoop in a cup. With a dozen or so interesting and yummy names, I totally hemmed and hawed for a long time! Finally, I went for the balsamic strawberry...

And I chose the Stumptown Coffee to appease W's traditional palate.

The ice-cream texture was spot on, being thick and creamy. The balsamic strawberry combination was not new to me but to see it together in ice cream form was new! Sweet and a little tangy from the balsamic, this was good to the last spoonful! The Stumptown Coffee was also strong and full of little bits of coffee grounds. We were fine with the ground coffee incorporated in the ice cream but my mom was not too fond of that.

We had dessert before our dinner! After having ice-cream, we went over to Kukai Ramen near Northgate Mall for a soothing, hot bowl of noodles. The ramen at Kukai was pretty good compared to the options back in Vancouver. The broth was flavourful and smooth while the texture of the curly noodles was just right for me, perfectly al-dente.

For me, I always need to have some form of Asian food at the end of a vacation to the States. Not only because I am usually craving for Asian food after having many meals of Western cuisine, but because it creates a feeling that I am ready go home, to fully conclude a great vacation.

Oregon Road Trip - Day 3 ~ Photo-log

With this year being the year we visit new places in Oregon, I finally had my chance to suggest eating at the Waffle Window!! I had this on my to-go list for a few years now. This was finally the year!!

We went to the 3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd. location in Portland. It was literally a hole in the wall situated on a side street. We nearly passed by it on on our way there. As it was a small, eat-and-go kind of eatery, there weren't a lot of indoor seating. Good thing the weather wasn't too bad. We ended up sitting at some picnic tables outside.

The Three B's - The Original Bacon, Brie and Basil waffle! Copied by others up and down the west coast, this inspired combination has thick cut pepper bacon, slices of Brie and fresh chopped basil, served with our house-made peach jam

Looking at the menu, I gravitated towards The Three B's. It was a good combination of sweet and savoury! The waffle had the perfect consistency between fluffiness and chewiness.

Ham and Cheese Waffle - Black Forest ham with Jarlsberg and Gruyere cheeses served with Grade A maple syrup

W chose the classic ham and cheese on top of the pearl sugar waffle. He also added a fried over-easy egg on top to make it more filling. Nothing amiss with this one!

Granola and Fruit Waffle - House-made granola, vanilla yogurt and fresh fruit according to season

Being a healthy and traditional person, my mom decided on the sweet granola and fruit waffle. During the spring season, Waffle Window selected fresh raspberries, blueberries, and pears for the topping. This was so good that to this day, my mom still compares all the waffles she's had since then to this one!

My dad also went the safe and classic route being the ham and cheese, except without the fried egg.

After brunch, we explored downtown Portland and sneaked in a bit of shopping haha...

My brother-in-law was interested in riding the street car that travels all over Portland. We headed to a nearby station and hopped on the line that went over a bridge to the east side of the river and back. As with any public transportation found in any major city, we saw a lot of "interesting" locals...some a little on the shady side...

My mom was adamant on treating the whole family to a seafood feast at Red Lobster (thanks mom!!) so we drove south to the location in Tigard as that was the closest one to our hotel.

White Wine and Roasted Garlic Mussels - Steamed in white wine with roasted garlic, roasted tomatoes and green onions. Served with grilled artisan bread

We ordered 2 appetizers to start but all our food came out pretty much at the same time haha... The mussels were were juicy and flavourful sitting in the wine and garlic broth-sauce. Though the meat were not too plump, these were still delicious.

Lobster, Crab and Seafood Stuffed Mushrooms - Fresh mushrooms with our signature seafood stuffing, smothered in Monterey Jack cheese and baked until bubbly brown

With 6 mushroom caps in one plate, it was the perfect size for our party. I found it a bit too oily from the melted cheese though.

Wood-Grilled Tacos - Fresh Tilapia, Three soft, golden tortillas, cilantro slaw, jalapeño ranch, and house-made pico de gallo. Served with wild rice pilaf

We weren't huge taco fans but we wanted to try something that we would not normally order. I suggested the tilapia as the protein. There wasn't anything wrong with the tacos but they weren't that outstanding either. The jalapeno ranch sauce was way too spicy for me. I loved the wild rice pilaf though! 

Ultimate Feast - Tender Maine lobster tail, steamed North American snow crab legs, our signature garlic shrimp scampi and Walt’s Favorite Shrimp; served with rice pilaf and choice of side

As we were in the mood for lobster, we ordered 3 different lobster entrees to share.

Wood-Grilled Lobster, Shrimp, and Salmon - A Maine lobster tail, jumbo shrimp skewer and fresh Atlantic salmon, wood-grilled and finished with brown butter. Served over green beans and baby gold potatoes

The crustaceans were done quite well. They still retained a bouncy and juicy flesh. The soft baby potatoes soaked up the brown butter and were pretty darn delicious!

Roasted Maine Lobster Bake - Petite Maine lobster tails, split and roasted with sweet corn on the cob and baby gold potatoes in a white wine and garlic-butter sauce

Although simple and plain, the lobster bake had 3 lobster tails and plenty of soft roasted potatoes. It was nice to enjoy a lobster tail plain with just a squeeze of lemon juice to bring out its original salty ocean taste.

With our tummies full of seafood, we still had to make room for dessert! My mom bought boxes upon boxes of ice cream filled mochi from Trader Joe's! Just leisurely enjoying little bites of ice cream mochi in our hotel room...what a perfect end to the evening!

Oregon Road Trip - Day 2 ~ Photo-log

Back during the spring, it was my family's annual road trip down to Oregon, USA! This time our itinerary was a little different. Since my niece has gotten a bit older, we decided to deviate away from spending all our time shopping in Portland and instead head out west towards the coast to see new places and create new memories!

"By the way," you ask, "where is day 1 of the road trip?" Well, I decided to start with day 2 because nothing particularly interesting happened on day 1 as it was mostly us on the road making our way down south. 

Ok, there were SOME interesting things, like seeing a military tank driving beside you down the highway @_@ We also had a late lunch trying different food carts in downtown Portland.

Now, back to day 2. After having breakfast at our usual haunt, St. Honore Boulangerie, we drove west to Tillamook to visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

The cheese factory was a family friendly place with a gift shop, and exhibits explaining the history of their factory and the importance of cheese making to the community. In fact, the ship on display outside was a replica of the exact ship that the cheese-makers sailed on through the Columbia River to distribute cheese to communities around Oregon.

There wasn't much cheese-making action going on that day... The factory workers were just packaging up large blocks of cheddar while we were there in the early afternoon.

I think the most exciting event was sampling all the different kinds of cheddar cheese! There were the common mild, medium, and sharp cheddars, and there were also cheddar cheese curds (very squeaky, but kind of on the salty side) and jalapeno cheddar cheese for trying. As the line-up was quite short, we went around and sampled 3 times LOL...

 Deep Fried Cheese Curds - Battered and fried, served with chipotle ranch sauce

Even though we had more than our fair share of cheese samples, we did order some items from the cafeteria for a late lunch. W really wanted to try their deep fried cheese curds. I found them too salty (just like the ones from the sample line) and dense after frying. W didn't mind though, he ate the majority of them.

 The Tillamooker - Medium cheddar on sourdough, served with a side of tater tots

I went with the classic grilled cheese sandwich. The bread was crunchy and savoury (but very oily due to all the butter) while the cheese was perfectly oozy and stringy after hitting the grill. I think the perfect pair for a grilled cheese sandwich would be a nice cup of tomato soup, not tater tots, but oh well...

 Smooth Sailing - Penne noodles topped with creamy Sharp and Medium Cheddar cheese sauce

To appease my niece and bro-in-law, my sister ordered a mac n' cheese for sharing...except it was penne and cheese =P I didn't like how the cheese sauce was ladled on top of the pasta rather than incorporating them all together... It didn't scream real mac n' cheese to me somehow.

Oregon Hazelnut & Salted Caramel Ice Cream

We couldn't leave without having their ice cream! We were all cheesed out from lunch so having something sweet was a nice way to end the meal. After looking at all their flavours for probably the fourth time, I finally decided on their Oregon Hazelnut and Salted Caramel. So glad I chose this one! There were crunchy hazelnuts embedded in the creamy ice cream and was full of hazelnut aroma! The salted caramel provided a slightly salty contrast to the sweet cream. The texture of the ice cream was also spot on...so thick and creamy! So so good!!

From Tillamook, we made our way up the Oregon Coast Highway to the little resort town of Seaside. With the weather being so nice we, of course, made a couple pit stops along the way to stroll along the beaches and shorelines. I love being by the water, it's so calming and beautiful.

By early evening, we arrived just in time to watch the sun setting down the horizon along the beach and take in the evening light while we walked along the main promenade. Seaside wasn't just a typical small-town ocean-side resort and tourist location.

This was the final landing spot of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in November of 1805. Beginning in St. Louis, Missouri, Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lietenant William Clark led a team of volunteers, crossing the western part of the United States to explore and map the newly acquired territory. A little bit of history lesson for you there!

Norma's Seafood & Steak

20 North Columbia Street

Seaside, OR

We randomly chose a place to have dinner since we were not that familiar with the area. A short walk from the promenade was Norma's Seafood & Steak Restaurant. Being in a touristy town, we had to wait a while for our table. Highly recommended to make reservations if you do come to Seaside for dinner.

 Norma's Clam Chowder

Since the evening became quite chilly, we started off with a bowl of clam chowder to warm our tummies. This one was pretty good! It was thick and creamy with small chunks of soft potatoes and lots of clam bits inside the soup.

 Pork Chops - 10 oz. porterhouse cut, bone-in, broiled and served medium to medium-well with no sugar added applesauce

Going family style, we ordered a bunch of entrees to share between the 6 of us. We had grilled bone-in pork chops with a side of coleslaw. It was supposed to come with applesauce as the condiment but they had forgotten it when they brought out the pork chops. However, even with the applesauce, we found the pork chops bland and overcooked...

Fish & Chips Combo - Cod, Albacore, Salmon, Halibut

This was a bevy of fish and chips! Covering up all the fries were 2 pieces each of cod, Albacore tuna, salmon, and halibut. I found the batter a bit thick but the fish was fried up nicely. I liked the white fish (the cod and halibut) more than the tuna and salmon pieces as it was a little more juicier and the meat softer. This combo also came with coleslaw and tartare sauce for dipping.

We also had the Captain's Platter, consisting of salmon, prawns, halibut, calamari, scallops, oysters, and razor clams cooked in a buttery garlic sauce, and a Seafood Fettuccine to round out the meal. I just forgot to document these dishes with photos... The pasta was typical and average but the seafood medley was delicious!

Although the drive back to Portland was long and arduous (1.5 hours back in pitch black darkness @_@), it was worth checking out a new place with incredible views and interesting history.