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Twenty-Six Hours in Portland

Alongside the stories of food and making your tummy happy I will be sharing travels to here and there.  My problem lies in that I am awful in taking pictures when I am traveling.  So, for your sake and my memories sake, I am making a renewed effort to start snapping more.  And along the way I hope to improve those photography skills that are quite lacking.  Seriously, I had no idea what ISO or aperture where before starting this blog.  I have since then kind of figured out how to make the food thing work, but when I snap anything that isn’t food I am back at square one.

Alas, let me tell you about this trip, since I actually did snap a couple of pictures.

It all began on a rainy Seattle Thursday when I met up with my friend Tania out on the boat she lives on (living like a true Seattlite). Within an hour of me arriving and us chatting she convinced me to make a two-day rendezvous out to Portland.  As in leave the next morning.   You only live once, right?

This wasn’t my first saunter over to Portland, but hey, there is always something new to discover.  And there are always donuts to be enjoyed.  Voodoo donuts to be exact.  They are most famous for their maple bacon bar—yes it has slices of bacon on top.  Tania and I opted for the Voodoo dozen which consists of a random assortment of 12 donuts.  There is a full spectrum of options: donuts covered in mini M&M’s, Butterfinger crumbles, Captain Crunch, and the list continues.  Some were filled with cream and fruit jellies.  We ate donuts for breakfast for several days.  And, ahem, dinner.

  

We also made a stop at another must-see, Powell’s Bookstore.  Actually, it’s more like a must-read.    The store covers an entire city block and is several stories tall, making it one of the largest bookstores in the world.  Not so surprising my favorite sections are travel and cooking.  Though I did make it over to the knitting section to find a book for my knitaholic friend (she can knit entire sweaters, how impressive is that?).   Meanwhile, Tania was engrossed in the Renewable Energy section and was beyond excited to find books on hydrogen energy.   I am still unsure what hydrogen energy even is.

  

  

Our last stop before heading out on Saturday were the Chinese Gardens.  They were well maintained and very picturesque.   They have a lovely teahouse where we stopped and had some tea.  I felt like I was in China again, except everyone spoke English, so maybe not so much.

And of course, we ate, my most favorite thing to do.  With the help of my good friend Yelp, we got some good bites too.   We went to Luc Lac for our first dinner on Friday, their happy hour is full of small plates that are all $2 a pop. Score. And I had a Thai-iced tea alcoholic beverage.  Double-score.  Our second dinner after exploring Portland was at Via Tribunali, though not very adventurous of us since they are based out of my Seattle neighborhood.  But a personal pizza is $5 during happy hour. Triple-score.   We also had brunch at a lovely place I can’t remember the name of.  I had harissa for the first time, it was great.  And we left with some hot coconut curry from a food stand for the drive back.  Portland is mecca for food stands, they are everywhere.

It was a very fun little outing, with a very special and dear friend.

And, oh, we also saw a crab!

4 replies on “Twenty-Six Hours in Portland”

I saw the Voodoo donuts on TV while getting a pedicure last week. I know someone now who has been to that famous shop. I <3 donuts and plan to have one for breakfast the morning of my wedding.

@Ruth– look at you getting pedicures! 🙂 I think a donut on the morning of your wedding is a fantastic idea.

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