Your Wednesday moment of zen.
Portland, ND. The other other Portland. © 2006, 2010, Gary Emenitove.
This work by Gary Emenitove is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 5:51 am Wed August 18 2010 | Comments(0) |
Per my rather effusive restaurant review of yesterday, a few photos of the EastBurn.
As usual, more at the Flickr set.
© 2010, B. Lake and Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by B. Lake and Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 5:15 am Mon August 16 2010 | Comments(1) |
As usual, more at the Flickr set.
© 2010, B. Lake and Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by B. Lake and Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 5:08 am Mon August 16 2010 | Comments(0) |
the_child, calendula_witch, tillyjane and I went hiking this morning. At the last minute we redirected from the Leif Erikson Trail to Kelly Point, where the Willamette flows into the Columbia. We spent an hour and change out there, then dropped tillyjane off at her place. After that, the_child and calendula_witch briefly hit a couple of resale shops while I loitered in the Genre car. Then we headed over to Foti’s on East Burnside for a gyros-and-fries lunch.
One problem. Foti’s isn’t open on Sunday.
Right across the street was a pub we’d never heard of, the EastBurn. Not wanting to drive further for lunch, we wandered in.
ZOMG.
The decor is hip with an emphasis on interesting rather than self-involved. (The basket chairs at the front of the main dining area fascinated the_child and gave me a serious 70′s flashback.) The menu is innovative, strikingly so, nouveau American with a northern European inflection. The service was pitch perfect, just the right amount of waiterly attention without being up in our grill.
We ordered Brie tempura with marionberry jam and sliced apples for an appetizer. That may have been the best fried cheese I’ve ever eaten. (It could have come with half a dozen more baguette slices, but this is a quibble.) the_child and calendula_witch both had steak salads, which included cranberries and diced apples amid the copious greens, very nicely dressed. I ordered the “Über Sondvich”: char-grilled Carlton pork medallion, potato pancake, scallion sour cream, caramelized onions and bourbon-apple chutney on grilled ciabatta. With their trinity fries on the side (sweet potatoes, russets and leeks fried together).
This is what people in Texas call “granny-slapping good”, meaning food so good you’d slap your own granny away from the plate. I think that was the best sandwich I’ve ever had.
The rest of the menu ranges from quirky to fascinating, including items on the Happy Hour menu such as pork-and-elk meatballs, and spaetzle sautéed in duck fat with pancetta, shallots and fontina. Loads of regional microbrews, for them what drinks, an ambitious wine list, and some rocking lemonade for those of us currently eschewing alcohol. All priced quite reasonably, only slightly more than a burger-and-fries at your neighborhood bar.
We are so going back. If you’re anywhere in greater Portlandia, I suggest you make haste to the EastBurn. I know I am in restaurant love.
Posted: 3:27 pm Sun August 15 2010 | Comments(8) |
At PHL, preparing to leave for PDX via SFO. Expect low bandwidth from me today re comments, email etc. Y’all play nice while I’m gone.
Posted: 2:21 am Fri August 06 2010 | Comments(1) |
I am off shortly for a long day of, erm, Day Jobbery. However, I wanted to say that last night’s dinner was a lot of fun. My thanks to Jon Singer for suggesting the restaurant, as well as driving me and my colleague into town from the airport hotel. We had about fifteen people turn out, which was pretty cool, including several local luminaries, some Internet friends it was good to meet (or re-meet) in person, and a few folks new to me. One writer had to leave early, and I never did get to talk to her, for which I am sorry. I may be post-chemo, but I still can’t work a party on my feet.
The food at Rangoon was excellent. I would definitely seek out Burmese cuisine again. And my profound gratitude to everyone who turned out and made it such a fun dinner.
Travel was reasonable, and to my mild surprise did not exhaust me overmuch. Today involves several hours in the car, but I am not driving, so that should be fine. Back to Portland tomorrow.
Posted: 5:16 am Thu August 05 2010 | Comments(2) |
At the airport, heading off to PHL. Day Jobbe meeting tomorrow in NJ. I will see some, all or none of you tonight at Rangoon in downtown Philadelphia.
Back in PDX Friday, then off to my parents’ beach house Saturday with the_child and calendula_witch. Back Sunday from that, then off to Seattle Monday for more Day Jobbe meetings. Back in PDX again on Tuesday.
Wednesday, of course, we find out from the surgical oncologist more about what the next month (and year) of my life looks like.
Meanwhile, I have a plane to catch.
Posted: 4:47 am Wed August 04 2010 | Comments(1) |
Who says a candle only had two ends to burn?
Friday morning I woke up at 1:30 am Pacific time to catch my plane out of Omaha. Arrived in Seattle about 1:30 pm Pacific time, spent the afternoon with markbourne. We met up with calendula_witch and markferrari in the late afternoon, then hied off to a hastily-arranged dinner at Coastal Kitchen with e_bourne, mikigarrison, criada and kehrli. Dinner was lovely, if tediously overlong, and kehrli gave me an incredibly sweet and thoughtful present.
After dinner we hauled off to the final Clarion West party, with a cast of dozens, including shelly_rae, scarlettina, jackwilliambell and tons of other folks. By the time we got there, I’d been up for about nineteen hours. By the time we left, I’d been up for about twenty-two hours. I could not walk in a straight line. I had a lot of fun, but by Ghu I have not burned it that hard in most of a year.
This morning, after a quick breakfast with markferrari, calendula_witch and I headed back to Portland. She drove. We enjoyed the inexplicable and time-consuming twenty-mile traffic snarl north of Grand Mound, arrived home in time to collect the_child and head for the Scholes twins’ first birthday party, where more writerfolk were in attendance.
I am on the couch now, in peace and quiet at the Witchnest, and nearing a comatose state. Tomorrow I plan to move very slowly, and spend most of the day on writing and WRPA. For now, Hugo noms, a little reading, and then early sleep.
Posted: 6:05 pm Sat July 31 2010 | Comments(1) |
A Genre Like Any Other — Cheryl Morgan on the Booker Prize and SF.
Library of Congress: 1905 and Library of Congress: 2007 — A cool pair of shots.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #43: Cheryl Morgan — Speaking of Cheryl…
About Portland, Oregon — An artist’s perspective.
Worst wedding present ever — Oh, wow.
New Focus for Digital Photography — Software that gives users more control of a camera could revolutionize photography.
Lunar triple sunset — Mmm.
?otD: Tastes great, or less filling?
7/31/2010
Writing time yesterday: 3 hours, 30 minutes (revisions, WRPA)
Body movement: n/a (travel day)
Hours slept: 7.25 (interrupted)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 4/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh
Posted: 5:52 pm Sat July 31 2010 | Comments(1) |
Awake (amazingly) in Seattle and needing to get back to Portland. Hopefully Link Salad will re-appear later today. For now, y’all play nice.
Posted: 8:02 am Sat July 31 2010 | Comments(1) |