Best Vegas Trip Ever… NICK CARTER – I LOVE YOU ELLIOT [Day 3]

So we realized the day before that NICK CARTER + LAUREN KITT were having their bachelor and bachelorette party at the Palms!!! WHAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!!… Insane. They went to MOON the night we were at Light, but we HAD to get into the “official” party at Ghostbar.. and while we were told to go to XS or something, WE HAD TO GO. It’s fucking NICK FUCKING CARTER!!!!!…. So thank you to my sexiest Brit friend Elliot we got in :] I love you, you beautiful creature you <3 I’m so glad you’re coming back to the States soon… ok.. I’m off track…

After last night.. this was us basically all day.

But somehow we functioned… had leftover pizza from… yeah the night before.. we woke up all bruised and cut up, WTF?! I think we fought drunk bitches or SOMETHING… I needed to pick out something awesome for Nick Carter’s party and ended up with this….

And Kelly is a creeper – I LOVE IT

Hair done. Dress did.  How I look?

And then the red lipstick came on… and it was BRING IT.

TWINSIESSSSSSSSSS

We were vampires for the night. Sequin black dresses and red lips :] AHHH!!!!!

She always has the same face… mine is rarely ever normal.

First off, dinner at Nove Italiano… which is an awesome story in itself.

We went to Nove Italiano

Amuse Bouche… I don’t even remember what it was.. I think some raw fish bite…

YAY “Hosemade” Sausage – we actually got this tho hahaha…

The “Bread” it looks so sad and bare on there…

Shrimp Franchaise…
It just says on the menu “the best you’ve ever had” BUT MOTHERFUCKER.. it tasted like old shrimp and it gave me FOOD FUCKING POISONING.. I was puking at the club after…. UGH.. there was no texture.. so we ate it with the breadsticks… this definitely needs some crunch factor.. and fresher shrimp. UGH.

It’s okay tho the other food made up for it.

The Classic Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad: Pesto, Pine Nuts, Mozzarella Di Bufala

I like how they split everything for us in half without us needing to share it off of a plate.

Branzino with Salsa Verde

It was good but not amazing… they did filet it and split it for us.. I duno it just seemed….. subpar?! It wasn’t bad and it was definitely fresh and tasty.. but not for 46$

The highlight of the night was the Spaghetti & Meatballs with Sausage: Veal & Pork Meatballs, Housemade Sausage, Basil, Tomato

I could NOT stop eating it… Kelly was DONE like barely a quarter way thru and she went to the bathroom and I devoured most of it. THE PASTA IS SOOOOO GOOOOOOD…..

AND THEN they gave us a special treat of biscottis for Kelly’s Bday. Thanks Caesar. You were an awesome waiter minus the shrimp recommendation.

We are ready for Ghostbar.

The view from Ghostbar

So right before Nick came out I was feeling SOOOO shitty.. I had a redbull vodka.. and I just wanted to leave. I ended up puking up all that BAD SHRIMP, cough cough hint hint and felt soooo much better… but that’s not the end of my throwing up story…. but first. Glow sticks and Nick<3

So while they were outside on the balcony I was freezing so I went inside. I kept trying to sit down somewhere but they were all VIP tables and some bitch/girl would always tell me NO. Luckily [maybe] RIGHT by the door while Kelly was outside taking pics of Nick and Lo a group of guys let me sit down at their table for a drink.

In my head was just “OMG SEAT!!!” I don’t even know WTF they made me but it tasted HIDEOUS and within a few seconds of a micro half sip I was ready to puke.  I ran into the bathroom and security came to check on me.  I got all the usual questions, where are we, what club, what year, the president, I was sober as FUCK and they realized that those guys tried to ROOFIE me.

YES. You heard it here, I got ROOFIED in Vegas and they FAILED at it.  Luckily, Kelly found me and we went back to the hotel.  UNHARMED.  The female security and main security guy said that I was lucky that I caught on and threw it all up. PHEW.

But at least I didn’t miss seeing Nick & Lo being an adorable beautiful couple together. <3 Thanks Kelly for putting up with my food poisoning and being roofied.. first time for everything right?!

Miami Day 2 Beach, Yardbird & Nikki Beach Club

After a nice relaxing, semi-early, night in…. uhhhh…. actually okay, fine, not so “early” :] We woke up around 1030 for our FREE BREAKFAST

Dressed for the beach and ready to tan and swim after brekky… OFF WE GO…

How did we somehow get upgraded to an insane room AND get free brekky?!?!?!

One of our first plates of many….

And an omelette bar <3 UGH love

And then we were off to the beach. I swear we were the youngest/sexiest ones there. Check out my hot beach date.

My view for the whole day.

Is that a flying dino?

OH also decided to turn Mormon after finding this book in our hotel room….

HA. Just kidding. PS. This bikini is dedicated to Elliot Wronski :]

Our hotel.

Booze since 11am…

We later got ready, chilled on our balcony…..

 

And then headed to LUCKY STRIKE to watch the HEATS game. YAY Basketball.

J with his sexy cousin G and her fiance S [from the group Stellar Revival] 

Yeah, the band is pretty killer…. go to some shows in their next tour.. if it’s east coast I’ll probably be there :] Def any Boston or NYC shows :D

Live:

Ok i keep trying to put up the link to The Crazy Ones on here.. but it’s just the lyrics to Saving Grace…

Something about some punk and rock that just gets a girl going….

I’ll hopefully go help out at a few East Coast shows on their next tour so look out for me :D *grin* and also check out the drummer’s food blog — The Hungry Dummer .

We played a game of pool [worst game ever] but me and J won <3 WOOT. Nerds unite!!!!

G asked where I wanted to eat in Miami and I said YARDBIRD and her and S had JUST had brunch there… but then they decided to take us there after the game…. AWESOME.

Sadly no Chef Jeff McInnis here :[  HASH TAG #topchefcrush

Of course when I saw this I had to get it.  G and S warned that it was a lot of food but I was up to the challenge…

G ordered milk. I think I love her.

The cute soon-to-be-married-couple <3

Kale Salad for J and I

And our Chicken n Waffles n Watermelon!!!… we DEVOURED, DEMOLISHED, KILLLLLLED this <3 Hahahaha…… we’re fatties

Altho I did lose a watermelon in the feed fest. So I pour a little bit out to my homie watermelon…

My Feedback:

And then G and S kindly dropped us off at Nikki Beach Club…

Yeah the mojitos were overly sweet and sucked… I had lots of champagne and lots of douchebag Jersey Shore guys here….. probably never coming back to  Nikki Beach Club… but it was definitely an experience and fun..

Ended up going back and having fun enjoying Eden Roc late late night ;D

PS. Best line of my night to a guy “Catch me if you can, POKEMON” and I LITERALLY ran away”

PPS. I also had a guy ask me: “If I took you away tonight do you think your bf would mind?” UHHH YES. FUCKA.

ROAST: Detroit just got SO much better, thanks to Iron Chef Michael Symon

Finally found a great place in Detroit aside from Slow’s and W’s cooking haha… and W’s cooking doesn’t count since it’s not really THE restaurant but HIS food hahahaha anyways… we’re also both lazy creatures of habit so we like to eat at the same places over and over again… as you can tell by my Detroit posts we eat a lot IN the hotel restaurants, the food court in the hotel, room service, Slow’s BBQ and the diner at Motor City.

We headed to the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit Hotel which is the home of Roast, something I didn’t know about until W mentioned it to me just a few days before….  I’m a fan of Iron Chef Michael Symon and have wanted to go to Lola in Ohio for AGES…. anyways, I had reservations at 9 and we were promptly sat at a nice big booth tucked away near the bar and by the wine case…

We were greeted by the nicest, most well informed waiter, who actually used to be working at Lola…  we ordered – the booze list actually came on an ipad haha… and we were quickly served

Bread + Soft Creamy Butter

Pork Crackling 

sea salt, lime, chili powder

SO good we got some to go.  Squeeze of lime, slight bit of grease, tons of crunch and a nice heat to it.  Delicious spices and amazing.  These were like CRACK.

Soon we were out :[ Sad

I was so sad I looked at it upside down and the paper and crumbs fell all over me.  I may or may not have yelped like a puppy. OOPS.

A beautiful Chilean red wine we ordered.  It was on the Somm’s list AND it wasn’t pricey at ALL – the others were $$ and this was not only on the low end of the price spectrum, it was Chilean, I looove Spanish&Chilean wines!

Miguel Torres, Santa Digna, Cabernet  Sauvignon, Central Valley, Chile 2009

A darkly pigmented wine with an intense, full and very fruity aroma. The palate is majestically structured – velvety, meaty and with elegant body. Its smooth, fine tannins, outlined by new oak, ensure a long evolution in the bottle.

Produced exclusively from Cabernet Sauvignon, that king of red varieties, which achieves its fullest varietal expression in the privileged climate of the Chilean Central Valley. This is a great example of the heights to which Cabernet Sauvignons produced on the Pacific coast can rise.

It had a bit of a bite to it but got creamier as the wine opened up, like most Cab Sauv’s…

Our first three courses…

Today’s Charcuterie Plate

A lot of everything.. headcheeses.. lomo, prosciutto and such.. everything was delicious and fatty and perfectly delicious.  There’s nothing like a bad charcuterie plate, but this was a really good one!  This was the plate for ONE too… since we got so much other food.. I could’ve had more :] FO’ SHO’

BBQ Pork Belly

apple, watercress, almonds

The Pork Belly completely melted in your mouth and not just the fatty areas… okay it says apple on the menu but W said it was peach, but whatever.. the slight tang, the slight sweetness.. a bit of crunch with all the veggies and a TON of creaminess…

Beef Tartare

cold poached egg, avocado, lime & crostini

W mixed it all together and it was surprisingly good.  I was iffy about the cold poached egg but it was quick yummy.  Usually, as you hear me say in the video, I only have raw yolk in my tartare… but this was delicious.. esp with some added greens and avocado – which we didn’t mix in just added it with the crostini in each bite.  We DID end up putting some grainy mustard in from the charcuterie plate to add a bit of tang/spice to the tartare. YUM.

Grilled Octopus Salad

basil jalapeno pesto, cucumber, mint, kalamata olive

Super tender and delicious. Tons of tentacles which I loved and a nice char to them.  There was a slight heat and a slight tang to the dish.

Bone Marrow

sea salt, oregano, capers & chilies

The chilies was put on as a form of salsa verde. Delicious.  The charred herbs and the fatty marrow… SOOO GOOD and there was SO much of it!  I didn’t actually taste capers so not sure if they changed it on me from the menu but it was really good and perfectly seasoned.. super creamy and just divine, as ALL bone marrow should be and is.

Southern Fried Sweetbreads

slaw, spicy buttermilk and garlic sauce

It was on a creamy bed of homemade ranch with a beautiful veggie slaw that was tangy and sweet.  The sweetbreads were SO super creamy and dissolved on our tongues into an orgasm.  This may have been the best sweetbreads dish I have EVER had. I love love love sweetbreads and while I’ve had MEH ones I’ve thankfully never had a bad one.  These were ones that I’ll dream of. PLUS….. RANCH?! I’m not even a fan of ranch, but this was SO GOOD.

Bacon Creamed Corn

Super creamy and super sweet corn.  This was SOOO GOOD and DUH you add bacon and everything becomes better!

Roast Beast of the Day: Suckling Pig

Deeeeeelicious… soft, tender with nice crisp skin and some pickled onions and parsley.. and methinks a nice light salsa verde.  I mainly had it as leftovers the next day but this was SO good.  Needs to be a MUST on the menu.

Beef Cheek Pierogie

horseradish & mushrooms

“Pierogi (Polish pronunciation: [pjɛˈrɔɡʲi]; also spelledperogi, pierogy, perogy, pierógi, pyrohy, pirogi, orpyrogy; juvenile diminutive form: Pierożki Polish pronunciation: [pjɛˈrɔʂki] also in use) are dumplings ofunleavened dough – first boiled, then they are baked or fried usually in butter with onions – traditionally stuffed with potato filling, sauerkraut, ground meat, cheese, or fruit.

[…]

While dumplings as such are found throughout Eurasia, the specific name pierogi, with its Proto-Slavic root “pir” (festivity) and its various cognates in the West and East Slavic languages, shows the name’s common Slavic origins, predating the modern nation states and theirstandardized languages, although in most of these languages the word means pie. In English, the word pierogiand its variants: perogi, pyrogy, perogie, perogy, pirohi,piroghi, pirogi, pirogen, pierogy, pirohy, and pyrohy, are pronounced with a stress on the letter “o”. The Turkish word börek for a kind of pie or stuffed pastry may be a borrowing.

Pierogi are small enough to be served several or many at a time, so the plural form of the word is usually used when referring to this dish. In Polish pierogi is actually the plural, pieróg being singular. In Czech and Slovak pirohy is also the plural, piroh is singular. In Germany, this type of dumpling is called Pirogge in the singular and Piroggen in the plural, although sometimes the Polish name Pierogi is simply used.”

Ah yes.  Peroigies always reminded me of when I dated a Polish guy, I mean what other kinds of peoples loves white bland food and potatoes so much?! Hahaha, I kid.  But I do remember the one and only time I ever really ate ANY Polish food or learned about it was with him HAHA. This is SO not what I remember. Sooooooooo tender.  The skin was super doughy and almost potato-y like….. they were like gnocchi dough as skin hahaha…. and a bit undercooked.. at least the ones I ate were… but sooooo good..

The beef cheeks were super tender, like they should be, super flavorful.. and while the sauce they were in were a bit on the sweet and rich side.. the bland super doughy skin totally counteracted it. MMMM stuffed gnocchi.. that’s totally my next experiment. W beware.

Me in a obligatory bathroom camwhore shot!

The next day for lunch, while I worked, I feasted on leftover cracklings, creamed corn and suckling pig.

DEEEEEEE-LISH!

The best part?…. W cooked for me the following night… and while we both LOVED the dinner at Roast together, I freaking fell in love with his food all over again when he cooked for me the next night…. sorry suckling pig.. even if you weren’t leftover, you still can’t beat my baby’s cooking ;D

Bunny Cooks Piggie for Grumpy Bear

After a yummy filling Korean Brunch and going to the grocery store to complete my shopping list of things to make the yummy pork we got…. I started prepping making my salsa verde, roasting and of course braising the pork.  We didn’t get pork shoulder so I used a ham hock and a pork loin.  Which was nice since one was leaner and one was fatter MMMM – I started pretty early… cuz I’m super paranoid, but then again we didn’t get to eat til about 9pm anyways.  Which is fine, cuz inbetween I watched Friends with Benefits, some teevee [W got me hooked on Big Bang Theory SO FUNNY] ANNNNNND I got two new piercings :D WEEEEE

Piggie a la Bunny

The beginning….

I used Red Stripe for the beer element, also drank some :] TEEHEE

ALLLL DONE and ready to shred!!!

Dinner is served.  I made a Habanero Corn Mango Jicama Salsa, my spicy Salsa Verde and W made a yummy Guacamole.

Bring on the piggie!

Me being a ninja and taking a picture of W taking a picture of the food.. again.. I’m a creeper

Taco #1

Great Night, Great Food, Great Company……

And then there was the tequila… which led to midnight shopping at CVS… which led to this….

BWAHHAHAAHHAHA…

You say Agavé … and I do too…

Everytime I’ve ever been to Newburyport, about 50 minutes away North of where I live in Boston, I’ve taken the puppy with me… weather has been great and I’ve been going on many a short roadtrips lately…

okay she’s 3.5 years old now but to me she’ll always be a puppy :] Hehe… so outdoor seating is a must. When she was younger, and quieter, I used to sneak her inside restaurants in her pink Juicy doggy bags, but now she’s a yappy little fart so outdoor seating is necessary. And the place I always go to to eat? Agave.

First thing was first, it was hot and I was thirsty. Thirsty for adult beverages :]

Prickly Pear Margarita

I specifically asked for a less sweet margarita and this thing was delicious, HUGE… I know it doesn’t look that big compared to my head, but I have a big head and this margarita was HUUUUGE… and delicious. SO good, in fact, it was DERRRRIcious.. yes, the inner fob came out – THAT good!

And then out came the delicious FRESHLY fried tortilla chips [yep still warm, but not greasy] their signature salsa.. and then, SECRET: You have to ask for their green salsa, which is a SUPER spicy and delicious salsa verde!

I had ordered some guacamole but the waitress TOTALLY forgot to put the order in – so sad… but it’s okay, she remembered my ceviche. I ALWAYS crave a good ceviche in the summer.. if I’m having Mexican, I need my lime cooked fish!

Ceviche Acapulqueño

Halibut marinated in lemon juice with chopped onions, tomatoes, Serrano chiles and fresh cilantro, served with avocado and crackers. [a local favorite]

The fish was SUPER tender, SUPER fresh and there was SO MUCH!  The crackers were good, but sort of bland, def not sweet OR salty which goes well with the ceviche, but I ended up saving them for Didi :] I ate the ceviche with the salsa verde, delicious….. there was so much it was barely finished…

Shrimp and Avocado Salad

A colorful and refreshing salad with grilled shrimp, avocado and chunks of mango served over a bed of fresh mixed greens with a honey- lime dressing.

You hear shrimp & avocado and you think OH healthy, light, and diet food – OHHHH NO!  This plate was HUUUUGE… tons of LARGE succulent grilled shrimp – FULL of flavor and perfectly spiced.  A HUGE half of an avocado, TONS of sweet big chunks of mango…delicious, fresh, crisp leafy greens and slices of juicy tomato. LOVING IT!!!

Carnitas

Michoacan style carnitas, shredded pork, slowly cooked in a copper pot and served with chopped onions, cilantro, crushed red pepper, fresh salsa verde and corn tortillas

Life is always better with pig in it. Especially tender juicy pulled pork.. mexicanfied… oh they’re pretty darn cute pre-pulled and post-mexicanfied as well :]

Baja Fish Tacos

Three medium or hard corn tortillas stuffed with baja fish that is floured and very lightly fried served with cabbage, cheese and pico de gallo

SUPER flavorful and very very tender fish…. SO very lightly fried, not greasy at all and covered in light, delicious, soft fluffy cheese…. the cabbage added the perfect crunch factor – and obviously, as you can tell from the photo, that “medium” corn tortillas were asked for.. I actually don’t get medium vs soft.. but whatever, delicious… :]  The fish was beautifully flavored and yummy cheese re-fried beans!

After the meal, we all walked around, took tons of goofy pictures, talked to more ppl with dogs, walked thru the antique barn… [tho got nothing, lots of creepy dolls in there tho ew] and looked at boats. Left just in time, cuz then it started POURING!!!!….

If you’re ever around and looking for something to do, definitely head over to Newburyport for a great day – lots of great fresh seafood, lots of outdoor seating for restos, homemade ice cream, candy shops, little stores [TWO pet stores!!!!] you can picnic, play in the park, go sailing, etc… :]

Oh and drink great margaritas @ Agave

I’ve been on a huge Mexican food kick lately so look forward to many more posts!!!! Sorry I’ve been MIA :] The fun single life, friends, summer, roadtrips and bbqs has been catching up with me ;D

celebrating dos de mayo

Since we decided to celebrate Cinco de Mayo at home [read about it at the end of this entry], we decided to go out for Dos de Mayo…. not sure why but we’ve been in the mood for Mexican for awhile… we had tried to get in the day before but it was booked for the whole night… so Sunday night Mexicano dinner it was :D This is just a few blocks from our apt so we strolled down on the nice hot – slightly too humid – night to Hell’s Kitchen and got our Mexican on :D

Apparently their “busy time” is 5-7 so thats the only time they take reservations… when we got there we sat at the bar waiting for a table and got us some drinks….

Dos de Mayo

Hers: Wajito – Light Rum, Fresh Watermelon, Lime Juice  & Fresh Mint

His: Classic Margarita

Complimentary dip from the chef…

Delcious black bean dip with sour cream and delicious little sweet corn bread slices…..

Guacamole with Homemade Crispy Guajillo Corn Tortillas

The tortilla chips were sooo good and thick and crispy. The guacamole was amazing, LOVE good classic guac :]

Baby Back Ribs

We were in the mood for ribs, they were amazing. Fall off the bone happiness…

Shrimp Ceviche

Delicious and fresh. Ceviche and some sangria is the perfect hot summer day meal :] Speaking of which we ordered a pitcher of it…

Sangria

Love it when sangria has chunks of fruit in it :D

Duck Confit Empanadas with Cranberry Mole & Pico de Gallo

These were sooo soooo soooo good!!!! Crisp outside and yum flavorful duck on the inside.

Grilled Shrimp with Serrano Sauce, Sweet Plantain & Guacamole

Loved the little salad in the middle. THe plantains were so delicious and each one was topped with shrimp. Needed some heat so I asked for some hot sauce and they gave me a nice roasted pepper hot sauce.

Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass with Grilled Chayote, Sweet Plantain Puree & Salsa Verde

Buttery rich fish and loved the puree and the chayote. The salsa verde was pretty light. Wish it had been spicier as well…

Poached Artichoke Quesadilla with Idiazabel Cheese, Roasted Sweet Corn & Poblano Crema

This was a huge disappointment. I was most excited about this, because I LOOOOOVE artichokes but just like at dell’anima, it was overpowered by the idiazabel cheese which was a little pungent for me and it just tasted like cheese mush :[ Waa…

For once I actually felt stuffed… but then came the delicious trio of desserts…

Tres Leches with Cherries Sponge Cake Soaked in Rum & Milk

SO GOOD. I love a good tres leches :] I’ve had some bad tres leches before where it’s TOO milky and almost sour. This was sweet, not too sweet, and just so good…

Caramelized Banana Empanadas Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce

LOVE empandas and LOVE bananas :] This made me oh so happy!!!

Flan de Coco – Cocounut Flan with Fruit Salad & Coconut Macaroon

SO GOOD. I can never pass up flan, it’s so simple but it’s always so good…. :D

We will definitely be coming back here again… Ok, that’s a lie, we might not. There is just way too many restaurants and places to eat at in the City… I’m more into menus that change seasonally so I’d like to come check it out later in the summer or in the fall to see if it’s changed at all… it’s not REAL mexican food and there are some people who have reviewed this place and aren’t that into that.. but it’s a nice spin and gourmet-a-fying it. But then this just makes me want to be at Frontera Grill ;D

Cinco de Mayo

I decided to make a special pork shoulder taco dinner for Cinco de Mayo.. we planned on eating at home and then going out for drinks afterwards :D

Shredding the pork after 2-3 hours and then putting it back in the oven for another hour…

We had grilled corn and drank Inedit… maybe too much Inedit… anwyays we ended up NOT leaving the house because of food coma and already drunk :D

Our Sundays have a lot to live up to…

Where did you spend your Sunday night yesterday? Boyfriend and I spent it here…

The gorgeous Mettawa Manor for the Green City Market Annual Harvest Celebration