Categories
Beer Food Travel

Weekend at the coast

This weekend Kelly took me to the coast for a surprise weekend getaway. She’d rented a house near Manzanita, and we spent a couple days driving around, visiting nearby spots including spending some of Saturday at Cannon Beach, hiking through Oswald West State Park, and on Sunday checking out Hug Point (my new favorite stretch of Oregon beach).

Had a really tasty burger and a few pints of Guinness at the Sand Dune Pub on Friday night, and a delicious Shrimp Scampi dinner at the Terra Cotta Cafe on Saturday evening, right before racing down to see what little sunset there was left.

It was really great to get away for a couple nights, and we got back with a Monday holiday day off to spare (so I could chill out around the house before returning to work). Thanks so much Kelly, it was fantastic!

More photos here.

Categories
Beer General

A very Spring-like February weekend

The weather here in Portland, unlike the East Coast or northern Europe, has been very spring-like the past several days. Yesterday the temperature reached 61 I think, with sunny skies. It’s hard to believe it’s mid-February.

Taking advantage of this weather, I spent the past couple days outside working on my yard; Pruning, raking, edging, trimming, and filling several yard debris bags. Things are starting to shape up. I’m exhausted, but I’m having what I believe is the best tasting pint of Guinness ever, sitting on the front porch in the sun.

Oh yeah, related to my previous post, I picked up the new keg yesterday. Had I known the old one had so much left in it before Friday I wouldn’t have babied it all week. Sheesh!

Categories
Beer Food

Valentine’s and Vendetta

Last Sunday was Hallmark and chocolate maker’s day (aka Valentine’s Day). During the afternoon while Kelly attended a work event, I spent the day working in the yard and cleaning the house. Later that evening Kelly and I went to dinner at Bernie’s Southern Bistro on Alberta (mmm, meatloaf).

Last night I met up with some friends at Vendetta for a couple of pints. Had a great time catching up with JB, T, and MB. Later Kelly met up and we (along with MB) went to 5th Quadrant for dinner (mmm, burger).

Tonight has been a fairly relaxed night at home. And to my surprise, my keg ‘o Guinness wasn’t as empty as I thought it was; I’d expected to pull one or two pints and have so far pulled five. Hooray(!?), except I’ve ordered a new one to pick up tomorrow so I’m hoping the keg blows soon. Otherwise I’ll be in a bit of a quandary tomorrow. Or I’ll just have to keep drinking. I guess there are worse problems to have.

Oh, and the weather has been positively Spring-like the past week. It was 60 and sunny today. It’s mid-February! WTF? I’ve got flowers blooming and Tulips coming up. It seems way too early for this. On one hand, it’s really nice to have some nice, sunny, warm weather, but it’ll mean a very flowerless Spring in my yard.

Categories
Beer Food

Goose for Ghostdog’s birthday

Tonight Kelly and I joined Ghostdog for his birthday at the Goose Hollow Inn. Had a fabulous time hanging out at my old haunt, sipping on Guinness, chatting with friends, and enjoying the best reuben sandwich on the planet. Good times. Happy birthday GD!

Categories
Beer Food Television Work

Leverage, Lolo, Lompoc

After the KABOOM on Wednesday, Kelly and I saw a bit more Leverage filming Thursday on our way to work. They were filming outside the US Bank on Broadway. Nothing too exciting, loads of people, filming gear, etc, but I caught a glimpse of two of the actors I recognized from what little I’ve seen of the show (Christian Kane and Aldis Hodge).

Yesterday after work Kelly and I went to a tapas restaurant near our house for dinner called Lolo for dinner. Good food, good service, and a good atmosphere. Granted, it wasn’t massively busy (it was a Thursday after all) but the happy hour prices are worth the visit alone.

Today I worked from home since I needed to take Kelly and one of her coworkers to the airport at 10am. During the day a friend arranged a meet-up at the New Old Lompoc on NE Williams for some after-work drinks. I decided to walk the 3.25 miles there to get a bit of exercise in. After a couple beers and some good conversation with friends, I hit the streets for the walk home. Good amount of walking. My feets are now sore. Good thing I have Guinness on tap to help soothe the pain. 🙂