I just have to mention the luncheon Las Vegas put on for the Expo! Expo! show yesterday. I can't even begin to explain the centerpieces and decorations—of course, I had packed my camera away like a dummy, so I couldn't take pictures—but they were spectacular. The lunch itself was tres elegant, with four small dishes on one plate of things like vodka-poached prawns with fresh horseradish cocktail sauce, celery fennel cucumber salsa and spanish olive tapenade, and free-range chicken on a sugar cane swizzle stick with grilled pineapple and sweet-and-sour sauce, with a mango mirin sweet chili glaze. And the dessert! A little chocolate slot machine filled with a jackpot of white and dark chocolate mousse with Grand Marnier. Accompanied by a cute little white chocolate die, which I valiantly tried to chip away at—there was no possible way to try to eat it elegantly, but boy was it good! Viva Las Vegas, and I can't wait to see what you pull off for the 2007 IAEE show, if this luncheon was just a preview.
I wasn't quite as impressed with post-luncheon speaker John Alson, author of Life is a Gift... Don't Trash It . His rules for living the good life were things like, "show up," and "participate" and "listen to your body." The other people at my table seemed to love him, but after a while, it seemed like a good opportunity to go check my e-mail. Bad Sue. Bad, bad Sue. Maybe I've heard enough motivational speakers now that I'm jaded, but he just wasn't doing it for me. Still, he got a standing ovation from a good portion of the audience, so who am I to say?