Victorian Christmas(es)

One of my favorite Christmas stories is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. For me, it’s a story that cements a connection between Victorian England and the holiday forever in my mind. So, for this Christmas Eve, I thought I would write about a couple of Victorian England and Christmas related things that I’ve seen or read recently.

Ely, NV Part Two: Dinner at the Cell Block Steakhouse

While in Ely, NV, celebrating my 50th birthday by driving a steam locomotive at the Nevada Northern Railway Museum (more information about that in this post), I also went out with my wife for a birthday dinner. Having done our research, the only restaurant Ely seems to have approaching fine dining is the Cell Block Steakhouse, located in the Jailhouse Casino. I like steak, and it looked like this was going to be our best—perhaps only—option for a celebratory meal at a nicer restaurant.

Back to Lawry's The Prime Rib

It’s been another rough week in terms of staying positive. At work, some recent stresses finally came to a climax. Hopefully, things will go more smoothly from here on, but it was a struggle getting to and through this point. At home, things are getting a little better, in that for the first time since January, we don’t have any pending repairs at this time (knock wood). On the other hand, the repairs this year took a financial toll, and that necessitated cutting back on some travel plans. On top of that, my wife discovered some sort of repetitive motion injury to her wrist. Considering that she needs to use a computer mouse for work, this is of some concern to us. Fortunately, she consulted with a doctor, and we have a plan to manage that problem.

It hasn’t all been bleak, however. This month marked the 80th anniversary of Lawry’s The Prime Rib, and they were celebrating with a special $80-for-two meal, and we decided to take advantage of that offer. I wrote about Lawry’s on this blog just a couple of months ago, but we tried a couple of new items this time, so I thought I would share this most recent visit with you all.

Dining at Disneyland: Table Service Restaurants

Welcome back to my series of posts about Disneyland food! In the first of three parts, I wrote about Eat Like Walt, a book about food at Disneyland while Walt Disney was still alive. Last week, I wrote about the quick service meals we ate on our recent trip. This week, I’ll talk about the table service meals we had this time around. How do those experiences compare to our quick service meals? The answer may surprise you!

Bob Taylor's Original Ranch House

As I’ve said before, I love prime rib. One of the best places in town I’ve had it is Lawry’s, but that’s all the way down near the Strip. Another of our favorite houses of beef is a great deal closer to home: Bob Taylor’s Original Ranch House. They’ve been around since 1955, and I’ve read that they are the oldest steak house in Las Vegas.

My Birthday Dinner(s)

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago. Traditionally, we celebrate it at home, and my wife makes the best Beef Wellington in the entire world just for us. However, this year, we were going to be traveling on my birthday, and ended up with two birthday dinners at restaurants: one here at home in Las Vegas, one in Monterey, CA.