Macmillan Audiobooks,
Overseas Adventure Travel ,Vic & Anthony’s at Golden Nugget, North Stoney’s
Forty, The Golden Globes, and more...
On
Thursday we went to the Grand Opening Media Party for North Stoney’s Forty at
Santa Fe Station Hotel-Casino. This is the second country bar for Stoney Gray,
owner of the Stoney’s Rockin’ Country bar on South Las Vegas Boulevard. We also
went to that opening and had a terrific evening!
Stoney’s
North Forty opened on New Year’s Eve and now 1,000 residents in the northwest
Las Vegas Valley have a 10,000 square feet place to show off their Westerner
wear, learn to line dance (Wednesdays thru Sundays at 7:30), listen to new
country music bands and ride a mechanical bull. There is an elevated VIP area,
pool tables and video games. For the Media Party, there was a banquet of
terrific country food, cold drinks, some down-home appetizers and an opportunity
to ride the mechanical bull for charity! The 1st Place prize was $1,000.
I learned
two line dances and had a terrific evening!
Santa Fe
Station is located at 4949 North Rancho Dr. off U.S. 95 and Ann Road. Santa Fe
Station is part of the Station Casinos family of entertainment destinations for
the locals of Southern Nevada.
www.stoneysnorthforty.com/
We’re
going on our 6th trip with Overseas Adventure Travel! Later this month, TDH is
going on vacation to “The Suez Canal & Red Sea Cruise: Egypt, Sinai, Saudi
Arabia & Jordan” for 19 days.
The
Devil’s Hammer returns February 23rd.
We have
also gone on several tours with iExplore! and Exodus, two U.K. tour companies
that cater to camping and trekking in exotic locations. We’ll never forget the
Starvation Tour of Tibet!
Not that
it has turned me off to U.K. tour companies. How else could you travel across
Mongolia in an open-sided truck and camp alongside sheepherders? And remember
that New Zealanders, Australians, and Brits do not believe in tipping!
It’s also
important to do what I always do: bring your own food and a gift for the cook.
For
small groups, value, luxury, terrific guides, and superior accommodations, OAT
cannot be beat! With OAT we went to Morocco, on an African safari, India and
Bhutan, China (with OAT’s sister company Grand Circle Travel), and Nepal.
As members
of the highest tier of Overseas Adventurer’s Club, we became part of the Sir
Edmund Hillary Team. And, as I mentioned some weeks ago, we were given a
holiday gift of a copy of Sir Hillary’s book, which I read with much interest.
And since we are OAT Club members, we get discounts and gifts. We are outfitted
with hats, wind breakers, rain jackets, backpacks and caps. Sign up to get OAT’s
brochures and I know you will find a tour perfect for you. OAT has also started
a magazine called Dispatches which is made up of letters, photos and articles by
OAT travelers.
www.oattravel.com (1-800-493-6824)
There are
only so many hours I can listen to Sade, Barry White and Marvin Gaye on my iPod.
So on the
trip to the Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, I’m bringing along the classic
thriller “Shall We Tell The President?” by Jeffrey Archer (read by Lorelei
King); the incredibly successful “Halo: The Cole Protocol” based on the video
games, by Tobias S. Buckell (read by Jonathan Davis); Frank Herbert’s “The
Heretics of Dune” Book Five in the Dune Chronicles (on 15 CDs); and “The Path of
Daggers” (Book Eight of The Wheel of Time, unabridged on 19 CDs!) by Robert
Jordan.
Macmillan
Audiobooks also has a large selection of Traveler's Language Courses, including
French, Spanish, Russian and German. Each course provides everything the
traveler needs to feel comfortable learning a new language. The CD format is
ideal for language study, giving crystal clear sound reproduction of accent,
tone, and pronunciation, to train the ear and make imitation easy. In addition,
CD programmability you can easily move from section to section, and choose
tracks for study and repetition, fashioning a completely flexible and
personalized study plan. Each course includes two full-length CDs, Lesson
Booklet containing the complete text of the recorded lessons, Guide to Study and
a special bonus: a Vest Pocket book with special features: easy travel phrases,
pronunciation, and a 4,000-word bilingual dictionary.
After my
French and Spanish CDs, I’ll let you know how well I fare in Peru and Paris!
More
than 50 Hollywood stars were presenters and the audience was filled with
countless other stars (except Jack Nicholson) at "The 66th Annual Golden Globe
Awards" telecast live on NBC Sunday, January 11 at The Beverly Hilton.
Who are
the members of the secretive Hollywood Foreign Press Association? Why does every
winner grovel and bow to the members of the HFPA? What kind of power does the
HFPA have? The HFPA functions like an exclusive club, admitting a maximum of
five new members a year, though more often, accepting only one. Any single
member may object to a new member, making it extremely difficult to join.
The HFPA
does not represent internationally renowned publications like France’s Le Monde
or The Times of London. It has repeatedly rejected applications from a
correspondent for Le Monde, while accepting applications from freelance writers
(probably the person who writes for the Teamsters Union newsletter).
The
members are all rumored to be over 80 years old and barely able to write, let
alone go to movies. However, HFPA president Jorge Camara took the stage at the
66th but did not stay too long – like that ancient fame-hog Jack Valenti, the
longtime president, now deceased, of the Motion Picture Association of America.
http://www.goldenglobes.org
I
adore Kate Winslet but her tearful acceptance speeches embarrassed me. Winslet
behaved as if she was being honored for singlehandedly finding the cure for
colon cancer. And, in the year’s best but cruelest twist, Winslet dissed movie
goddess and highest paid actress working in films, Angelina Jolie! Winslet, who
won two awards at the Golden Globes ceremony (for Best Supporting Actress and
Best Actress), momentarily referred to Jolie as "the other one" while
acknowledging her fellow nominees for best actress.
Overcome
by winning the award for Best Actress, Winslet was breathless when she took to
the stage to accept the surprise award, for her portrayal of a frustrated
suburban housewife in “Revolutionary Road”. Surprise? She had a 1 in 5 chance of
winning!
And if
Winslet was not the lead actress/star of “The Reader” who was? Winslet was
brilliant and deserved to win Best Actress for the Holocaust drama.
Ricky
Gervais joked that he told Kate to do a Holocaust drama to win awards. But,
Gervais told the Golden Globes audience, on Holocaust dramas there is no
gag-reel for the DVD!
Gervais
said: "Well done, Winslet. I told you, do a Holocaust movie and the awards come,
didn't I?"
The
reference was to a 2005 episode of Gervais’ comedy series Extras, in which
Winslet sent herself up by joking: "If you do a film about the Holocaust, you're
guaranteed an Oscar," before complaining that she was bored of Holocaust dramas:
"It's like, how many have there been, you know? We get it. It was grim. Move
on."
In winning
Best Actress for “Revolutionary Road” Winslet remembered nominees Anne Hathaway,
Meryl Streep and Kristin Scott Thomas - but forgot the 33-year-old “Changeling”
star.
"I'm so
sorry Anne, Meryl, Kristin - and who's the other one? Angelina. Now forgive me,
is this really happening?" she blurted.
The best
two moments belonged to Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat: Cultural Learnings of America
for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan) and Ricky Gervais (creator of
the British, now U.S. TV sensation, “The Office”).
Cohen
started talking about the recession. He said, “This recession is affecting
everyone, even celebrities. Victoria Beckham hasn’t eaten for three weeks.
Charlie Sheen has been forced to have sex without paying for it. It’s true. And
even Madonna has had to get rid of one of her personal assistants. Our heart
goes out to you, Guy Ritchie.” This is not the first time Madonna has been the
butt of Cohen’s jokes. Early reports from Cohen’s film “Bruno” show that Cohen’s
character adopts an African orphan named David.
Ricky
Gervais gave a hilarious speech while tossing back what appeared to be a glass
of beer. The presenter complained: "I can't believe I'm not nominated [for
2008’s “Ghost Town”]. What a waste of a campaign. Today is the last time I have
sex with 200 middle-age journalists. It was horrible. Really. A lot of them
didn't even speak English. Europeans with wispy beards. The men were worse."
We
had dinner at the sexy, demure Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse at the refurbished
Golden Nugget. The Las Vegas economy may be imploding but the Golden Nugget
renovation impressively goes on. GN has 1,914 luxury rooms with a Victorian
elegance and everything has been redone.
With the
second phase of an extensive $100 million renovation and expansion project to be
completed this year, the largest hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas will be a
destination point for those tourists tired on the Las Vegas Strip. Our friend
Mike Dignam was staying at one of the 2-story suites with a steam room and spa
(pictured). GN was offering a two-for-one deal! There were flat screens
everywhere, two huge bathrooms, and a full bar! The views were fantastic.
The
original Vic & Anthony’s in Houston is routinely voted one of America’s ten best
steakhouses. The definitive highlight at Vic & Anthony’s second location in the
GN was the Maple Glazed Quail over greens finished with a Sriracha sauce*
($16.95).
A huge
plate of steamed asparagus ($8.95) and a baked potato ($5.95) were served with
the main course. Our host Mike had Filet Mignon (8 oz. $32.95) and John had
Prime Ribeye (16 oz. $36.95). The meal was finished off with a 4-person piece of
7-layer carrot cake.
http://www.goldennugget.com/dining/vics.asp
What
is Sriracha Sauce? Here is a recipe I found online.
Sriracha (sree-RAH-cha) is named for Sriracha Harbor, the largest private
port on the eastern coast of Thailand, not far from Bangkok. This sweet chili
condiment, which some have nicknamed “Thai ketchup,” is often found on the
tables of Thai and Vietnamese restaurants. The two most commonly-found brands
are
Huy Fong, which sports a white rooster on the label, and
Shark. (Supposedly, the shark is in homage to the shark-infested waters off
the coast of Sriracha).
Sriracha Remoulade
1 cup mayonnaise
¼ cup sriracha
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
