It started right after work Friday afternoon. George was off that day, so I had the car and drove home to pick him up before heading to the Las Vegas Strip for our big event that evening. But first, we had some dinner of course. We went to this little gem of a restaurant inside Neiman Marcus at the Fashion Show Mall. One can easily miss the unassuming door to the NM Cafe. Once you walk through the door you’ll be surprised by its simple contemporary design with bright warm colors.
The Popovers are a Neiman Marcus tradition.
The menu list is short and slightly in the higher price range. But the quality of food and a comfy atmosphere makes up for it. We both ordered...drum roll, please...cheeseburgers with fries. We figured if they can turn something simple like burgers into a great tasting meal than everything else on the menu is a no-brainer. We were not disappointed. The angus meat patties were grilled to perfection and the french fries tasted divine. Nothing was soggy and had just the right crunch and amount of spices. As an appetizer, George also ordered a Pasta Fagioli soup which was extraordinarily tasty. As some kind of an Neiman Marcus staple, popovers are served before any meal. These light scone-like breads usually are served with either a chicken broth dip or strawberry butter. The strawberry butter is a treat in itself.
After our meal we wandered through the Neiman Marcus department store, marveling at their eclectic array of unusual Christmas decorations, Japanese wafers and certain art work being displayed throughout the store.
Then the event of the day was drawing ever so closer. And it was finally time to take our seats for the Diana Ross concert inside the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The place was packed. Not one seat was empty. I didn’t know what to expect. She is now 66-years old and couldn’t possibly be the same whirlwind she was when I last saw her in the 1980s. Back then, I was still living in Munich and she performed at the Olympiahalle. It was one of most energetic concerts I’ve ever seen and Miss Ross blew the iconic tent-looking roof off the whole Olympic Stadium complex.
Well, I didn’t need to worry. She’s still got it. The stage production wasn’t elaborate at all, which was fine by us. A live band, backup singers, a few dancers and Diana Ross. What more does one need? We just wanted to hear her sing those amazing songs. And that she did. This lady can sing the blues. And the Motown hits. And the all the other hits that followed after that period of her career. One song after another she sang. One hit after another. The audience went wild. We’ve seen Cher, Celine Dion and Bette Midler in this venue. But never have we seen people jumping out of their seats and dancing in the rows and aisles in this place before. She was amazing. These so-called stars of today, all these little flavors of the moment, don’t even come close to the talent and professionalism that is Diana Ross. Now this is whom I call a true Superstar. And there’s still no mountain high enough for this diva...
Diana Ross, as she was performing one of many songs at Caesars Palace’s Colosseum on Friday, November 12th, 2010. (Photo taken from the Las Vegas Sun)
The rest of the weekend was spent very leisurely. For the first time in a long time we both actually slept in both on Saturday and Sunday. That rarely happens. Later on Saturday, we had one of George’s friend, who does landscaping work on the side, saw off the top half of our apple tree. It started dying off and we suspected some kind of fungus. We’ll see if that helps to rescue the bottom half of the tree which is still green and growing. We had some additional tree trimming, pruning, raking and cleaning up done.
We also did lots of walking in the park, some shopping and caught up watching recorded movies on television. Yesterday we got our flu shots. And a big turkey for Thanksgiving next Thursday, where we’ll have the family over for a big dinner at our house. There’s going to be a lot of cooking going on. And I can’t wait for the feast.
Gobble, gobble!
