Category: Food

Categories
Beer Food Work

The holiday weekend begins

It's Memorial Day weekend, and I'm glad I've got an extra day off, as the past week has been pretty exhausting.

Thursday (Kelly's birthday) Kelly spent the afternoon downtown. We went and had a delicious lunch at Mother's Bistro & Bar and then I went back to work while she wandered around town and shopped until I was free. After work we drove out to my parents house for a little birthday dinner for her, and then at around 9pm we left for home (about a 45 minute drive) so we could watch the season finale of Lost finally. However, we get home and discover somewhere between 30 and 50 little ants on our kitchen counter, specifically (and oddly) in and around the coffee maker. This meant about an hour of killing and cleaning, including a trick a friend of mine told me about; put liquid dish washing detergent on your finger and mark a line, they won't cross it. I was able to trap a few near where I thought I saw a hole by marking a circle with detergent, and then I placed some Terro within the barrier I'd created, hoping they'd be forced towards than and then retreat to their lair, unwittingly carrying their deadly package with them… cue evil laughter. A little after 11pm we were finally able to put on the 2 hour Lost season finale, which was really really excellent.

Yesterday I was a bit tired all day. Kelly had made dinner plans with some friends at around 7pm, so after work I took the bus to Belmont Station to meet up with Kelly and pick up some things for the weekend. Dinner was at Wild Abandon, where I had a really top-notch hamburger (a thick, half-pound patty of free-range beef, with a lemon-garlic aioli, mmmm). Dinner was long though, my patience level for sitting at a restaurant for three and a half hours watching courses come and go is a little low. This is because I'm a very simple and direct person when it comes to eating: go to place, order meal, eat meal, done. 🙂 That said, it was a nice place, and the food really is excellent. We sat out on the patio which was nice, until dusk settled in and the mosquito's and spiders came out.

After dinner a few of us went up the street to the Horse Brass for a pint or two. I was designated driver, so I was taking it easy all night, though I did have to have 2 pints at the pub, especially when I discovered what they have on tap now: Old Speckled Hen, and Bluebird Bitter, two really delicious English beers. Oddly, I'd picked up bottles of these while at Belmont Station earlier in the evening, but on tap they're so much better. Anyway, it was a nice end to a nice evening out.

Categories
Beer Food News Work

Outing with work folk

Today SuperSweetCo launched a new version of the fancy new web-based collaboration software. To celebrate, the team who make it go went out after work for food and drinks. We started off walking up to Jake's Grill, which is on the ground floor of the historic Governor Hotel. The happy hour menu at Jake's is incredible, everything is $1.95, and it's not all small appetizers, but full meals such as the 1/2 pound cheeseburger with fries. I had a small hummus plate and it was delicious. After sitting around and sipping on a few pints of Guinness we walked down to Kells to meet up with a few more coworkers. Had a great time.

Kelly met up with us at Kells (she had a happy hour with a friend not far away) and we rode the bus homeward together. We ended up taking a bus that ends up pretty far away from home, but the weather was great so we decided it wouldn't be a problem. We get off the bus on the corner of 15th and Alberta, only to remember that it's Last Thursday, a monthly event held up Alberta for about 20 blocks, with art, crafts, musicians, hippies, yuppies, and everything inbetween (good blog about it with pics here). As we turned the corner we ran into our friends Ty & Aymie (Aymie had a table set up selling her bead works). Chatted with them for a bit before wading through the heavy crowds to get home. Apparently a couple hours later there was a brawl between some drunken idiots and cops, ending up with riot cops showing up. Some moron apparently threw a beer bottle at a cop, the cop tazer'd the moron, and then the moron's friends started fighting back, and it escalated from there. Sheesh. Bunch of morons.

Categories
Food

Full

To follow up on yesterday's post, we went to the Brown Derby with my family, and though I wasn't able to get the burger I wanted (they were only serving their champagne brunch) I did eat copious amounts of meat and potatoes. My mom informed me that I celebrated my first birthday at the Derby, and naturally ended up wearing most of the birthday cake. Anyway, pretty fun time, I'm probably going to be full for a couple days.

Categories
Beer Food

Busy day, Goose evening

Due to an early evening last night (with me falling asleep on the couch at 11pm like some kind of old person) both Kelly and I got up just after 9:00 this morning.

As a result of having a full (and rainy) day ahead of us, we both got a lot done around the house. I got my finances in order (entered receipts into my personal finance app, paid bills online, etc), fixed a small bedroom closet issue (the weight of all someone's clothes broke the plastic holders of the hanger rod, for a second time, so I installed some metal ones!), and we did a massive refrigerator clean-up. What an icky mess a fridge can become after only two years of use. We pulled everything out (shelves and all) and wiped all the gunk out. We even pulled the fridge away from the wall to sweep underneath and finally disovered that there's a water hookup in the wall behind it… that means that one day we can get one o' them fancy fridges with the water & ice dispenser in the door. Hooray! After that, I took the bottles & cans that had been piling up to the local New Seasons, and did some grocery shopping.

After all that I ran by my friend Brendle's house for a smoke. While there, he mentioned he was going to Gartners to pick up some meat for some stew he going to make. Since moving into the neighborhood two years ago I'd heard about that meat mecca, so I offered to take him over there so I could finally check the place out. And what a place it was! Every kind, cut, and style of meat a carnivore's heart could desire, and all of it made my mouth water. I'm definately going to be making pilgrimages there throughout the summer for my BBQ needs. 🙂

After all that, Kelly and I met our good friends Jason and Jen at our old haunt, the Goose Hollow Inn, for some dinner and drinks. Had a fantastic time hanging out on the deck, catching up, eating delicious reuben sandwiches, and sipping beers. Great night, and the perfect way to end a busy day.

Tomorrow Kelly and I are going out to my hometown to meet up with my family at one of the few (and soon to shut down) restaurants in town, the Brown Derby, for an Easter brunch. I'm a little sad to hear the place will be shutting down, I've been going there since I was a little kid. It was really the one 'fancy' restaurant in town, and right next door to my grandparents old house. The signature Brown Derby Burger is something to behold. I'd put it far above anything Stanich's has to offer. *sniff* I can only hope I can get that burger tomorrow, before it's too late!

Categories
Beer Food General

Ya Hala, and Beer Heaven

Portland enjoyed a week of beautiful weather, starting out cold but ending up at 70 degrees the past two days. It was great; wearing shorts, taking lunchtime walks around the waterfront, warm evenings, etc.

Tonight Kelly and I joined Miranda, Snooks and L out for dinner at Ya Hala, a Lebanese restaurant in S.E. Portland. The food was fantastic, I had the chicken shawarma, and sampled a few other things all the appetizers that were ordered, such as stuffed grape leaves and falafel. I highly recommend this restaurant if you're looking for Greek / Lebanese food. Oh, I also had an Armenian beer, Kilikia Dark, which was pretty tasty and worth a try. Only downside, it's only sold in a small (11.16 oz) bottle. 🙂 

After we left Ya Hala, we drove to Beer Heaven (a.k.a. new Belmont Station). Their new 'Bier Cafe' is finally open, so we spent an hour looking through the shop (I picked up a few English ales I hadn't tried before to bring home) Miranda and L both bought a bottle of the Dogfish Head Chicory Stout to have there, Kelly and I shared a bottle of Smithwick's, and we all sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather for a bit before heading home. Very fun evening.