Portland

Straight from the rental car to this spot for some refreshments.

This was my first introduction to salumists - thank you to all the lovely folks at Olympic Provisions who devote themselves to the perfection of cured meats. My happy hour sampling included:

Pistachio terrine
Pork rillettes
House salami

paired with

Pickled rhubarb
House Pickles
Mount tam
Comte

The Nines was all booked (but after checking it out in person decided it would have been too sceney for us anyway).

Next best option looked like The Benson, every president since Taft has stayed here along with Madonna. They must have spectacular presidential suites b/c the plebeian rooms were pretty dated. But clean which is what I care the most about.

I think next time we'll just do the Ace even though it makes us feel like the ultimate hipster cliche. Either that or we might try the Monaco if we can get a deal.

Housemade ginger beer (I wanted a six-pack to go)
Asparagus tips, wild mushrooms, pistachios, scotch egg, and broth

Pork cheeks with roe, peas, pea tendrils, and croutons

Chocolate date cake with peanut butter sauce and nut brittle. We almost ordered a round two of this, unbelievably delicious.

Bar at Clyde Common

Grownup flavors, beignet-style batter. Read lots of hype on Voodoo Doughnuts, but I was way more excited about this place (and all the locals who saw my box of doughnuts at the airport seconded Blue Star's superiority).

I was torn between salted caramel, lemon poppyseed, and the one I landed on was blueberry bourbon basil. Good ol' glazed for Ryan. Mine is heavenly, just enough tartness, a slight kick from the basil but not too herby.

Ryan says: original glazed all the way. Who wants to grow up?

Stumptown hands down the best

Love the glass pavilion

Vintage postcard display at Mario's

Trike sculpture

We picked the Williams Street location over downtown. Less touristy, but the line was still 30 minutes since all the local design agencies swarm this spot.

I tried the breakfast board:
Liver mousse
Pickled beets
Lebnah and olive oil
House cured jerky (! supremely yummy!)
Soft-boiled egg
Bacon
Crostini
House baked bread
Cherries

$8!!!! How?!

In the same building as Tasty N Sons, good browsing while you're waiting to be seated. A few other shops in the complex but this is the one I spent all my time in.

Adorable housewares
Pretty fresh flowers
Unique kid's toys

Bought teak stirrer spoons and spreaders for our next party.

Shockingly delicious, I'm not a big wheat germ/non-fat person, but both of our meals were both super tasty and our bodies are feeling a lot better after the 24-hour fat and carb binge. I would skip the chai. It sounded awesome, Alberta chai tea with coconut milk and wild honey. Kind of underwhelming in reality. We'll definitely be back for the food again before we leave though! Documenting the ingredients in detail so we can try and replicate at home.

El Dorado salad
Spinach and greens with yam rice, walnut taco crumbles, avocado, sun dried tomato, scallions, cilantro, jalapeno cashew cheese, and red chili vinaigrette

Ryan got the:

Kali bowl
Quinoa, garnet yam vegetable curry, kale, slow cooked mango chutney, and cilantro

Beautiful simple pieces with a vintage feel. We'll be back when we own a house.

The coffee bar inside.

<3 chalkboard art

Gather, a food journal I want to check out.

Curated design objects. We bought a new white oak cutting board with a beautiful leather handle

Cute, ok treats. Fail again on chai latte. I think Portland's strictly a quality coffee town.

Phone died so no pics, cute housewares and an adorable in-shop floral counter. Going to steal their metal prep table with marble slab set-up for our place. So smart.

Had the OMG and the Redonkadonk.

Have pledged that we will no longer attempt to eat like we're in our 20s anymore. Burgers ok. Burgers with spam, bacon, ham, and egg between two grilled cheeses, not ok.

Bloc Party at the Crystal Ballroom

Bites:
Ancho chili popcorn
Greens
Fries with Harissa
$3 each!

Drinks:
Dark and stormy
B.M.O.C.

Demolished.

Bedtime.

I feel like I'm a traitor but I have to say this Heart latte is better than Stumptown. Maybe because they roast their own beans on site? It's robust but smooth, really rich and silky. Happy we got larges!

Just walked by June. Really cute interior, the food on their website looks meticulously cooked and super interesting.

Here we go again, but with 1200 reviews and 4.5 stars on Yelp, feels like we are obligated to pay a visit.

The hype definitely outlived the food. I think the vegetable sides at night are what the critics love about this place. Ryan's gravy was pretty bland, my oatmeal was cooked with water, and the drool-inducing description of the praline candied bacon was not the least bit crispy and waaay too sweet.

Breakfast corndog and hush puppies with maple cane sugar glaze sounded lovely but was also so-so.

Cool presentation on the chicken and waffles but it looked a little dry and we didn't see any eye-rolling ecstasy from the diners around us who ordered it.

The lemon poppyseed I didn't get to try yesterday. Also super tasty. Tied in my mind with the blueberry bourbon basil.

And random funny sign outside of Lardo..

Bevy of cute shops:

Tanner Goods - leather craft

Poler - cool outdoors wear

Reveille - lots of Opening Ceremony

Odessa - fancy pants store, big collection of Isabel Marant (which I'm obsessed with thanks to Miranda Kerr)

West End Bikes - legit bike shop (my concession stop to Ryan after dragging him to endless boutiques)

Boutique speed shopping continues...

Frances Mae
My favorite assortment, reminds me of boutiques in Williamsburg in Brooklyn.

Lots of Raquel Allegra, Wood wood (new brand for me. I picked up the softest, thinnest black merino sweater from them. And 15% off b/c they were doing a Memorial Day block party sale)

Addendum, love my sweater even more now that I looked up the brand and see they're from Denmark!

Woonwinkel
Fun collection of home accessories and children's things.

Tender Loving Empire
Card press galore, turn around and gawk at the life size cardboard ape sculpture over the door.

Crossing into a different part of town to partake in Podnah's Pit.

Ryan got the Pit Boss -- pork ribs, brisket, sausage, collard greens, beans, and cornbread.

Texas Moscow mule with Cock and Bull ginger beer was fantastic.

We took a banana pudding to go for laters.

Even though we were booking it to get to our hotel before dark, we had to stop while the sun was out for a quick hike by this gorgeous waterfall. Unfortunately I didn't stop to change out of my flip-flops so it wasn't the most comfortable trek, but so glad we got to see this on a sunny day.

Enjoying a glass of wine at the end of our drive looking out on the Columbia River.

The waiter was kind enough to put together a cheese plate for us on request even though it wasn't on the menu.

This feels like Oregon's Lake Como :)

Ryan was clever enough to download a few episodes of King of Thrones from iTunes while we had our high speed downtown hotel connection.

Settling in for the night with some fancy popcorn we picked up from a food truck in the city. And some Pellegrino we grabbed while still in civilization.

Sweet jalapeño lime popcorn and a bottle of fizzy water. Money.

Addendum:
Btw Portland has an unreal food truck scene, 600 of these little trailer hitches sprinkled across the city.

Headed into town center this morning. Slight wine hangover. And overshot our turn. A quick 1.6 mile drive turned into 4. Whoops.

Doppio is a double espresso shot if you were curious.

Pleasantly surprised that downtown is packed with cute things. We thought we were in the middle of nowhere from the Yelp searches and TripAdvisor reviews. The clothing boutiques actually have great assortments (alas only time for window shopping) and lots of coffee/bakery options.

Golden triangle granola was super tasty (but would
advise skipping the fruit in syrup). The fresh berries in my bowl are donated from my loving husband's breakfast.

Great 6-mile loop that takes you by a few waterfalls and nice lookouts. Really happy we brought our hiking boots. Passed lots of folks struggling in sneakers on the damp rocky trail.

Perfect after all the walking.

Massages were soo good and a great price.

Would skip the Mani pedi next time. Very limited color options, I ended up with this:

Housemade lavash and baguette.

Ordered a stubborn mule -- Cock and Bull ginger beer and lime juice (really limey, which is nice with my food but maybe not for everyone)

Ryan is having a dirty martini, no vermouth.

Much angst over what to order, so many great options. Porcini Mushroom bread pudding in broth, what?

Starting with locally farmed kale salad with house-cured anchovies, sugared olives, lemon vinaigrette. Tasty, but I wish we had three times as much and they should skip the weird mayo thing at the bottom of the bowl. Easy enough to eat around but we weren't sure what they were going for flavor wise, and the kale was already nicely dressed.

Ryan says: first experience with anchovies since a rather unpleasant and embarrassing encounter in the 5th grade. Overall -- it went really well. Highly recommend.

Then on to the hanger steak since we had popcorn and Pringles for lunch.

It was guaranteed to come on a mound of vegetables. Every fruit and vegetable we've had since coming to town has been insanely flavorful so we're trying to get as much as we can during our short sojourn here.

Ryan's paella not very successful. My hanger steak was ridiculously good. Had an awesome crust, just the right amount of char and salt. Au jus was plate-licking worthy, roasted potatoes were brilliant, tasty, tasty skin. Only rec is to tell them easy on the blue cheese. There was a LOT.

Rhubarb tart was quite tasty, Ryan's volcano chocolate cake was also yummy. Coffee is Stumptown and GREAT. Such a perfect end to the day. So sad to leave tomorrow, and already planning our next visit.