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adelagiaOur intrepid Portland adventures continue! Here's PART I in case you missed the massive amounts of food we crammed down our gullets the first two days.
DAY 3: I DON'T KICK ANYONE IN THE FACE
We had a relatively low-key day and didn't venture far out of the downtown area this day. We started out with breakfasting on our leftover tarts from Ken's and pastries from Day 1, and watching whichever World Cup match was on (our morning ritual), and then headed out to Veritable Quandary, a mere five blocks from our hotel. We got sat out on the deck in the glorious, wonderful sun -- it hit 80 degrees on this day, which was a happy thing.
Slither and Sarea shared another summer berry salad (I like berries, but not in my salads); Slither got a pulled chicken and wild rice salad, Sarea did a crispy trout, and I got rabbit pate. They were all so very tasty. The waitress (who looked amazingly like Kristin Davis) recommended their chocolate souffle for dessert, so with our arms sufficiently twisted, we got that too. Chocolate chocolate chocolate, ack! (It was very good.)
The Willamette River was just a short walk away, so we strolled along the waterfront (avoiding as best we could all the goose poop on the walkway) until we found the street we wanted for manicures and pedicures. We went to Edge Instyle nail salon, where I had my very first pedicure. I've always avoided pedicures because my feet are incredibly ticklish, but I survived with some ill-concealed giggling and managed not to kick my technician. Sarea laughed at me, but then she got the tickles too on her turn. Haa. Sarea and I both got regular manicures, but Slither got talked into the gel shellac type; as Sarea and I have both already ruined our manicures, there is something to be said about the other technique. We're still waiting to find out how long Slither's lasts.
A leisurely saunter to Blue Star Donuts next. We'd actually stopped by here on our first day, as I remembered that one of Sarea's friends had recced it to her, and Slither saw it listed as a top spot in a travel mag as well. It had been late afternoon, though, so their selection was a little small. Sarea had gone up to the counter to ask for a recommendation and received the incredibly insightful reply of, "Well, these top ones are filled..." Thanks, guy.
Any mention of doughnuts and Portland, and someone's bound to bring up Voodoo Doughnut, but the same friend had warned Sarea far, far away from it and its overhyped flavors and insanely long lines, so we opted to shun it. Don't get me wrong; doughnuts are great, but an hour wait for a doughnut is madness.
Anyway, we went to Blue Star, and Sarea picked up a blueberry bourbon basil one. It matched her nails! Presumably it was also delicious.
We revisited Cacao for more drinking chocolate; Sarea and Slither each got a full-sized, 5 oz. dark, but that was just too much chocolate for me so I got a shot and a cup of tea.
Back to Tasty N Alder, which was practically just around the corner from Cacao. This time there were more people milling about the bar, so we couldn't get a table to wait at, but Slither did get another Elizabeth Taylor at the happy hour price while we stood outside. We ordered the grilled octopus and seared scallops again, cedar plank salmon, grilled asparagus, steak tartare, and a side of fries. Sarea also started taking pictures of the food these two guys at the next table got; they totally noticed, and one of them surreptitiously stopped his mate from starting to eat until Sarea was done with her picture. What gentlemen.
Dessert was skipped this time, and we rolled ourselves out the door and to a movie theatre to watch 22 Jump Street, which was better than we all thought it would be.
DAY 4: H-E-L-M-E-T! H-E-L-M-E-T!
More World Cup fun in the morning, then a jaunt out east on the bus (seated behind us, a man oversharing, "I got my last DUI in 2009...") to Pok Pok, a Thai place recommended by everyone ever. We got there early, and Slither went in search of coffee while Sarea and I stood in line. A hot mailman passed by on foot on the opposite side of the street, which I missed, so we spent most of our waiting time willing him to come back round. Slither passed him on her way back, but did not notice him either. The mailman did turn around and walk down our side of the street, so Sarea pretended to take pictures of the growing queue while secretly documenting his hotness with partial success.
We got fish sauce chicken wings as a starter; they were amazing and completely overshadowed the rest of the meal, which was khao phot ping (corn on the cob with coconut cream), muu sateh (pork satay), yum woon sen (glass noodle salad), and the Pok Pok special (half a game chicken with papaya salad and sticky rice).
Another Salt & Straw was just a block and a half away from Pok Pok, so of course we had to get ice cream there. This time Slither got Cinnamon Snickerdoodle, I got Arbequina Olive Oil (so much more awesome than it sounds), and Sarea went with Sea Salt/Caramel again. We sat in the sun while it lasted, and then headed back to our hotel -- a nap for Slither, and a pickup of books for me and Sarea to read at the waterfront. We sat at a bench by a fountain; a small child toddled up to our bench and tried to eat a bottle cap while his father stood idly by.
We then took a bus out east again to Nicholas Restaurant, a Mediterranean/Lebanese place, where Sarea declared her stomach broken. We still got too much food anyway -- three different mezzas (meat, vegetarian, and vegan), each with staples of falafel, tabouli, and humus, and then variations of tahini, baba ganoush, garbanzo dish, rice and lentils, spinach something or another, kafta skewers, and a lamb thing. (I obviously did not take specific notes this round.) Also Sarea and Slither ordered strawberry yogurt drinks, and the waiter gave me one too for free. We had many leftovers.
As we waddled out the door, a line was forming, so even though we barely ate our dinners, it was probably a good thing we went early. We caught another bus to see The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Abridged [Revised] at Post5 Theatre, which is a teeny tiny theatre that we couldn't find initially because it's part of some bigger living community and is relegated to a hidden side door obscured by trees and fairy lights. (An aside about The Complete Works: If you haven't seen it, DO. I've seen it four times now, in various parts of the world, and it is different and hysterical every single time. I can't recommend it enough.)
The program lists 'It's a secret!' as one of the cast members...
Sarea: "What's this about? Maybe it's Joel McHale!"
Adelagia: "Maybe it's Doug Baldwin!"
Sarea: "Maybe it's Harry Styles!"
(Spoiler alert: It was none of those people.)
One of the actors, Alex Klein, was Lukas the German on Community (Helpful Clip; he is the tall one) -- incidentally, Community reruns were on every night, which was awesome. I wish Alex Klein was in more things. I could totally fangirl him.
Before the show started, Sarea and I stealthily ogled and whispered about a hot blond guy with an Aaron Paul-ish look about him sitting in the front row. She tried to take pictures, but was thwarted as he kept moving around and other people's heads were in the way, though she did manage to get about 11 seconds of film footage of him from afar. As it turned out, he was an audience plant and an actor in the show -- thus the secrecy in the playbill (Ty Boice -- link goes to picture; hotter in person). Sarea was sat right next to the stage manager/sound guy, and now she is eternally embarrassed that he may have overheard us and seen her trying to take pictures of his hot friend. (Later in the show, some wantonly flung prop flowers landed at Slither's feet, and she threw them back onto the stage at the end in appreciation; Hot Guy totally thought it was Sarea who did it, and gave her a huge, flirty grin. TEEHEEHEE.)
Some choice quotes from the show...
Boice: "OOB!"
Boice: "I'll get the wigs."
Klein: [after chasing Boice offstage for spelling Hamlet wrong; with flourish, to introduce the play] "Helmet. Damn it! Hamlet."
Klein: [psyching self up for the Hamlet soliloquy] "It's okay, it's only the speech you didn't get into grad school with."
Klein: [crawling across stage in desolation after three failed soliloquy attempts, lit by stage manager in a succession of spotlights] "And now you're following me?!"
Klein: "I'm such an ugly crier!"
Sherman: "Doesn't that sound kinda dumb to you?"
Boice: "Most things don't."
Klein: "That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once. But it drank the water in Portland like three weeks ago."
(In a brief moment of quiet between boisterous antics -- a move showcasing their actors' depths that I've always appreciated about The Complete Works -- Klein very nicely nailed the soliloquy. Don't you just love watching talented people be talented? And then hate them a little bit for being so amazing? Like, stop hogging all the talent, talent hogs. God.)
DAY 5: OOOWW, MY OVARIES
Determined to make the most of our final day in Portland, we got up early(ish) for an actual breakfast at Veritable Quandary. I had the Veggie Benedict, Slither got blackened catfish, and Sarea got salmon, toast and jam, and fresh strawberries. It was all extremely well-made and beautifully presented, but there was a decided lack of enthusiasm on our pitiful stomachs' parts.
We checked out of the hotel, though they were kind enough to store our luggage for us while we gallivanted elsewhere before our departure time. We also had a $15 credit for not getting make-up service throughout our stay (which meant our room was a hot mess and we ran out of toilet paper by the end), but it could only be used for parking or at the wee convenience alcove in the lobby, so Sarea and Slither both got big bottles of water, and I stocked up on floss and hand sanitizer. Sarea would later regret this as we trekked with all our luggage to the light rail stop.
Because Two Tarts Bakery had been so nice to us before when we'd wanted breakfast and not cookies, we decided to go back and give them our custom. And since Salt & Straw was conveniently nearby, it would have been downright negligent not to get ice-cream again, so we stopped by there first. I stuck with Olive Oil (seriously, so good), Sarea went with a split scoop of Sea Salt/Caramel and Vanilla, and Slither got a split scoop of Pear/Bleu Cheese and Rhubarb/Saffron/Champagne (this one was also plenty amazeballs).
At Two Tarts, we split a box of a baker's dozen (and a different nice lady gave us an extra chocolate chip cookie, bless her) of almond rhubarb macaron, basil strawberry macaron, lavender shortbread, honey sesame snap, anzac cookie, neapolitan, cappuccino cookie, strawberry thumbprint, snickerdoodle, and chocolate chip/fleur de sel. They were mostly delicious, though Slither and I both got honey sesame snaps and anzac cookies that tasted pretty stale. The macarons were good, though, and fairly cheap for what they are, because macarons are freaking impossible to make. We've tried and failed so many times. D:
After that, we had to get our stuff from the hotel and head to the train station. Slither stood in line for us and got us seats with a table, on which we played a couple games of Pandemic (that's right, we brought it all the way to Portland with us), ate our cookies and leftover expensive cheeses, and made plans to go to London and Paris next. Our stomachs will have recovered by then, I'm sure.
DAY 3: I DON'T KICK ANYONE IN THE FACE
We had a relatively low-key day and didn't venture far out of the downtown area this day. We started out with breakfasting on our leftover tarts from Ken's and pastries from Day 1, and watching whichever World Cup match was on (our morning ritual), and then headed out to Veritable Quandary, a mere five blocks from our hotel. We got sat out on the deck in the glorious, wonderful sun -- it hit 80 degrees on this day, which was a happy thing.
Slither and Sarea shared another summer berry salad (I like berries, but not in my salads); Slither got a pulled chicken and wild rice salad, Sarea did a crispy trout, and I got rabbit pate. They were all so very tasty. The waitress (who looked amazingly like Kristin Davis) recommended their chocolate souffle for dessert, so with our arms sufficiently twisted, we got that too. Chocolate chocolate chocolate, ack! (It was very good.)
The Willamette River was just a short walk away, so we strolled along the waterfront (avoiding as best we could all the goose poop on the walkway) until we found the street we wanted for manicures and pedicures. We went to Edge Instyle nail salon, where I had my very first pedicure. I've always avoided pedicures because my feet are incredibly ticklish, but I survived with some ill-concealed giggling and managed not to kick my technician. Sarea laughed at me, but then she got the tickles too on her turn. Haa. Sarea and I both got regular manicures, but Slither got talked into the gel shellac type; as Sarea and I have both already ruined our manicures, there is something to be said about the other technique. We're still waiting to find out how long Slither's lasts.
A leisurely saunter to Blue Star Donuts next. We'd actually stopped by here on our first day, as I remembered that one of Sarea's friends had recced it to her, and Slither saw it listed as a top spot in a travel mag as well. It had been late afternoon, though, so their selection was a little small. Sarea had gone up to the counter to ask for a recommendation and received the incredibly insightful reply of, "Well, these top ones are filled..." Thanks, guy.
Any mention of doughnuts and Portland, and someone's bound to bring up Voodoo Doughnut, but the same friend had warned Sarea far, far away from it and its overhyped flavors and insanely long lines, so we opted to shun it. Don't get me wrong; doughnuts are great, but an hour wait for a doughnut is madness.
Anyway, we went to Blue Star, and Sarea picked up a blueberry bourbon basil one. It matched her nails! Presumably it was also delicious.
We revisited Cacao for more drinking chocolate; Sarea and Slither each got a full-sized, 5 oz. dark, but that was just too much chocolate for me so I got a shot and a cup of tea.
Back to Tasty N Alder, which was practically just around the corner from Cacao. This time there were more people milling about the bar, so we couldn't get a table to wait at, but Slither did get another Elizabeth Taylor at the happy hour price while we stood outside. We ordered the grilled octopus and seared scallops again, cedar plank salmon, grilled asparagus, steak tartare, and a side of fries. Sarea also started taking pictures of the food these two guys at the next table got; they totally noticed, and one of them surreptitiously stopped his mate from starting to eat until Sarea was done with her picture. What gentlemen.
Dessert was skipped this time, and we rolled ourselves out the door and to a movie theatre to watch 22 Jump Street, which was better than we all thought it would be.
DAY 4: H-E-L-M-E-T! H-E-L-M-E-T!
More World Cup fun in the morning, then a jaunt out east on the bus (seated behind us, a man oversharing, "I got my last DUI in 2009...") to Pok Pok, a Thai place recommended by everyone ever. We got there early, and Slither went in search of coffee while Sarea and I stood in line. A hot mailman passed by on foot on the opposite side of the street, which I missed, so we spent most of our waiting time willing him to come back round. Slither passed him on her way back, but did not notice him either. The mailman did turn around and walk down our side of the street, so Sarea pretended to take pictures of the growing queue while secretly documenting his hotness with partial success.
We got fish sauce chicken wings as a starter; they were amazing and completely overshadowed the rest of the meal, which was khao phot ping (corn on the cob with coconut cream), muu sateh (pork satay), yum woon sen (glass noodle salad), and the Pok Pok special (half a game chicken with papaya salad and sticky rice).
Another Salt & Straw was just a block and a half away from Pok Pok, so of course we had to get ice cream there. This time Slither got Cinnamon Snickerdoodle, I got Arbequina Olive Oil (so much more awesome than it sounds), and Sarea went with Sea Salt/Caramel again. We sat in the sun while it lasted, and then headed back to our hotel -- a nap for Slither, and a pickup of books for me and Sarea to read at the waterfront. We sat at a bench by a fountain; a small child toddled up to our bench and tried to eat a bottle cap while his father stood idly by.
We then took a bus out east again to Nicholas Restaurant, a Mediterranean/Lebanese place, where Sarea declared her stomach broken. We still got too much food anyway -- three different mezzas (meat, vegetarian, and vegan), each with staples of falafel, tabouli, and humus, and then variations of tahini, baba ganoush, garbanzo dish, rice and lentils, spinach something or another, kafta skewers, and a lamb thing. (I obviously did not take specific notes this round.) Also Sarea and Slither ordered strawberry yogurt drinks, and the waiter gave me one too for free. We had many leftovers.
As we waddled out the door, a line was forming, so even though we barely ate our dinners, it was probably a good thing we went early. We caught another bus to see The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Abridged [Revised] at Post5 Theatre, which is a teeny tiny theatre that we couldn't find initially because it's part of some bigger living community and is relegated to a hidden side door obscured by trees and fairy lights. (An aside about The Complete Works: If you haven't seen it, DO. I've seen it four times now, in various parts of the world, and it is different and hysterical every single time. I can't recommend it enough.)
The program lists 'It's a secret!' as one of the cast members...
Sarea: "What's this about? Maybe it's Joel McHale!"
Adelagia: "Maybe it's Doug Baldwin!"
Sarea: "Maybe it's Harry Styles!"
(Spoiler alert: It was none of those people.)
One of the actors, Alex Klein, was Lukas the German on Community (Helpful Clip; he is the tall one) -- incidentally, Community reruns were on every night, which was awesome. I wish Alex Klein was in more things. I could totally fangirl him.
Before the show started, Sarea and I stealthily ogled and whispered about a hot blond guy with an Aaron Paul-ish look about him sitting in the front row. She tried to take pictures, but was thwarted as he kept moving around and other people's heads were in the way, though she did manage to get about 11 seconds of film footage of him from afar. As it turned out, he was an audience plant and an actor in the show -- thus the secrecy in the playbill (Ty Boice -- link goes to picture; hotter in person). Sarea was sat right next to the stage manager/sound guy, and now she is eternally embarrassed that he may have overheard us and seen her trying to take pictures of his hot friend. (Later in the show, some wantonly flung prop flowers landed at Slither's feet, and she threw them back onto the stage at the end in appreciation; Hot Guy totally thought it was Sarea who did it, and gave her a huge, flirty grin. TEEHEEHEE.)
Some choice quotes from the show...
Boice: "OOB!"
Boice: "I'll get the wigs."
Klein: [after chasing Boice offstage for spelling Hamlet wrong; with flourish, to introduce the play] "Helmet. Damn it! Hamlet."
Klein: [psyching self up for the Hamlet soliloquy] "It's okay, it's only the speech you didn't get into grad school with."
Klein: [crawling across stage in desolation after three failed soliloquy attempts, lit by stage manager in a succession of spotlights] "And now you're following me?!"
Klein: "I'm such an ugly crier!"
Sherman: "Doesn't that sound kinda dumb to you?"
Boice: "Most things don't."
Klein: "That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once. But it drank the water in Portland like three weeks ago."
(In a brief moment of quiet between boisterous antics -- a move showcasing their actors' depths that I've always appreciated about The Complete Works -- Klein very nicely nailed the soliloquy. Don't you just love watching talented people be talented? And then hate them a little bit for being so amazing? Like, stop hogging all the talent, talent hogs. God.)
DAY 5: OOOWW, MY OVARIES
Determined to make the most of our final day in Portland, we got up early(ish) for an actual breakfast at Veritable Quandary. I had the Veggie Benedict, Slither got blackened catfish, and Sarea got salmon, toast and jam, and fresh strawberries. It was all extremely well-made and beautifully presented, but there was a decided lack of enthusiasm on our pitiful stomachs' parts.
We checked out of the hotel, though they were kind enough to store our luggage for us while we gallivanted elsewhere before our departure time. We also had a $15 credit for not getting make-up service throughout our stay (which meant our room was a hot mess and we ran out of toilet paper by the end), but it could only be used for parking or at the wee convenience alcove in the lobby, so Sarea and Slither both got big bottles of water, and I stocked up on floss and hand sanitizer. Sarea would later regret this as we trekked with all our luggage to the light rail stop.
Because Two Tarts Bakery had been so nice to us before when we'd wanted breakfast and not cookies, we decided to go back and give them our custom. And since Salt & Straw was conveniently nearby, it would have been downright negligent not to get ice-cream again, so we stopped by there first. I stuck with Olive Oil (seriously, so good), Sarea went with a split scoop of Sea Salt/Caramel and Vanilla, and Slither got a split scoop of Pear/Bleu Cheese and Rhubarb/Saffron/Champagne (this one was also plenty amazeballs).
At Two Tarts, we split a box of a baker's dozen (and a different nice lady gave us an extra chocolate chip cookie, bless her) of almond rhubarb macaron, basil strawberry macaron, lavender shortbread, honey sesame snap, anzac cookie, neapolitan, cappuccino cookie, strawberry thumbprint, snickerdoodle, and chocolate chip/fleur de sel. They were mostly delicious, though Slither and I both got honey sesame snaps and anzac cookies that tasted pretty stale. The macarons were good, though, and fairly cheap for what they are, because macarons are freaking impossible to make. We've tried and failed so many times. D:
After that, we had to get our stuff from the hotel and head to the train station. Slither stood in line for us and got us seats with a table, on which we played a couple games of Pandemic (that's right, we brought it all the way to Portland with us), ate our cookies and leftover expensive cheeses, and made plans to go to London and Paris next. Our stomachs will have recovered by then, I'm sure.
