musubi snacks and moonwalks

Before I left for Fall Break in Las Vegas, I visited groupon to see what deals I might want. That was a great idea! I found out about the 8th Annual Pure Aloha Fall Festival and Concerts at the Rio! I found out abour the MJ LIve: Michael Jackson Tribute Show at the Rio! And I was able to coordinate the two events for one grand day and evening on this sunny Sunday in October. Sweet!!!
I knew today would be the final day for the Pure Aloha Festival, so I had thought things might be winding down, some of the vendors gone, perhaps no more stage events. Wrong, wrong, and wrong! True, I had arrived fairly early - hey, my "$8 for two tickets" voucher said 11 AM as the start time and I had arrived about 11:15. Still, this IS Las Vegas, home of nocturnal creatures. The entertainment hadn't yet begun, but the merchandisers and food vendors were already displaying their wares.

First up was this SPAM concoction. I had already made the outer circuit of vendors and was cruising the inner lines when the word "SPAM" leapt out at me. Kama'aina Kravings' menu listed several variations of musubi and when I asked the young woman behind the register about them, she described them as "Hawaiian comfort food". Good enough for me! At $5 for two, I decided I could eat one there and save the other for later.
I opted to NOT get the deep-fried version. As it was, the musubi was roughly palm-sized, with a thick block of white rice and healthy seaweed paper. And you know what? It was quite tasty! The fishy taste of the seaweed combined surprisingly well with the hammy taste of the meat. I can certainly understand why it's called comfort food!

For my main entree, I ventured back to a booth that billed itself as healthy food, but...seriously? If you offer barbequed pork and grilled sausage, that isn't quite healthy, is it? No. But it was tasty! Also, as you can see, they offer heapin' helpin's of food for only $8. They even let me split the meat portion into half chicken and half sausage and didn't charge extra. Nice! My favorite part of this meal, though, was the Hawaiian corn. The man said it was his grandma's recipe and that she liked to have it for dessert. Corn kernels with shredded coconut and some coconut milk, that's all it was. Delicious, too, especially with the spicy sausage!
While dining, I spoke to several visitors at the table. Like me, most happened to be in Las Vegas and had stumbled upon the festival, but some regular attendees were there, too. After all, where else will they eat island food in this landlocked part of the world? I even had some Portuguese doughnuts (malasadas) later from the Hula Halua Kaleo O'Kalani booth - a baker's half-dozen! (They were good as not-too-sweet desserts for my next few meals in that neon-bedecked town.)

Seven drummers had been entertaining all of us as we ate beneath the canopied tables. Then, at 1 PM, the dancing began! The Hupa Hula Overall Competition began, with the winners from the previous three days now dancing for the grand title. Most of the dancers were women, some teenaged, some in their twenties and thirties, and one each in the categories of forty and over-fifty year old. Believe me, those older women certainly had the moves!
But what I liked best were the male dancers. Shake it, shake it, baby, aahhh, shake it, shake it... Ah, pardon my drool, but if you had been there, you would know exactly what I mean. Just in case, the photo above is of one of those young men. Very nice!
Next up was a six- (or was that seven-)man band called Mele Ka Mana. Some of the songs were definitely danceable, some seemed to be ballads, most were not in English. A group of dancers happened upon the scene during the last few songs and that was very entertaining.
But I was starting to flag. The morning sun had taken its toll on my energy level, so I decided to catch the free shuttle back to Bally's on The Strip. Maybe I would take a nap, maybe not, but I would definitely get out of the sun for a while.
I didn't take a nap, but I did take a cool shower and that revived me. Plus, I ate my other musubi and one of the malasadas and that recharged my energy levels. Back up the road to Bally's I walked, making it there just in time to take the last seat on the shuttle - whew! There are distinct advantages to traveling solo and this was definitely one of them. Most groups didn't want to be split up, so singles could usually get lone seats as the vehicle filled up. Yeah, me!

I made it to Rio just in time to get in line for the show...which meant almost ninety minutes before the doors would open. Whoa. I had not expected that. Good thing I had already exchanged my groupon voucher for my ticket, as that line was already long, too.
The show was very good. If I had not already seen the Meat Loaf event, I may have enjoyed it more. And if there had not been a microphone/mixer issue during the first song, that would have helped, too. But by the third song, I was suspending disbelief and was dancing in my seat to Thriller, Billie Jean, Black and White - oh, yeah! Then he started doing some of the old Jackson 5 numbers and I was loving it! By the time all was sung and danced, I'd had a great time.

By 9:30 that night, I was on the shuttle (last single seat again!) back to my side of Sin City. I had promised myself that I would venture to Twin Peaks to check out their venison chili and bread pudding. I had noticed those two items on their menu a couple of days earlier and was intrigued. First of all: venison chili? Oh, really? And we all know how crazy I am about bread pudding, don't we?
So, as it was on my way "home" to Polo Towers, it was a natural to stop by. I had one of the best waitresses ever. Attentive, friendly, helpful... and she wrote such nice things on my receipt! The food was very good, too, and I look forward to having the bread pudding in the morning for breakfast.
I gave her the ice cream.

must have been whle you were kissing me

... you took the words right out of my mouth!

The next man I ever kiss needs to see the romance in the Meat Loaf.

The next man I ever kiss needs to believe Steinman wrote some of the best love songs ever.

The next man I ever kiss has some pretty big shoes to fill.

postscript

Timing is everything. This morning, on the only news program I watch, Tom Jones was featured. They even showed concert clips of him doing all three of the songs mentioned in my last post! He's 71 now, so Mother Pat would have been 70 in March.
His look is different now and seems to have changed shortly after we saw his show. He's allowed himself to show his age, gray hair, gray beard, and it becomes him. I still think HE is a "sex bomb" and I'd still like to see him in concert again. Tom has a new album - oops! I mean, CD - out and the songs are quite different, with several old traditional standards and folk tunes. I had seen him at the MGM Grand, one of the cornerstones in Las Vegas, and apparently he still performs there. Maybe I can plan a trip to coincide with his in the next year or two.
Although the sound of the new songs is more serious, this isn't the first time he's delved into vastly different material. He did the same in 1994 when he released "the lead and how to swing it", one of my favorites. Take a listen. THIS is what being mid-fifties is all about for me. He was 54 in this video, recorded at the House of Blues in Los Angeles in 1994. I'm 53 now, still vital, still dancing, still.
Thanks to the tomjonesintl.com site for the video and the information! I had wondered about the title of the album and I like it even more now, knowing it was a tribute to Sir Tom's dad. Now, if I could only find a video for one of my favorites on the CD, "A Girl Like You". That would be so fine! Meanwhile, the original by Wolfgang Press will do nicely.

it's not unusual

‘Doc, I can’t stop singing ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home.’ ‘That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome.’ ‘Is it common?’ 'Well, ‘It’s Not Unusual.’ =)

The above joke was posted on a friend's facebook page and made me smile. As I replied to her, "OMG, Tom Jones is soooo fabulous!! When I saw him in Las Vegas in 2007, he sang "Sex Bomb" to ME! Yes, he did! (swoon!)"
Seriously, he DID! I had bought the tickets in December of 2006 and snagged front-row tickets for my husband and my mother-in-law for his show. Incredible! Even more so, the concert was on Mother Pat's 66th birthday and I knew she was going to love the show at least as much as I would. THAT was very important to me. You see, the trip to Las Vegas was a last hurrah with her, as she had Stage 4 colon cancer and was doing very poorly. We had no idea just how poor her health was until we saw her. She had become considerably weaker since the Christmas visit and would actually die a month after the trip.
The trip to Las Vegas was one she had been trying to get us to take with her for years. She had retired early and had nothing but time, whereas we both worked and were lucky to get two weeks of paid vacation a year. To go to Las Vegas would take at least most of a week, leaving us little time for anything else. So, going to gamble with Mother Pat kept getting pushed to the bottom of the list. A real shame, in hindsight. She truly enjoyed the place, as do I, and she knew how to get around and where to find the best, and cheapest, entertainment.
I think the next time I go there, I'll have to find a place where her name can become part of the city.