Today after work I met Ghost Dog at the Goose Hollow Inn for sandwiches and beers, since both our ladies were going out to see Lou Diamond Phillips star in Camelot. Had a good time out, and got home early enough to start getting things organized for tomorrow’s flight. Not sure when I’ll post next exactly, perhaps tomorrow night from the hotel (unless, of course, the hotel doesn’t offer free WiFi). Otherwise, sometime soon-ish.
Category: Food
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A day with family & friends
Today was sort of a busy day. It started off with a drive out to Forest Grove to visit with my Grandma (meeting my brother Travis, his wife Mrs T and my nephew Henry there). Had a good couple hours visiting there before Kelly and I followed Travis back to his house to hang out for a bit before driving home. I snapped several photos of Kelly holding Henry, to the left is one of ’em. Awww, so precious!
After leaving my bro’s house we headed back into Portland to go over to Miranda & Brian’s place for a small gathering of friends before they flew off on a three week visit to Peru… the friends were those who had agreed to keep an eye on their house and cats. On our way over we thought we’d stop and get dinner, and finally decided to try out an old Portland staple, the Pagoda, a ‘Chinese-American’ restaurant and lounge that has been around since 1940. The food was, frankly, exactly what I’d been craving… that kind of good bad Chinese food. Chow mein, pork fried rice, fried shrimp, egg rolls, etc. It was delicious, even if highly unhealthy. The atmosphere is really fun and over the top. The service was very very good. Kelly and I will definitely be back. Just not too soon. 🙂After stuffing ourselves we went to Miranda and Brian’s and had a good hour or so hanging out before going home to relax on the couch, continuing to watch the first season of Heroes on DVD.
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Household productivity & Goose Hollow Inn
Today was a productive day. While it wasn’t exciting, it was the kind of day that makes you feel a little bit better nonetheless. One of those days where you put things in their right place. You know, balancing the accounts, paying bills, taking back bottles & cans followed by a big grocery run, and getting to spend time doing a bit of pruning & cleaning up the yard. See? Very boring. But it was good because all of the above tasks had been in the back of my mind for a couple weeks now.
This evening we met up with our good friends Ty & Aymie (and Ean and a friend of his) at our old haunt, the Goose Hollow Inn, for dinner and drinks to celebrate Ty’s birthday (Happy Birthday Ty!).
Kelly & I decided to take mass-transit to the Goose, which involves a similar route I take to work every day (short bus ride to the MAX train, and on into downtown). However, we got into downtown and discovered there was construction on the line, similar to the one mentioned a couple months back, only on the next street up. This meant getting off the train, walking 8 blocks, and then catching the train again to go on to the Goose Hollow stop. Because of this Kelly & I were a little bit late. However, it was a great time, and I got to have a few pints of Guinness and the Goose’s fantastic reuben sandwich.
After spending many hours chatting away, Kelly & I decided to get going homeward, and got on the MAX. Naturally, we ran into the same construction mess going home, only with longer delays. Between waiting for the connecting train, and then waiting for our bus, it took us a shocking hour and 40 minutes to get home. Urgh. Stupid construction.
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Night at the Tun
After a long, but productive week at work, I got off the bus and met my friend Ghost Dog at the Mash Tun for some beers and dinner. Kelly, who was out at a dinner event related to her internship, met us a little after 9pm, and Ghost Dog had a photographer buddy of his in town to shoot a wedding and who meet up a little later. Had a fun time out, even though I was out later than I thought I’d be. Barely awake now. (falls asleep at the keyboard…)
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The week in review
The week has been both busy and lazy. Here’s the story…
On Sunday, Kelly and I supported some local businesses. We started by going to a local pizza place, Bob’s Rocket Pizza, which we’d recently read rave reviews of. The staff were very friendly, and while there’s limited seating indoors (or outdoors) it’s well worth going to. The pizza was fantastic. Probably among the best I’ve ever had. And fortunately it’s right up the street! While waiting for our pizza, we visited a newcomer to the area, Rose’s, that specializes in hand-made ice-cream, hamburgers, fries, and shakes. We picked up a pint of Oreo Cookie ice cream while waiting for our pizza, which was also fantastic. Later that night (after filling ourselves on pizza and ice cream) we watched some of season three Doctor Who.
Monday I met Miranda at Moon & Sixpence after work for a couple pints and some food before heading home. Miranda & Brian leave for Peru in a week. Jealous. Hrmph!
Tuesday I met Snooks at Kennedy School for a few beers, and to chat about geeky television like Torchwood (and Doctor Who) among other geeky things before going home early and going to sleep.
Wednesday I woke up feeling a bit ill and decided to work from home (and got quite a bit of work done). Kelly and I stayed in and watched several episodes of Heroes (season 1, on DVD). What a great show!
Today after work I met Kelly at Lloyd Center so I could do my (pretty much) annual clothing run, where I finally break down and buy clothes, something I dislike doing. After that we met my brother Travis at Rose & Thistle for a couple pints and some dinner. Had a good night. Tired.
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BBQ & Moon
Tonight Kelly and I attended my employer’s annual BBQ, held this year at the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center (aka ‘The Ecotrust Building’) in NW Portland. We’d taken the bus into town, not sure what would happen but figuring this way we were safe in case we had too much to drink. That’s right, we’re responsible that way. 🙂 We arrived at 6pm sharp, when the event started, and made our way to the rooftop of the building. Pretty fun spot to have such a gathering, fully catered and hosted, with two kegs of beer (Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale Ale, both from Deschutes Brewery), along with wine and mixed drinks. The food itself was OK, but nothing worth really mentioning. The atmosphere was however really nice. It was a cool day today, and an even cooler evening, but the skies were clear, and the view over the Pearl was great. Had a really fun time chatting with coworkers, and introducing Kelly to a few of my many new coworkers that had been hired over the past few months.
We left the party at around 9pm, walking down to take the MAX train towards home, with a “short” trip to the Moon & Sixpence. We ended up hanging out there for quite a while, chatting about art, travel, and my continued annoyance of how many tourist destinations in Europe don’t allow photography (I’ve determined that it’s all to force you to buy the books that they sell at the gift shops on way out, not about protecting the art / sculptures from the dangers of flash photography like they claim). After getting home, I got to try a beer I’d bought earlier today from the local grocery store to celebrate Oktoberfest, something from Bayern Brewing (oddly, from Missoula Montana) called Oktoberfest Lager, which wasn’t so much a lager as it was a dark, malty märzen style beer. But it was pretty tasty though.
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Mash Tun, and Kelly the Chicken Eater
After one of those “why can’t things go my way?” work days, I went and got a haircut and met Kelly at Mash Tun for some beers. After that, we went to New Seasons to pick up some dinner. After Kelly’s post regarding her decision to start eating chicken again, we’d picked up a couple parmesan-breaded chicken breasts, figuring we could add some marinara sauce and cheese to make a delicious (and ‘low shock’) meal out of it. Kelly raved the whole way through the meal. It was both funny and odd, seeings how since we’d started dating she has been a vegetarian (well, kinda, as her post explains).
Free-range, hormone-free chickens BEWARE! There’s another mouth to feed! 🙂
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Shanghai’d again
Tonight I met my brother Travis, and friends Eric M and Ghost Dog at the Shanghai Tunnel (yes, again) for some pool, grub, and beers after work. My kid bro Chad also showed up, as did Mrs. Ghost Dog and some of her friends later (picking up GD). Had a good time hanging out, though I was a feeling a bit slow, having been out until 1:30am the last night, running on almost 5 hours of sleep. I ended up eating the same noodle bowl I had the last night (yup, it’s that good), and had a Guinness or two too many before hopping the MAX -> bus -> home. Got home just after 11:30pm. So tired. So very, very tired.
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The Tunnel, and Editors
Tonight Kelly, Miranda and I went to see Editors play at Berbati’s Pan. We’d started out meeting next door at the Shanghai Tunnel for some drinks and dinner. Kelly and I met there at about 6pm. Miranda joined us shortly after. We had a great time chatting, and I had the delicious noodle bowl (veggies, chicken, and curry sauce) along with a few pints of Guinness. It wasn’t until we’d been there for a little bit when Miranda mentioned that the show didn’t start until 9:30… and there were two opening bands. Obviously this meant it was going to be a late night.We got into Berbati’s shortly after 9pm and decided not to stand around in the venue the whole time so went through to Berbati’s bar / restaurant area for a bit to sit down. We ended up missing the first opening act, Ra Ra Riot, but went in to catch the crazy, yet fun Biffy Clyro, a loud rock band from Scotland, the singer of whom Miranda commented looked like “a cross between Animal and Charles Manson“. Pretty fair description. They were really good, just not quite what I was expecting as an opening act for Editors.
Editors came onstage at around 11:15pm, and put on a GREAT show. We’d seen them before last year at Dante’s, but this was a much better show. Not only was this show to support their fantastic second album An End Has A Start, so they had more material, but their stage presence had also grown. It was an awesome show.
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The week ends
Hooray for short work weeks! Aside from continuing to tweak my home network & server setup, the week was pretty fun. I got to design and work on some pretty fun stuff for SuperSweetCo, and on Wednesday evening I (and some other neighborhood friends) visited Miranda & Brian at their new place. I had a great time hanging out in their yard, even if it meant we were keeping them from unpacking. 🙂
Last night Kelly and I went to the Mash Tun for a pint and some grub. Had a nice time chatting and hanging out.
This morning, however, I woke up feeling a bit wobbly in the stomach, so decided it best if I worked from home. That said, I managed to get a lot done and by the afternoon I felt fine. Not sure if it was the food at the Tun the previous night (which I doubt, since I’ve had their food many, many times) or the sickness that seems to be spreading around the office for the past week or two, but whatever, all I can say is that I’m no longer ill. Hooray!
After the working hours, I grabbed a beer and moved from my home office to the back yard. I’m determined to make the most out of what’s left of the summer in my back yard, before it’s too late. I sat out and tinkered for a bit on the laptop, set out the sprinklers, and chatted with friends. A bit later, I got to IM’ing with a coworker who was going to dinner down the street from me (to the Concordia Ale House). While I had already decided to stay in for the night, it was nice to spend some time with my coworker/friend and his better half. After two pints of Hobgoblin and one pint of Terminal Gravity Extra Special Golden, I walked back home and chatted with Kelly a bit about her night at class, and her upcoming day.
Oh, and in case you haven’t read it, Kelly posted about her trip to New York / Jersey last week. Read it, and be jealous (like I was). 🙂
