World Food Championships, inaugural reception

It is later, but not that much later. After a couple of beers and a blog update I returned to my room, the intention was to grab a quick hours snooze, have a spot of lunch then off back to Bally’s for the press conference. It didn’t quite turn out like that, I slept until twenty past four, that left me just over half an hour with which to get dressed and get to the hotel. A very friendly Ethiopian taxi drive got me there with ten minutes to spare. He also informed me that the president (no capitalisation) had been in town campaigning, ah well.

 The Skyview ballroom is on the 26th floor of Bally’s overlooking the strip. I met with Jeff Morris wand was awarded my ‘access all areas’ media pass. The access granted also included the VIP events which meant that essentially I had wasted five-hundred dollars, or maybe not, time will tell.

Adam arrived and the press conference began. There were prepared words from Mike McCloud the chief organiser from MMA Creative, then the expert board were introduced, this included my Vegas contact Julie Hession. Then Adam had his say, I attempted to get some pictures and capture some of the proceedings but an irritating journo sat right in front of me and performed as though his was the most important one in the room. He blocked most of my shots and placed his equipment directly in my line of sight. It transpired that he was from grill.com so perhaps he was the most important one there. Then the reason why I should not put my trust in gadgets became evident, the memory on the cam-corder filled up and my phone crapped out. From tomorrow it’s back to low tech pen and paper, and my Mac.

Afterwards we dispersed I found myself sharing a lift with Julie, I refrained interrupting her conversation to introduce opting instead to wait until we were on the casino floor. I then approached her, for all the world probably looking as creepy as any crazed internet stalker. She offered to meet up on Saturday to answer a few questions, rather than press the matter I faded back into the crowd and set off for the opening reception at The Paris.

Arriving early and showing both my media and VIF passes confused and baffled the staff manning the entrance. I won’t go into any great detail about the reception as I bloody hate the things but will instead content myself with saying that the pickings were slim indeed. Within minutes I had exhausted my free drink allowance, there was no sign of Adam, I turned my attention to the food. Small portions, no more than tasters, well prepared and flavourful but not enough to satisfy a Chinese field mouse, as the saying goes. When Adam did finally arrive I was drinking the free coffee. The speeches were made, not dissimilar to that recently witnessed at the press conference, more thoughts on the content later, perhaps. Adam then peeled away with his PA or agent or someone allocating his time anyway. They had a brief discussion, then the hordes descended. I was quite close at this point and could have easily joined the throng to await my chance, but, after watching for a few minutes as punter after punter peddled their tenuous links to Adam then had their photo taken with the celebrity, I felt somewhat jaded by the whole affair. I have access to all areas and all VIP receptions so thought it prudent to leave any contact, hoping not to seem too creepy when I eventually do take the opportunity, until a time when he was not so pressed.

There were a number of other ‘celebrity’ foodie types there none of whom I had ever heard of, they are probably all very good at what they do but with my level of interest in the toilet, I left, caught a cab and returned to the Excalibur. A couple of beers and a cheeseburger will ensure I feel better.

I have a judging commitment tomorrow afternoon so I’d better learn the rules before then.