Am I the only one that always seems off when traveling for work?

Okay, so I travel for work A LOT. Mostly I'm in Las Vegas, but sometimes I go to exotic places like... Philadelphia and whenever I change time zones my whole body just goes into shock. I usually work harder than ever because whenever you're at a sales function you don't sleep and you have working lunches/dinners/breakfasts/snacks/dreams....you think I'm kidding...then ha for you. Anyway, I woke up with the usual bloodshot eyes, congested nose, matted hair on my head this morning here in Vegas. Sounds awesome right? Sound's like I partied hard, drank all night, showed some boobs? Nope I'm just a 31 year old mom with a toddler who drove 5 hours straight to Las Vegas and woke up at 5am but slept at 12am.

Pretty much had room service all day. Too lazy to venture out while driving around to harrass doctors and convince them why my product is the best out there so I opted for breakfast in bed before heading out, grabbing expired stuff out of the bat cave of a storage facility that I keep and got something yummy to replace that disgusting chinese food I had the night before. Corned Beef Hash...it was yummy! I highly recommend it if you're staying at the classy Bellagio.

Well after a heavy breakfast like that you would think I wouldn't have room for my favorite sushi place out in Henderson, NV, home of the homeless people that wear brand name clothing. I saw a homeless guy today with a sign saying he was hungry but noticed he had super expensive clothes on...I kept thinking, "well maybe you shouldn't have purchsed that expensive gear..." I know, I'm mean. I gave him 5 bucks and he said "Thank You" but you could tell in his eyes he was really greatful....I seriously go off on tangents.

Anyway, for lunch I always go to Sin City Sushi. It's an All You Can Eat Sushi place, otherwise acronymed AYCES, and their Garlic Tuna Nigiri is AMAZING, not to mention their Salmon Nigiri! Here is an old photo from my last trip and not one from today because the weird fat guy sitting near me kept giving me the "Love Eye" and frankly, it creeped me out. But please, if you're ever out in Henderson, NV please check them out because they are awesome.

I am actually supposed to be asleep already. I'm planning on driving out at 3am because I have huge day tomorrow for work and I have to be in San Diego. Some might ask why I didn't just fly...well it's too long of a story and this blog is already too long and I've lost interest. So, let me just finish off with my yummy dinner for the evening. 2 different types of pizza from the in-room dining of the Bellagio. I ordered tonight two pizzas, yes, just for me! Have I told you I like food? Anyway, I got 1 Margherita Pizza and a Sausage, Mushroom, and Pepperoni pizza. They were delicious.

Tomorrow I am on a mission to make my Fried Rice so that will be my focus for my next blog...Thanks for reading all 2 of you!

Food and Traveling

Okay, so, I travel for work to Las Vegas at least once a month and stay for about a week in Las Vegas. Before you start doing the "Wooooo! Vegas" it's not as great as  it seems. I love Vegas with the girls. I love Vegas for vacation. Vegas for work bleh. The only cool thing I look forward to is eating out here. I mean, I am a pig. I love food and everyone knows it. I don't segregate either. I eat everything. Well, my company pays for my meals while I'm out here because I have to stay in a hotel.

Today's stay is currently at the Bellagio. I love the Bellagio. This is the first time I've ever stayed here but if I had to pick one buffet to always go to, it would be Bellagio. Again, I love food. Have I already established this? They are the only buffet I know on the strip to have Alaskan King Crab legs that I just salivate over. Tonight however, I have work to do and definitely couldn't do the buffet thing so I opted for Chinese take out. Well there isn't a place close by for me to grab something so I had to settle for their "fine dining cuisine" Jasmine. I ordered two entrees, Seafood fried rice and Honey Walnut Shrimp which sounded great. I would order those back home in San Diego. Each item was close to  $30 a piece! Back home, I'd probably spend less than $30 for both. Anyway, I was hoping at least the portions would be decent, well, they aren't. I am annoyed for having spent $60 on food I don't really want. The shrimp look great but the rice...I can make better rice than that. Ugh...anyway, I'm going to eat now and hopefully it tastes awesome. Here are the photos of my food. Enjoy looking at $60 worth of food which should have cost $25. Blah Blah Blah....tomorrow I eat buffet.

Albondigas Soup (Meatball Soup)

Today I did my favorite thing with the leftover turkey, well what was left of the carcass that is. I love making stock. You can manipulate the broth to whatever your liking from making soups, putting in casseroles, and really adding that extra oomph when making stews.  So I had a dilemma of what to make with the end broth. My son likes ground beef and my husband likes soup so today I decided to make Albondigas soup aka meatball soup. Of course I picked the hottest freaken day in San Diego to make soup so you can just imagine the amount of sweat I was having while making the broth and then the soup. I completely forgot to take photos this time as I was in the process of cooking so too bad for you or really too bad for the one person who reads this blog which is me. So really, too bad for me.

Anyway, this soup is really easy. It looks more complicated than it is. The aromas in the kitchen will make you think you're in El Torito...kidding, maybe....but I do love the smell of cilantro.

I guess I'll get to how the process works. First let's start with the turkey carcass.

Things you will need:
1 large onion
2 boullion cubes
1 really disgusting looking carcass of bones from your Thanksgiving turkey

Take a large stock pot and fill with water, cut onion in half and place in water, add boullion cubes and disgusting turkey carcass. Put on high until it boils then turn down to low. Let simmer for about 3 hours. Strain liquid through colander into large tupperware or another stockpot. In my case I used another stockpot. You can freeze the broth and use for later or make a soup right away. I made a soup.

Here is the recipe for Albondigas Soup:

Meatballs
2 pounds ground beef
1 egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Soup
10 (about) cups broth
4 carrots, sliced
1/2 large onion, chopped
4 stalks celery, sliced
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (7 ounce) can diced green chiles, drained
1 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin

Bring broth back up to a boil over medium heat.

Alright its time to get dirty. Don't be afraid to use your hands! Combine ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, rice, cumin, garlic powder, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well with your hands! Your hands will smell for a day but your tastebuds will thank you! Form the beef mixture into a 1 inch meatball. Turn the heat down and simmer and drop the meatballs one by one slowly into the broth.  


Next, stir in the carrots, onion, celery, canned diced tomatoes with green chiles, tomato sauce, canned chiles, cilantro, garlic powder, oregano, and cumin. Simmer the soup for 1 hour to cook the vegetables and blend the flavors. 

The end result...ultimate warm goodness even on a night where it's 80 degrees and almost December. 

The Moist Maker aka MY SANDWICH

I hosted Thanksgiving this year and LOVE leftovers. My favorite thing to do is take leftovers and make them into new meals. Here is an example of what to make with those favorite things from Thanksgiving and make it into something comforting yet tasty and also  laugh every time you bite into it because of where the idea came from! (Please know, I've never gone to culinary school and this is just coming straight from experience in my kitchen.)

If you're an avid Friends watcher like I am with my closest girlfriends (Cheyanne, Lis, and Trina), then you are all aware of the Thanksgiving episode where  Ross's character gets upset because someone at his work stole his leftover Thanksgiving sandwich. I will enclose the youtube video of the episode at the bottom. Anyway, here is my attempt at MY SANDWICH! AKA The Moistmaker.

You'll be pleasantly surprised  at how yummy it is and if some jerkoff from work stole your sandwich they'll be calling you "Mental Geller" for wanting to kill whomever for taking your sandwich! Enjoy!

Makes 2 Servings
6 slices sourdough bread (toasted)
1/2 cup of gravy
1/2 cup of stuffing
1/4 cup of cranberry sauce
1/3 cup green bean casserole (optional)
1/3 cup mac and cheese
2oz turkey meat (or desired amount)

Toast bread in toaster oven or toaster to desired toastiness. While bread is toasting reheat turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, and gravy for approx 25 sec each or if all together minus the gravy for approx 1 min. Gravy place in microwave safe dish and heat for 35-40 sec or until hot.

Place one piece of toast to soak up gravy for 10 sec on each side, place the other 2 slices aside to be used in a bit

Spread some gravy on the other 2 slices of bread

Spread stuffing on both slices of bread

If you don't have any mac and cheese/green bean casserole, skip to next step, spread mac and cheese on one slice of bread and green bean casserole on the other slice

Place turkey pieces on each slice of bread

Place desired amount of cranberry sauce on each slice of bread

Place gravy soaked bread on top of one of the slices of bread

Take the gravy topped sandwich and flip onto the other slice of bread so the gravy soaked bread is in the middle

Serve with a side of Mashed sweet potato/yams or whatever you want...

And there you have it...MY SANDWICH! The Moist Maker!

For your viewing pleasure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of3b4ZzJJuk

Food Blog

So I'm sure there are tons of blogs out there from much more literate and funnier people than I, but for some reason you've found this one and for that I apologize. My mind is sarcastic and mean. I am neither trying to be witty or charming. I am just being me. So this I tell you, will be the start of my food blog. Unlike other blogs, this blog will be about my favorite local eats around town, places I'm visiting, and the best kitchen out there, at least in my head, my kitchen; where I'll divulge some recipes for you to enjoy. So here goes. Tomorrow, I will post my first, well really, second post about using leftovers from Thanksgiving and turning them into yummy main dishes. Tomorrow I replicate from the show "Friends" Monica's Sandwich with the moist maker.