Feeling somewhat better today. I have no idea what I came down with yesterday!
Okies...I have decided my husband is a clothes horse. This morning he put on no less than 4 shirts before he found one that he wished to wear for the day.
I would like to make mention of my complete and utter confusion with most things American. I am sure when Australia was born, the powers-that-be decided that we need to do everything in the complete opposite way to that of the Americans. I am sure that if at that very moment there was even the smallest inkling that we would one day be able to fly to the other side of the world we would have decided to do everything exactly the same....just for the convenience. Since being here I have found that not only do we drive on the opposite side of the road to the Americans, we also have our light switches going the exact opposite way (meaning our “off” position, is their “on” position and vice versa); the power points are upside down; and in some case, the shower taps turn the opposite way. So I am pretty much wanting to drive on their wrong side of the road, turning all lights off as I go along. Water even swirls down the sink and toilet the opposite way as though to fit in with that theme. I am getting used to getting into the opposite side of the car, however when I am tired or simply not thinking, I will still go to get in our “right” side.
We went down to breakfast this morning in the hotel where we are staying. They have a lovely looking buffet which is included in our accommodation price. It’s amazing how much of the lovely looking buffet is to our own breakfast type buffets. I would say 100% different. These are the food stuffs available at the buffet: • Cheese Blintz: These are a part of Jewish cuisine and are small crepes, stuffed with cottage cheese, fried in oil and then dusted with icing sugar. These are disgusting.
• Biscuits: These are scones. I have no idea why the Yanks call these biscuits!
• Sausage Gravy: This is what the Americans load onto their biscuits. Now this doesn’t look as it sounds. It actually looks like cat vomit. In fact it is a white sauce with mashed up sausage in it. There was no way in hell that I was going to try it however the Bear said it was quite nice. Bring on the jam and cream I say....and they are scones. Not biscuits!
• Scrambled eggs: These eggs were formerly the powdered variety and I am fairly certain have food colouring in them. They are very, very yellow.
• Bacon: this is very long and very thin and is very, very brittle. You can stand it on one end. If you try to cut it on your plate, it actually shatters. When I had my first taste of it, I thought it was from a pig. Well maybe a pig that has been on a major diet. However my second tasting of it leads me to believe that it might have been camel, or mongoose or something.
• Home Fries (breakfast potatoes) these are a diced potato with the skin left on, and dusted in herb and chilli. These are bloody hot and are a sure way to put a fire into your morning!
• Fruit and cereal: Fruit and cereal. I guess I should change the 100% to a 90% difference. Today instead of having the buffet I ordered Eggs Benedict. I love Eggs Benedict! They came to me with Canadian bacon (the round, thick, unsalted stuff) and muffins (not the English variety...but some other sweetened cardboard) and with their version of a hash brown (grated potato thicker than we have it but not cooked – almost half raw). The eggs were original – I am guessing you can’t use powdered eggs for poaching – and I thought this was a good sign that I might actually eat something this morning. The eggs were covered in the hollandaise sauce which is my favourite part of the dish. I took the eggs off the sweetened cardboard, and the Canadian bacon and tucked into the poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. Bad move. Their version of hollandaise sauce....is a white sauce which with a food colouring to turn it yellow and is laced with chilli powder. Talk about burning ring of fire! Johnny Cash was singing about the food in this damned country! Needless to say, I won’t be having the buffet or the eggs Benedict tomorrow morning.
Tonight we went to see my beloved Doobie Brothers. This is the second time we have seen them, having gone to their concert in Brisbane in March last year. I was so excited. We drove over to the Las Vegas Hilton where the concert was being held. This stage has featured the greats over the last 60 odd years including Elvis, Sammy Davis Junior, Dean Martin etc and I felt privileged that we were going to a place that had been graced with such big acts. From the outside the Las Vegas Hilton looks to be a very majestic although humble building. What do I mean by that? Oh lord only knows.
We parked the car and nearly froze to death in the 100 mile dash that we made to get into the venue. The first thing I became aware of inside was of a young man (for want of a better word) yelling at his girlfriend for “placing your foot near my balls”. He repeated this over and over whilst standing outside the Pizza Hut take away location. 1) I should have questioned why there was a Pizza Hut within the Las Vegas Hilton, and 2) I should have realised what demographic goes to the Las Vegas Hilton once I heard the young upstart yelling about his gonads. Alas, I was still thawing out so didn’t pick up on these not so subtle clues at this point.
The carpet looked old and worn, the wall coverings had not been changed since 1952 and the chandeliers looked as though they were purchased by Liberace himself. I thought this might have been to retain the “brat pack” feel, or keep the ambience of the golden days gone by. That was until I caught a whiff of the first person that we passed in the gaming room. He was obviously wearing Eau De Batshit and had poured it over his head. The room was filled with people who wore something similar. One man smiled as we walked through the gaming lounge – his single tooth reflected the light from the garish chandeliers. A woman stopped dead in front of us and we were nearly sucked into the abyss created by the massive wedgie that her fake leather jeans were causing. Smoke absolutely consumed the room (it is still legal to smoke in Casinos in Vegas) and it was almost too thick to be able to breathe. People were smoking cigarettes, cigars and pipes...and I wouldn’t have been surprised if there was a joint or two being smoked either. And that was just by the staff!
We had planned on having a quiet dinner at the Hilton – as we actually thought there might have been a nice restaurant there. Hell no. We finally found a seat at a diner in there that sold chips and “Philly cheese steak” burgers (shaved steak with cheese on a roll) and listened as the drunken person at the next table discussed the difference between smoking cigarettes and pot (his table companion did have the manners to apologise for this). However.....the diner did not have any smoking allowed in there, so at least we could have a cold drink and be able to breathe).
Once we were able to enter the show room, we did so. We had purchased tickets in the front row although I am still trying to find how to justify the large sum of money versus the type of venue we were in. As the Bear pointed out, Elvis had been on this stage so I sought solace in that. The Doobie Brothers hit the stage at exactly the right time and I was absolutely ecstatic to see them. Toward the end of the evening they encouraged people to stand up against the stage (I guess they are trying to relive their youth as well) which I was happy to comply with. I passed the camera to the Bear so that he could take a couple of photos with my head in it. He managed to do so whilst dodging the retarded drug taking baby hippo that was having a seizure beside me (his words...not mine). Yes....the drunken lady beside me did have an unorthodox dancing style, but as I reminded my husband, I resembled a couple of wombats fighting in a pillow slip myself....so we shouldn’t say nasty things about the baby hippo.
All in all....despite the fact that going to the Las Vegas Hilton could have had us in an upcoming episode of Cops, I thoroughly enjoyed the concert....and as far as I am concerned The Doobie Brothers are STILL the BEST Band in the world!
