Monday, January 22, 2007

Technical difficulties

Blogger isn't letting me post pictures here for some reason. I have a lot of pictures from my dinner at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon that I wanted to share. I'm leaving for a trip to New Orleans this week so I hope to get these technical difficulties sorted out when I get back.

Thursday, January 4, 2007

Aureole, Las Vegas

Happy New Year! Yes, I'm still alive. I'm sorry I haven't posted anything here since November. I ended up working six days a week since mid-November and I was utterly exhausted. You know how most people gain weight during the holiday season? Well I ended up losing five pounds. Thank goodness the holiday rush is behind me now.

I did manage to get a few days off around Christmas though. My husband and I took the opportunity to take a quick trip to Las Vegas. It's an easy two-and-a-half-hour plane ride from Vancouver to Las Vegas, and it was just so nice to see the sun and blue sky again! We've had a record amount of wind storms and rainfall these last two months in Vancouver.

Our first night in Vegas, my husband and I dined at Aureole at Mandalay Bay.

Aureole boasts an impressive 42-foot wine tower at its entranceway.




Wine stewards or "angels" retrieve wines from a mechanic hoist. It's like a scene out of Mission Impossible. There are nearly 10,000 bottles of wine housed in that structure.

Another cool feature of Aureole's wine list is that it is presented to you on a small computer at your table and you can point and click your way through the list.




After browsing through the list, we decided on a Joseph Phelps cabernet sauvignon. The food, wine, and service were excellent. Here are some photos of the food.




MAINE SCALLOP TRIO: crisp scallop wonton, truffle encrusted, ceviche summer roll




BLACK MISSION FIG AND ROQUEFORT TART: warm with shaved Serrano ham




“SURF AND TURF”: braised beef short rib, butter poached Maine lobster, spinach mousseline




FALL BEEF DUO - SEARED FILET MIGNON & SAVORY SHEPARD’S PIE: organic ice carrots, roasted baby leeks




Desserts and French pastries that looked like little works of art. On the far end is a grape frangipane tart with maple sauce, grape gelee and vanilla bean panna cotta. In the foreground is peanut butter ice cream enrobed in chocolate with bananas and marshmallows.