Gordon Ramsay - Steak

The days of the famous $1.99 Las Vegas buffets are long gone and Vegas has become a foodie destination.  Every famous, celebrity (and some not-so-famous) chef has a restaurant (or several) in Las Vegas these days and you literally could now spend your days out of the casinos and in the restaurants.  And for the price of some of these restaurants, the hotel is probably making as much money off of food as gambling now-a-days!

I spent a week with my Aunt and Uncle at the end of April/beginning of May this year at a condo just off the strip.  Just touring around various hotels we passed by Spago (Wolfgang Puck), Mesa Grill (Bobby Flay), KGB: Kerry's Gourmet Burgers (Kerry Simon), B&B Ristorante (Mario Batali), BurGR and Gordon Ramsay Pub and Grill (Gordon Ramsay) as well as Craftsteak (Tom Colicchio) and Lagasse Stadium (Emeril Legasse).  And those were just the few places we happened upon while strolling around.  I really really wanted to go to Mesa Grill (and we even had a coupon for it), but we weren't hungry when we walked by and we never made it back to Caesar's Palace later.

 

 

some famous chefs strutting their stuff -
Las Vegas style! 

 

 

In planning our vacation the one big thing that I wanted to do was to go out for a meal at Gordon Ramsay "Steak" in the Paris hotel.  In fact, I was so keen on this that I was on the website so far in advance to try to make reservations for May 1st that their on-line booking system was not yet accepting reservations.   I am such a huge fan of Gordon Ramsay - I love all his shows and even though he's a giant asshole a lot of the time (for TV ratings no doubt) I love the sound of all the food he makes. Emma's youngest sister had been to Las Vegas the year before and she went to Steak and was raving it about it.  It was she who gave me a heads up about making sure to make reservations well in advance.

We arrived early for our big night and had a cocktail at a quaint little cocktail bar right near the entrance to Gordon Ramsay Steak - two for one martinis sounded pretty good to all of us!

Cheers!

You arrive at the entrance of Gordon Ramsay Steak and it's a faux "chunnel" since you are travelling from Paris (in the hotel) to Steak (in London).  There is a Union Jack painted on the ceiling of the restaurant so you know you are in the UK.

At the time we were there you could order off the regular menu, or as a special, Steak was offering a Hell's Kitchen Limited Edition Tasting Menu.  There were only 2000 Tasting Menus being sold and when they were done, they were done.  The Tasting Menu included an amuse-bouche, salad, appetizer, entree and dessert.  You could also choose five wine pairings to go with the Hell's Kitchen Tasting Menu, but if you chose the tasting menu everyone at the table had to have it.  We agreed, (and it was recommended by our waiter) that it was probably the best way to be able to try a variety of different dishes so we decided to go for it.

Had we decided to order off the regular menu, there is a "meat cart" which literally gets pushed up and down through the restaurant and you can select the cut of steak that you want for dinner.  Although you may not be able to tell from this photo, the meat is laying on a platform and there is a mirror behind it so you can see the reflection of the top in the mirror -- all except the Porterhouse which stands up in the front centre of the meat cart.  It really is a bizarre feeling to have a cart of raw meat wheeled by your table numerous times during your meal.

As you can see, we were seated just outside the open-concept kitchen.  This was both good and bad.  It was nice to be able to watch all the cooks and chefs doing their thing, but on the other hand it was very very noisy.  In fact, the entire restaurant was exceptionally noisy.  The noise level was the first downfall in a dinner that I had been waiting for and super excited about for months.

Looking into the kitchen from our table and spying

alllllll those beef wellingtons!

 

Looking back into the restaurant from our table

Bev and I began with a pre-dinner cocktail - the signature cocktail of the evening (you know how I love a signature cocktail!) which was some pink frothy thing, and which had some acai berries so it was some sort of superfruit cocktail.  Mark stuck with the martinis.

 

 

 

We were served a plate of three kinds of very fresh, different breads prior to starting our meal.  There were three pieces each of a garlic focacci, a swirled savoury roll and a kind of sourdough bread, all served with herbed butter.  And all very good; homemade fresh bread goodness.  Luvs it.

 

 

We had a cute young bus-boy who was training another young man.  When the bus-boy in training set the bread plate on our table, the more experienced fellow came over immediately and literally shifted the plate about a quarter of an inch to the right to make sure it was perfectly squared to the corner of the table.  It was quite cute, and was indicative of the level of service that is demanded of the wait-staff.

 

bus-boy in training ... water anyone?

 

We began with the Amuse Bouche, a Scotch Egg, described on the menu as being made with berkshire pork sausage and served with red wine braised cabbage.  It was made with a quail egg so it was perfectly tiny and fit with the idea of a "one-bite" amuse-bouche.  If you've never had a scotch egg it's a boiled egg (shelled, duh) then encased in sausage meat, breaded and deep fried.  It's like breakfast in a ball.

 

 

The egg was perfectly soft cooked with a gooey yolk.  The red wine braised cabbage on the side offered a cold, zesty bite to cut the richness of the sausage and the egg.  It was nice, but not out of this world.  Tasty but not something I would have to/have to/have to eat again.  Frankly, I thought the slaw was the best thing on the plate -- but then again I'm very partial to salty and vinegary flavours.

 

Bev enjoying the first bite of her amuse-bouche

 

The wine pairing was Louis de Sacy, Champagne Rose, Grand Cru, MV.  I don't really know what any of this means ... I really don't know anything about wine or wine/food pairings, but in case any of you foodies out there want to re-create Ramsay's menu, I'll give you all the deets.

 

The next course was a Spring Vegetable Salad made with fennel seared ahi (tuna), pea shoots, asparagus and candied rhubarb and was pared with Pala, Vermentino di Sardegna, 2011.

 

 

The salad was very good.  It was very fresh and the vegetables nice and crispy.  The candied rhubarb added a delicious sweetness to the zestiness of the dressing.  And the Ahi tuna was spectacular.  As you know, I'm not a fan of fish or seafood (if it swims in the water, crawls on the bottom or floats on top I'm probably not gonna like it) and you would NEVER catch me eating tuna out of a can (meat should not come out of a can! that's my policy).  However, this is the third time I've had a fresh tuna steak and really liked it.  (This does NOT include the tuna that Caitlyn had at Two Six {Ate} last year ... which tasted like canned tuna).  Anyway ... as usual I digress.  The tuna was excellent.  As you can see it was very rare, only lightly seared on all sides and with a very herbaceous fennel crust.  The tuna was sliced very thin - probably less than a centimetre thick but it was very fresh, good and cold and tasty.

 

Our f-a-b waiter (Steven?  Stefan?  George?  I really don't remember)

offering our next glass of wine

 

Our third course was the Mushroom Risotto which was described on the menu as "seared scallop, spring mushroom risotto, mushroom puree" along with the accompanying wine of Domaine Serene, Pinot Noir, Evenstad Reserve, Willamette Valley, 2008.

 

Ok ... I can't say it enough - I don't like fish and seafood.  Scallops always seem like something I would like but I don't.  I tried mine -- honestly for me it seems way to raw.  It looks like it should be dry and flaky but that is not how scallops are served.  I know this - it just seems wrong to me.  I ate about half of mine and gave the rest to Mark but Bev assured me the scallop was excellent; perfectly cooked.  Well, she would be the expert on this one not me, so you should definitely believe that it was delicious.

The mushroom risotto was very good.  Good earthy flavour; a little more al dente on the rice than I would have expected but it was a good lesson for me to find out what the appropriate cook on risotto rice is, as I tend to cook mine a bit more.  Then the little bit of mushroom puree on the base added a little more intense mushroom flavour.  It was very good mushroom risotto; but frankly, not better than mine.  (I've blogged about my mushroom risotto when I made the arancini).  I'm not comparing myself to Chef Ramsay ... but ... just sayin'!  LOL.

a moment out for cheers and a photo

There is no doubt that service is a high priority at Steak.  I would guess there were practically as many serving staff as there were guests in the restaurant.  However, we did feel a little rushed, with having our upcoming wine being explained and poured while we were still eating our prior course.  We did tell our waiter that we were not in a rush and asked him to slow the kitchen down a tad (we were eating five courses after all) as we wanted time to really savour and enjoy every course.  Even after asking to slow things down, I don't actually think it made a difference, and we continued to feel a little bit rushed.

The main course:  Roasted Beef Wellington, glazed root vegetables, potato puree, red wine demi glace and paired with Orin Swift, "The Prisoner", Napa Valley 2010.

It is an absolutely beautiful presentation.  I guess a normal entree would be the full beef wellington but because we were on the tasting menu, we were each served a half portion - which really was fine with having already eaten three prior courses and still dessert to come.

Everything was really good.  The beef was perfectly cooked, but could have been seasoned a bit more for my liking (but then again I'm a salt fiend so maybe it was just me?).  I LOVED the potato puree - it was silky smooth and creamy; served with the demi glace which was rich with a deep beefy flavour.  The entire plate was very good - but not exceptional.  For me, the absolutely best thing on the plate was the pastry that the beef was wrapped in.  It was light and flaky with a rich buttery flavour.  Absolutely delicious; and I was very surprised at how they managed to keep the pastry from becoming a mushy, gooey mess on the bottom where the beef juices were saturating the pastry.  That part was cooked perfectly.

Finally, on to our last course.  Dessert was Blueberry Tarts, described on the menu as brown butter filled blueberry tarts, vanilla bean anglaise, warm blueberry compote, citrus infused vanilla ice cream with micro mint.  It was paired with Leinenkugel's Berry Weisse, Brown Ale, Wisconsin.  Yes, that's right -- the dessert was paired with a beer!  We were pretty surprised.

Although it was described as a tart, it is more like a strudel in shape and presentation.  It was a very nice ending to our meal.  The blueberry (both the tart filling and the compote) was not too sweet and the vanilla ice cream was delicious.  It was smooth and and creamy with a very rich vanilla flavour.  On par with the rest of the meal, I thought it was very good but not spectacular.  The best thing on the plate, once again, was the pastry.  It was phenomenal.  They must have a really top notch pastry chef at the restaurant.

Mark digging in to his blueberry tarts and close up

of the Berry Weisse Brown Ale -- yes, it is pink not brown at all

Overall I have to say that I was disappointed in our dinner.  It was ridiculously expensive (ridiculously) and while everything was good -- and I literally have nothing bad to say about anything we ate -- I also don't think anything was truly phenomenal.  There is nothing that was served to me that I will remember and dream of in the future.  So that was very disheartening.  Perhaps I just had too high of expectations. 

In fact, our dinner at Gordon Ramsay Steak was not only not the best meal I've ever had, it wasn't even the best meal I had in Vegas.  A few nights earlier we had a spectacular Chinese dinner at Blossom restaurant in the brand new Aria hotel.  The service at Blossom was spectacular and the food equally amazing (we shared three dishes:  the spicy eggplant and shredded pork hot pot, at the recommendation of the waitress the garlic prawn fried rice - which had an outrageous amount of massively huge prawns in it (all the more for Bev & Mark as I picked mine out) and I believe the Kung Pao chicken though I might be mistaken on that one as it's been four months and I didn't take any photos).  For me, Chinese food never tops my list of go-to's for the kind of food I want to eat so that is really saying something - that Blossom was a more memorable meal (for one-sixth of the price, no less!) than five-courses at Gordon Ramsay Steak!

We did get some swag.  We got a copy of the Hell's Kitchen Limited Edition Tasting Menu with a signed photograph of Gordon Ramsay (I have menus numbered 1288 and 1302 out of 2000 available since Mark gave me his).  There is a Union Jack decorated paper bag to carry your menus in, some matches, and some little napkins and paper plate runners that I took for memories.

Christina Wilson, the winner of Hell's Kitchen Season Ten and the Executive Chef of Gordon Ramsay Steak was not in the restaurant on May 1st when we were there, but we were told that we could come back the next day and have her autograph our menus as well as Gordon, if we wished.  I did love Christina and was rooting for her in her season of the show but ultimately we had too many other things to do so we did not go back to meet her.

Sadly, not only do I have no desire to go back to Gordon Ramsay Steak, I have not recommended it to anyone that I know heading off to Vegas.  That is not to say that next time in Vegas you won't find me chowing down some burgers at BurGR in Planet Hollywood or enjoying a beer at Gordon Ramsay Pub and Grill in Caesar's Palace but I don't think you'll ever see me again at Steak.

Still ... you gotta love Vegas.

Viva Las Vegas

 

chillin' with some of our celeb friends!

deuces bitches!

 

a postcard from Vegas ... wish you were here!

Beech St. Burger

In mid April, as I was walking Gwenny around the neighbourhood I began to notice signs for "Beech St. Burger" now open on (shocking) Beech Street just blocks from my house.  And even though I'd seen the signs around the neighbourhood for a few days, I hadn't yet seen the place.  So I made a point to walk Gwenny along Beech Street, between Rochester and Preston Streets, to check it out.  Beech St. Burger took over the location of the former "Danny Panini" sandwich shop which, I swear, had been there literally just weeks before.  And the shop has had a total re-vamp.  I couldn't hardly believe it was the same store front.  Even though I'd never been to Danny Panini, I couldn't wait to check out this new burger joint ... and see if it was comparable to my burger love:  Hintonburger.

As the days grow warmer there is a small patio out front

 

The night before I was leaving for Vegas, Bonnie and I agreed that we would get the burgers for dinner since (a) I had no food in the house and (b) wouldn't feel like cooking after arriving home from Montreal just hours before and (c) having to leave the house at 4:30am to catch my flight the next morning.

We arrived for dinner and the place (although it is small) was packed.  A very good sign.  We were given a very warm and friendly greeting upon arriving and the cook (who we later learned was the owner:  Danny, formerly of Danny Panini) gave us some much appreciated advice on ordering:  the regular Beech St. Burger is a double patty and the "Baby Beach St." is a single patty.  Both Bonnie and I went for the Baby Beech St. Burger with cheese and bacon along with the baby fries on the side.  There is a fountain machine off to the side so you help yourself to the pop.  After ordering, Danny brought us out our food when it was ready.  You order and eat, and when you are finished you pay for your meal at the end.  That's a bit different.

chalk-board menu above the grill

lots of stainless steel gives a clean and industrial feel

 

The burgers are fresh made when you order and they are using local beef.  Fries are fresh cut.  They are definitely doing things right.

 

No shortage of bacon (very key) or cheese.

Super crispy and large portion size

 

The moment of truth -- the first bites:

 

 

 

The verdict:  a very good burger.  There are a few growing pains to work out.  My burger could have been cooked one or two minutes less as it was just a teeny bit on the dry side but still tasty.  I didn't like the cheese which was put on the the bun side of the burger along with the other condiments.  I prefer my cheese on the beef so it gets melty.  The fries were excellent.  Cooked perfectly in fresh oil so they were not overly dark coloured.  They were hot and crispy, exactly as they should be.

 

Danny, the owner was extremely friendly.  He made the decision to close down the sandwich shop and give the burger thing a try and I think this was an excellent decision.  He was also very open to feed back on how the meal was and you could definitely tell he was very keen on making sure his customers were happy and would do whatever he could to make sure that was the case.  A good burger place in this neighbourhood was definitely needed and I have no doubt Beech St. Burger will make a great addition to the neighbourhood.  It will definitely give Hintonburger some competition ... and for me it's literally only 5 blocks from my house so it is slightly more convenient ... but ultimately it has not replaced Hintonburger as my favourite ... not yet anyway.

 

I would definitely recommend Beech St. Burger.  The service was excellent - warm, friendly with a great neighbourhood feel to the place with strangers at different tables chatting both to one another and to Danny.  The food was very good, fresh made, hot and tasty.  Portions are very good and the food is a very good value, reasonably priced.  A convenient location with street parking for those of you not close enough to walk, like me.  Definitely a geat addition to the Rochester/Preston corridor.
 

Kellie's BIG 4-0 at The Urban Element

You know I love love love celebrating my birthday and I love love love The Urban Element, so when Kellie called me up and said she was thinking of having a birthday party to celebrate her milestone 40th birthday at The Urban Element I was 100% on board!  How could I not be ... two of my favourite things.

Hooray for birthdays!

Sean sent out the email invite which included the menu and I was so very excited.  I was glad to not have to wait too long until the actual event.  The day of the big party was also the day of a big snow storm ... which for almost the middle of April should not have been a shock; it is Ottawa after all.  But it did mean that it was too cold and crappy weather for me to wear the dress that I had planned on.  Oh and it wreaked havoc on Sean trying to make it home from the prairies in time for the party ... but after some 36 hours of being awake and on planes, trains and automobiles he did, indeed, make it home.  And the party was a go.

We arrived to be greeted by the wonderful hostess offering up a glass of sparkling or red or white wine.  Not being such a big fan of the sparkling, I chose the white.  Which went perfectly with the amuse-bouche which was being served with the cocktails ... and guess what?  Another of my very favourite things ... arancini!!!! 

Yay! How happy was I?  It was a fennel arancini with micro greens and was the perfect bite-size morsel of yummy delicious-ness. A short time later when resident chef Anna March was describing what we ate I remember her comment distinctly: "as if risotto is not good enough on its own; the arancini are deep fried"! Exactly!

Sonam enjoying an arancino

There was time enough during the cocktail hour to enjoy another arancino as well as socialize and get to know some of the party-goers that I had not met before.  And then it was time to take our seats at the communal dining table for the 'main event'.

Sonam and I being the only singles in the crowd made sure we were seated beside one another.  Not to say that we were trouble makers but I do recall mentioning to the waitress when she was inquiring as to whether we would like more wine, that she need not ask us in the future ... to just go ahead and re-fill our glasses!  She gladly obliged.

First course was a mushroom veloute with buttery croutons, truffled creme fresh and thyme.  I have had this exact soup from Absinthe (sans croutons but otherwise the same) and let me tell you The Urban Element blew Absinthe's version out of the water ... or mushroom broth or whatever you want to say.

 

The broth was thick and velvety with a lot of peppery, rich earthy flavour complimented with the cool creaminess of the creme fresh.  The croutons were crisp and yet still with a subtle buttery flavour and added a nice crunch.  While I loved the soup, I was careful to not finish the whole bowl as I knew there was still much more yummy deliciousness to be served and I wanted to be able to eat it all.

 

The main course was grilled pork tenderloin medallions served with marinated kale with feta and toasted almonds, roasted fingerling potatoes with a yogurt-mustard sauce.

 

Where to start?  Fantastic is about the best thing that I can say.  The pork was soooo deliciously moist and tender.  The yogurt-mustard sauce was different - not like anything I had ever tasted; it was made with whole grain mustard which I love for the crunch of the mustard seeds.  It was an unusual flavour and yet I kept going back for more and more with every bite.  The roasted potatoes were cooked perfectly, fork-tender and lightly seasoned.  And then the kale.  Normally I don't like kale that much, but this salad was fresh and citrus-y with a crunch and a bit of smokey flavour from the toasted almonds.  It was excellent. 

 

The only thing I was a little confused about was the tomato jam/coulis you can see in this extreme close-up there on top of the pork loin.  It wasn't described on the menu and I don't recall Chef Anna mentioning it in the description of the meal.  It was sweet, and I'm never a fan of fruit and/or sweet with meat.  I know this is a relatively common combination in fine dining, it just seems unnecessary to me.  In any case, it did not detract at all from the meal and I certainly finished everything on my plate.

 

 left side of the communal dining table and evidence that I
ate everything on my plate

 

right side of communal dining table ... is that an (almost)

empty wine glass at my place?

 

After some musical chairs so that Kellie and Sean had the opportunity to move about the table to be able to spend time with all of their guests, Sonam and I re-located from one end of the table to the other end.  We got a chance to chat with some friends of Kellie's who knew her from way back when in her St. Catharine's days ... which is around the time that I met her as well and to have our dessert.  We were offered coffee with dessert, but Sonam and I stuck with the red wine. 

Looks like Kevin is passing on the coffee too!

Good call ... however I forgot to take a picture of the dessert ... I blame the wine!  I will tell you about the dessert though ... a dark chocolate mousse with a coffee and Irish Cream foam sprinkled with house made sponge toffee ... served in a small mason jar.  Very quaint.

 

 

   early in the evening with less wine     later in the evening with more wine  

 

The dark chocolate mousse was outstanding.  Some of the best chocolate flavoured mousse that I have ever tasted.  Having made chocolate mousse many times myself I can attest that I have never managed the rich chocolate delicious flavour that Chef Anna achieved.  The coffee and Irish Cream foam layer was more of a very loose mousse (no ... that's not THE Loose Mouse) more so than a foam to me and I could have done without that layer -- it was very rich.  Sonam not being much of a chocolate fan though thought the coffee/Irish Cream layer was the better of the two.  And then the homemade sponge toffee.  I've got to learn to make this.  First off, I love sponge toffee (caramelized, volumized sugar ... what's not to love?) but this was way better than a Crunchie bar or the $1 bags of sponge toffee you can get at the dollar store!  It was sweet and sticky and chewy.  Absolutely perfect.  Too bad I was too full to finish all of my desserty.  But it was a delicious, satified full-belly happy.

 

 

What a great way to celebrate and mark such an important birthday.  Thanks so much for hosting such a great party!  It was so much fun and everyone had a great time, a great meal and a great time celebrating Kellie!



Le Nordik

Is there any better way to pass a day than hanging out with one of your "best-ies", relaxing with an aroma-therapy massage, steaming it up in the sauna, floating aimlessly in the salt water pools and of course enjoying a gourmet meal while sipping on some (i.e. lots of) delicious wine?  Oh, yeah ... and did I mention skipping work to do it?  I think that's about as good as life gets.

This year already Stacey and I managed to organize two such days to go to Le Nordik spa ... first one day in January just because we both needed a break from our day-to-day routine and then again in April to celebrate Stacey's birthday.

January 2013 ... enjoying a break from the real world

Celebrating in this spa-day style is a something that Stace and I have now implemented as our new tradition for her birthday -- last year having gone to Bleu Spa and this year back to Le Nordik.  For the celebration, the lovely Tanya and gorgeous Renée joined us for lunch (although they had to opt-out of the spa activities).

April Birthday cocktails and lunch!

also celebrating Renée's birthday just days apart from Stacey's

For our lunch in January, Stacey and I shared the "garlic and pepper roasted olives". This dish was outrageous. It was soooo freaking good, so when we were planning our April visit I was really hoping it was still on the menu; which (yay-hooray) it was! It is so good, I insisted on ordering it to share with Renée and Tanya, even though we were having a three-course meal that already included another appetizer.
 

I love olives and this is possibly the best appetizer that I have ever had -- I might even like it more than all the arancinis!  There are a variety of pitted and stuffed olives, green, black and kalamata along with roasted garlic and baby pearl onions.  They are both hot spicy -- sprinkled with red chilis and hot temperature -- sautéd in a smoky, spicy olive oil.  And although we were sharing, I most definitely ate waaayyy more than my fair share.  Incredibly delicious.  I highly recommend this appie for anyone who likes olives.  Just writing this and seeing the pictures makes me want some right now!!!

For the entrée, Stacey chose "lobster and creamy herb sauce on a bed of pappardelle pasta".

 

Nice big chunks of lobster and a good portion of hand made pasta.  I didn't try it but Stacey enjoyed it.  Since I was trying to be good, after all the olives and wine I decided on a grilled chicken salad.

 

 

Totally 80's presentation.  :-)   What can I say.  It was a salad.  The chicken was a little bit dry but it was fine.  It was a salad.  In April, I didn't bother with the salad though ... I went for the table d'hôte - it was a birthday celebration after all.  And I loved my "Angus beef short rib braised in St-Ambroise stout beer, fall-style purée and braised vegetables" waaayyyy more.  That was a deeeelisshhhous meal.  The beef ribs (sorry no photos ... I was too busy scarfing down my dinosaur size meat!) were so tender and juicy; they fell off the bone and literally melted in my mouth.  Mmmmmm big meat!

We've come to love this red wine which we can't get at the LCBO; it seems to only be available on the Québec side.  Stacey and I don't even have to look at the wine list when we order:  Match Book Syrah (although you'll likely hear me refer to it as "Match Stick" rather than "Match Book"!).

 

 

I mean here are the notes from the winemaker: "The fragrance of mocha, chocolate and wild dark berries waft from the glass with background hints of leather, earthy baking spices and toasted oak. Juicy flavors of blackberries and chocolate truffles are enhanced by subtle notes of cardamom, cinnamon, and cocoa powder." How could we not love this wine!??!!? Seriously!
 

And on to dessert.  In January Stacey chose the chocolate fondue for one ... but there was sufficient fruit and chocolate for both of us (or maybe she was just being nice to me and sharing when really she should have eaten it all herself?).

 

The fruit was super fresh and ripe and there was lots of selection.  The chocolate was smooth and quite thin - it was almost like a rich hot chocolate flavour.  Very very good.

ahhhhhh .... chocolate bliss

 

This is one of the best ways to pass a day - cold or warm, sunny or overcast (although raining does put a damper on the outdoor activities somewhat).  It is relaxing and you feel totally rejuvenated after spending the day with your good friend(s) doing almost nothing!  You'll sleep like a log after a day at Le Nordik ... you'll have relaxed, enjoyed some AWESOME food, your skin will be renewed and you'll feel ready to face the world again ... for another few weeks at least!  Until the next time ...!  And what a great birthday tradition!  Luvs it.