Pork Chop n Eggs at Tiffany's Cafe 24 Hour Fountain and Grill at the White Cross! Lost Vegas Antiques! Showgirls! Pawn Stars! Tattoos and Weddings!

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Pawn Stars

Pork Chop and 3 Eggs with Hash Browns special at the old fashioned soda fountain counter!
     Las Vegas Boulevard from Fremont Street to Main Street by the Stratosphere Casino is an interesting area, to say the least!  It is kind of like a journey through Las Vegas past, present and future. There is plenty of fun shopping, nice old restaurants, motels, bars, tattoo shops and wedding chapels.  This area borders the fine arts district of Las Vegas where the monthly First Friday event is held.  By day, the old Strip looks tame and docile.  By night, the glow of neon lights and party people turn this end of the Strip into an adventurous staggering evening stroll!     Las Vegas is the wedding capitol of the world.  There are hundreds of wedding chapels in the Las Vegas Valley.  There are many different themes of wedding chapels.  Some are quaint, reverent and traditional.  Some offer package deal weddings with all the amenities.  There are several wedding chapels on the strip where the stars have been wed.  Even if the star's wedlock lasted only lasted two days, it is still a claim to fame for a chapel.     Theme weddings are a popular way to join in holy matrimony!  Star Trek theme wedding, caveman weddings, kinky leather weddings, cowboy western weddings, knight and damsel weddings and Elvis weddings are just a few of the wedding themes to chose from.  Basically, any wedding theme that you can dream of can be catered to in Las Vegas at wedding chapels that specialize in theme weddings!  One chapel specializes in rock n roll Elvis Presley weddings and couples are wed by Elvis the King!     The pawn shop tour of Las Vegas is extensive.  There are hundreds of pawn shops in the Las Vegas Valley.  As you can imagine, there are bargains to be found in these shops.  Price haggering is part of getting a bargain.       The famous pawn shop that is featured in the television show "Pawn Stars" is located on this section of Las Vegas Boulevard.  Ever since that pawn shop became famous, there has been a waiting line of people to get in.  Sometimes the waiting line is a block long!  You can see the line in one of the photographs above.  The "Pawn Stars" pawn shop has turned into a prime attraction and taxi cabs even form a line there to catch fares.       The area near the "Pawn Stars" pawn shop has a few other interesting shops to check out.  Lost Vegas Antiques is one of the most interesting antique and memorabilia shops in the Las Vegas Valley!  The store is loaded with items from Las Vegas past.  Old signs, chips, ashtrays, collectibles and advertisements from the long gone casinos of old Las Vegas can be found at this store.  Autographed pictures of the stars of the past and old brothel advertisements are on the shelves.  Nearly anything from Las Vegas past can be found in Lost Vegas Antiques!     Next door to Lost Vegas Antiques is Showgirls.  Showgirls is an adult video arcade with dancers and it is not exactly a place for children.  Showgirls has been known for marketing unusual items from the adult film industry.  I figured that I would stop by to see what kind of odd items that they were marketing at this time.  I walked into a comically situation where the cash register clerk was county out 50 one dollar bills to a customer loudly and one at a time, like it was the biggest deal of a lifetime for the customer!  I just laughed!  Showmanship is always a good thing!     The odd adult film industry items that Showgirls was marketing at this time were signed walk of fame concrete sidewalk hand impressions of porn stars.  The funny part was, the hands were not the only impressions on the concrete slabs.  Boob impressions, butt impressions and genital impressions were on each of the autographed porn star walk of fame concrete sidewalk slabs!  Of course I asked the clerk if I could take pictures of just the porn star slabs for a blog article I was writing.  The clerk smiled and we had a fun conversation.  Business people like opportunities for public mention and free advertising, so my visit was appreciated.       The autographed porn star walk of fame concrete slab impressions are collectors items.  Just cover your eyes if the photographs offend you in any way!  This is Las Vegas and Las Vegas is adult fantasyland, so items like this are normal to us local folks!     Every city has a town hall.  Every American knows what I mean by a "Town Hall."  A long counter at a diner or soda fountain is commonly referred to as the town hall!  People order food, sip coffee, read the newspaper and talk about local happenings, local politics and sports gambling odds in an editorialized fashion.  Yes, sports gambling odds are part of soda fountain counter town hall meetings in Las Vegas!    The old town hall of this section of the Las Vegas Strip is Tiffany's Cafe - 24 Hour Fountain and Grill at the old White Cross drug store.  In the old days, nearly every drug store had a fountain and grill.  Soda jerks used to tend the counter in the old days and a chocolate malt was a big selling item that they made.  Burgers, sandwiches, fries, sundaes and breakfast was offered at nearly every fountain and grill.  Tiffany's Cafe is a famous fountain and grill from the past that still doing business in the present day and age!     Tiffany's Cafe at the White Cross offers a standard fountain and grill menu.  The grill menu is like old fashioned traditional diner menus.  Everything from liver and onions to a club sandwich is offered.  The fountain menu offers hand scooped ice cream specialties, floats, milkshakes and malts.  The items on the menu are not the only offerings at Tiffany's Cafe.  There are special du jour signs tacked on the wall that offer some very nice items for a fair price.  I saw the sign for pork chop and 3 eggs any style with hash browns and toast on the wall for a nice price, so I sat the menu down and ordered the special!  Pork chop n eggs is one of my favorite breakfast entrees!     While sitting at a fountain and grill counter, a customer has full view of everything going on the other side of the counter.  The grill station is right within plain view and you can watch your food being cooked.  The drama behind the counter is part of the entertainment.  Usually a fountain and grill has very experienced diner waitresses that have all the patience in the world, so the waitresses tend to be the stable peacekeepers of the other side of the counter.       The cook at Tiffany's Cafe was new to the game.  In fact, it was his first day on the job and he had never cooked in a restaurant before.  The guy was a good cook and he made a few mistakes like first timers do.  The waitress patiently asked for food to be recooked a few times and the cook corrected his mistakes after putting up a little struggle.       The new cook struck up a little conversation with me and I told him that I was a long time chef.  He instantly gave me respect and listened to a little advice.  I just said "focus on the task at hand, stay organized and don't get caught up in the drama head game of the job."  The cook knew what I was saying!  I congratulated the cook on a job well done and said that he was a naturally good cook.  A compliment is always a good thing for any cook on their first day, no matter how good or bad things are going.  A compliment to a new cook pops the cook's balloon of wondering about whether the work he is doing is up to standard.  A cook that is preoccupied with thinking about negative things, usually gets into a negative mood.  One little compliment is like a breath of fresh air!     The pork chop and eggs were as good as any that I have had in the past at diners anywhere!  For a first day cook, the guy did a nice job.  The pork chop tasted great!  The eggs were over medium as requested and the plate was full.  Tiffany's Cafe at the White Cross is known for old fashioned full plates of food.       After that big breakfast at 3:00PM on a Saturday afternoon my belly was full!  I had dinner plans later in the evening, but I was still stuffed, so I cancelled the dinner idea.  Breakfast in the afternoon is a common thing in Las Vegas.  People who work at night or party all night do not keep a 9 to 5 hour routine.     I enjoyed my afternoon of strolling around this old section of the Las Vegas Strip.  The service and the food at Tiffany's Cafe was great!  It is plain simple diner style food and the plate is full.       Tiffany's Cafe - 24 Hour Fountain and Grill is located on the Las Vegas Strip at the intersection of Oakey, close to the Stratosphere Casino Resort.  Just look for the White Cross drug store sign.  The White Cross drug store is closed and the closure happened recently.  People were sadly talking about the end of Tiffany's Cafe around town, but much to the relief, Tiffany's stayed open for business after the White Cross closed.       I recommend Tiffany's Cafe - 24 Hour Fountain and Grill for locals and visitors of Las Vegas!  Tiffany's Cafe is one of the old fashioned charms of Las Vegas and it is a good place to grab a plate of old fashioned diner food while walking around in this area of the old Las Vegas Strip.  Yum!  ...  Shawna

Quiche of Fontal, Florence Fennel and Chinese Garlic Chives

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A quiche with nice Italian flavors!
     The theme of an entree is always is always good to keep in mind when creating an entree.  For this quiche, three nice Italian flavors are married together to create a well balanced classic Italian flavor.       Even though Chinese garlic chives are not really part of Italian cuisine, they do fit nicely in this quiche recipe.  Chinese garlic chives are garlic top shoots and they are not true chives.  The garlic flavor is very mellow and gentle.  Chinese garlic chives do not overpower the other delicate flavors of this quiche.  The garlic chives actually accent the flavors of the florence fennel and fontal cheese.     Florence fennel is often sold as anise bulb.  Both the bulb and shoots can be used for this recipe.  Florence fennel is a traditional Italian vegetable that has a very nice delicate anise flavor.  Florence fennel is often used in Italian tortas.  Some types of Italian tortas are similar to quiche.  Italian tortas with spinach and fennel are traditionally served during Easter and Christmas holidays.     Fontal cheese is one of the great classic cheeses of the world.  Fontal is usually called fontina in most countries.  In Italy, the finer quality fontina cheese is usually referred to by its traditional name, fontal.  A very nice quality imported Italian fontal cheese was used to make this quiche.  Fontal melts easily and the flavor is perfect for a quiche.          Free Standing Quiche Technique:     Free standing quiche is not difficult to make.  A small pop-ring pan is all that is needed.  One important thing to keep in mind when shaping the pie crust in a pop-ring mold, is that when the ring is popped, it expands an becomes wider, so the ring can be removed.  The crust of the quiche cannot lay over the edge of the pop-ring, or it will be damaged when the ring is popped!  The crust has to be above the ring or contained within the ring, so it is not damaged by the expanding pop-ring when the ring it removed.       If the crust is over the ring, then the pop-ring must be removed by sliding the ring down past the base of the pop-ring pan, instead of raising the ring.  The quiche will have to be allowed to cool for a couple minutes and oven mitts must be worn when handling the pop ring and quiche.  A fancy roped crust like the one in the photographs is easily damaged, so care must be taken when handling the hot quiche.     An easy method for dropping the ring down is to set the pop-ring molded quiche on top of a can that is smaller than the base of the pop-ring mold.  Gently pop the ring and drop it down, then the base of the pan and quiche can be moved together to the plate.  Use a spatula to slide the quiche off of the pop-ring mold base onto the plate.
     Pate Brisee Recipe:     Place about 1 cup of flour into a mixing bowl.     Add 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt.     Add 3/4 tablespoon of sugar.     Rice the flour by adding a few drops of ice water at a time while stirring with a whisk.  (The flour should look like grains of rice.)     Cut 1 1/2 ounces of unsalted butter into pea size pieces and drop them in a bowl of ice water.     Gently add a few pieces of the chilled hard butter at a time to the riced flour.     Work the dough lightly with your fingers and for a minimal period of time leaving exposed small pieces of butter.     Chill the dough, till it becomes very firm.     Roll the pate brisee into a thin sheet on a floured counter top.  (The sheet of pate brisee should show streaks of butter!  This is what will give the pate brisee a flakey crusty texture.)     Refrigerate the sheet of pate brisee, till it becomes firm again.
     Quiche Pie Shell:     Lightly brush a 5" pop-ring cake mold with melted unsalted butter.     Cut 1 round shaped sheet of the pate brisee that is 10" wide.     Drape the round sheet of pate brisee over the pop-ring pan and press it into place.     Roll a rolling pin over the rim of the pop-ring pan to trim off the excess dough.     Refrigerate dough lined pop-ring mold, till the roped crust is shaped.     Optional Roped Crust:       Roll a 3"x14" strip of pate brisee.  Roll the dough, so it is a little bit thinner than the dough for the pie shell.     Cut 3 thin strips that are 3/16"x14".     Pinch the 3 strips together on one end.     Twist the strips, so the look like a rope.     Brush the top edge of the pate brisee in the pop-ring mold with egg wash.     Set the roped pate brisee in place and trim it to length.     Fill the pie shell with dried beans.     Place the molded pie shell on a baking pan.     Bake in a 350 degree oven, till the crust just starts to turn a very light golden color.     Set the pie shell aside to cool.     Carefully remove the beans from the pie shell.
     Quiche of Fontal, Florence Fennel and Chinese Garlic Chives:     Heat a saute pan over medium/medium low heat.     Add 2 pats of unsalted butter.     Add 1/3 cup of thin sliced florence fennel that is coarsely chopped.     Add sea salt and white pepper.     Saute till the florence fennel starts to become tender.     Set the florence fennel aside to cool.     Place 2 eggs in a mixing bowl.     Add 3 ounces of milk.     Add 3 ounces of cream.     Add 1 small pinch of nutmeg.     Add 1 pinch of sea salt and white pepper.     Whisk the ingredients till they are blended.     Place the sauteed florence in a mixing bowl.     Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of Chinese garlic chives that are cut into 3/8" lengths.     Add 1/3 cup of grated fontal cheese.     Toss the ingredients together.     Place the quiche filling in the par baked pie shell.  (Do not pack the filling in the shell!  Just leave it loose and fluffy.)     Place the pop-ring mold and quiche on a baking pan.     Pour the quiche batter into the pie shell, so is becomes full.     Bake in a 375 degree oven, till the quiche rises and becomes fully cooked.  The top of the quiche should be lightly browned when it is finished baking.  A toothpick stuck in the quiche should pull out clean, when the quiche is fully cooked.     Set the quiche aside to cool for 2 minutes.     Note:  Follow the instructions at the top of this page for removing the pop-ring cake mold and placing the quiche on a plate.     Garnish the quiche with 2 or 3 trimmed long Chinese garlic chive shoots.
     This quiche has a nice flavor combination that is quite appealing!  The roped crust adds a pretty touch.  Yum!  ...  Shawna

Shime Saba Naengmyeon

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     Chilled spicy sweet Korean Pear and Red Chile Sauce with Japanese Pickled Mackerel!  
     The red color of the sauce does not come from tomatoes.  It comes from mild red chile peppers!  Chile peppers and fruit are a classic Native American flavor combination.  After the colombian exchange, chile peppers became a big part of Korean cuisine.  It did not take Korean chefs much time to figure out that Korean pears taste great with mild chile peppers.  The chilled Korean Pear and red chile pepper buckwheat noodle entree called naengmyeon became an instant classic!     Shime Saba is made with a few varieties of mackerel.  For those who have never caught wild mackerel and eaten the mackerel in the same day, it is hard to describe how good fresh mackerel tastes.  After mackerel sits for 12 hours or more on ice, the color of the meat becomes opaque and the meat becomes oily.  Mackerel spoil quickly.  Mackerel also travel through tropical waters, so parasitic pathogens render mackerel unsafe to be served raw.       Shime Saba is the name for lightly pickled mackerel for sushi.  Fresh mackerel are heavily salted for a while, then the salt is rinsed off with sweet rice vinegar.  This process produces a nice clean fresh pickled mackerel flavor and it makes mackerel safe to be served as sushi.       Korean chefs do make great sushi and sushi is well liked in Korea.  Seafood has always been a big part of Korean cuisine.  Naengmyeon is sometimes offered with raw fish or dried seafood.  It seemed like a good idea to garnish this naengmyeon entree with shime saba, because the flavors go well together!     
     Spicy Sweet Korean Pear Red Chile Pepper Sauce For Naengmyeon:     This recipe makes enough sauce for 2 to 3 servings!      Place 1 chopped peeled and seeded Korean pear (asian pear) in a container.     Add 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar.     Add 1/2 tablespoon of ginger paste.     Add 1/2 tablespoon of Korean mustard or dijon mustard.     Add 6 to 8 chopped garlic cloves.     Add 3 tablespoons of small chopped onion.     Puree the ingredients with an electric pureeing wand or with a food processor.     Set the light colored puree aside.     Heat 3 cups of water over high heat.     Cut the stem end off of 12 to 14 red jalapeno peppers.     Blanch the trimmed pepper in the boiling water for 1 minute.     Drain the hot water off of the peppers and cool the peppers under cold running water.     Split the peppers in half.     Note:  Scrape most of the seeds and pulp out of the peppers, if you prefer a mildly spicy sauce.  Leave the seeds and pulp attached if you want a spicy flavored sauce!     Coarsely chop the blanched peppers and place them in a container.     Add 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar.     Add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar.     Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of honey.  (The amount of sweetness is a personal choice!)     Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of thin soy sauce.     Puree the ingredients with an electric pureeing wand or a food processor.     Combine the light colored puree with the red colored puree.     Add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil.     Add 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame seeds.     Add sea salt and white pepper.     Add 1 tablespoon of Korean red chile powder.  (Chinese chile powder can be substituted.)     Add 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of Spanish paprika.     Mix the ingredients together.     Place the sauce in a refrigerator, till it becomes chilled.
     Korean Buckwheat Noodles:     Boil a pot of water over high heat.     Add 1 portion of fresh Korean buckwheat noodles.     Stir the noodles occasionally, till they become fully cooked.     Drain the hot water off of the noodles.     Add cold water and a few handfuls of ice cubes to the hot noodles in the pot.     Stir the noodles by hand, till they feel like they have a firm chewy texture.     Drain the ice water off of the noodles.
     Shime Saba Naengmyeon:       I only suggest preparing home made shime saba with fresh caught mackerel.  Pre-prepared shime saba is available as a frozen product at asian markets.  It is a nice quality sushi product!     Place the cold noodles in a mixing bowl.     Add enough of the chilled spicy sweet Korean pear red chile pepper sauce to coat the noodles.     Toss the ingredients together.     Use a long tine carving fork or chop sticks to twist the noodles so they look nice and place them on a plate.     Sprinkle some thin julienne sliced carrot over the naengmyeon.     Bias slice a 4 to 5 ounce piece of shime saba, so the slices are large bite size.     Place the shime saba slices on top of the naengmyeon, so they look nice.     Garnish the plate with a savoy cabbage leaf, a couple of thin slices of jalapeno and a green onion that is flower cut.
     The flavor combination of light sweet pickled mackerel and spicy sweet naengmyeon is incredibly delicious!  Yum!  ...  Shawna

Harrah's Wizard of Oz Slots

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My wife and daughter just returned from Harrah%26#39;s where they played the two Wizard of Oz machines by the cashier. They said the darn things would not stop paying off. They made over $250.00 apiece. They told me to be sure to post this......even though I detest slot machines. ha, ha

Harrah's Wizard of Oz Slots

I was going to post this......funny.....went to edgewater today......slow there.....bank of 3 wiz of oz next to sports book....have always wanted to play but was too crowded too try.....put 20 in lost 10 fast...lady next to me only one playing besides me...she dumps 50.00 playing max spins real fast.I took the 10 and tried her machine. sixty cents a pull....all of a sudden a fairy godmother comes down in a ball and i get a free spin right after i had just spun....something about an extra bonus spin....all the spaces were wild except for 1 and i got back 257.00. I almost passed out.///// went to quick hit and won 57.00 and then won 50.00 on hot shot......what a day!

Harrah's Wizard of Oz Slots

To celebrate went to albertos and had a really good mexican meal.

have to try the oz machines when we get back to AZ this winter. Congradulations on your good luck!! I would have almost passed out too. Where is Albertos? My husband and I liked Casa Seranos in Mohave. Our opionion is that even though it was a bit of a drive it was our favorite compared to Bullhead and Havesue%26#39;s Seranos. Didn%26#39;t try the one at Riverside though. You would think that beings they are a chain the food would be the same. But our experience wasn%26#39;t that way. Mohave%26#39;s had better presentation and portions. Overall taste was better ,to us anyway. And the wait staff is friendlier. We love their Fajita Salad (Chicken or Steak) and the cost was reasonable for lunch (around 5.75). Oft times my husband and I would share it beings it is so big. They also keep the warm chips flowing and serve them with two kinds of salsas and a hot chorizo bean and cheese dip for free with meal...great deal!!

We just got back now from casa at riverside....my daughter graduates tonight from laughlin high and this is where she likes to eat.....same everything as the other ones. They like the loaded mexican pot skins. I ate the combo of soft taco, cheese enchillada and chile releno....it was good but albertos is better. This costs 9.50 here and 10.25 at albertos. Albertos is in the laughlin shopping town center on needles highway . Take james woodbury to end and turn left and you are on needles highway.....pass the park, library, post office and you will see the shopping center. This is big town ....we have aldelpes supermarket, 2 mexican restraurants which are albertos and casa torta(something like that lol...foods pretty good also)and a lousy pizza place called mommas. I eat the lunch buffet there cause its only 5.00. Not too bad for that price but not worth ordering otherwise.

i don%26#39;t know why i can%26#39;t get the time adjusted right on here. Its only 355 as i write this.

Polkadad, Congradulations to your daughter on her graduation day.!! Will try the riverside Casa Seranos. Also, thank you for the heads up and directions to Albertos. Will try that as well. We spent 4 months this last winter and with your help (and Grif and Calsuede) we had an easy time deciding where to eat and gamble in town. We look forward to coming back this next winter and discover more of Laughlin and the surrounding area.

Ok well, I got back from Laughlin yesterday and had a great time.I did hit every casino there except for the Tropicana, which was only because it was on the other side of the street and I didn%26#39;t know it was there until we left in the bus yesterday. I told the bus that I guess I would hav eto go back because I missed one. LOL I did try the Wizard of Oz at one of the casino%26#39;s but I lost on it. I did see it at other casino%26#39;s, but never was able to get on it. Oh well trust me, I lost a whole lot of money without playing the Wizard of Oz ! :(

Did you take a bus from vegas here for like 5 hours?

sorry .....your other post said you stayed at harrahs....

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