Cabela's : 8650 Boomtown Road, Verdi, NV 89439. (775) 829-4100

When Mr.S. invited me to North Lake Tahoe for a family vacation, the last thing I expected was it to be "Sacramento hot" there. It was definitely a hot one; however, the weather was beautiful, the lake was bright blue and we brought along shorts, tanks and sandals. His brother graciously invited us to stay again at the same gorgeous cabin we stayed at this winter; with 5 spacious bedrooms (3 master suites) and 5 bathrooms- there was more than enough room for the eleven of us to kick back and relax. There was shuffleboard in the game room, movies (and the Olympic coverage) on the upstairs telly and a huge wraparound balcony to enjoy wine on while taking in the majestic view. During the day, we lounged on King's Beach (the kidlets even took one of those giant trikes out onto the water) and in the evening, we cooked dinner or went out to indulge in some fine dining. On Saturday, we took a jaunt out to Cabela's in Verdi (near Boomtown). Mr.S. was pretty sure that I would be bored off my rocker at Cabela's, but I had a blast. There were loads of rifles in the gun library, a huge selection of fishing gear and tons of camping gear and hunting/camo equipment throughout the megastore. They even had hollow point zombie bullets for sale. Eeep!




While we were there we shot targets in the old time shooting gallery, watched the giant fish being fed, made up stories about the various stuffed wild game (elephants, polar bears, hippos, oh my!) and then just when we were starting to wane a bit, we retired for some lunch at Cabela's Grill. Mr.S. went straight for the buffalo burger; whereas, I opted for the elk burger. The elk burger turned out to be good, the meat tasted much like your regular beef burger just denser. The accompanying coleslaw lacked flavor although it did taste like it was freshly made, as opposed to from a carton.



Anyhow, we made it out of there without doing too much damage to our wallets, although it was fun watching Mr.S. looking like a kid in a candy store. Men! ;) Also, the kidlets had a fab time. Their Grandpa indulged them a bit with purchases of camo gear and air pistols, which they couldn't wait to get back to the cabin and use in the film they were making.

Tomorrow's Monday again...Ugh! Maybe I should have bought some camo gear, then I could hide from the giant pile of laundry and other various housework that I need to attend to.

907 Tahoe Blvd., Incline Village, NV 89451. (775) 831-1000.
http://www.bitetahoe.com/

Don't you love it when you're on an out-of-town getaway and you stumble upon the perfect restaurant? Mr. S. and I pulled into North Lake Tahoe Friday evening and were ravenous, we decided to check out this little eatery snuggled in a teensy strip mall and lucky us we scored the trifecta of eats- delicious food, great service and no wait (even though the place was packed). How lucky were we? The food gods must have been smilin' on us that night.



The restaurant itself is pretty small and divided into two separate areas- a bar and a restaurant; however, both sides serve food. The menu consists of beer, wine, cocktails, tapas and small plates. For a place it's size, Bite had a pretty extensive wine list with a nice variety. I decided to try a glass of the Klinker Brick Syrah, which I ended up really enjoying. It had a wonderful silky texture and tasted of rich plum and hints of black cherry. For dinner, we opted to order four dishes and share. We started with the white bean and roasted garlic dip with organic carrots and grilled bread. This stuff makes hummus look like a sad pathetic step-child...it's creamy, it's chock full of flavor and even the grilled bread is amazing (I think they rub it with garlic?). From there, we moved onto some nice light grilled wild halibut silver dollar tacos with chipotle aioli, cilantro and lime (these tacos were so good that I was wishing I had more of them the next day when we were watching the 49ers-Saints game...the perfect football game watching food). To top off our food-bliss, we had the beef short rib sliders with crispy onions and sweet pepper spread (Mr. S.'s fav) and the pan-seared sea scallops with beet spaetzle, braised greens and brown butter (my fav). The last two were fantabulous! Although the beet spaetzle threw us for a loop at first. Neither of us could remember what it was at first and were taking guesses at what it could be... my guess was some sort of doughy pan-fried chicharonnes. We finally had to ask the waitress. They were so delicious though...my goodness. Every item we ordered at Bite got the thumbs up from both of us. Additionally, our waitress was quick and friendly. We were pleased as punch (and full as could be) when we left.  If we lived closer, I'm sure we'd be dining there frequently. As it is, we'll just have to hope that we somehow find ourselves out that way again.