No more Ho-Ho-Hoing please

I am spent. Physically and so is my wallet. I still have a birthday party to plan for this weekend and a little girl's room to paint pink, then I think I will be able to breathe again before the next week long journey to Disney World next month. Although this morning started off better than the past few, as today is actually the first morning that I have awakened without the hangover feeling from jet lag. While the holidays were wonderful(especially my unplanned gift of not pissing my MIL off, although my DH did on a daily basis - at least she was mad at him and not me!), the trip to Las Vegas and the Holiday Bowl in San Diego were awesome.



I will probably never spend another New Year's Eve in Las Vegas - so I am glad to have this experience. But after our dinner that night - my stomach may be fuller, my taste buds more discriminating, but my wallet is too flat now. Jeff, my DH, summed up the whole tasting sensation perfectly when he said, "I have had Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter in one night!" Needless to say, there was a lot of food, good food, and it just kept on coming. Plus for the price - you didn't want to stop eating - there were no such things as doggie bags at this restaurant.



So here is the story of our dining experience. Mom was able to get us reservations at Craftsteak in the MGM Grand hotel where we were staying. The menu was all al-a-carte, but there was a section off to the side that were 3-course meals. I thought at first that you picked something from each course section listed on the menu. Boy, was I wrong. This was the Chef's menu. In other words, when you chose this section, you didn't get to decide what you were going to eat except for the grade of meat. The Chef would decide what cut of meat you would have, what appetizers and salads, and desserts. The Chef for Craftsteak is Tom Colicchio. He has been the head judge on every season of the Bravo reality TV show Top Chef.



Craftsteak serves Wagyu beef only. Wagyu beef is raised just like Kobe beef, just not in Kobe. Jeff chose the Australian Wagyu beef with lobster (grade 10), Mom and Bryan chose the Domestic Wagyu beef with lobster (grade 8). We were told that the courses were for 2 or more people, but because Jeff likes his beef cooked more that Mom and Bryan do, we each ordered our own chef's menu - thus we ended up with even more food than necessary. We could have easily eaten only from 1 chef's menu. So here are the courses and the food that we all shared:

First Course: Fresh Arugula salad, Fresh Caesar Salad, Fresh Hawaiian Shrimp Saute, Steak Tartar, Lobster Bisque, Air-aged prosciutto crudo (hung dried for 18 months). When I say fresh - I mean everything is fresh. Flown in daily from around the world, never frozen, and made when you order it.

Again - this was just the first course! And it wasn't just a 1 or 2 bite tasting per person. There were 12 shrimps, a large bowl of the soup, 1/2 the head of lettuce for each salad, and six slices of the prosciutto ham - and 1 slice was longer than the diameter of my plate! This first course could have been my total meal and I would have been satisfied.

Second Course: Each group had sauteed mushrooms and garlic creamed mashed potatoes, then we also had wilted spinach and grilled asparagus. For our steaks, Jeff and I had the filet and flatiron skirt steak. Each steak serving was at least 8 oz and came with a wine sauce that makes my mouth water just thinking about it. We also had 2 1/2 pounds of lobster that was freshly cooked and cubed (this includes the meat from the tail, body, and claws) and was placed in a saffron cream butter sauce. Saffron itself is the most expensive spice by weight and comes from southeast Asia, so it was neat to try this spice - and delicious too!

Finally - our third course was desserts! Yes, desserts as in plural. We were each served 4 desserts - and each dessert could have easily been eaten by 4 people. We both had roasted pineapple slices in balsamic, fresh pear sorbet and rasberry sorbet. They melted in your mouth. My favorite was the pear because it tasted like you were eating a fresh pear that was chilled. Jeff and I were also served creme brulee and a bread pudding that I would more than be willing to pay the dinner price again just for the recipe. Even Jeff was astounded by it and said that it was better than his Great-Grandmother's. Nothing has ever beaten his great-grandma's recipes before, so you know it was great! Mom and Bryan had the pineapples and sorbets, but they also had an apple crunch and a molten lava cake. These had nuts in them, so you know I have no comment on it, but the apple crunch seemed to have been the biggest hit of their selection.

Can we just say that I feel as if I had eaten a year's worth of food in just one sitting! The price tag was a couple of months of groceries too. It would be like taking my most expensive meal from Mickey Mantle's and multiply it by 2. If you have ever eaten at Mickey Mantle's in OKC, you would know that you cannot get out of there cheaply - especially if you choose a 3-course meal. Yet since I have been home, food is horrible now and I feel as if I am so picky because I have been spoiled by such a delicious fare. Now I know why rich people are so picky about their food - because they have tasted the best.

Oh well........ back to reality and my crappy cooking. :)