Portland Adventures

Hi Everyone,

Yes I am so behind on blogging, Yes I have over 900 posts to read on all my favorite blogs, Yes I have a very short weekend since I begin traveling again on Sunday, and Yes I am desperately wanting to work on some of my new fun kits I've been purchasing, but alas no time yet for that too much "day job" work to do!!!

Good news is I finished my recipe pages for the Bella Recipe Book Swap. Or I should say, I mailed them off to the lovely swap hostess Shea. I'm sure I could have tinkered with them for quite awhile but alas I didn't have more time. I realize I just used the word "alas" twice already...that can't be good.

Anyhoo, I am tempted to post pics of the pages, along with my tag for my Year of Tags swap that I am hosting, but I am going to keep them under wraps until after Silver Bella, then I can share all the pages and tags from everyone at once!!

So now instead, I'll share a bunch of pics from my weekend in Portland, Oregon with my friends Carmen and Nicole from Chicago. We all used to work together when I lived in Chicago, and we have had some great times together! This trip did not disappoint.

Wednesday we got into Portland. We stayed at the Hotel Monaco, my favorite! Part of the Kimpton hotel chain, so so fun.

We had a wonderful hostess there who made some great recommendations.

Dinner Wednesday night was at Clyde Commons, a very tasty restaurant with plates to share and wonderful fresh and local ingredients. I think I had at least 3 or 4 beet salads while I was there.....Beets!! Where have they been all my life?? I love them on salads!

Thursday we drove up to Mt Hood along the Columbia River stopping at the numerous Waterfalls along the way.

We stopped in Hood River for the best lunch I've had in a long time at 3 Rivers. Nicole and I share a tasty quiche and salad, along with Fish Tacos....yummmm makes me hungry thinking about it.

Thursday night we went to a nice seafood restaurant called SouthPark. Friday our Wine Country Tour guide Mike picked us up and took us to 6 wineries, some small family ones, a fairly new one and some tried and true spots.

Cheers!

What a fun day, and what beautiful weather, we were soooo lucky. Also lucky that most of the wine we purchased made it back on the plane intact. Friday night's dinner was a few small plates to share at 50Plates. Oh and we had a very tasty lunch in Carleton OR at a great Italian restaurant. The stuffed mushrooms were so good!

Saturday was a fun epicurian walking tour of Portland. A cute sandwich shop called the Flying Elephant, we tried a Tomato Orange Soup that was to die for, google the recipe and you'll find it online. I must try making it!! Then we stopped at the oldest Brewery in Oregon called Bridgeport. They have a huge restaurant and brewhouse there with only 2 garbage dumpsters they fill up once per week. They have invested LOTS into being as green as possible recycling nearly everything. Props to them! A little bakery, tea shop, cooking school, and cupcake place rounded out the day. Dinner that night was at Andina, such unique dishes to share and some very tasty Scallops!

So if you think all we did was eat while on this trip....you are pretty close :) Now I must workout to lose the few pounds that Portland bestowed upon me for visiting!!

Off to the Zoo tomorrow with my nieces. I think we are seeing an IMAX first!

Have a great weekend!!

Rach