Losing Track

Well, I would like to give you more detailed accounts of what I have been up to since my last posting, but I have lost track!  I have been bopping around trying to see everyone as much as possible and doing a pretty good job of it, actually.  I have been checking eateries off the list and seeing the sights.  Life is good.

I went everywhere on my first list!  And almost everywhere on my second list!  That was a lot of good eating!  Is it bad that I can't remember the days, but I can remember the eating?

Here is my battle outfit for checking things off lists

Sean and I really got down to business when it comes to checking places off:
-Pad Thai kitchen.  I got pad thai; they named this place as they did for a reason.  Mmm...  Sean got massaman curry, a standby.  Root beers all around, of course, in the classic Thai tradition.
-Rice Junkies.  I got Bibimbap, not my finest ordering.  Sean got teriyaki chicken.
-Cartopia.  We were crushed to learn that the crepe place was out of ice cream and could not make their avante guarde milkshakes, which I love.  But, the crepes were yummy :)  I got prosciutto, fig, chèvre, honey (would be good with pepper, too, I think).  Sean got something with Nutella, so bleck - I don't remember the details.
-Voodoo Doughnut.  I got the one shaped like a voodoo doll getting stabbed and a Mexican hot chocolate one, spicy!  I'm not sure what Sean got because I was overwhelmed trying to make a decision when he ordered.  Then we went on a milk scavenger hunt (sort of) involving a stolen key!  We succeeded and ate doughnuts with milk while sitting on top of a deserted parking garage and looking down on the middle-of-the-night downtown city streets.  Lovely!
-Fat Straw.  Bubble tea!  I got taro; he got banana (insane, right?).  We played chess.  I lost.  It was pathetic.
-Nick's Coney Island - Again.  We ogled pretty cars, did intensive people watching and ate burgers :)  It was just the pick me up Sean needed after unexpectedly departing from his consciousness earlier in the day.

 A very happy discovery on the list was Jade in Sellwood.  I went there with Miles and it was AMAZING.  I was filled with joy at the food (and being in Sellwood).  We had a very hard time choosing what to order because everything sounded fantastic.

I had green papaya salad with shrimp and a young coconut to drink/eat as appetizer/dessert.  

 He had poached chicken with ginger dipping sauce.

Kyle and I also checked a bunch of places off the list - even leaving time to stop and smell the roses. 

-The Blue Nile Cafe.  We shared a vegetarian combo and a regular combo.  Sooo delicious.  I think combo/sampler style eating may be my favorite method.  

-Tao of Tea.  We went to the tea shop portion and I got some new things to try: matcha and rose tuocha.

-Tea Chai Té.  We made it here *just* before closing in the midst of a full Saturday.  I got a white tea with chrysanthemum and rose.  Kyle got a rather spicy chai masala.

Bonus items: Staccato Gelato!  Saburos! Thai Derm!  Noodles and Co (I know it's fast food, but I love it anyway)!  ShaSha at McCormick's!

Okay, now for some pics of us playing in Portland on Saturday!

 

This busker was taking song topic requests and writing on the fly.  I asked for honeybees.  One of the verses was about environmental indicators.  Dead on, eh!?

 The snap peas were bigger in Oregon!

Why is this bench so low to the ground?  It fascinated me.

(It got higher at the other end, but still!)

Yarn graffiti bike rack!  I approve.

Mingling PNW

Two more days of mingling in the pacific northwest!  What a delightful Monday and Tuesday pairing.

Monday, I thought it might be a good idea to get some work done, so I made the short trip to Ava's in Beaverton.  Ava's is remarkable because it is open 24 hours, which is especially rare in Portland.  I, however, was there for your standard sort of timeframe, including lunch.  I had a yummy mozzarella sandwich with pesto and veggies and a cup of jasmine pearls tea.  Check it out!

and that pickle was better than it looks

After a few hours at Ava's it was time to say hello to my good pal Jubal!  At Hopworks!  Neither of them disappointed.  Jubal still gives some of the best hugs, makes me laugh, gives lots of mischievous looks, and has a badical accent.  Hopworks still has really good food and beer.  I had a burger with blue cheese and some fries plus a pint of a beer whose name I can't remember.  All was delicious, AND that checks one more restaurant off my list of places to visit!

Post-dinner, Kyle and I went to the waterfront and walked the Eastbank Esplanade across the river to downtown and Backspace, where I looked at locally made art and got a delicious Tao of Tea black mango iced tea.

sunsety, bridgy, Portland

When we got back to the apartment, we watched a well-made, interesting, not-too-depressing documentary: Beer Wars.  It tells the classic tale of the struggle of the little guy (small-scale local or regional brewers) versus the big guy(s).  Plus beer history and wacky beer personalities!

On Tuesday, Kyle and I took the MAX downtown to go have lunch at Bunk, a sandwich shop that I have been wanting to try for over a year since I read about it in the NYT.

MAXin' and relaxin' 

(You can see in my eyes how I feel about public transit - excited yet terrified.)

So, Bunk may be one of the most awesome places in the known universe.  I mean, look at it!

makin' sandwiches

   

the menu and the people who are about to have an incredible sandwich

See the line wrapping around the front?

I fell in love with Bunk before I even saw my food.  The atmosphere really spoke to my heart and soul and thoughts about what a really good sandwich joint should feel like.  Big chalkboard, black and white tile floor, hustle and bustle, kinda hole-in-the-wall-y and confident.  I ordered a smothered pork shoulder with green tomatoes sandwich, apple coleslaw and a birch beer.  

omg

It was so fantastic that I don't even know what to say, other than the obvious, "I need a teleportation device."

                   

That was a lot of delicious. 

After lunch, I got some great news from Vermont.  My lovely roommates-to-be found the perfect apartment for us, which they describe as "the best apartment in Burlington."  I am so excited!!  

Kyle and I finished off Tuesday by meeting up with Miles, Rachel, Harrison and Shannon to play D&D.  They all decided that it was about time that I see what this whole thing is about.  I was overwhelmed by the everything, but I think I got it pretty well, and I got a really big stamp on my nerd passport.

I am in Portland

I arrived in Portland in the wee hours of Thursday morning.  I basically managed to find a red eye flight going from east to west.  I didn't even know that was possible until now!  Luckily, I will undo it by taking a red eye back.  I'm pretty sure two wrongs make a right in this kind of circumstance.  Right?

I finally took the MAX (commuter train thingy) for the first time.

Despite having (a limited amount of) experience now, public transit still makes me feel like I am going to get lost.  I think this is a symptom of having grown up in a town so small we had no traffic lights and public transit was a scary element of the terrifying Big City.  Anyway, whenever I get on a bus, I cling to my transfer slip as if it is going to evaporate and look out the windows as if I may end up in a random location and have to remember how to get back using only my wits.  I know that thousands of people have mastered the public transit system, but for some reason, my gut still tells me that it is out of my mental grasp and I am doomed.  That said, I had no problems taking the bus, transferring to the MAX, and making it to Kyle's.

On Thursday, Kyle and I made my first stop at one of the places on my "to visit" list, Nick's Coney Island.  Nick's was on the list for it's top notch root beer, and did not disappoint.  I also noticed an interesting item on the menu, doughnut bread pudding.  Portland is a doughnut kind of town.  I am not sure if it is because of the famous Voodoo Doughnuts, or what, but people here like their doughnuts and, it seems to me, think about them more than average.  So, there must be a supply of high quality stale doughnuts about, I thought, and I love bread pudding (a lot).  I ordered it.  I was pretty good, but I thought the doughnuttiness overwhelmed the bread pudding aspects of it, unfortunately.  Basically, it tasted like doughnuts, which is not a bad thing; I was just hoping for something more remarkable.  I was still happy.  I like the guy who works there, and I suspects own the joint, and the root beer is... mmmmmmm...

After drinks and dessert, we headed back to Beaverton to attend ShaSha, the weekly happy hour gathering of Northwest team fencers.  It was good to be back in the group and enjoy the teasing and fencing chat (and fish tacos).  Also, this takes place at a sports bar, and I was delighted by TV coverage of the most amazing pair of pants I have seen in some time:

I got this pic from the WSJ

And, just now, because of my best friend, the internet, I have learned that you and I can own a pair of these fine trousers or WACKY MINI SHORTS!! simply by shopping where the bold golfers shop.  *Sounds of my willpower working really hard*

On Friday, Kyle and I thought we might go back into town and visit Bunk, one of the restaurants on my list of places to eat in Portland.  I built my bike for transport and it needed a bit of grease.  Kyle also needed a tweak to his ride, so we decided to stop by the Bike Gallery (<3) on our way out.  Guess what.  There is another problem with my cursed bike.  Ugh!  This one is, potentially, unfixable.  Why is this bike such a nightmare!?  It's rideable, but *sigh*.  We did not make it to Bunk and stayed in Beaverton instead.  We should be less pressed for time later this week.

On Friday evening, we left for the coast.  We rounded up our friends and rented an adorable cottage near Seaside.  Last time we did this, we were stuck in a 24 hour per day dark and stormy night kind of situation.  This time was much better.  We had normal Oregon coast weather, 60s and kind of bright grey.

On Saturday, we went into Seaside and found a motorcycle rally and a cat show.  Of course.  The streets were filled with bikes and the sidewalks were filled with vendors of leather goods and tattoos.  Our band of geeks fit right in with the crowd, as you might imagine.

Happily, I was not the only one who wanted to go to the cat show, and some of us checked that out.  It was odd, lots of rexes and sphynx... odd in a great way.  Post cat gawking, we went shopping for salt water taffy (obviously, I somehow got control of our activities).  We found a candy store that makes and sells 170 different flavors of taffy.  That is a lot.  I think the weirdest were jalepeño and cinnamon black licorice twist, and the one that I was most excited about was rhubarb.  I have so much taffy now.

We spent the rest of the time lounging about the cabin, playing board games, telling stories, and eating candy.  It was pretty fantastic.  I also did a lot of knitting.  It is like a switch was flipped by the cooler temperatures - MUST KNIT!  I'm working on a gift, so no pics, but I can say that I LOVE Blue Moon Fiber Arts.

Well, that brings us up to date.  I will try to take more pictures from now on.

The Great Hunt

Well, here we are again.  It is time for me to take part in yet another apartment/house hunt.  I suppose I will keep doing this until I find the perfect cabin/cottage/cozy-sized house and just snuggle into it.  This time I will be moving in with friends for the first time in my life (kind of).  I did move in with Dre before, but since our relationship started with random chance rooming, I think this still counts as my first time.  No Craigslist strangers (Though that can work out splendidly.  Hi, Beth!).  No listserves.  I am going in on a place with people I actually know already.  As an added bonus, they are awesome.  Yes!

So far, we have looked at a couple places, and I am feeling encouraged.  One thing I am very excited about is moving off of this loud and busy street.  It is abysmal for biking.  My room shakes when big vehicles drive by, which is common.  And, it is so loud that sometimes I cannot hear people with whom I'm on the phone.  It was loud living in downtown Ann Arbor, but this high-speed traffic loudness is its own brand of bad.  In summary, it is unpleasant.

We are also hoping to be closer to downtown than I am now, which will be excellent.  And, if the lucky stars shine down upon my head, we will have a dishwasher and a gas stove.  So, hopefully the search will be a wild success, and I'll have a new nest at the beginning of September!