Posts Tagged travel

OCTOBER: SNAPSHOTS

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away;

Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost–
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

– ‘October’ by Robert Frost

Happy 4th of July, from Austria!

Hello and happy 4th of July from Salzburg, Austria!

We are in the middle of an epic road trip trough Bavaria, and we are loving every minute of it. The scenery is magical, the food is incredible, and the beer is some of the best I’ve had.

That being said, we will celebrate our independence with pretzels, beer, and bratwurst. ;)

Tomorrow, we are off to Switzerland! Have a great 4th, everyone!

Prost!

-Lindsay (and Nicholas)

There are so many amazing things that exist beyond the city limits. Portland is a wonderful and beautiful city, but when you leave Portland it just gets better and better. We are surrounded mountains and rivers, trees and fields, forests and farms. When I drive outside of the city, I’m always struck by all the green. As I drive through the fields and forests of Oregon, I see shades of green that I didn’t even know existed. It’s kind of unreal.

With that said, I implore you to drive out of the city. Just take a day and get out of town. I escaped to wine country this past weekend, and it was nothing short of magical. I still can’t believe that wine country exists, just 30 miles outside of Portland.

I drove out after work on a Friday and stayed at my friend Mari’s farmhouse. (Yes, one of my best friends in the whole world lives in a giant farmhouse on a vineyard. It’s pretty fantastic.) If you don’t happen to have a friend with a farmhouse in wine country, I recommend the lodging at McMenamins Hotel Oregon in McMinnville. It’s affordable and has a lovely rooftop bar with a great view!

The next morning, I woke up to the sunshine pouring through the farmhouse windows. (If you are from the Pacific Northwest, you know how important this factoid is: Sunshine in February!!!) I spent the morning lazing about in the quiet of the farmhouse, curled up next to the fire with a cup of coffee and a book. I took my time and soaked in the quiet of the day.

Later on in the day, I met up with a group of Portland Food Bloggers for an afternoon of wine tasting. We stopped by three of my favorite Oregon wineries – Erath Vineyards, Anne Amie, and Soter – and we sampled a lot of wonderful Oregon wine. There was, of course, a lot of Oregon Pinot Noir (which is always amazing). But we also tried quite a few other varietals and blends, such as: Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Rosé, Muller Thurgau, and Cabernet.

It was the perfect day.

Thanks to all of the wineries who so graciously hosted us, you were all so fabulous. I came home with a deeper love and appreciation for Oregon wine (I also came home with a lot of bottles of Oregon wine. It happens.).

With that said, I’ll leave you with a few photos from the day.

The view from Erath:

Tasting Pinot Noir at Erath:

The best dessert wine ever (at Anne Amie):

The last stop of the day, Soter Vineyards (and the lovely Mari):

Treat Yo Self: A Trip to Los Angeles.

Sometimes, in the middle of January, you’ve just gotta get out of Dodge.

Plane tickets are cheap this time of year and the weather in LA looked awesome, so I decided to go. It was fantastic.

It was a blitz trip, but I made the most of it. I visited with old friends. I stayed up late (and I slept in late!). I ate a lot of good food. I went to the beach and it was 80 degrees outside and I remembered exactly why people choose to live in Los Angeles.

Oh, and I did get the chance to eat dinner at Animal and it was everything I hoped it would be: it was meaty and indulgent and really, really good. (Oh, and it didn’t hurt that I was literally sitting next to Aziz Anzari. It took everything in my power not to shout “Treat Yo Self!” at him. I love him so much.)

That being said, I’ve been out of town, which means that I haven’t been in the kitchen for awhile. (I miss it!) I do have a few recipes that I plan to share in the coming weeks, but for now I’ll leave you with a few photos I took on my trip.

And last (but certainly not least), a little Tom Haverford for you all.

TREAT. YO. SELF.

Northern California: Snapshots

This past week, I went on vacation.

The purpose of my trip was to visit a few old friends in various parts of Northern California. Specifically, friends who have had babies recently. The babies needed to meet their aunt Lindsay!

My first stop was in Placerville, CA. I stayed with my best friend from high school, Abbie, and her darling family. We reminisced about the good old days, caught up on recent years, and I fell in love with her children. They are really quite cute.

Abbie and I managed to squeeze in a girl day, sans children, and ran about town and pampered ourselves.

We ate In-N-Out: Cheeseburger, Animal style.

We got pedicures.

We watched a really, really bad chick flick.

And, later, we met up with Abbie’s husband for dinner at a local cafe, where we drank delicious wine and ate fantastic food.

After my short (but sweet!) visit with Abbie, I set sail for San Fransisco. Except, I didn’t really set sail. Rather, I chose the more glamorous travel option, and took a Greyhound bus from Sacramento to San Fransisco. When I went to purchase the tickets, the husband expressed a little bit of concern for my welfare as I navigated the bus system on my own in Northern California. I told him that it was fine. I am a seasoned traveler, after all.

I found out the hard way that the husband was right. Thankfully, I wasn’t in any real danger, I just had a series of unfortunate (and stressful) events. So what exactly happened, you ask? I found out my bus was going to be an hour late, so I locked my bags in a locker in order to escape the stuffy, overcrowded bus station and get an iced coffee. When I arrived back at the station, I was pleased to find that my bus had just arrived and would be boarding shortly. I went to retrieve my bags from the locker…and the locker didn’t work. It just would not open. I asked a security guard for help, who referred me to the baggage counter. Conveniently, no one was working at the baggage counter (!). I proceeded to run around the overcrowded and understaffed bus station like a crazy person, trying desperately to find someone to help me. Several minutes (and several tears) later, I finally found someone to help me. My baggage was freed from the faulty locker and I made on the bus (just barely). I was the last person on board.

Nevertheless, I finally made it to San Francisco in one piece (and with all my bags!). I was in town with the purpose of spending time my college besty, Becca, who just had a baby girl last month.

Immediately after Becca picked me up from the bus station, we headed straight to Tartine Bakery. We ordered the (large) Strawberry Bread Pudding.

Oh, and we ordered something with bread and cheese and asparagus and spicy pickled carrots. It was amazing.

The next day, we ventured into the heart of the city to visit the legendary San Francisco Farmer’s Market at the Ferry building. Being the Oregonian that I am, I was in pure shock that they had cherries available (for only $7/pound!). Oh, the glories of California…

I tried raw oysters for the first time in my life, and I was not disappointed. They were incredible.

Overall, I had a lovely trip. I got to see old friends, visit a couple of beautiful cities, and ate a lot of good food. I apologize for the lack of blog posts, but as you can see, I’ve been running around Northern California (and thoroughly enjoying myself).

Happy Friday everyone!

Chicago!

(Pictured: Chicago skyline. Sunny day. So lovely.)

This past week, I had the pleasure of visiting the fine city of Chicago.

Sadly, I wasn’t there on vacation; rather, I was in town for work. But, I did manage to sneak in some sightseeing in my free time. And by sight seeing, I mean eating. I did a lot of eating in Chicago. (*Note: I do not adhere to my Lenten diet while traveling. Its just to complicated to try to stick to it while on the road. Plus, I travel on my own and its really nice to enjoy a lush meal and glass of wine after a 10 hour day. Just saying.)

During my 5 days and 4 nights in the windy city, I managed to dine at/partake of the following establishments:

Intelligentsia: The only coffee shop/roaster that gives Stumptown a run for its money. I made sure to get up early every morning to I could walk to Intelligentsia for a cup of delicious espresso goodness, and then go wander through Millennium Park.
Topolobampo: Rick Bayless’ praised high-end Mexican restaurant. I made reservations 3 months in advance and was stupidly giddy about eating here. Sadly, the food didn’t quite live up to the hype…It was good, but it wasn’t great. (Oh well, I still love him!)
Kramer’s Vegetarian Foods: Right next to my hotel, open only on weekdays. An amazing little health food store with a cafe. Fabulous and cheap vegetarian and vegan food. A real gem in the midst of chain establishments.
The Purple Pig: Recommended to me by the lovely CM at Burwell General Store, this was easily my favorite restaurant (and meal) of the whole trip. Their motto says it all: Cheese, Wine, and Swine. How can I argue with any of those things? Eating at The Purple Pig felt like coming home. Loved it.
Pizano’s: Pizzeria down the street from my hotel. I was feeling tired and crabby, so I ordered take out and enjoyed a single serving deep dish pizza in the quiet of my hotel room (with wine, of course). For it being takeout from a place I’d never heard of, it was shockingly good!
Blackbird: A Paul Kahan restaurant. High end, New American, with a focus on regional and seasonal cuisine. As far as I’m concerned, Chef Kahan can do no wrong. This is the second of his restaurants I’ve been lucky enough to dine in, and each experience was spectacular. I got the pork loin with black truffle creme, powdered leeks, baby turnips and braised kale. Unreal.
The Bongo Room: A number of Chicago residents told me that this is THE brunch spot. There was an hour wait to get in the place (and Chicago law prohibits bloody mary’s with brunch!), but once I got in the food was good (smoked duck benedict) and the service was fast. As good as it was…it doesn’t hold a candle to Portland brunch (Screen Door, Jam, Broder, etc)!

Here are a few random cell phone photos from the trip (as yours truly forgot to bring her camera. Oops!).

Scallop Ceviche from Topolobampo:

Individual Sized Deep Dish Chicago Pizza from Pizano’s (eaten in my hotel room!):

The obligatory self portrait taken in the giant reflective kidney bean in Millennium Park:

Overall, it was a lovely trip. I worked long days…and then rewarded myself with great meals. I made it a point to walk to all of my destinations, and this gave me a great feel for the city. I really love Chicago. But you know what? Chicago made me love Portland all that much more. We really have a good thing going here. I’ll gladly visit Chicago any day of the week (and eat at Purple Pig again and again and again…), but I’m glad I live where I do.