Thanksgiving Weekend

Here are a few photos from Thanksgiving break….

We had the traditional Thanksgiving feast with housemate Cara and little housemate, the Cub.  Then the toddlers napped.  After Silvie woke up from her nap we attempted our one and only Thanksgiving tradition, a quick hike up Mount Tabor.  To see past Thanksgivings look here and here and here (oh my goodness, look how little Silvie was last year!)  By the time Silvie had woken up from her nap, it was starting to get dark so it was a very quick dash up to  our favorite tree and an attempt to get a photo before it was too dark.  The dogs, the girl, the weather, all were not cooperating very well.  So this is the 2010 picture on our favorite tree.

On Sunday we went downtown to see the Christmas tree in Pioneer Square.   Silvie was more enchanted by all the stairs around the square and the MAX trains (“choo-choo”), than the tree.  Every time the MAX would stop, pick up passengers, and take off again, Silvie would let loose with a string of “bye-bye, choo-choo!  bye-bye, choo-choo!  bye-bye, choo-choo!”  I finally heard myself saying, “All right, that’s enough” after about the fiftieth utterance.

After a chilly morning in Pioneer Square we had to go get some coffee.  Silvie bellied up to the bar for a croissant.  Although we’re pretty relaxed parents, let me reassure you that the espresso cup is actually empty and she’s just working on sucking down the frothed milk foam left over from Nate’s espresso.  Only a tiny bit of caffeine, I’m sure.  She’s a true Portlander, she is.

A Quarter Cow and Half a Pig

In our attempts to live a little more lightly on the earth, the wise and bearded one procured grassfed meat from local farmers for us.   A lot of grassfed meat.  This weekend included a trip to the Farmers Market to pick up the pork and a trip to some little town outside of Salem to pick up the beef.  We now have enough meat in our Amish freezer to survive months (years?).

The dogs are inordinately interested in the smoked pork products.

Nate is inordinately interested in the “jowl bacon”.

Little Victories

Yesterday we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary.  I know it’s crazy! 12! We must have been mere infants when we got married.  It’s not been an easy year of marriage.  There are times when our marriage has been easy–we’ve been in agreement and a cohesive Unit.  And there are other times when our marriage has been a constant struggle–negotiations and attempts at compromise between two opinionated and stubborn people.  This has been such a year.  Both of us are in it for the long haul and we know that we will do the hard work of marriage with hopes that someday it will be easy again.

Last night we toasted our marriage at the Victory Wine Bar in Portland.  This was the first time we’d been there, but we were drawn in by the cozy warm interior and lack of a wait for a table (oh, that is prized in Portland on a Friday night!).  It was a great place for a date.  We sat in the corner in the soft candle light and ordered food that reminded us of the Alsace or Black Forest.  The spaezle with gruyere cheese and carmelized shallots was divine!  It gives any mac-n-cheese I’ve ever had a run for its money.  Mussels with chorizo.  Hanger steak with chanterelle mushroom risotto.  Chocolate pots de creme.  Need we say more?  Get thee to the Victory Wine Bar at Division and 36th!

Celebrate the little victories in life (we are still married).

Dr. Seuss Would Be Proud

My dinner order at the Laughing Planet tonight:  Posole soup and a Holy Mole burrito with Guacamole.

The cashier called out, “Posole, Holy Mole, Guacamole!”

Ways for Deb to Amuse Herself #32

couchfest 2007 – pdx edition

couchfest 2007 II

it’s quiet again around the house……. too quiet

couchfest 2007 is over, the dust has settled and the dogs are moping…

pictures are here…

 

 

France, Baby!

Yes, that’s right! We’re going to France in July. That’s me in the green sweater and my co-teacher, Stacey, in the black and white print. One day at work we were talking about how when we became teachers we always thought we would travel in the summers. And why weren’t we travelling in the summers anyway? Then Amy, the drama teacher in the red, piped up and said she REALLY wanted to go to France this summer, and then Tristan in the black dress said she wanted to go to. And so we are.

Women-only trip Paris through Provance for two weeks in July. Then the other teachers are flying out, and the Wise and Bearded One is flying in and we’re going to try to catch a couple of days of the Tour de France and maybe spend a couple of days in the Motherland (Switzerland or Germany depending which Mother you’re talking about).

The photo above is from a “planning meeting” last weekend at Gilt, a posh little restaurant in downtown Portland. Viva la France!

Reason #58 to Live in Portland

Crab Cakes Collage

Originally uploaded by ndmiller.
Crab cakes! Yes, it’s Dungeness Crab season. These crustaceans of the Northwest are one of our favorite delicacies. The other weekend we went to McCormick & Schmicks because they were advertizing a crab celebration. I had some good crab cakes there.

But they were nothing like these delectable morsels that the Wise & Bearded One fried up the other night. First he spent several hours picking luscious white lumps of meat out of the crab. Then he used he secret recipe. Ok, maybe it’s not too secret. I think it’s some variation on the one out of the Cook’s Illustrated cookbook. Whatever he did, they were exponentially better than the restaurant crab cakes–crunchy on the outside smooth and “crabby” on the inside. It’s hard to make the sound of contentment in print so just imagine it here: ahhhhhhh……

Restaurant Review: Savoy Tavern and Bistro

Those of us Portlanders who live on the “East Side” (said in your best gangsta attitude) are always on the lookout for a great restaurant on our side of the river. Many of our fair city’s restaurants are clumped downtown and in the Pearl district.

However, there’s a little clump of new and fabulous restaurants springing up around the Division/Clinton Street neighborhoods. There’s Vindalho and Nuestra Cocina and Lauro. And most recently, we’ve discovered the Savoy Tavern and Bistro. It’s simple midwestern food cooked with care and great fresh ingrediants. Somewhere I read the food described as “Wisconsin Modern”. We’ve eaten there twice and have thoroughly enjoyed everything we’ve ordered. I especially recommend the mac’n’cheese and the meatloaf. And I’m not the type of person who would normally recommend ordering meatloaf in a restaurant.

You can read more about it here.

P.S. I heart Willamette Week.

no reservations

for those of you out there who have the Travel Channel… be sure to watch No Reservations this monday nite when they visit the Pacific NW .
the best pizza place in Portland, Apizza Scholls, will be one of the featured restaurants…
we’ve eaten there only once because its usually too difficult to get in…. it really was the best pie we ever had….

Thanksgiving #2

Since we went to our friends’ house for Thanksgiving we were seriously hurting for turkey leftovers. On Sunday the Wise and Bearded One stayed home from church and fixed us the “core” Thanksgiving dinner–a bird, mashed potatoes and gravy, and sweet potato casserole. Yum!

Now we have turkey leftovers all week! Turkey sandwiches, turkey enchiladas, garlic turkey pizza, etc.

What’s your favorite thing to do with Thanksgiving leftovers?