Some of you crazy kids out there (the ones who are still seeing fit to visit this stupid site) might be thinking "so where the Hell you been, Derek?" The answer, of course, is "I've been around." Of course, over the weekend, I was in Las Vegas, if only briefly. See, sometime in...what, July? Yeah, I think it was July when my wife's sister and her fiancee (Big Al) got hitched (or "hitch," if you believe the local Aruban newspaper). And yes, I said "Aruban." Them crazy kids got all married up in Aruba, a tropical tourism mecca which proved to be a mite too expensive for the wife and I to get to. So we didn't go...

But fast-forward to this past weekend...

As kind of a late reception, the happy couple staged a "get-together" in Henderson, outside of Las Vegas (and near their home) which we decided that we COULD get to. Unfortunately for us, though, we had little choice other than to fly in on Saturday morning and then fly out on Sunday night right after the gathering. See, my wife is a schoolteacher and, with Monday having been Columbus Day and that day having been a staff day (the kids were off but the teachers were not), the school district would have docked the wife's pay had she missed it. Anyhow, that's what we did: flew out and flew back. Big thanks to Big Al for picking us up at the airport and even bigger thanks to everyone's Favorite Bison Andy Kelly for taking us to the airport...Now, you might be thinking that because of our tight schedule, we didn't have time to do anything fun...Of course, if you were thinking that, you would be dead wrong...

Here's pretty much what we did (and yes, it's just about eating food).

On Saturday, because we had been up at 3am to fly out of Denver at 7am, we were pretty darn hungry upon arrival. As such, we enjoyed an early lunch (and I mean like 9:30am early) along with Al at Lindo Michoacan, a Mexican restaurant which had won "Best Of" honors multiple times. I will say that, as Mexican restaurants go, it's a pretty good one. I enjoyed Carne A La Tampiquena, a New York Steak topped with seared poblano slices, served with a cheese enchilada, rice, beans and guacamole. I ordered my meat cooked rare and, since the kitchen complied, my meal was pretty darn enjoyable. I had a house margarita to drink which was passable and, for dessert, we all shared what turned out to be a cross between bananas foster and fried ice cream...it was ON FIRE and quite enjoyable. That dessert inspired me, though...Someday, I'm going to open a restaurant and, for an extra 50¢, anything on the menu will be set on fire (set it on FIRE! Add 50¢!) because, really: everything's more enjoyable when it's on fire...

Anyhow, Lindo Michoacan met my approval...Not the best Mexican restaurant I've ever eaten at but far from the worst: it receives a hearty A- for, if nothing else, it's massively extensive menu...

Later that evening, after my wife's sister made it back into town (she was in Kentucky of all places), we all enjoyed dinner at Sumo, a Japanese restaurant which I had previously enjoyed during an earlier trip to Sin City. Everything was excellent on that evening from the deep fried California Roll to the Spider Roll to the Tonkatsu to the Calamari Tempura to the Hot Saki to the Teriyaki Chicken...Sumo receives a solid A+ for everything from food to service, I don't think I could find anything bad to say about the place if I tried...

So there's that...No shows, no gambling, just copious eating and drinking...As always, thanks for stopping by, you all have a great Tuesday now...

Labels: get outta town, I eat food, lame stories, stagnation