Quick Update

I am loving the new winery so far!  They let me take my first Saturday & Sunday off to give me time to explore wineries in the area.  Since I had just been out tasting the Ribbon Ridge AVA with my friend, Laura a few weeks ago, I wanted to focus on wineries I had never been to.  I spent Saturday visiting the places on Worden Hill Rd.  One of my favorite stops was the Black Walnut Inn.  They are not normally open for wine tasting but since there was a weekend passport tasting event, they opened up their patio for passersby.  What made this tasting so unique was that they offered a full lunch.  Granted, it wasn't a big menu to choose from, but they had three different entrees.  I ordered the burger & fries knowing I could enjoy it with a glass of wine on their gorgeous patio.  The owners were so cute when I explained my picky eating; they brought me upstairs to sit in the kitchen and personally direct the chef (their son).  It was awesome chatting with him as he prepared my custom meal.

Last night we got our friends together for a beer club meet up.  Basically it's everyone at Eddie's winery who likes beer plus me.  We had the first meet up about a year ago at our Tualatin apartment.  Unfortunately we're only able to find the time to get together every few months or so, but it's always fun.  We pick a different theme for the type of beer everyone should bring (last time was all about stouts) and then we drink and have fun.  Eddie scored a free room at the Hotel Monaco through his work so we decided to meet there.  The theme was "anything goes" so we had quite a variety of brews in the room.

After hanging out for a while, we were starting to get hungry.  Someone mentioned poutine which seemed to stick on everyone's minds.  We knew we were just a few blocks from The Original which serves the dish.  Then I piped up that I'm on their email list and just received a blast about their new poutine eating challenge.  That pretty much sealed the deal so we packed up and walked the few blocks to the restaurant.  Everyone at the table placed an order for poutine while I had a bacon & egg breakfast. Davin went balls-out and went for the poutine challenge - five pounds of fries, gravy, and cheese to be consumed in 30 minutes or less.  When I saw the plate come out, I was actually hopeful for him.  Five pounds of fries didn't look as big as I thought it would.  In the challenge of man vs. poutine, poutine won.  I honestly believe Davin could have done it if he hadn't just spent the last few hours drinking beers.  It was still fun to watch and the restaurant gave him the free t-shirt in the end.  

I got to finish my book before everyone arrived at the hotel last night.  Paul Christopher's Michelangelo's Notebook reads like his templar novels.  Fast-paced mystery with similar characters.  I think I need to force myself to read at a slower pace though because all the books I've been reading are starting to blend together.  They all follow similar plots and have the same flow.  And then the characters & love interests in all these books are so similar.  It makes it really hard to keep each book separate in my mind.  That being said, reading his books is an enjoyable way to pass time.  I'm sure that a month from now I won't be able to recall any specific details of this book, but at least during the hours I spent reading this I was entertained.

First Thursday

I love having great weather when fun things are happening downtown.  Every first Thursday of the month, art galleries in Portland stay open late and pour free wine for people like me who can't afford art but like to look at it.  Eddie and I did the art walk a few months ago, but we didn't really know where to go and kind of missed out on some things.  It was still fun, but I was eager to get out and try it again.

We started out with a round of happy hour drinks at Three Degrees.  I just learned that their happy goes until 7pm which is great since most happy hours end too early at 6:00.  This place is at the end of the line of shops on the river by our apartment and we hadn't checked it out yet.  I gave their burger a try since it's half off during happy hour - and unfortunately they didn't have a discount on their mac n cheese.  Their mac is topped with goldfish crackers.  It sounds cute and yummy so I'll just have to bite the bullet and pay full price for it one day.  Anyhoo...  I was not impressed with the burger.  I've had fresher and better.  I certainly wouldn't pay full price for this, but $6 for a full size burger & fries is not bad.

Next we headed toward the art galleries we saw a few months ago (on 1st St. just south of Burnside).  I was sidetracked by the beautiful sunset and insisted on snapping a few photos.  This is a picture of the Hawthorne Bridge.

I was so happy to find the Attic Gallery open to us again.  This was my favorite stops the last time we went out because I fell in love with Lilli Faville's sculptures.  I think they are so fun and funky.  These ceramic dogs were on display again tonight. I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at them.

One of the galleries was closed when we walked by a few months ago but they were open tonight so we went in.  It's actually a chiropractor's office that apparently doubles as a gallery.  They were featuring illustrations from Dan Murphy-Hecht.  Eddie enjoyed these more than I - baby bottles & diapers meet war.  Interesting concept, but not my cup of tea. I just checked out the artist's website and he has an impressive resume - he's created some designs for the Rockband games and Guitar Hero II.  This was also a cool spot because Eddie and I were given free back & shoulder massages which felt so nice.

I was ready to head to the Pearl to visit the galleries up there because I had been told that's where the main event really is.  Eddie and I cut over on Everett St. and stayed there the rest of the night.  There were so many galleries back-to-back within a few blocks of each other on Everett.  My favorite stop in this string was the Werks Gallery.  They were featuring Chris Cole's Oceanic show mixing abstract art and kinetic sculptures.  This gallery was packed!  Everyone seemed drawn in by the kinetic sculptures.  If you click on his link, you'll get an idea of what they were like.  Every piece in the gallery fit in with the "oceanic" theme.  The sculptures were cool because they were interactive designs of fish with hand cranks that allowed the viewer to get involved and make the fish move.  Pretty cool.  I felt dumb though because it wasn't until after we walked around the whole gallery that I finally realized all the paintings I just saw contained fish.  Eddie got it right away, but to me these colorful works reminded me of old pog designs.  I just didn't look closely enough.

We finished checking out the galleries on Everett and decided it was time to head home.  We took our sweet time and meandered around the downtown streets.  We found a few fun things to take pictures of; notably the umbrella statue Eddie wanted to kiss.  Needless to say, it was an entertaining walk home.

I have another library book to review for my media mention.  I wish I had enjoyed the story as much as the cover.  That sounds rough, but Hillary Davidson's The Damage Done was not a polished story.  I understand that it's her first novel, but it had a pretty simple plot and tried too hard to hide the ending.  I think when the author tries too hard to cover their plot twits, it only makes it easier to guess where they are actually going.  It didn't help that I never grew attached to any of the characters.  That usually makes the story more interesting to read.

A Year In the Life

Today marks a special anniversary for me.  Eddie and I have officially been in Oregon for one year.  I cannot believe how quickly this first year passed.  Exactly one year ago Eddie and I were unloading our U-Haul in very cold weather and got slammed with some hail.  I couldn't help but feel nervous; thinking maybe we made a bad decision.  But we took our first walk to the nearby grocery store and fell in love with our apartment and surrounding area and knew that it would be good for us.

One funny note about our move.  We left California on March 31 and spent that night and the next (April 1) in hotels.  A census was conducted in 2010, but since we were technically homeless on April 1st which is the date the census form went by, we never filled it out.  I went on their website but never found specific instructions for how to handle our unique situation.  I just didn't know if they'd want to count us as Californians or Oregonians.  A month later a census worker knocked on our door and was confused when I explained our situation.  She wound up counting us as Oregonians.

I just took a few minutes to look at my photos from the last 12 months in iPhoto.  Here are some of my favorite moments from the year:  our first hike in the gorge, finding Simpsons references around Portland, my Seattle & Forks adventure with Kiki, flying in a helicopter, checking out the Oregon coast, visiting Twin Falls, visiting with Shaunna (and her mom) before she moved to Guatemala, going to Texas with my mom and meeting my family there, spending a few days in Lake Tahoe with my family, Sean & Heather's wedding in Lake Elsinore, getting a winery job, exploring Portland with Bree, going to free Yelp events, hosting our annual Thanksgiving dinner, enjoying downtown / waterfront living, the Sokol Blosser Christmas party with Eddie's karaoke, spending a day in McMinnville, spending a night in San Francisco with my mom & Kiki, donating my hair, exploring Hood river, and more!  In some ways I feel like I haven't done much this year, but looking through the photos reminds me that I really have gotten out and done quite a bit.  Makes me look forward to my second year here.

Anyhoo... today is also special because my dear friend, Cecilia, is in town with her fiancee.  They stopped by my winery with their friends for a quick visit.  It was really nice to see them and share some wine.  We made plans to see each other in the evening for dinner.

Eddie and I had a little free time before meeting Cecilia and Anthony so we stopped by Chris & Melissa's house to visit with my family.  It was a very full house with the Maciejewski clan and Heidi & Baron and their boys.  Even though it was a brief visit, it was so nice to catch up with everyone.  And to have some Texas sheet cake.  :-)

Cecilia and Anthony met us at our apartment.  I gave them a quick tour of the walking path on the river and a peek inside our apartment.  Then Anthony drove us all to Yakuza; a place highly recommended by their friends.  Eddie and Cecilia tried the more adventurous spicy drinks which seemed fun, but I don't like hot things.  I had their burger which was good, but I think they put some spice in there besides pepper because my mouth was tingling for the rest of the night.

We were all pretty tired after dinner so Anthony and Cecilia dropped us off then checked in to the hotel on our block.  I'm winding down now because Cecilia and I made plans to meet early for a little breakfast before I have to go to work tomorrow.

Not to end on a sad note, but I got some bad news today.  Two of my family members received heavy medical diagnoses this week; one endometriosis and one breast cancer.  I don't pray but both of these women have been in my thoughts all day.  So if you are reading this and you are the praying type, everyone in my family would appreciate your support for my Aunt Danielle and cousin Patty.

I really hate brining up a media mention after such heavy news, but I'm too OCD to skip the media mention.  I finished one of my "Lucky Day" reads from the library.  This time I scored with Ann Rule's In the Still of the Night about Ronda Reynolds' mysterious death.  I always love the way Ann Rule tells her stories because she is so tactful in the way she handles the facts of the case.  One thing bothered me about this book though: there was no answer.  We still don't know for certain what happened to Ronda the night of her death.  I feel like I didn't need to read a 300-page book to tell me that; reading the dust jacket would have sufficed.  But still, if you're an Ann Rule fan, you'll enjoy.

Rest of February

I think I'm glad that February is a short month.  I've never cared either way about it being the shortest month of the year, but since I'm so low on funds, it was nice to have the rest of this month pass quickly and get me closer to finding a job.  Hopefully.  Eddie and I haven't been up to much the past two weeks.  Just taking it easy.  We decided not to do anything for Valentine's Day due to our financial situation so I was completely surprised when Eddie came home with a little bouquet of daisies.  That was sweet.

Bear with me because I have several media mentions coming up.  I am still totally loving my library!  Without their recommendation, I never would have tried Three Seconds - a Swedish crime thriller.  I had a more difficult time getting into this than Stieg Larsson's series, but I still enjoyed this book.  Because it was hard for me to get into, I wasn't expecting a lot of the outcomes and plot twists they threw out.  I don't know if all libraries do this, but mine will feature brand new titles for a few weeks on a special bookcase on the main floor.  These books are marked with a bright orange sticker that lets you know it's brand new.  You're only allowed to check out two of them at any time and only for three weeks; you cannot renew these titles.  I've been so lucky to find great reads on this bookshelf so far.  Can't wait to see what will be on it when I go back.

As I said before, Eddie and I haven't been going out much, but we did get out and meet up with Lauren & Erica at Cascade Brewing Barrel House one night.  They feature a large selection of sour beers.  Definitely not my thing, but with Eddie's guidance and Lauren's first-hand knowledge of the place, I was able to find a couple of beers I could stomach.  Still, I don't think I'll be going out of my way for a glass of sour anytime soon.

I do have a pathetic story to share.  I had to pick up and deliver 20 cases of wine to my winery a week ago.  It had been raining and when I unloaded the first case from my car, I slipped on the slick surface of our storage room and fell flat on my butt.  Fortunately none of the wine broke, but it really hurt my bum.  I didn't make a big deal of it at work because I figured it would go away.  But the pain is still persistent so I'm finally making an appointment to see a chiropractor.  Hope it helps.  

Anyhoo...  Because of this, I've been cooped up at home even more than normal so I've been watching a lot of movies:  The Freebie, The Kite Runner, Alice In Wonderland, This Is It, and Elvira.  The Kite Runner is definitely my favorite of the bunch.  I read and reviewed the book a few months ago.  It was a book I enjoyed, so I looked forward to finally seeing the movie.  Movie was fantastic.  I think they found great actors to play the parts - especially for the children.  I do think the movie isn't as captivating for someone who has not read the book because it is so important to hear the thoughts running through the narrator's head.  You don't get so much of that from the movie.  Watching the movie has made me motivated to give A Thousand Splendid Suns a try now.

I know my update isn't in chronological order, but at some point during these past few weeks, I finally went to Little Big Burger.  This is a newer burger joint in the Pearl District.  These are gourmet little burgers featuring all fresh and local ingredients.  And housemade ketchup - not that I tried any of that.  I saw this restaurant start up a few months ago and immediately checked the Yelp reviews to see if it would be worth it.  After reading several reviews comparing them to In-N-Out, I was determined to try it.  The menu is similar to In-N-Out (burger, cheeseburger, fries, milkshakes) but LBB adds a veggie burger, fancy cheeses, and canned beer to their board.  Everything is super fresh like In-N-Out (hand cut fries, freshly baked bun), but they are completely different burgers.  Mine was slightly under-seasoned, but certainly one of the better restaurant burgers I've had.

Another book I found randomly at the library is Paul Christopher's The Sword of the Templars.  Another book by another author I had never heard of and I am so excited I decided to pick this one up.  It's a pretty similar story to The da Vinci Code - about a West Point professor and his niece following clues from their deceased uncle / grandfather that leads them through a series of centuries-old mysteries regarding the Templar treasures.  My favorite part about this book?  Turns out it's the first in a series by Christopher.  I'm already partway through the second book and I can't wait to see where this series goes.

One fun thing Eddie and I did the other night was try Salty's on the Columbia River.  Salty's had a booth set up at the Yelp event we went to for Eddie's birthday.  They were serving up piping hot clam chowder that Eddie really enjoyed.  But they were also giving away free gift certificates.  Ours was worth $25 so we got to have a nice, little dinner there.  We arrived at the right time and were seated at one of the window tables with a great view of the river.  It was gray and hailing so we didn't have the clearest view, but it was a neat experience.

Last media mention for the night.  I promise.  Another random book selection from the library.  This one I almost passed over because of the tile and cover, but it was displayed proudly in the mystery section.  I picked it up and read the inside panel and decided I might enjoy A Quiet Belief In Angels.  This is a great story about a young boy growing up in WWII era Georgia who is appalled by the recent slayings of young girls in his town.  He makes a vow with his friends to protect the young girls from this serial killer.  The book follows this boy as he grows up and continues to suffer losses.  The ending was a bit predictable but that's mostly because the book opens with the end with flash-forwards sprinkled throughout the story.  I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes mysteries / crime fiction and period pieces. 

I mentioned the hail earlier...  We actually got a fair amount of snow one day.  Eddie and I chose to stay in and play cards all day because we didn't want to drive or try to walk anywhere.  The snow melted by noon but then we got dumped on again in the afternoon.  Our little courtyard area had a very nice covering of snow - even if it only lasted about an hour or so.

And that was how the rest of February went for me.  I promise I'll try harder to write more frequently next month so you don't have to sift through my mundane stories just to see the fun pictures...

A Week In the Life

Not much going on with me this new year.  I don't have a whole lot to write about, but I do have pictures to share.  This first one is for you, Nonna.  I've taken the time to blow dry my hair and wear it down more times during the past seven months in Portland than I did during the last seven years in Irvine.  But I digress.  So in chronological order:

We actually got a break from the rain and had a few days of clear weather.  It was cold, but at least it was dry enough to walk around.  Eddie and I set out to use my last Groupon that expires this month - for AJ On The Rails.  Boy were we surprised to find it boarded up and closed indefinitely.  They have a second location that seems like just a coffee shop, so we'll have to get over there sometime next week.  After that little disappointment we found ourselves at Violetta - a burger joint that features all local ingredients.  Unfortunately the meat wasn't that amazing so the experience wasn't that wonderful for me.  But it's been on my list for some time so now we can cross that one off.

That night, Eddie and I caught up on Master Chef and finished watching the series.  I think it aired during the summer but we never watched it then.  It's probably my least favorite of all the shows Gordon Ramsay is involved with, but I'm still a sucker for these cooking competition shows.  I was so excited to see Whitney, the Pastry Princess, make it all the way.  Good for her!

Thursday was my errand day.  It began with a trip to the DMV which turned out to be a pleasurable experience.  Shocking, I know.  There's something different about Oregon DMV's, but I like it.  I think my picture is terrible though.  Ugh.

I had a bit of time to kill after becoming a licensed driver, so I had lunch at Pizzicato.  It was a bit on the pricey side, so I'll just have to make it a point to visit them during happy hour when you can get a slice and a pint for $6.  I swear you can't find quality food like this at such a reasonable price in California.  I think Kristen will enjoy this place the next time she comes up to visit.  Mom too.  And they have the large pepperoni slices like Pizza My Heart used to.

And now...  Because I know you're just dying to find out what I did after lunch...  I actually got to use a Groupon.  This one was for $60 in services at fáda that included a complimentary scalp treatment and massage.  It was nice to be pampered a bit.  I will say I felt totally out of place when I walked in.  It is so shi-shi - something I am definitely not.  But the receptionist was super friendly as she showed me to the coat rack to store my belongings.  Even though I was thirty minutes early, Scarlet and Paul were able to come out for my consultation.  A consultation?  With two people?  I was so confused.  I quickly learned that Scarlet would be in charge of my color and Paul would handle the cut.  Okay.  Now I really felt out of my league.  But I couldn't back out.

Paul sat me down in his chair and did a pre-cut before my coloring.  I explained that I wanted to donate my hair so he tied it in a quick low ponytail and made a very quick cut.  I figured he would make two or more pontytails to increase my donation, but even with the single chop, I had about fifteen inches to get rid of.  Then Scarlet led me back to her station and really took her time to get my color right.

I don't know if I'm an easy client or a difficult one because I don't give much direction.  I figure the stylist & colorist know what's best and if something horrible is ever done, my hair grows so quickly it doesn't matter.  I think Scarlet could tell the first round of color was just a little too light so she took me back to darken it up a bit.  I like to keep my hightlights very natural.  Especially since I only dish out the money to do my hair once a year it's imperative that you can't really tell when my highlights start to grow out.  Anyhoo...  Paul came back after the coloring to do my scalp treatment and awesome massage and then he did this to my hair.

The last time I chopped off my hair for a donation (April 2007) I had to go much shorter with my cut.  I just didn't have that much hair to play with.  So it's kind of nice that my hair is already nearly shoulder length and it will only be just a few years before I have enough to donate again.

The last thing I did this week was finish the airport book I purchased when I returned to Portland on Christmas.  I'll admit, I initially picked it up to check out because the cover intrigued me.  And when I saw Lee Child's name on the front I just knew I had to read the back cover.  So the idea behind this book is totally awesome.  Jeffery Deaver got all of these great mystery writers to work together to write two novellas.  Each author wrote a different chapter for the stories - including their own turn of events and characters as they saw fit.  When I realized that Lee Child and Lisa Scottoline both contributed, I was hooked.  I love both of their books and even though I didn't recognize any of the other authors, I was sure I would like this.  The first novella was fun for anyone who likes mysteries and music.  I was surprised by the amount of technical music detail in there.  And the second novella is about racing around to prevent the potential WWIII.  I'm going to give this book to Eddie when he flies to San Diego at the end of the month so he can pick up another airport book for me.

In conclusion...  I have three job interviews lined up for this week as well as a staff meeting at the winery.  Between these four things happening, I hope to finally be working full-time hours somewhere or at a combination of places.  We shall see...

I think I'm in love...  with Groupon!  A few months ago they had a special for The East Burn which I purchased.  It was going to expire in about two weeks, so Eddie and I decided to get out and use it tonight. This place is cool.  Restaurant & patio upstairs, bar & pool tables downstairs.  The restaurant tables were taken when we arrived so we scoped out the bar downstairs.  Also packed thanks to a Blazers game so we went back upstairs to wait for a table.  Fortunately we were able to snag two stools at the bar.  This place has a fun food or drink special each day of the week.  Tuesday just happens to be $2 pint night - all night.  Not just during happy hour.  And we're talking good beers here - not $2 Bud / Miller / Coors.  I mean great microbrews.  We took advantage.

I wasn't super impressed with my burger though.  The bartender didn't ask how I would like it prepared.  I realize now that I should have made a point to ask for it medium or medium rare.  It came out super well done.  I mean really well done.  :-(  But the beef came from Carlton Farms, so props for using a local supplier.  The bun was also good.  I didn't care for the herb & spice mix that they blend in with the meat.  I'm a purist and believe the best burgers need only salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  If you want to add Italian seasonings, why not just order a meatball.  Burgers shouldn't taste like that.  But one thing this place does right is having the $10.50 price of the burger include cheese & bacon.  As I've said before, I hate having to pay extra to add those toppings.  Oh yeah.  The fries were really good.

I finally finished the book I started reading before Christmas.  I had to put it down while I was in San Jose because I desperately needed to finish the 600 page An Irish Country Christmas that I had to sell back to the Portland airport.  A few months ago, Shannon suggested I try reading some Lisa Scottoline.  So I looked her up and purchased the first book in her lawyer series, Everywhere That Mary Went.  And it turned out to be a great recommendation.  I will say though that I think I'm starting to read too many of these pro-feminine murder mysteries.  They're all kind of starting to sound the same - even though I'm reading from different authors.  But they're still enjoyable so I'm looking forward to reading the second book.

"Rum Balls"

We got a late start leaving the hotel today.  By the time we all got up and moving, breakfast was out of the question.  Kristen was on a mission to try a good deli, but the one she directed us to was not what she was expecting so we ditched those plans and made our way to the Ferry Building.  We checked out all of the shops and I bought some yummy olive oil from Stonehouse.  

We decided to have lunch at Gott's Roadside.  Mom and I ate here last year when it was called Taylor's Automatic Refresher.  I just found out that the name was changed because Taylor's was already taken so the Gott owners renamed the restaurant after themselves.  I think when I tried them last year I had the mini corn dogs.  Mom and I split a bacon cheeseburger and chicken strips so we got to sample more of the menu.  We also had regular and garlic fries which were both yummy.

We got back to San Jose in the early evening and I spent the rest of the night hanging out with family.  Josh read me one of his school books and then he and I watched Home Alone.  One of my favorite movies and definitely one of the best holiday movies out there.  I never got into the sequels though - as with most movie franchises the original is the best.  I don't have much planned for tomorrow so I'm looking forward to a relaxing day.

"Blue Christmas: The Tour"

Exploring Mac-Town

Airplanes, spaceships, wine, and beer

Day of adventure!

I'm going to apologize upfront because I fear today's entry will be long.  Eddie and I did a lot today and it was fantastic.  We started out at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville - home of Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose (the largest floating airplane).  This plane is HUGE!  I really can't say anything else about it because nothing I can say will do it justice.  Eddie was fascinated with the artifacts & models in the museum's aviation building - especially with the WWII displays.  After I saw a model of one of da Vinci's flying machines and the Spruce Goose, I had seen all I wanted in there so I sat down and read for a bit while Eddie continued to explore.  They did have some fun interactive stations that we checked out.  One of the coolest things was before leaving this building, we stopped at the Evergreen Vineyards tasting shop.  They have a Spruce Goose wine label and a Rosie the Riveter rosé.  Eddie and I were both surprised to learn that Laurent Montalieu, winemaker for and part-owner of my Soléna, makes their wines.  Small world.  These were very enjoyable and very affordable Willamette Valley wines.  Eddie and I stocked up on a few for Christmas gifts.

Our museum journey continued at the Space building.  We were distracted for a few minutes by the planet display on the walkway between the two buildings.  It's a neat display along the path showing the relative size of each planet and distances from the sun so that was cool to see.  We learned some of the planets have dozens of moons.  Crazy!  Inside we found an awesome display from NASA's Mercury Program that included a spacesuit (surprisingly tiny) and a shuttle cap that was never launched.  One of the more fascinating displays for us was an interactive exhibit to watch magnetic fields in action.  This cylindrical contraption had a few ounces of oil mixed with iron particles to make it magnetic sitting in a clear bowl in the middle.  Then at the top and bottom of this bowl were two magnets that you could control.  You could move them closer and away from the bowl to see how the magnets affected the iron in the oil.  We played around with it for a few minutes because it was fascinating to watch the oil form into funny spike shapes (like Bart Simpson's hair) and then to keep pushing the magnets to make the oil form into a different shape.  I'm really sorry for describing that in detail because I'm sure that was way too nerdy for most people.  Just know that Eddie and I thought it was really cool.

We were both pretty hungry after spending these few hours at the museum so we decided to check out Golden Valley Brewery.  But when Eddie saw a sign for The Eyrie Vineyards, we made a quick detour.  This winery has so much history for the Willamette Valley because it was founded by wine pioneer, David Lett.  We both really enjoyed their selections of wine and Eddie bought a few really nice bottles of pinot for us to enjoy in about a decade or so.  But I digress.  Lunch / dinner at the brewery was great!  I was delighted to learn that my hamburger was made with beef from their very own Angus Springs Ranch.  Their menu claims that as few as twelve restaurants in our country source their beef from their own ranches.  And oh was it a tasty burger and cooked perfectly medium rare though slightly under-seasoned for my tastes.  Unfortunately the fries weren't so great.  But the beer was fine and the deals were fantastic - just $4.50 for the burger and $3 pints at the bar Sunday - Thursday.  You can't beat that - especially when those prices are for premium items.

We made two stops on the way home to buy ornaments and a stand to set up our first Christmas / Solstice / Festivus tree.  Eddie managed to score a free tree for us from his work.  Both of us agree that California gets stuck with Oregon's unwanted trees.  This tree is one of the fullest I have ever seen and has no major flaws in it.  Even though this one was free, the trees up here are super cheap - just $25 for a regular 6' Douglas Fir.  We managed to cram 300 lights, a bunch of silver ornaments, and a pretty star topper on our humble 5' tree.  Maybe we should name it.  This this is just cool!  I was really happy to be able to do this with Eddie because even though Eddie and I have lived together for several years, this is our first Christmas without roommates so it kind of feels like our first Christmas together.

Now it is finally time for me to wind down.  Let me start by saying that I did not really enjoy today's holiday short story about a man meeting his girlfriend's family for the first time.  Do people really have traumatic experiences from meeting their potential future in-laws?  Maybe Eddie and I are just lucky to have good families so this was never an issue for us.  But I guess it's a common theme in holiday movies for a reason, no?  So on to my media mention.  Eddie and I listened to "Imagine" on our way home but it wasn't until I checked Facebook and saw two friends post about John Lennon that I realized today marks the 30th anniversary of his murder.  Obviously I was not alive when it happened, but I still think it's a terrible tragedy to have lost such a talented songwriter.  Who knows how many more people he might have inspired if he had been allowed to live?  So in the spirit of the holiday season, my mention has to be a shout out to John (and Yoko) for "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)."

Hopworks

Unlike yesterday, I could not get out of my shift today.  Fortunately my shifts are fairly short so I had my mom drop me off at work today.  I gave her a quick tour of the winery and then she took my car to explore McMinnville and the wine country area on her own.  She came back to my winery just before the end of my shift at 5:00 so I could pour her our flight of wines.  After I closed up, she and I sat in the lounge chairs and enjoyed a small glass of wine before leaving.

We picked up Eddie at the house then headed to Hopworks Urban Brewery for dinner.  Nonna gave my mom some money to take us all out for a nice dinner with dessert so I thought this would be a fun place for us to go.  I think I found my favorite burger up here.  This is the only one I have found that rivals Deschutes (sorry, no picture).  After dinner we went to Belmont Station which is a beer shop we took my mom to during her first visit out here a few months ago.  She loves this place because they sell her favorite Val-Dieu Grand Cru.  Though they don't have it on tap, this place lets you purchase bottles and then they will open them and serve them for you in their bar.  I thought this was a fun way to spend my mom's last night in town.

For today's media mention, I'm going to draw on something from work.  We have a five-disc CD player at work that has held the same five CDs since I first started working there.  But I don't mind because one of the discs is Natalie Merchant's Live in Concert which I totally dig.  I remember my mom playing her Tigerlily album and I was familiar with all her big hits, but she is one of the few artists that I really enjoy listening to live.  My favorite on this album is her cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."

Carafe

It's been a bit of a slow week so far.  Eddie and I have made a lot of progress moving things into our new apartment.  We decided to spend tonight at the new place so after my evening job interview, we went for a short walk downtown and had dinner at Carafe which is only about four blocks from the new place.  Eddie ordered from the prix fixe menu while I had the burger with pommes frites.  I barely ate half the burger - partly because I was full but mostly because I've eaten way too many burgers lately.  But Eddie and I polished off all the pommes frites.  They were thicker fries than I normally care for, but they were cooked pretty well - crisp on the outside and fluffy potato on the inside.  And Eddie says the housemade mayo was amazing.

So since we're staying in the new place where we have no internet hooked up yet, my media mention comes from my DVD library.  I moved one set of DVDs to the new apartment for Eddie and I to enjoy at night in the new place.  So what are we watching?  I Love Lucy Season 2.  It has been hilarious to watch these classic episodes - especially the infamous job switching / chocolate factory episode.

A fabulous night on the town...

I had an awesome evening tonight!  Lauren invited me out for her girl's night out / birthday celebration.  I had work in the morning so I met everyone at Henry's Tavern in Portland for dinner.  I know I've eaten way too many burgers this month (ugh), but I had another one for dinner tonight.  It was just okay.  Maybe next time I'll ask about the mac n cheese on the menu...  Dinner service was fairly slow, but we didn't mind because we were all having a great time.

After dinner we walked to Departure, the rooftop bar Lauren was excited to check out.  We were there a little too early for it to be happening, but in a way it was nice because we were able to enjoy the view.  We were up on the 15th floor of some hotel near Pioneer Square.  Unfortunately you can't tell we have a good view from my pictures.  Oh well.  The drinks were on the pricey side, but when you go to a trendy place like this, you're paying for the location & atmosphere.  About halfway through our first round of drinks, Lauren started laughing about how little she felt she fit in there.  And I must agree.  We are not a part of that über trendy club scene.  I was starting to feel pretty glad we were there too early for it to be crowded.

So we finished our round of drinks and sought out another bar.  We found ourselves back in NW at Couture Ultra Lounge.  This was another swanky place, but this one had great music and funnier people to watch.  And the bartender makes a mean kamikaze!  These tasted exactly like a frozen lemonade you'd find at a county fair.  It was so yummy.  :-)  And then it was time to wrap up the evening and walk back to the cars.  I'm pretty sure Lauren had a great birthday celebration because I had an awesome time.

All that being said...  I feel totally lame writing my media mention.  I was looking for a movie to watch on Netflix and saw that True Lies was available so I thought it would be fun to see the Governator in his movies.  I lost interest pretty early in when they had the drawn-out fight scene in the public restroom.  It reminded me too much of Kindergarten Cop.  But KC's bathroom fight scene is so much cooler because of the "You're not so tough without your car, are ya?" line.  One thing I would like to add:  I remember hearing that Jamie Lee Curtis is a hermaphrodite so I decided to research that.  According to Urban Legends, Snopes, and Wikipedia this is only a rumor.  So I promise to stop talking about it as if it were fact.  Not that Jamie Lee Curtis comes up often in my conversations, but we did discuss this very issue last month in San Diego.  And now I wish I had thought to research the facts before we talked about this.

Hop To It

I wanted to take Eddie somewhere fun after work tonight.  I started following a certain restaurant's twitter feed and learned they had just tapped two kegs of our beloved Russian River brews from Santa Rosa, CA. And on top of that, as if we needed another reason to go, I learned this place has happy hour from 3pm to close on Sundays.  So of course we had to check it out.  It's The Hop & Vine in North Portland.  We started out with a round of the two Russian River brews - the consecration & temptation and an order of bread & flavored butter.  Then we had a second round of beer (the first round were small six-ounce pours) and dinner.  I ordered the happy hour burger (pretty darn good) and Eddie had the red bean & rice risotto.  I was worried they wouldn't let me order my plain burger because the menu clearly said no substitutions on happy hour items, but the server was very friendly and didn't mind my food oddities.  And then we splurged on a third round of drinks.  Eddie had a third small glass of beer and I had some yummy cream sherry.  And all of that came to just $42!  I love living up here.  There is no way you could order six drinks and two entrees in California for just $42.  Okay, maybe you could at Dave & Busters during happy hour, but you'd be sacrificing quality.  Big time.

On another note...  I finally watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  Maybe I was too tired, but I really didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.  I loved the costuming and makeup.  And I even enjoyed the characters.  I think it was just too slow of a film - clocking in at almost three hours.  I guess I just don't have the attention span to sit still that long.

Okay...  I need to mention something else about The Hop & Vine: best bacon ever!!!  It was thick cut & peppered, but I swear I've never had this brand of bacon.  Or maybe they cooked it a special way.  But it was amazing!

Grüner

Hooray for another successful date night... I mean date day.  Eddie and I started out with a trip to the gym and then two quick errands for me and finally a trip to our *hopefully* future apartment.  We applied for an apartment in Portland last week but they asked us to come in today to provide proof of income.  Then Eddie drove us to a surprise lunch location for our date.  I was very pleasantly surprised when he led me to Grüner, our fancy local German restaurant.  We started out with a round of specialty drinks.  Eddie ordered a glass of the Meßmer dry riesling that was on today's special and I ordered a yummy basil-infused gin cocktail.  Neither of us can remember the name of the drink at the moment and the restaurant's website is down so I can't check on this.  But it was a beautifully made drink.  I'm not a huge basil fan by any means, but this had just the right amount of flavor to accompany the gin.

And lunch was fabulous.  I ordered the burger that is only offered during their lunch hour.  It was so pretty and one of the best burgers I have had in Portland.  Right up there with Deschutes and Ten 01.  Eddie ate my "smashed" potatoes because I only cared for the crispy edges.  Eddie says the house-made ketchup was also very good.  Since I ordered the only American dish on the menu, it was up to Eddie to place the traditional order.  At my suggestion he gave the Spätzel a try.  Also delicious - according to him.

Oh.  Funny story about a customer who approached the bar where Eddie and I were sitting.  She waltzes up and asks if they have tequila.  I started to snicker because we're in a German fine-dining restaurant; not in a cantina.  But the bartender responded that they have one tequila - Sauza blanco.  So the lady orders a shot and asks for a Bud Light to go with it.  The bartender shakes her head and says they don't have BL.  So they lady says, "Okay.  I'll take a Miller Lite."  So now the bartender has to explain that they don't have any light beers so she hands the customer a beer list for her to peruse.  The customer glances at it and immediately asks for the Heater Allen.  They're a local microbrewery who specializes in German lagers.  But now it's the bartender's turn to laugh because that is the only beer they have on tap that happens to be out.

We had an hour left on our parking meter when we left the restaurant so we spent the time walking around SW.  I dragged Eddie into Gap so I could use the $50 Groupon I purchased a few weeks ago.  I was able to purchase four new tops to wear to work for just $58 - thanks to three of the four shirts being on sale.  I bought three of these button-detailed shirts for $12 each but I paid full price for this one.  I think I'm a pretty good shopper.

And now we're back at the house just relaxing while it continues to rain lightly off and on.  We're probably just going to play Dominoes tonight and maybe I'll be able to convince Eddie to watch a movie.  I'm in the middle of watching the season finale of The Good Guys, one of my other summer TV series.  I've enjoyed watching detectives Bailey & Stark get into stupid situations but somehow always manage to find their way out and make the big bust.  It's quirky like Get Smart.  I laughed pretty hard during the taser scene in this finale.  I kind of doubt this show will get picked up for a second season, but I've enjoyed it.

Yamhill-Carlton District Tasting

I started my day with a very upsetting 2-hour Drop Dead Diva finale.  It wasn't upsetting because it was a bad episode; it was upsetting because they did a great job leaving you hanging and waiting for the third season to answer questions.  This is one summer series I really do like because Brooke Elliott does a phenomenal job playing Jane / Deb the smart & confident plus-size diva.  I have also come to love Jackson Hurst & Margaret Cho.  Their characters are great!

My plan was to continue chilling and taking care of some things around the house while studying my wines for Solena Estate.  But shortly after watching DDD, I got a call from my supervisor asking me to work a special event pouring in NW Portland tonight.  Of course I accepted!  We were going to be pouring just one wine (our 2007 Domaine Danielle Laurent pinot noir) at Yamhill-Carlton's 2nd annual Taste the Place event.

I left my house early to relieve my supervisor since she was starting to come down with a cold.  I happened to arrive right at the start of the event's one-hour break so she suggested going out for food.  When do I ever turn down food?  She suggested Ten 01 so we went there for their happy hour specials.  I ordered a yummy little cheeseburger for $4 and a huge side of amazing french fries for $4.  Definitely a place I want to go back to.

My event was pretty short - just three hours, but I had a blast.  So many people approached me because they already love our wines and many newcomers to Solena came back for seconds from my booth.  I was working a table next to the Shea family of Shea Wine Cellars.  Father & son were both friendly to work alongside.  I asked them about doing a single bottle trade and I was thrilled when they agreed to it.  They got a bottle of my '07 pinot and I took a bottle of their '08 estate pinot.  That's one bottle I am looking forward to trying.

Eddie drove up and met me after the event for a round of beer at Deschutes.  Nothing new to report there since I've already talked about them in this blog.  One sad note: they no longer have my hop in the dark IPA on tap so I had to try a different IPA that I didn't care for as much.

Emmons / McCook Wedding

What a memorable day!  Sean & Heather's wedding was so beautiful.  I think the worst part about the day was the heat, but other than that everything was spectacular.  You know any day that starts with a meal from In-N-Out is going to be a great one.  Eddie and I knew we had to get our fix since the closest In-N-Out to us is 6.5 hours away in Redding, CA!  This photo, though taken at the end of the day rather than the beginning, is significant because we wound up making a second trip to In-N-Out at the end of the night when the wedding ended.  Disgusting in so many ways but the most delicious thing ever!

Eddie and Kyle had to get ready and leave the hotel before me to perform their duties as Sean's groomsmen.  I used the free time to go to the gym and read before prepping for the wedding.  The ceremony and reception were held at Heather's parents' house in Fallbrook.  They have a lovely backyard that is laid out well to host a big event like a wedding.  Unfortunately I didn't have a good view of Eddie during the ceremony because I was forced to one of the last shaded seats in the back row but the ceremony was incredibly short so that didn't matter.

Some notable mentions and things I learned from the event:
- The audience is going to cringe when the father-of-the-groom's speech opens with a story about his son's ex girlfriend.
- Garters are difficult to toss so whoever wants it needs to be willing to shove a kid out of the way to get it (Eddie).
- Weddings are really fun when you are surrounded by good friends (nearly all of Eddie's core group of friends from college made it out).
- Probably the coolest scene from the night was having the DJ blast Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" while everyone surrounded Sean and sang from the tops of their lungs.  Very cool indeed.
- The end of the wedding doesn't have to mean the end of the party.  There's no reason you can't assemble a group in a hotel room with some beer and keep the good times coming.

That sums up the wedding quite well.  After the after-party we made our second trip to In-N-Out which brings up today's media mention.  While waiting for our order to be prepared, these two friendly guys started chatting with me and Eddie.  One of them noticed that Eddie caught the garter and made a comment to the effect of "Uh oh."  So I turned around and told the guy that I already made it clear to Eddie we will not be the next couple to marry (I just don't think we'll be ready for that in the immediate future).  The guy seemed very impressed with my reaction.  He got his food a few minutes later and on his way out he turned to Eddie and said, "If you like it you should put a ring on it."  And that made me laugh.  :-)  Thank you, Beyonce!

Klamath Falls

Another road trip for me!  I drove 10 hours from Portland to meet up with my family in Truckee, CA for an extended weekend vacation.  The highlight of my very long day was my pit stop for lunch at Klamath Basin Brewing Company in Klamath Falls, OR.  Klamath Falls is the biggest city near the midpoint of this journey so I thought it was a good place to rest.  I foolishly ordered a beer sampler hoping to get to have a few sips of a couple of different beers.  Boy was I surprised when the lady came back with a huge tray of 11 big 5 ounce tasters.  I didn't even put a dent in all that.  But I had a sip or two of each one and decided I liked their IPA best.  I forget what they had on their nitro tap, but that was also surprisingly good.  The burger...  Not so great.  Didn't eat much of that either.

I really enjoyed the drive through Oregon and California (with a quick trip into Nevada too).  It was kind of funny entering California twice and going through the agriculture inspection twice.  But what kept me going was all my music.  When I got bored with my CDs I checked out the ones my grandma left in her car (I was in the privileged situation of driving her Lexus for this trip - very smooth ride).  I was pleasantly surprised to find she had Billy Joel's The Stranger in her CD player.  I listened to it twice (back-to-back).  I love nearly every song on the album and they are fun to sing along with - especially "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) and "Only the Good Die Young."  Give the album a listen if you haven't heard it in a while...

Movie Week

When this week began I had no intentions of making it all about movies...  It just turned out that way.  I was really bored at home this morning and when it started heating up in the apartment I decided to get out of the house for a few hours.  I had been wanting to see The Girl Who Played With Fire - the second installment in Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy.  I saw the first film, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo just over a month ago when it came to one of the independent theaters in Portland.  I have loved both films so far and am anxious for The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest to be released in the States this fall.  I absolutely love this series and know only a handful of people who like it too.  So if you're reading this and enjoy the series, let me know because I'd love to chat about it.  I think the Swedish film adaptations have been perfect and I worry what Hollywood will do to them.  I know Daniel Craig is in talks to play Michael Blomkvist which didn't sit well with me at first, but the more I think about it, I think he'll be okay.  I think Hollywood will try to tone down some of the violence (and many of the American reviews I have read complain about the amount of violence), but if you've actually read the stories you know how critical these violent scenes are to the whole story.

I was expecting this movie to run close to three hours with the previews (like the first movie did) but when I got out of the theater in just under two hours and it was still scorchingly hot outside, I decided to find a cool place to read before heading home.  I was parked near Southpark Seafood and saw they had sangria on their happy hour menu so I went inside.  It's a swanky place with a relaxed bar room.  The burger sounded too good to pass up (local Carlton Farms beef and white cheddar on a toasted sesame seed bun).  They cooked my burger well instead of medium rare, but that was okay.  It was oddly seasoned - I've had another burger seasoned this way but I don't remember where.  It's something I'm not too fond of.  But at least the fries were good.  They were really brown though.  I'm not sure if that's because they soaked them in vinegar before frying?...  Not sure what makes fries brown.  They were definitely fresh and very crispy, but not in an over-cooked kind of way.  That's why I think they soaked in vinegar or something.

Oregon Coast - Lincoln City

What fun we had today!  We started out with a special visit to the Sokol Blosser winery where Eddie poured us their delicious wines then gave us a grounds & barrel room tour.  Then we headed down to Lincoln City and the coast.  Our first stop was to meet with the owner of the Purple Moon Inn because he is an old family friend of Shaunna and her mom.  The inn is super-cute and as close to the water as you can get.  Shaunna and I want to get a group out there to spend a few days because it would make for a wonderful vacation.

Next order of business was lunch.  Shaunna's mom suggested Mo's which is famous for their chowder.  I of course did not have that and instead opted for a burger.  I figure it's time to get serious about finding my favorite burger joints here.  The burger was one of those heavily charred patties  that you would expect to find at any beach.  While those are not normally my favorite style (I prefer thicker patties cooked medium or medium rare), these super-cooked burgers do have their time & place.  And it was served with battered & seasoned fries.  :-)  In all...  A good value for the kind of burger you'd expect to be eating on a hot summer day at the beach.

We headed to Depoe Bay after lunch to walk around and decided to go on a whale watching tour.  We just happened to get there a few minutes before the boat's departure time so we paid our $16 and boarded the ship.  Unfortunately we did not see any whales, but we were thrilled to be bouncing around in the ocean on a boat.  There was a taffy store next to the dock so we dropped in and walked away with a small bag of salt water taffy, a giant bag of cotton candy, and a bag of deliciously warm caramel corn.  Such good treats!  We walked around for a bit more before heading home.

Since I was out all day I did not have any time to read a book or watch TV or a movie so I have no media mention that is coming to mind.  I'm trying to think of a special song we heard in the car but all I can come up with is Def Leppard.  I like them.  I do.  But while living in Southern California, I would only hear their songs come on the classic rock radio station very rarely.  Maybe only a couple of times a month.  Since Eddie and I have been living in Portland, anytime I listen to 105.9 The Brew, a Def Leppard song will come on the radio.  After three months that just gets annoying.  We heard "Pour Some Sugar On Me" on our way to Lincoln City this morning.  As a side note...  Eddie and I can't figure this radio station out. They seem to be obsessed with hairbands.  It is the most bizarre thing to be hearing that stuff on the radio constantly.  None of my classic rock stations in So Cal or Nor Cal ever played this much hairband stuff.  So weird.