Road to Atlantic City

A couple of months ago, Winnie invited me to share in a deal she signed up for. A one night stay at Harrah's in Atlantic City. It was a Bzz promotion. $55 for one night which included a room in their new Waterfront Tower, Buffet for 2, admission to their After Dark Pool club, Red Door spa & Fitness center and valet parking. Sounded good to me! We planned on April 28th.

I picked Winnie up at 10am in Chinatown. She picked up dim sum from Hop Shing for the road. We went by way of the Holland Tunnel and we were well on our way. The drive was without incident and 2 1/2 hours went by in no time with us chatting away. We made one pit stop where I also took a moment to have some of the dim sum and filled up the tank as well. As it turned out, we were a mile from the Atlantic City exit!


Arrived!

We got to the hotel at 1pm. Valet parking is a pleasure. Although check-in was 4pm, we were lucky to get a room right away. We were located on the 39th floor with a water-view. The room was spacious with 2 queens sized beds, a sitting area for 2 and a bathroom that was a dream. A 48 inch flat screen TV on the wall was a welcomed touch.


Our Room


Our View

We freshened up and went to the Total Rewards desk. Winnie had read on the forums that they offered a coupon book. I registered and received a membership card and when we looked through our booklet, we found many coupons but 2 in particular were of interest. A free T-shirt with 30 minutes of play on the slots or tables in one day and a 2 for 1 at the buffet. For breakfast the next day, perhaps?

We immediately played the slots and I won $2. I stopped. Winnie was down $10 and with that, we went back to the room to changed for the indoor pool.

If only the MGM had an indoor pool when we were in Vegas and it was 50 degrees. We would have been able to have enjoyed it like we did here at Harrah's. Set at a balmy 82 degrees, it was a wonderful treat to relax on the lounges and even take a refreshing dip in the pool.


The Pool

Anticipating dinner, we dressed up and were pleased that we didn't have to wait on any lengthy line. We wanted to pace ourselves for this feast. There were 9 different stations representing an international menu. There was dim sum, sushi, Rodizio, Italian goodies, Mexican, Mongolian hot pot/stir fry, Chinese selections, steak grilled to order, all American favorites of fried chicken and mac n'cheese, heaps of snow crab legs, shrimp, clams and salmon. There was the ubiquitous salad bar, soup bar and of course, the dessert bar. Suffice it to say, we rolled out of there...2 hours later!! There were the good and not so good but for the most part, we were pretty happy.

We wanted to try for the T-shirt so after a little rest, we went in search of the roulette wheel. But because it was evening, the minimum was $10. We spotted new machines...video roulette. Winnie was sold. I went on to play some slots and after losing a total of $30 - called it a night. But I was pretty sure I reached my 30 minute goal for the freebie. Winnie never left her roulette machine and walked away up $10.50.

The next morning, I still felt full from the buffet! I didn't think I could handle the buffet for lunch even if it meant we didn't utilized the 2 for 1 coupon. But we did use a $10 off $30 at another restaurant which we used for breakfast. Sated and happy, we went and redeemed our T-shirt coupon. I joked that my T-shirt cost me $30. But taking a chance, I decided to play $5 more and came away with an additional $10 so that my T-shirt ended up costing $20!



Time spent with my BFF...priceless..:-)

Game Night

Evelyn invited Nikki, Tom & myself for "game night" at their place Saturday evening. I brought along chicken sui mai and a tuna curry dip for appetizers and Nikki & Tom contributed an assortment of sweets for dessert. Evelyn grilled chicken and burgers with sides of green beans and orzo salad. Unfortunately it was too cool to sit outside.

Then we broke up into teams and had rousing games of Pictionary and Taboo. For the drawing contest, Nikki, Evelyn & Miranda were a team. Xavier & Tom on another and Mark & I rounded out as the remaining couple. The three "chicks" won that one. There is just something delightful in seeing non-artists trying to sketch and sketch quickly.

For Taboo, Evelyn, Tom & I were one team and Nikki, Mark, Xavier & Miranda the other. What a hilarious time!! It was so interesting to see how others responded to clues giving deep insight into their inner selves. A Great FUN night!!


Looks like Nikki was playing a game but nope...!!! Go figure!

Looped!

For years while with CSI, Daniel and I used a broker, Greg for Broadway shows. He would sell pretty good orchestra tickets for a great price. Each week he would send a listing of shows and every once in awhile, a Fire Sale on a show or concert. I have taken advantage quite abit and have never been disappointed by the seats nor the show.

Two weeks ago, he sent an email advising possible tickets to a new show, "Looped" starring Valerie Harper. I had just seen her profiled on CBS Sunday Morning and I didn't immediately recognized her made up as Tallulah Bankhead and the premise was fascinating. So I let Greg know I would be interested. As soon as he had tickets, he contacted me and we finalized tickets for April 15th. Last week he had to tell me the show was closing on Sunday (April 11th) and would I be able to go this week. I got tickets for last night and took Nikki with me.



Nikki happens to be working on the same street as the show so I took the subway in and met her by her office. We had 2 hours before the show and she had given me some options on where to eat and I went with burgers at H&B Burger..(Heartland Brewery). I ordered a Cheddar burger with onion marmalade and pickles and Nikki ordered a bison burger with Swiss cheese. We shared an order of sweet potato fries. People had spoke of, written about really good burgers...divine burgers...fantastic burgers...and it always sounded good but I felt...a burger was a burger. But last night, I finally understood. My burger was excellent! The beef was tender, moist and flavorful. WOW! And it was perfect size-wise. Not gigantic since I'm trying to watch my diet in anticipation of my high school reunion in (yikes) 2 weeks.



It was a beautiful evening and Nikki had brought along a coconut Greek yogurt that she wanted me to try. We sat at the Time Square Plaza to have my very yummy "dessert" and at the assigned time, we went off to meet Greg who was bringing the tickets half hour before curtain. I never met him in all the years I had dealt with him and as I was about to...Nikki asked me to quickly tell her what I thought he looked like but in all honesty, I never thought about it so couldn't give a description and then there he was waving at us and not looking like anything I would have imagined. He is very tall and slim and Caucasian.

Our seats were 8th row right on the aisle. Fabulous. The 2 seats next to us were empty as Greg told me they would be. The show was very good and Valerie Harper - marvelous, darling! I am surprised it's closing. Too bad. I'm happy to have caught it and some things that were brought up regarding Tallulah Bankhead has me wondering if it's true...such as the notion that Tennessee Williams wrote the part of Blanche Du Bois for Tallulah. She ended up not doing it and it made Jessica Tandy a star.

More From "Brunch & Art"...

The following photos were taken by Nikki with her new camera. The images are so sharp & clear...I just had to share: :-)


The Bread at Trestle on Tenth


Waiting outside the gallery


Me & alot of bowls


With Winnie and a great view

Brunch, Art & a Spring Day

Nikki and I made plans to meet up on Saturday for brunch and to see the "Size Does Matter" exhibit in Chelsea. It was a gorgeous Spring day....finally!

I researched restaurants in the area of 25th street around 10th -11th avenues and came across a place called Trestle on Tenth. A Swiss brasserie. Now that was different. The menu looked interesting and it happened to be located a block away from the gallery. We found parking on 20th street & 10th and walked over to the restaurant.

Garden sitting was offered but it was abit chilly for that so we sat indoors. I opted for their“Bure Rösti", which was Swiss bacon-onion potato hash with house-made pork sausage, melted cheese, and two fried eggs. Yum. Nikki ordered the duck confit hash with poached eggs and sauce béarnaise…a play on Eggs Benedict. one of Nikki's favorite dishes. Everything was delicious and I enjoyed an iced-coffee with my meal.


Ready to partake (The bread on the table was delicious!)


Nikki's dish

My "Bure-Rosti"

Winnie & Liz, who is home for the long holiday weekend from Boston College met up with us at the gallery. I haven’t seen Liz in way over a year and it was wonderful to see her looking so fabulous and grown up!


Nikki with her new DSLR camera - birthday gift from Tom


Nikki & Liz = Beautiful Girls!

The exhibit had very interesting pieces. We went there to see the works of Willard Wiggan who is a “micro-sculptor”. His figurines fit on top of a head of a pin. You can’t see it with the naked eye…you need a microscope and it is pretty amazing the details on the figures! Unfortunately there were only 2 of his pieces on exhibit…Shaquille O’Neal (who happened to curate the show) and the Obama family. Incredible!

Obamas' in the eye of a needle

Other pieces were also fun and we all enjoyed them.

From tiny to gigantic

The Moms

The Daughters


Apparently slowly circling this floor to ceiling tower of bowls
can give you vertigo


But it might have been better being dizzy than trying to
get on these elevators that worked like the real thing!


This was actually sitting on a book shelf


Nic couldn't look at this straight on...


Winnie on the gallery's terrace with a year-round piece

We wandered into other galleries on the block and delighted in being so cultured! LOL
Best of all was the time spent with some really wonderful people in my life. Awwwww…corny, I know but I don't care!