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.
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.
