Mohegan Sun Girls’ Weekend Part 1

I’m glad I didn’t gamble my life savings away. In fact, I spent three days at Mohegan Sun but didn’t even gamble a cent!

Mohegan Sun is located in Uncasville, Connecticut, and it is the second largest casino in the United States. But I wasn’t there for the casino. I was there for a girls’ weekend. And you know what a girls’ weekend includes, right? Day trips, wine-and-food pairings, workouts, spa appointments, shopping, and lots of relaxing in fluffy bathrobes and plush beds. And dessert.

That beauty above is the fallen chocolate cake from Todd English’s Tuscany. During dinner one of the girls asked, “why is it called fallen?” I said, “because it’s falling straight into my mouth.”

They laughed, thinking I was joking.

Before I get to the rest of dinner, let me start at the very beginning. I was contacted by Mohegan Sun’s PR Manager to enjoy a Girls’ Blogger Weekend (full disclosure: accommodations and food were provided for free), and I brought along my good friend Beth as my partner in crime.

After we checked in at the VIP Lounge (where they offer sparkling wine – how cool is that?), we relaxed for a little bit and walked around the hotel, checking out the Chihuly sculpture and just hanging out.

Then we met up with the other girls head out to Mystic, CT for our different activities. Beth and I chose the Mystic Aquarium, where we tried to muffle our squeals everytime we saw something adorable, which was every 2 minutes.

That is what 2,000 lbs look like: Beluga whales.  These giant creatures were so cute, I wanted to pet them. (But I didn’t.) Some of my other favorite attractions include:

Cute little penguins and neon jellyfish…

… a thorny fish, a blue lobster, and Nemo.

Later that night, we met up with the other girls at Todd English’s Tuscany, one of the fine dining options at Mohegan Sun, for a  food and wine tasting.

(pic from Theodora)

The bloggers that weekend were (left to right, top row): Caitlin, Theodora, Julie, Beth, and me, (left to right, bottom row): Elizabeth, Anne, Maria, and Tina. Check out their blogs!

We were there for a five-course meal with wine pairings, so we all came hungry. (I didn’t wear leggings this time, though.)

We started with antipasto: calamari, an appetizer plate, and flatbreads. We aslso tried our first wine for the night, and it ended up being my favorite: Apothic White, which tasted like a cross between a reisling and a moscato.

For my primi course, I chose the Tuscan salad, but without any olives. I hope Todd English wasn’t offended.

For the pasta course, I chose the rioctta gnocchi. Beth, who was seated beside me, chose the linguini and clams. I really liked the soft, pillowy gnocchi (check out my How To Make Gnocchi post) but after one forkful of Beth’s linguini, I was smitten. The pasta was cooked perfectly, with a garlicky white wine and lemon sauce.

The whole table was getting full at this point, but we still had our secondi plates. I had the crispy skin salmon on top of brussels sprouts and polenta. I rarely order salmon when I eat out because I like eating it at home, so I’m glad I got this. The skin was light and crispy, and the flesh was almost creamy.

Beth ordered the sirloin with broccolini, pancetta, and mashed potatoes. One of the benefits of eating with a friend with similar food tastes is that you can plan to share dishes, so I was able to take a few bites of this hunking piece of flavorful steak.

We had wine pairings with every course (two whites, two reds, and a dessert wine) and I think with this course, we had a Da Vinci chianti, which I also liked a lot.

For dessert, we had a assortment of Italian pastries, too.  I only tried a couple of bites of the cannoli and sofgliatelle, but mostly it was because I wanted to save room for the fallen chocolate cake: a decadent molten chocolate cake with Tahitian vanilla ice cream and raspberry puree. It’s really nice ending a meal with a fantastic dessert. It made everyone at the table even happier!

It was such a fun dinner, with lots of laughs and wine refills, and I feel very fortunate to have been part of the special evening.

After dinner, we had the option to check out the casinos or go to one of the lounges or nightclubs. Do you think we took advantage of the waived covers and go to a nightclub? Nope, Beth and I went to Sephora.

We had a lovely time with our fellow bloggers, and this was just the first day of our Mohegan Sun adventure!

Have you ever been to a casino?

   

20 Responses to “Mohegan Sun Girls’ Weekend Part 1”

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Pingback: SSL: Nov 24 « EatingPlaces