Vegas, Day Two: Soccer for Fun and Profit

This is Las Vegas, after all, so I should not have been surprised to find a temptation control device in the bathroom.

Temptrol.

I clearly had the Temptrol set at "cold" for the weekend, as I managed to avoid inappropriate longings, entanglements, and financially questionable decisions save for the dollar I plugged into the nickel slot machine on my way out of the buffet. Cashed out for $1.45, thank you very much.

And, this being Vegas, the trip to the buffet was inevitable. We landed at an off-strip member of the Station chain of monstrosities, this one Texas Station (yee hah!) way, way west on Lake Mead Road. It went on and on and on. Feast Around the World Buffet, here we came! What a cavalcade of food. I visited Italy, Asia, the US south, Mexico, Thanksgivingland, and West Soft-Serve Yogurtia. The regional verdicts? Pizza: very bad. Braised tofu chicken: surprisingly non-repulsive, bordering on downright tasty. BBQ rib: sticky sweet, but meaty and not overcooked. Rolled beef taco: deep-fried goodness. Shredded beef, presumably for tacos but residing in a tortilla-free environment on my plate: not bad at all! Actual onions included! Refried beans: Tucson-quality! Stuffing: blah and in need of more sage. Soft-serve chocolate: eh. Better with chocolate sauce on top, and since it was Vegas and all the calories that happen here stay here, well, I made it better. Final verdict: who the hell can complain about mountains of food for ten bucks?

Worst sight seen at the buffet, second runner-up: pile of crawfish under a heat lamp on the steam table. I love fresh-boiled mud bugs as much as the next girl, but "Feast Around the World Buffet" would not be my first choice of venue. First runner-up: two older ladies elbowing their way through the salad bar line to forcefully plop dollops of (in order) shredded lettuce, whole prunes, shredded beets, and krab-with-a-k salad onto their plates, topped off with large glugs of ranch. Worst sight, period: salmon medallions swimming in a thin gray sauce topped with an oil slick. Perhaps it was a diorama of Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdez, but here it was simply labeled "salmon."