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Blog #46- Vegas Test Kitchen

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What are you in the mood for? Sashimi? Vietnamese Spring Rolls? A savory pie that could be a cross between your southern grandma’s chicken pot pie and an English sausage roll? Well, you can find it all at the Vegas Test Kitchen and more, it just depends on the night. Let me put it this way, the food is so good that I went 2 weeks in a row. With thousands of restaurants (to try) in Las Vegas, I can’t remember the last time I did that. My only beef with this place is that I don’t think it is advertised well enough because not enough people know about it!! Not that I’m complaining, the service is impeccable and the chef (as in, the actual big wig) is generally on site and makes it a point to talk to all of his/her guests. It is a truly unique and warm experience.  The Vegas Test Kitchen is located in downtown Las Vegas on Fremont Street, right next to Fergusson’s and it is exactly what the name implies. This space is dedicated to allowing Chef’s (all with impressive resumes) to try ou
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Blog #45: Maui No Ka Oi

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How many people are lucky enough to be able to say that they have lived and worked in Hawaii? Well, as much as I feel like the word “blessed” is overused, I truly was. It’s paradise on earth and a world destination for a reason.  I was singing on an inter-island cruise ship in my early 20’s and one of the perks of the job was to join in on the passenger tours, if there was space available. I always took advantage of this and got to see so much, as a result. One of the tours was to go and see a performance art type of live production about the myths of Maui called “Ulalena” which encompassed everything from hula to chanting to acrobatics and stilt walking to beautiful Hawaiian music. Being a performer with brown skin means that you are “not right” for a lot of parts or roles in the US. But here I was, in the US, seeing the most stunning and spiritual show, with the most gorgeous sun kissed performers….and my first thought after giving them a standing ovation was “I want to be in thi
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Blog #44: The World Map Game

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  Let’s play a game, shall we? Are you all feeling a little stir crazy, having not been able to travel at all or nearly as much as you would’ve liked to this past year? Well, find yourself a world map (online is fine) and get ready to travel, through food! What you’re going to do is close your eyes and point to a spot on the map, and whichever country your finger is closest to, you are going to find a restaurant that features that countries cuisine in your city and discover the undiscovered! If your finger lands on Mozambique, and there is no restaurant that specializes in this food in your city, find the closest country that does. This may take a little “google” research. Are you ready? Let’s go! I landed on Australia. I checked on line and one of the restaurants listed in Las Vegas is Cornish Pasty. This might actually be a British pub, but to my knowledge, the food is very similar. Now, while I’ve definitely had past-R-ies, I don’t think I’ve ever had a past-Y, so- this will be
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Blog #43: Cafe Berlin- Restaurant Review

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  “Watch closely as I attempt to make this beer, DISAPPEAR!!”, the man with shaggy blonde hair and a backwards baseball cap exclaimed, as he pushed what looked like a black hand towel over and around a beer mug, in exaggerated ways, (sabre dance playing in the background). After about a minute or so of this kooky display, he ripped the towel off of the mug, downed the beer and said, “There! The beer has DISAPPEARED!” and everyone in the restaurant cheered, as if they had been witness to some true magic. And all this before we were even seated! Where the hell where we? All I know is, I was laughing from the moment I walked in. The guy was a one man show with a drum kit, a trumpet, a saxophone, a microphone, a stage voice and a tip jar who played some occasional, very loud trap songs in between his moments of entertainment. It was truly weird and cool. This is what goes on, on a Friday night, at Cafe Berlin.  My first time in Germany (Hamburg and Munich), I was 14 years old and rememb
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Blog #42: China Mama- A Restaurant Review

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When I was a child, my parents used to take us out to dinner once a week. In retrospect, considering that we rarely ate fast food, this was the only break from cooking for my mother so it was an almost necessary departure from the kitchen. I’d say that for a few years, at least twice a month, we would end up at Yen Ching, a family favorite, serving up some of the most delicious Chinese food in Fresno in the 80’s. To be fair, I grew up eating very good (American) Chinese food, not the take out that most Americans are accustomed to, so I don’t associate it with being greasy and bad for me (which is a just a bad wrap that it gets due to our American ignorance as to what good Chinese food really is). My favorite dishes at Yen Ching were sizzling rice soup (a light broth with shrimp and vegetables that sizzles and cracks when you put the crispy rice in at the table) and shrimp toast (a dim sum dish made of small triangles of bread brushed with egg and coated with minced shrimp and water c
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Blog #41: My Mother’s Musings

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As of late, my mom has been sending my sister, Dad and I some e-mails with attached notes she has kept about some of her travels from the past. They have been highly entertaining to read and her memory for details is astounding. She’s always loved to write too but has been so busy, well, for basically her whole life and I hope that soon, with her retirement finally on the horizon, she’ll return to some of these simple pleasures.  This excerpt is from her travels to South Africa. She and my dad came to see me perform as the Chanteuse in Cirque du Soleil’s “Saltimbanco” in Cape Town. I know we all have fond memories of the trip. South Africa blew my mind in every way. The natural beauty, the vineyards, the wild animals, the warm people and their broad, toothy grins, the clouds that would drip over the mountains in such a way that earned them the title “wedding veil’s” and the deep, rich, sorted history that gives the place a certain complexity that is hard to explain.  My mom kept
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Blog #40: Meraki Greek Grill- A Restaurant Review

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  When I lived in Astoria, Queens (NYC), I was told that it was the city with the neighborhood with the largest Greek population outside of Greece. I’m not sure if that is statistically true, but based on the demographics and the stellar Greek restaurants on every other corner, I wouldn’t be surprised at all. You can imagine my delight when a cozy little Greek cafe opened up right on my walk between my apartment and the subway. For the first few months of operation, that establishment didn’t have a menu but would just serve dishes based on what was fresh at the Farmers Market that week, and I was totally charmed by that concept.The owner would stand close to the door and literally usher you in off of the streets with his boisterous personality, jovial spirit and warm smile. I didn’t mind not knowing what was being offered on any given night because it was always so  delicious! I just love Greek food, and even if my walk from my place to my public transportation was a good 10 minutes
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