HAWAII: One more item off my bucket list!

I went on a whirlwind trip to Hawaii with my sister, we left Friday and came home Tuesday. We packed a ton of stuff in that time.

Here is the run down followed by some photos:

1. Stayed at Turtle Bay Resort on North Shore Oahu-I highly recommend this place, has everything you possibly need to play and eat and relax!

2. Learned to Kayak, so easy and fun and we saw some turtles swimming with us!

3. Went horseback riding as the sun set over the ocean.

4. Went to a wedding where 2 of the sweetest people I ever met renewed there vows and committed to each other all over again with their adorable daughter Noa watching over.

5. Learned to ride the public bus up and down the main highway, with no car and no taxis, this is how you get around and it was so easy and fun!

6. Walked a 1 1/2 mile trek to see a small waterfall in a very lush and dense garden, Waimea Falls.

7. Ate one of the best meals ever at Lei Lei's, restaurant on the golf course at Turtle Bay, crab stuffed salmon, to die for!

8. Had shave ice at Matsumotos's and ate a shrimp plate of Giovanni's shrimp truck and even signed our names to the truck!

9. Got Tattooed by the sweetest guy at Polynesian Tattoo Factory, thank you Donovan for our cool little sister tattoos!

10. Sat on our balcony every morning to have Kona Coffee and watch the waves roll by in Hawaii!

Mahalo Hawaii, I hope to visit you again someday!

A Vegas Day - Spring time & Pinballs

A Vegas Day with Tanya

We took off in the morning and headed to the Bellagio to see the spring time display, It was beautiful, with cherry blossoms and tulips and daffodils, plus they built these huge birds from flowers and the bamboo waterfalls made such a tranquil sound, they even had a bamboo temple with a huge nest that had 1000 origami cranes in it! The smell was so sweet and I think this was one of my favorite displays. If ever in Vegas you must visit the Bellagio to see the seasonal display, no matter what time of year, GO!

After the Bellagio we headed to The Pinball Hall of Fame:

The Pinball Hall of Fame is an attempt by the members of the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club to house and display the world's largest pinball collection, open to the public. A not-for-profit corporation was established to further this cause. The games belong to one club member (Tim Arnold), and range from 1950s up to 1990s pinball machines. Since it is a non-profit museum, older games from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s are the prevalent, as this was the 'heyday' of pinball.

And since it's a non-profit, excess revenues go to non-denominational charities. 

So grab a bag of quarters because you can actually play the games, 

we spent an hour playing, it was too much fun!!

To see more then just my photos head to: Pinball Museum

After Pinball, we stopped at Olive Garden to have lunch, then we headed to the Zia record store where you can buy discount Vinyl, Cd's, Dvd's and so much more.

Whew! That was a FUN FUN FUN Vegas day for sure!

The Pinball Museum:
UPDATE: Tanya put photos on her blog of the amazing games as well, so please check out  BEADANDNEEDLE

Be sure to play this guy, he is hilarious, he throws more insults at you than Andrew Dice Clay!

This one was a bit scary!

                                       

Why am I not famous?

I have this knack for making things famous, all except for myself....
I started reading the Pioneer Woman's blog long before she had a tv show and pots and pans at Walmart. I also started watching Laura Vitales cooking videos long before she had a tv show and cookbook. Now these 2 are famous and making bucket loads of cash....jeepers.

They are still really great to get some tried and true recipes from so when I needed a good dinner idea I check them out on you tube.

I had some shrimp in the freezer and decided I needed a really good shrimp scampi recipe so a quick search on you tube and I found Laura's 10 minute scampi...oh, sounds perfect!

I rinsed the shrimp to thaw them and away we went.

This recipe is so flipping easy and so delicious! I am changing the recipe to make more sauce, you really want more sauce if you are serving with a loaf of french bread, Yum!

Get a pot of salted water boiling to make linguine and turn the oven on to 425*

1. Grab some shrimp (thaw if frozen or use fresh) to fit the bottom of a 9x12 baking dish in a flat layer.
2. Pour in a cup of wine (pinot gregio worked great)
3. Add 1/2 stick of melted unsalted butter
4. Pour in the juice of 2 lemons
5. Add 8 garlic cloves minced
6. Add some salt and pepper and red pepper flakes if you like a little kick.
Mix together and put in a 425* oven for 7 minutes for small shrimp or 10 minutes if using large shrimp. You can put a loaf of french bread in the oven too as it takes 10 minutes to heat as well.

Drop your linguine in the boiling water  to cook for 7 to 10 minutes.
I made my own fresh pasta earlier in the day, that was so much fun. I love to make pasta now and the take the time to make it from scratch, having the kitchen aid mixer with the pasta attachments helps, but I have heard by hand is fats and easy too!

Now that 10 minutes has gone by, take the bread and shrimp out of the oven, drain your pasta, add it to the shrimp dish, sprinkle on some fresh cut parsley, and give a good stir to coat pasta with the sauce, transfer to a deep serving platter so you don't keep cooking the shrimp in the hot baking dish,

Serve with the crusty french bread and butter, some Parmesan cheese and some more of that Pinot Gregio! Wow, fast and fabulous for sure!

I was so hungry that I forgot to grab my camera to take a picture of my dish, it was amazing we ate the whole plate, using the bread to mop up all the sauce! I will add a photo next week, I will be making this at least once a month!

Have a great week, be back soon with more from Viva Las Vegas!