Chef Debbie Hits the Jackpot(s)

So sweet husband took me to Las Vegas for a few days for my birthday last month.

I know. You're saying "But spoiled brat didn't you just go on vacation for, like, two weeks to Puerto Vallarta?"

Well, yes, I did. But that was months and months (OK maybe just five months ago) but it seems like a really long time ago and I really needed a birthday vacation.

So many of you've heard my video poker stories over the years and I'm sure even though you know me, you take the stories with a grain of salt.

Gotta tell you, if I heard those stories, I'd wonder too. So I decided to take photos of my jackpots ~ when I remembered.

And there were many times I didn't remember ~ or, rather, when the champagne made me forget.  

These are the jackpots I won during the first two days of my birthday vacation because I got sick and spent four entire days in bed.

But. Thinking about it. Four days doing nothing but sleeping and reading IS a vacation right there.

Lest you think that I spent my entire vacation sleeping, drinking or in front of the video poker machine, I did manage to get to a couple of very good restaurants. Besides our standard stop at Mon Ami Gabi for steak au poivre for sweet husband and filet and a couple of French 75 martinis for me, we ate at a wonderful little restaurant in The Venetian called Tia Toretto.

I typically don't order dessert after dinner but I always look at the dessert menu before anything else ~ well, except maybe not before ordering a glass of wine. But when I saw the dessert tray at Tia Toretto, I had to have dessert. The trouble was deciding which one to have!

All of their desserts are homemade and offered on that evening's tray ~ from the top around clockwise: Apple Cheesecake; Macadamia Tiramisu; Flourless Almond Chocolate Cake; Strawberry and Pistachio Torte; White Chocolate and Orange Layer Cake; Custard Filled Chocolate Covered Longjohn; White Chocolate and Pistachio Torte; Bitter Orange Chocolate Ganache Covered Chocolate Mousse. Yummy!

I had the Apple Cheesecake ~ it sounds boring but it was amazing! Thin slices of apples were painted with a raspberry glaze and then shaped into the rose design all around a creamy apple flavored cheesecake filling. Very simple but oh so good. Along with a glass of 20~year old Port, this restaurant was a Winner!