Diego at MGM Grand

When I first starting talking to Jimmy about setting up a blog we thought it would be fun to include restaurant reviews...so here's the first of many to come (I hope!). On Saturday evening we dined at Diego, a Mexican restaurant at MGM Grand. I had picked Diego for my birthday dinner two years ago, however, Jimmy ended up needing to cover a deposition in Los Angeles on my birthday, so we ended up taking a trip to southern California for my birthday that year instead. We never ended up making up the dinner, so finally Jimmy booked reservations (to celebrate our 10 year dating anniversary!) and we went!

I'm not sure if Jimmy is going to write his own review, so I'll include my opinion of both of our meals. Also, I apologize in advance for the photos - I need to get a smaller camera because my small digital camera is not that small, so I didn't want to take it with me. Instead I opted for the camera on my phone, which actually takes really good pictures - just not in bad lighting! I promise to get better pictures next time. Here's a good one of Jimmy and I before we left though (thank goodness for self-timers!).

So, we get dressed and head out to MGM for our dinner. We arrived a little early for our reservation so we scouted out the lion habitat and lost $40 on video poker, then headed into the restaurant. The hostess was nice and the decor was neat. The colors are vibrant shades, but muted by low lighting. Overall, a cool effect! So, first someone brings out water, chips, three types of salsa and three flavored salts. The chips and the salsas were delicious (Jimmy didn't care much for the green salsa, I think it was made from tomatillos). We weren't quite sure what to do with the salts, so I finally dipped a chip in one, and the salt stuck the chip - interesting. I think it was more fun to look at the salts in the little dishes than it was to actually eat them! Here's the chips and salsa and salts. Sorry about the quality, I know it's really bad! So, when our waiter arrived we ordered tableside guacamole. The guacamole man brings a cart to your table, asks if you'd like your guac mild, medium or hot. Then, he mashes up avocado and adds lime juice, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, onions, fresh jalapenos, and cilantro. Yummy! Jimmy decided right away on the carne asada (here's the description from their menu: Carne Asada a la Oaxaca - Beef Rib Eye Steak Marinated in Red Chile Adobo, Grilled over a Mesquite Fire, Mole Coloradito, Frijoles Maneados and Tequila Laced Roasted Cactus and Onion Salsa.). I on the other hand struggled to decide...I couldn't make up my mind, so I decided to go with a classic Mexican dish - enchiladas (here's the description from the menu: Enchiladas Oaxaqueñas - Fresh Corn Tortillas Cooked with Tangy Red Chile Sauce Rolled with Chicken, Poblano and Onion Finished with Oaxacan and Chihuahua Cheese, Diced Onion, and Cilantro.).

The food came out very quickly! Which was surprising because the restaurant was quite full. Here's my enchiladas. They were very tasty. I am not usually much of an enchilada eater so I'm not entirely sure why I ordered them, but I did! The only not-so-good thing I have to say about them is that they were not saucy enough for me. To me, enchiladas should be cooked in sauce and really saucy and cheesy. They were cheesy, but a little on the dry side. What sauce there was on them was good - just enough spiciness to make it fun! The chicken was good and the cheese delicious! It came with a side of Spanish rice which was good as well. I would give the dish a 7.5 out of 10.

Jimmy's dish, however, was out of this world! Here's a picture. Okay - so first of all Jimmy orders his steaks medium rare - which usually totally grosses me out when I think about it and look at it too much, but I think is really delicious when I actually make it past that and eat it! When I think of carne asada, I generally think of smaller pieces of meat - usually sliced or cut up in some way. This was a big ole steak though! Reading the description from the menu just doesn't do it justice! It had the perfect flavor to it - I don't know if it was the marinade, the way it was grilled, the sauce, or a combination of all those things - but it was fabulous! The smokey flavor in it was delectable! Jimmy's dish came with a side of beans (which I ate with my rice!) that were also yummy. I would give his dish a 10! It was that good!

A meal out is not complete without dessert - even if you're stuffed! We settled on the Chocolate tres leches cake (from the menu: Chocolate tres leches cake with crunchy meringues and Mexican chocolate Ice cream) - translation - chocolate three milks cake (not sure I want to know what kinds of milks - some of their desserts did have goats milk caramel...hmmm). Here's another crummy picture. The dessert was delicious! I especially loved the meringues topping the cake. They were crispy on the outside but soft and marshmallowy on the inside...yum...if I could I would have ordered a box of them to go! So good! The ice cream was sprinkled with nuts that were coated in cinnamon - delicious!

Overall it was a great dinner and a good experience. Would I go back? Not sure - it was good food and fun but I don't necessarily know if it worth a repeat visit. Would I recommend it others? Sure - but definitely order the carne asada! Hasta la vista!

The Results Are In...

Thank you to my family for thinking that we don't really watch much TV - really did you see their guesses on how many hours we'd watch? So, it was actually eight days that we recorded our TV watching for and our grand total of combined TV watching hours was...drumroll please... 54.25. At first I was thinking - whoa, that's a lot of TV. But when I did a little math I found that first of all, that's only a smidgen over 27 hours each, on average. So, over the course of eight days, that works out to be not quite three and a half hours a day. And, it's not like we actually watched three and a half hours of TV everyday - on the weekend we watched a little more since we hung out at home mostly, so we probably watch a couple hours a day usually. That's not too bad. However, I am sure there are many more constructive things I could be doing with my 27 hours a week!

Another item of note in the TV watching diary - probably about 90% of what we watch is reality TV. We love it! Some of our favorites during the week: So You Think You Can Dance, The Real World (Hollywood), Wipeout, and Hell's Kitchen (the season finale - Yay Christina!!). It was interesting to take such a close look at something I hadn't really paid much attention to. I mean, I know we watch some TV but it was fun to see exactly how much and what it is we watch. Oh yeah - an entry all about TV wouldn't be right without mentioning that I faithfully record and watch my soap opera too - All My Children! I mailed the TV diary off yesterday and our $30 has long been spent. It was fun though!

The Nielsen Ratings Family

So a couple of weeks ago we kept getting calls that showed up on our caller ID from the Nielsen Ratings. One day when I picked up the phone to check the caller ID as it was ringing, I actually answered it and it was the Nielsen Ratings. I thought they were going to ask a couple of questions about our TV habits, but they actually asked if we'd be willing to keep track of our TV watching for a week in a TV diary and mail it back to them at the end of the week. So, I agreed. So early last week we receive our big envelope in the mail. The envelope included a welcome letter, instructions, two TV diaries (one for each TV in the house, even though our second TV isn't even plugged in), and $30 in cash. Our TV viewing week began on Thursday and you basically have to write down the station and channel, program, and who's watching it for whatever time slot your on. Then, if you're watching something you've recorded (which we do A LOT of with our DVR) you also have to write when it originally aired.

Things we've discovered in the past four days:
I will read and Jimmy will play video games to avoid writing anything in the diary.
If you don't watch a program for more than five minutes you don't have to write it down so Jimmy channel surfs even more aggressively than usual.

We really do keep track of the things we're watching though. It will be interesting to look back at it at the end of the week and see just how many hours are wasted on random TV watching. Anyone want to guess how many combined hours of TV watching we'll have logged at the end of the week?

Weekend Highlights

We celebrated the Fourth of July in Brian Head this past weekend! We had such a good time! Jimmy and I slept in a little on Friday (7/4) then got up and packed our bags in preparation for our weekend excursion. We packed up Hannah's stuff and dropped her off at Jimmy's mom and dad's house to spend the night. We then made a drive-through stop at McDonald's (if you haven't had their iced hazelnut coffee you must make a trip to get one!) and headed out of town. The drive out was pretty uneventful except for our stop in Cedar City, UT to pick up a watermelon for the barbecue. We stopped at Lin's (or maybe it was Lind's). The parking lot was crazy - everyone stocking up for their July 4th barbecues, I suppose. So, finally Jimmy maneuvers us into parking spot and we get out of the car. Well, this spot was next to a van (on Jimmy's side), so as he gets out a young boy in the van next to us says "Excuse me..." so Jimmy turns toward the van, the boy then tries to sell us some tamales. Weird! After picking the perfect watermelon (and a Snickers bar for Jimmy) we were back on the road.

The drive from Cedar City into Brian Head is fairly short and very scenic. When we arrive we head straight to the Cedar Breaks Lodge which is where my parents were staying. After hanging out there for a while and trying to teach Saydi (age 7) and Heidi (age 4) how to play pool in their game room we head to my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Rance's cabin for our barbecue. My Uncle Wilford, Aunt Penny, and cousins Ken & Lisa joined us for the barbecue as well. The food was fantastic and the cabin is beautiful! Here's a view from their deck...

It really is in the middle of the forest...gorgeous. So, we enjoyed our barbecue, then most everyone headed out the field to watch the fireworks, but Jimmy and I stayed at the cabin with Mom, Dad, Ashley, Kelly, Uncle Rance and Aunt Kathy to watch the fireworks there. We had a great view!

Here are some more photos:

Jimmy & I with Mom & Dad

Fireworks from the cabin's deck

Jimmy & I with Uncle Rance & Aunt Kathy

We ended up staying at the cabin with my aunt & uncle - and woke up the next morning to a delicious breakfast. Ashley, Aunt Kathy and I took a walk down to the crafts fair later in the morning - I bought the cutest turtle for my garden! Then Jimmy and I headed back to Vegas! Hannah was glad to see us and we still had a lot of the weekend to get things done to be ready to head back to work on Monday!

Here's to Welcomes and a Happy July 4th!

Well....I've been waiting and waiting to post my first post, because there is a particular picture I would like to get of Jimmy & Me to post for our profile, but have not done so yet. After playing around on Blogger today, I decided to just dive in and start posting, so here goes! I feel the desire to put an introduction about me and Jimmy here, but I'll save that and put it in our profile instead, so I'll start with a post about my upcoming weekend!

Jimmy and I are heading to Brian Head, Utah this weekend to celebrate the Fourth of July with my family! I don't think we've done a family vacation since we were all living at home, so this should be a fun adventure! Corey (my older sister), Jarvus (her husband), their three girls (Saydi, Heidi and Abbey) and their dog (Sisko) are already up in Utah. They enjoy camping and have a piece of property up in Brian Head so they spend quite a bit of time up there anyway. My mom and dad, along with their dog (Gidget) are heading to St. George tonight and will be staying overnight with Ashley (my younger sister) and Kelly (her husband). Tomorrow they will all head up to Brian Head - except Gidget - she's staying with Belle, Bubba and Mo (Ashley & Kelly's dogs). Jimmy and I plan on sleeping in on our day off tomorrow and heading up when we get up and get going! We also have aunts and uncles and cousins up there, so it should be like a big family reunion! How fun! We're still not sure if we're staying with my parents (they rented a room at the lodge that sleeps six), or with my Uncle Rance & Aunt Kathy who have a cabin up there, but either way I am sure it will be lots of fun! We plan to watch the fireworks tomorrow night and we'll probably head back home on Saturday.

So, we're definitely excited to beat the heat and get out of town for a couple of days!

So, welcome to our blog! We hope we're not too boring and you stop by often to check out what we're doing!