After a busy day exploring the North Vegas Outlet Mall we decided to wander down Fremont Street and try the highly recommended Joe Vicari's Andiamo Italian Steakhouse at the D Casino Hotel. I was hoping to enjoy a spontaneous fine dining experience to review for my dining and tourism travelblogue, Take a Bite of Las Vegas. We figured that at 5:30 in the afternoon we could get a table without a reservation - but no. 

The best thing about touring the booths at farmers' markets and craft fairs, is meeting the entrepreneurial artisans who are so passionate about their products. Here are some of the sweet treat goodies I found at the December Got Craft? holiday fair. They will be selling their treats at other markets and fairs so check them out.

We humans are a wonderfully diverse species. Just think of the different languages and cultures that have evolved in different parts of the world. One aspect I find especially fascinating is the question of taste.

For example I have a strong aversion to whole olives, yet I enjoy tasting different olive oils. On the other hand I love anchovies on pizza  – a choice that causes some of my friends to throw up their hands in disgust and order a plain pizza margherita with only tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.

Vancouver, BC: Carousel Theatre's James and the Giant Peach is a visual feast to delight everyone from wide-eyed six year olds to their misty eyed grandparents. The design team of Al Frisk (Set), Lights (Gerald King), Puppets (Annett Mateo) and props (Heidi Wilkinson) have created an playing space filled with a riot of bright bold colours and objects,  in which Barbara Clayden's charming and imaginative costumes still succeed in standing out. The John Fluevog shoe junkie sitting beside me was casting looks of envy at the feet of the Bugs, clad in gorgeous Fluevog footwear.

Eleven days till Christmas family get-together and stocking-stuffer gifts remain to be found. Luckily this weekend a two day holiday craft fair - Got Craft? - is open from 10 AM to 5 PM today and Sunday at the Maritime Labour Centre.

Nobu Las Vegas restaurant in the Nobu Hotel located within Caesar's Palace is the largest of the 31 Nobu restaurants located round the world from Dallas to Dubai but we were still not sure of being able to be seated when we spontaneously decided to eat there.

A single thin crust pizza accompanied by two fresh salads was the perfect quantity of food for three petite gals to share  for a casual supper before a movie.

Wine tasting with the SASSYS is always fun, unpredictable and often surprising. We all like wine, drink socially but never to excess.  None among us claim to have palates discerning enough to distinguish a hint of gooseberry from a touch of mango but we all know what we like and don't like.  So although we follow the standard tasting procedures, our tastings are more fun than formal and the  primary point of our wine tastings is to decide whether or not we like the wine, find it good value  and would choose it again.

Vancouver, BC: Why, you might ask, would a screenwriter turned indie film producer write scorching sex scenes starring his wife, and then cast his longtime "best" friend to play her leading man? That's the starting premise of Wide Awake Hearts, a witty, fast paced play, that opened Friday night in the very intimate theatre space at Little Mountain Gallery, just off Main Street. It's just one puzzle posed by this metatheatrical work, in which "real life" and film making intertwine.

Eating the most tender duck confit at a little cafe in the Mirepoix market while on a food-writing course in France almost 8 years ago remains one of my favorite food memories. I have heard great things about the duck confit at Les Faux Bourgeois and this French restaurant has been on my dining wish list for a while. Until now I have not got there but on the evening we were going to see Wide Awake Hearts at the Little Mountain Gallery theatre just off Main street, I managed to get an early dinner reservation for three of us.

As the strains of a Verdi aria filled the air of St. Mark's Square, it was easy to imagine that we were seated at a open air café hearing a gondolier sing as he punted his gondola through the waters of a canal in Venice. But we were not in Venice, just having lunch in the Palazzo along the Grand Canal of  the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.