Vegas Food Highlights!

So for those of you who read Alex's Wonderland, you know I just got back from a weekend in Vegas. Thought this would be a fun place to highlight some of the AMAZING FOOD I HAD THERE!!!!

First off, I didn't get a picture, but I got one of my favorites at this snack shack outside of Carnaval Court at Harrah's... GARLIC FRIES! They were delicious! Definitely on par with those from San Francisco... which are pretty damn good. I'm also a little biased- Garlic is definitely my favorite spice. I'll put it in everything if I can.

Next: NOBU at the Hard Rock! For appetizer: Rock Shrimp. SO SO good (Not such a good picture). Really similar to Bang Bang Shrimp from Bonefish, or Golden Shrimp from Opera in Chicago... different flavors, but all a similar fried shrimp with a chili-mayonnaise based sauce on top of a bed of greens.


For Dinner, we ordered a whole variety of sushi. I'm not big on anything raw, or anything too crazy, but the Soft Shell Crab and Shrimp Tempura rolls were fabulous. It's really crazy how full you can get off of not much sushi!


Next up is FERRARO'S. Delicious Italian. So many good things on the menu and specials that it was hard to decide, but I went with the Lobster with mushrooms and a White Wine sauce. Amazing. The sauce was so light, but perfect. We also had this lemon cake for dessert that was absolutely delicious... again a real light flavor but still so rich and delicious. Definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for GOOD Italian!


Now this was from the Terrace Cafe (I think...) at the Wynn. Lobster Shrimp Salad, also with some crab, which held it together perfectly. The amount of sauce holding it together was minimal, and it was truly the best meat based "Salad" I have ever ever had! Perfect for lunch.

Red Velvet Cake

This is the recipe I made about a MONTH ago for my roommate's birthday... and am just now getting around to putting it up. I'm clearly very on top of it! Either tonight or tomorrow I think I'm going to make a homemade pizza and do a half and half recipe for it, so soon you may be seeing a 2-in-1 homemade pizza post!

I also want to say that I TRIED making an icing recipe that came with this cake recipe... but it was absolutely horrific, so I ended up just going with a can of Pillsbury Cream Cheese Frosting due to time constraints. But any kind of Cream Cheese frosting goes great with red velvet.

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 ounces red food coloring
2 tablespoons cocoa (heaping)
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda

1 large can of frosting if you're doing a double layer cake, small can if you're doing a 9x13, or use frosting recipe of your choice.

Red Velvet Cake Directions:

1. In a larger mixer bowl, cream together butter and sugar.

2. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. In another bowl, mix red food coloring and cocoa until cocoa is completely dissolved. Add to the creamed mixture.

4. Mixing on low speed, add buttermilk and flour alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Mix well but do not overbeat to ensure a light fluffy cake.

5. Add vanilla flavoring, mix well.

6. Blend the baking soda into the batter.

7. Transfer into two floured and greased 9 inch round cake pans. (Or 9x13 pan)

8. Bake in preheated 350F oven for 25-30 minutes. Cool, and then frost once completely cool to the touch. (If using the 9x13, just use the "toothpick check" to make sure it's done- insert a toothpick, or fork, into the center of the cake and make sure when it's removed it doesn't have any batter stuck to it, crumbs are ok!)

(I decorated with one of the cans of icing that comes with different decorating tips... this one was called "Cupcake Icing" and came in a prettier color than the other kind, and was BUTTERCREAM! Very yummy.)

ENJOY!