Kev is Fab

This is my lovely friend Kev - we've been friends since we started school aged 5 years old!

This is him looking as fresh as a daisy after running last year's London marathon in an amazing time of 3 hours 18 minutes.

Our Jane (who also ran it last year) was a spectator this year and saw him whizz by this morning at mile 25.

I just looked up his time - he rain it in

2:58:39

I think that's pretty incredible! Especially when the winner did it in 2:05:10! According to the website, Kev finished 864th overall.

Well done Kev, speed up a bit and you'll be ready for 2012!

Picasso at the Bellagio

Well, so far our only 2 Michelin star experience has been at Pied a Terre in London, at which we had a really SUPERB experience. So, we were really looking forward to our dinner at Picasso, a 2 star restaurant in the Bellagio hotel on the Vegas strip.

Well it all started off well as we walked into the Bellagio - one of the posher hotels on the strip. The interior was rather more tasteful than some of the others; some lovely touches - glass umbrellas suspended from the ceiling, a garden of fountains and flowers in the conservatory. It was lovely. We wandered through the hotel and got to the restaurant. A bit early, but we thought we'd get a drink at the bar to kill time if needed. There was no need. "Would you like to sit outside?" the Maitre d' asked. Did we ever! All the reviews of the restaurant had said 'try to get a table outside on the balcony' so we really didn't need asking twice!

We were shown to the table. It really was the best in the house. As you can see; right on the lakeside with a great view back down the strip (we could even see the Eiffel Tower!)

So we were given the menu - we already knew we were going to have the menu degustation (with the accompnying wine menu) and then all we needed to decide on was which of the lovely bread options were we going to have!

The sommelier came out and painted such a wonderful picture of the wine we were about to taste with the first course, that we were completely transfixed. Then the 1st course was placed in front of us. At that exact moment, the music started and the fountain display began. It was so perfect that I have to confess to a small amount of emotion (what a surprise!) we clinked our glasses and vowed to remember everything about it.

The taster menu consisted of several small courses...

Maine Lobster Salad
with Apple-Champagne Vinaigrette
2006 Morgadío, Albariño, Rías Baixas, Galicia, Spain

Pan Seared Sea Scallops
with Potato Mousseline and Jus de Veau
2006 Domaines Schlumberger, Les Princes Abbés, Pinot Gris, Alsace, France

Sautéed "A" Steak of Foie Gras
with Roasted Peaches, Vanilla, Muscat and Crushed Almonds
2004 Maculan, Torcolato, Breganze, Veneto, Italy

...then a choice between

Sautéed Filet of Halibut
with Sautéed Royal Trumpet Mushrooms and Roasted Sunchokes
2005 Château La Nerthe, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc, Rhône Valley, France

or

Roasted Aged Lamb Chop
with Ragout of Flageolets and Mushrooms
2005 Dominio De Tares, Baltos, Bierzo, Spain

I had the halibut and Dan had the Lamb, in the only choice of the menu. Nick also had the Lamb and Laura had the veggie menu - which, it has to be said, was every bit as wonderful as the other menu.

OK so how do I describe the food - and more than that, how do I describe the combination of the food and the wine. It's really difficult unless you've experienced this sort of thing before. When we went to Pied-A-Terre, we had a similarly amazing experience with a couple of the food wine combination. Some are good, but some actually blow your mind!

Imagine food being placed in front of you which is so beautifully presented that it's like a work of art. It's almost too good to eat! Then take a forkful of food and it's the nicest thing you've ever tasted. You try to eat slowly to make the flavour stay in your mouth longer! Then, with the food flavour still in your mouth, you take a sip of the wine, and BOOM, the 2 flavours explode into the most sublime combination. It's hard to explain!

Anyway, this meal was like that. Every course. With music. And Fountains!

I'm sorry now that we didn't take pictures of the food courses. We were a bit reluctant because in Pied-a-terre they'd specified no cameras. However we did take pictures of the desserts and noone said a thing so possibly it'd have been OK throughout the meal.


These were Nick's (left) and Laura's (right) desserts.

I haven't got the flowery descriptions from the menu - just to say Nick's was full on chocolate fondant, and Laura's was a coffee pyramid!

Dan's was a panna cotta (bottom left) and mine was a grapefruit cream soda (bottom right)

Each one was a work of art.

All the way through the evening, the fountains coordinating with each course, highlighting a fact that I never knew before; that Michelin star food could be enhanced by music and fountains!

It's all been a bit expensive!

Our holiday in NY and Vegas has been a little bit erm harsh on the pocket. It's not like we thought it was going to be cheap in a major city like NY, but I think the dismal exchange rate has made it VERY steep!

On our 1st night, we'd just checked in and went for a wander down W45th St to see what we could find. We wandered into an Irish bar (and realised we'd been in there before) and sat up at the bar for a few pints of Guinness. The rules of going over the water are that on the 1st night you have to make it to 9pm, and there's no doubt abut it, beer helps!

So we each had 3 pints and then Dan had some chicken wings (excellent) and I was craving nachos and guacamole which was lovely!

We made it to about 10 past 9 and then asked for the bill. With the tip (obligatory) it came to $75 which at an exchange rate of 1.44 comes to £52!!!! For a night in the pub with 2 bar snacks. ERRRK!

Fortunately we were too jet lagged to realise that we'd spent that much in the pub. We went to bed and slept really well.

As could be expected we woke quite early and headed off to 57th Street to the Brooklyn Diner where we'd been for several spectacular breakfasts 3 years ago with Scotty and Michele.

We sat in and got the obligatory coffee and menu. We chose juice, and 2 of the standard menu classics.

Dan = THE MIXED MARRIAGE OF IRVING & GINA - Their First Breakfast!
Liza = Smoked Salmon, Eggs & Onions “A New York Legend”

The bill with the tip came to $60 (£41). For breakfast! OMG the money was going to run out very quickly at this rate!

Needless to say, after these two expenses we had to come up with an alternative strategy for eating cheeeeeeeeeeap!

Dan's Birthday Part 3

Dan's birthday celebrations went on for several days, obviously, as this was the whole point of the trip, so a couple of days after the actual date itself, we found ourselves heading for our next birthday surprise. The appointment was for Brunch at Norma's (a gift from Janey) at the Park Meridien Hotel.

It took us a moment to find Norma's even on arriving in the hotel. And when we did, it was quite a nice surprise! The interior of the hotel foyer is quite traditional; all marble and gold bits, and Norma's is quite modern in feel. Stainless steel, and sleek. Even though we were a bit early, we were seated immediately and were given our menus and served a welcome frozen drink (grapefruit?) in little dinky glasses!

They bring you coffee almost immediately (well it IS New York) and then leave you for about half an hour to decide from the VAST menu choices!

They have a philosophy of 'all day breakfast' but we're not talking "full English, a mug of tea and a copy of the Sun" here! It's more like waffles, muffins, pancakes, eggs (in every conceivable combination) porridge, fruit, bacon (American stylie) crepes, bagels, potato cakes, doughnuts, smoothies, sandwiches, salads and the list goes ON and ON! Check out the menu here and I defy you not to salivate!

I'd not done the sweet breakfast yet so I went for a waffle (my 1st ever!!!) and Dan went for the excellent eggs benedict. A New York classic. Admire the dishes....YUMMY!

2 glasses of juice completed the delicious meal - and, it has to be said, the MOST expensive breakfast we've ever eaten!

SORRY JANEY...

...the bill is in the post!

New York & Vegas Links

This is going to be the summary page for all the articles we publish about the holiday.

Articles

• Dan's Birthday Part 1
  
• Dan's Birthday Part 2
• Dan's Birthday Part 3
  
• How to make friends and influence people 1
• It's all been a bit expensive
• Picasso @ the Bellagio
  
• ...more to follow...
  

Picture Albums

• Dan's Birthday
• New York (general)
• New York Boat trip
• Las Vegas
  
• Grand Canyon Helicopter trip
  

How to make frends and influence people 1

I don't know quite what happened whilst we were away but I managed to get in to 3 rows with strangers within the 1st 3 days!

The first incident happened in the queue at immigration at JFK. It took over an hour and a half to get through immigration and by the time we turned the last turn in the queue (it's a bit like queuing for a ride at Disney, but less fun) people were getting a bit fed up. The guy in the queue behind us had been getting more and more agitated and also had been standing closer and closer to us. I'm OK with people having a different 'personal space' than me, and when you're queuing, you're bound to come into closer contact with people than usual.

So we were shuffling round the snaking queuing system. There was a family in front who had quite alot of bags and each time we shuffled forwards, the dad had to move each bag as the mum had a handful of children, and so, as we turned the corner, we were waiting for them to move their bags out of the way so we also could turn the corner.

Waiting this extra 10 seconds proved too much for the guy behind me. He moved forwards and as he did so, he pushed me so I lost my balance, and had to take a step forward.

I turned round in shock. "Please don't push me" I said. "Pardon?" he replied in a Dutch accent (we'd just got off the plane from Amsterdam) "Please do not push me" I said again. As I looked as him, he swayed a little. Damn, I'd picked on a pissed person to argue with. Eventually, he understood what I was saying to him, and he took it rather badly! He started chatting animatedly with his friends (in Dutch) but I could understand that he was mocking me by saying that he had to leave 2 metres between us. I didn't turn around again because after having seen he was a little bit the worse for wear, I was concerned he might do more than just exchange workds with his friends.

We spent a very uncomfortable further 5 minutes in the queue with him twittering on to his mates about me from 2 metres away whilst I seadfastly ignored him. Finally we got through and fortunately we never saw him again!

Dan's Birthday Part 2

...ctd from Dan's Birthday Part 1

After the lovely surprise of seeing his name written in lights in Times Square, we headed off for the next birthday surprise.

With a series of secret meetings and planning activities in place, we walked from Times Square to Grand Central Station...



Although I knew the name of the destination, I wasn't quite sure of its location. Supposedly the best place to get Oysters in New York, the 'Grand Central Oyster Bar' came with high recommendations! We walked around the station and tried to find the bar. No luck! I had to give a clue to Dan, so he could help me look - "It's called the 'Grand Central something Bar', I said.

In the end we went INTO the station to see if there was a map inside. There it was on the list of Speciality 'fine dining' Restaurants within the station!

Down we went into the dining level below the main concourse and found the glorious vaulted Oyster Bar. It was fabulous.

So then I gave Dan the card from Vanora, Harry, Grace and Charlotte. He was chuffed to bits!

He chose 8 oysters from the vast selection on offer and ordered the champers. We had a bottle guys! Thank you!!!!!

There were a LOT of people in the Oyster bar that day. Not just tourists either. It looks like local business men & women pop in there for the very quick lunch service ~ some clam chowder, a few oysters and a glass of wine. What a fantastic place to have a birthday lunch!

So what did he have? Well there were so many on offer but in the end he had 4 'Fire Island' and 4 'Duck Island' oysters. They looked different but he couldn't honestly taste the difference! So much for the connoisseur!

Well it was certainly an experience. The location and the food were absolutely wonderful. Not to be forgotten.

Dan's Birthday Part 1

Well we were there for his birthday so I thought I'd start blogging with the birthday events and surprises.

Well no real surprise that I'd brought cards and champagne and various goodies with me for the morning of the 13th. I'd forgotten any tape or string so when he disappeared into the bathroom I covered the bed with all of the goodies! There were lots of cards from friends and family and he was chuffed to bits with all the nice wishes from everyone.

After a light brekkie in Au Bon Pain (great coffee and cakes) we headed to Times Square for the 1st of the "Birthday Surprises". I left Dan on the corner of the street and headed off to obey my secret instructions. I walked towards Hershey's (Dan shouting some thing about 'Oh Could it be chocolate related?') and completed the assignment. By the time I left the store 5 minutes later, I was empty handed but my mission was complete!

Dan was looking quizically towards me as I walked back to where he was standing - I didn't have anything in my hands. No prezzie!

"Look up" I said, pointing up at the front of the Hershey's store.....

Janey had arranged for a birthday message to be displayed on the scrolling ticker screen on the front of Hershey's! Here it is in a close up view...



The words were displayed for 15 minutes. We took quite a few pictures of it - slightly different scrolling views (see the web album).

Dans view? "Very very cool" he said!

Story continues in Dan's Birthday Part 2

Home Sweet Home

Well after a relatively uneventful series of flights, we arrived in to Leeds/Bradford at 9am, and were home by 9:45. Great!

I've had a nice sleep (Dan's kipping at this moment) and am feeling relatively human, so I'm just about to start getting all the pictures together from the holiday and write up our experiences.

Watch this space for some fun!

Not a lot of blogging.

Apologies for the lack of blogging. A certain lacK of wireless and not a lot of decent sized Keyboards for writing, has rather sapped the will to blog! More will be written on arrival back in Morley on Thursday.

Day 1 in NYC

Well I suppose it's day 2 but our first full day.

First thing we did was head down to the diner we came to love last time we were here. Brooklyn Diner near Carnegie Hall was the 1st diner we'd ever been to. It's mad! The menu is weird and the portions are HUGE!!!! It's not cheap either! $60 for breakfast!!!!

Then we had a wander up to Central Park - in the SNOW (not for the 1st time) but this was a bit unexpected. We hid in the Time-Warner building for a bit whilst the weather sorted itself out. Then a nice long walk through Central Park and over to the Frick Collection (sorry Dan!) It was as fab as the 1st time I saw it, over 10 years ago!

A loooooong walk back to MOMA (no not into it) but over the road into the same bar we'd been to with Scotty and Michele on the day of the big snow in NY!

Back to the hotel via Times Square. A mere 70 blocks walked today. Glad I put my walking boots on!

Waking up in the big apple

In the time- honoured Liza Dan fashion we had a few beers last night to get us thru our Ist our Ist our Ist night! hooks like it's worked! apart from waking up once or twice to have Some water, we've woken up this 'morning' at 7.30am. today planning a quiet day of contemplation and 'cworrrrfee' ;-)

We're here!

It's been a looooooong day. It started off at 05:45 with the alarm going off...continued through Leeds Bradford airport, Amsterdan Schipol airport and finally at JFK airport with only 1 question about my visa (although an hour and a half in the queue as 10 flights seemed to arrive at once) .

We checked in to our hotel with minimal fuss and walked down the street to get our bearings.

The first thing that looked familiar was the Deli. "I'm sure we've been in there before" said Dan.

"No," I replied. "The one we went into had stairs over...there."

I moved my head out of the way of the placard blocking my view.

"Oh, right, just where those stairs are."

Next thing we saw was a nice looking Irish bar. We headed towards it and then recalled that we'd been in it 3 years before with Scotty & Michele. Not only that but it was right near Times Square!

We had arrived!