Saint Amazing

Last stop...Saint Cupcake.  Got four mini cakes:  vanilla with chocolate buttercreme frosting, pumpkin spice with cream cheese frosting, chocolate with chocolate buttercreme frosting, and vanilla with Oregon Marionberry buttercreme frosting.

They were just the right size and oh so tasty!!

A perfect way to cap off our trip.  We had yet another amazing few days in Oregon, and are sad to leave her behind again.  Think good thoughts for a safe and boring flight.  Thanks for following us on our adventures!!

XOXO - Patty & Chris

Food Truck!!

For the first time today, we tried the Portland Food Truck scene.  We had a grilled cheese and bacon at The Grilled Cheese Grill.  Simply amazing.  Perfectly toasted, a couple of kinds of cheese.  Awesome.

We also had the pork box from El Cubo de Cuba - really good.  Pulled Cuban pork, beans and rice, and fried plantains.  Awesome.

Off to get a cupcake and go to UPS to ship the "souvenirs" home.  Then dropping the rental car off and coming back to hang at the hotel until we leave.

An outstanding last day in Portland.

Tuesday Night Italian

Last night we thought we would try someplace new after Bailey's Tap Room. So we walked to The Pearl to go to Caffe Allora. It got good reviews, and it was a good thing for us to try something new...spontaneity for us. And...it was closed for a private party. Really? Yes.

So we walked over to Piazza Italia - this is the restaurant we went to on our first visit with cousin K and hubby M. We got a table by the window, and it was about 80 degrees in the place. So not comfortable. Then they brought out a huge basket of bread. Which we proceeded to devour. Then came our meals:

• Chris - Pappardelle with wild boar ragout
• Patty - La Something Something fettuccine with egg, prosciutto, onion, Parmesan, and black pepper

WOW.  They were both out of this world!!   The dish I had was fantastic, and it wasn't a creme sauce, just the parm.  It was fantastic.  And then they brought us another basket of bread.  And we ate some.

GH - we'll need some serious power work outs to work off all those carbs.  But it was totally worth it.

Mobile App

No one at work will be surprised by this, but I just literally discovered the mobile blogger app.  Look out blog-o-sphere!!

Pretty...aren't they?

Bailey's Tap Room

At Bailey's Tap Room...having a few beers...half pints (just like Laura Ingalls). Why doesn't anyone in the Twin Cities offer half pints?? It's like a gold mine.

We have already had:

Epic Hopulent Imperial IPA (P)
Two Beers Evolutionary IPA (C)
Green Flash Retro EPA (P)
Block 15 Golden Canary Sour Blonde (C)
Lagunitas Fusion X IPA (P)
GoodLife 29er India Brown Ale (C)
Bear Republic Racer 5 Cask IPA (P)

And trust me, there are more to come.

Lunch at Hopworks

We had lunch today at Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB).  Had the sampler, and their Imperial IPA was really good.  Had some awesome pretzels and pizza that was solid.

Then we came back to the hotel and took a nap and then have spent the last hour packing up our..."souvenirs."  Two boxes to ship home, and two boxes (cases) of wine/beer to check on the plane.  We are going to be very popular...I mean - we ARE very popular.  Right???

Pittock Mansion

This morning we took the self guided tour of the Pittock Mansion, owned by Henry Pittock (Owner of The Oregonian) in the early 1900s.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  Not as big as the James J. Hill house, or certainly not Glensheen in Duluth, but it was amazing.  The materials were all from the northwest coast - sandstone, wood, etc.  It had a central vacuum system, like Glensheen, and an intercom, elevator, and indirect lighting - pretty amazing for 1909!!

The grounds were also beautiful, with gardens all around.  Georgiana Burton Pittock, his wife, was an avid philanthropist and founded Portland's annual Rose Festival.   I am so glad we went; we've skipped it the last two times we were here.

Enjoy the pictures below!  And as a bonus, check out my super cute Queen Bee backpack in the last picture!!

More pics from the Willamette Valley

Vines at Sokol Blosser...grapes on those vines...nearby cows...

That Voodoo That You Do...

Post script to the Cap'n Crunch donut from Voodoo Donuts post...

This morning for breakfast, I had the Portland Creme, and Chris had the Ain't It a Peach fritter.   While I feel slightly ill from eating it, I don't regret it one bit.  Soft, chewy, sweet, buttery, chocolaty, creamy, wow.  It's been a long time since I've had a donut, and that one didn't disappoint.

Good thing we have three left.  Heading to Target today to buy a container to bring them home in my backpack.

Sadness...gone

My sadness over not going to Crater Lake today is gone.  It's going to be 82 and mostly sunny in Portland today!  Beautiful day for a pub crawl and to be outside.

Scratch Crater Lake...

We are "driven" out.  After the long drive yesterday and again today, we have made an executive decision and will be skipping our Crater Lake trip tomorrow.  It's about a five hour drive, and we'd spend the whole day in the car.

So, instead, we are going to do the sites in Portland.  We're going to go to Pittock Mansion, which we haven't done before, and hit a couple of brewpubs too.

Crater Lake will have to wait until a future trip when we can do it right.  So while I'm sad, I'm also relieved!

Beaux Freres - OUI!

OK, ended up at Beaux Freres vineyards - so lovely an charming. Chatted with the people that worked there, had a great tasting. It's nice when you fall upon a winery that is small and wants to be, but just puts up great wine. Lovely!! I sobered up in time to get to this one.  It was a nice cap to our day!!

One thing to note if you are drinking in the morning...Jesus Christ - mainlining 3-4 glasses of wine in an hour at 10:00 am does NOT make for a good time for me. I actually didn't have anything but water to drink at dinner.  Yes, you heard that right.  Don't judge me.

St. Innocent? St. BORING

Went an hour out of the way to go to St. Innocent. Boring, and not interesting. And the woman that served us was a pretentious asshole. Skip this one...need not attend.

Argyle and Lunch

Lots of sparkling wine and pinot...awesome...drunk...bought some sparking wine for Cory...eating lunch on the hopes I sober up some...

OK! Back after eating lunch. AMAZING. We ate at the Red Hills Market - had a roast beef sandwich with blue cheese and carmelized onions, and ham with gruyere. YOWSA. It was awesome. OH! And we also had the bread with olive oil. Wow...warmed olive oil in the bottom of a shallow plate, and crusty bread piled in it. So simple, but so amazing. On our way to St. Innocent now...I'm going to take a nap.

Sokol Blosser

First stop...Sokol Blosser. Excellent pinots. T and T need be ready for wine and card night. We had the same woman do our tasting that lived in Minneapolis for a while. It was a nice how-do-you-do. I am well on the way to total shitfaced-ness. Bought seven bottles, four that need to age 2-3 years. Any bets on me remembering that? Next stop...Argyle!!

YAR!!!!!

That is a Cap'n Crunch donut, people.

A. CAP'N. CRUNCH. DONUT!!

And Jeezy Creezy, it was fantastic. Also purchased: Two Portland Cremes (think Bismarck), and apple fritter, one "Ain't That a Peach" peach fritter, and one chocolate Oreo peanut butter god help me I don't care if it kills me donut.

Portland 2.0 - The Coast

Today was the day on the coast.  After rising bright and early, we left about 9:00 and got our rental car.  Amazingly, we didn't get a Dodge Caliber or a 1996 minivan, as we have in the past, but a Ford Fusion.  The only drawback to getting a rental car that is the same as the car you own, is that when your car is loaded with accessories, anything less is like a piece of shit.

We took off for Yachats, and stopped a at couple of place:  a scary little booth to get some beef and salmon jerky (FYI, the beef jerky was awesome), and then stopped at a little glass blowing studio.  There are a lot of those here - not sure why - but we got a great little vase and a super cool glass float.  It made me miss the glass blowing class we took 11 years ago with N and J - can it be that long ago??

We then got into Newport to eat at Rogue.  Um...has anyone ever had a good experience at a Rogue restaurant??  We always go, think it will be awesome, and frankly, their beer sucks.  And their food is marginal at best.  As we were walking the 6-7 blocks from where we parked the car, we were lucky enough to pass not one, but TWO, seafood processing plants.   (I killed a guy with a Trident.)  Now I will tell you, you have never gagged as much in your life, unless you are dealing with bloated corpses.  I actually gagged.  Between that and the smelly seals, it was enough to make you pass out.

After leaving the sunny, breezy, cool city of Newport, we headed to Yachats where we were ready to do some serious tide pool walking and see some spouting horns!  And guess what!?!  We saw NOTHING.  First it was totally foggy and overcast in Yachats.  Second it was so windy my hair was completely curly after being outside for only about 20 minutes, and I didn't get to wear my cute new hat.  Third, and most importantly...there was nothing in the tide pools but water!!  So much for that.  At least we go to use our walking sticks...and take our signature self portrait.

We then headed back to Portland for dinner - and on the way we stopped at another glass place...you guessed it, I bought some more stuff.  After getting back to Portland we picked a place called South Park, as they have a ton of locally sourced stuff on their menu, as well as seafood.  And my review is...meh.  So so, about a 6.5 out of 10.  I had scallops, Chris had halibut.  The bonus was that we had a Boneyard IPA and that was amazing.  All in all, not an amazing food day.  And as evidenced by this blog, not a very exciting happening day.

Tomorrow is wine day!!  I'm very much looking forward to it!!  Four wineries in six hours - pray for me and my liver, I'm gonna need it!

Portland 1.0 - I'm sleepy...

Well, we made it through the first day.  After an hour and a half nap, we headed out via cab to Hair of the Dog brewing and had a sampler.  It was moderately good, except for the 2009 barrel aged "Adam" that tasted like ass.  Gagged.

After that we walked to Cascade Barrel House and had their sampler of sour beers.  about 1/2 of them were good, and 1/2 were just so-so.  They had a kreik that was really tasty and also a gose - you know my motto:  if my eyeball doesn't fall out while drinking it, it's not going to be at the top of my list.  But those two were good.

After that we walked across the street to Green Dragon - we've been here before and thought that maybe they would have Pliny on tap.  Alas...no.  But I did have a cask Racer 5 that was amazing.  Earlier when we walked by Green Dragon there was some kind of outside party and people were dancing to, "We don't have to take our...clothes off!  To have a good time...oh no!  We could dance and party...all night!  And drink some cherry wine!"  Um, what?  I am easily spooked and let me tell you, I had some kind of awful flashback to my youth.

We hung out there for a bit and then called a cab and went to Henry's 12th Street Tavern for dinner.  Consistent, good, not fancy...just what we wanted.  Stopped at Whole Food for fruit and yogurt and stuff for breakfast.  It is now 8:47 pm and it is all I can do to stay awake.  I hate to say it, but drinking all day is exhausting.

Tomorrow we head for Newport and Yachats on the coast for some Rogue beer and tide pool wandering, respectively.  The walking sticks and my oh-so-cute blue floppy hat are at the ready!!

Portland 0.5

What a great day already!  It's 2:00 and here is what we've done:

1) Walked to Voodoo Donuts so I could get both a donut with Cap'n Crunch on it, and  Portland Creme (think Bismarck).  Well, since at 10:30 the line was about 85 people deep, we decided against it.  We'll hit it at a less busy time - i.e not Saturday morning.

2) Walked through the Portland Saturday Market - think farmer's market without the produce and lots of arts and crafts.  We bought a sweet new cribbage board, complete with a lid that let's you hold a couple of decks of cards.

3) Took the bus and walked about a mile to Queen Bee and Saraveza.  Queen Bee does purses - bought one in Duluth last month, and bought a back pack today.  SO CUTE!!   And Oh.  My.  God.  Saraveza?  AMAZING.  Had a sample of beers from Pizza Port, Green Flash, Dogfish Head, Beer Valley, and Solera.  I think it's pretty cool that we have been to those first three in person...   We also ate:  Deviled Pickled Eggs - I could have choked on one and my life would have been complete; the charcuterie plate - pretty damn good; and a roast beef pasty with hot chipotle sauce - um yeah, fantastic.  I washed it down with the double IPA from Beer Valley (the Leafer Madness).   See how happy we are below with our food and sampler!!

We then power walked back to the bus stop and caught a bus back to the hotel.  I took a little nap on the bus, quite refreshing, and now as I type this, Chris is going to upload pictures of our beautiful lunch at Saraveza and I'm going to run across the street to Johnny Sole and probably buy another pair of shoes I don't really need.

More to come, we are heading to Upright Brewing later, after which I am sure I will be anything but.  Then I'm not really sure...I'm sure it will involve copious amounts of alcohol.

Ready for Portland!!

We are ready for Portland!  Flight leaves tonight, all packed, heading to get dinner and chill.

All laundry done, bedding washed and changed, all dishes clean, bathroom spic and span - who says a little OCD isn't a good thing.

The next 4.5 days will bring beer, food, beer, wine, food, beer, hiking at Crater Lake, beer, hiking on the coast, beer, food, and more beer.  As is our style, packing 100 pounds of potatoes into a 5 pound sack.

Pray for a strong tailwind and calm skies, and that Ativan works like a charm.

Wishing ourselves safe travels!