and more, god help me...

Thursday:
Dad and the Lady took a plane tour from Hood River. It was an hour long, down the Columbia Gorge and around Mt. Hood. They had beautiful weather and were able to see the skiers. I would like to do that sometime! We all then spent a quiet evening in.
Friday:
Since L and I get to take advantage of "summer hours" we were home by that afternoon. We all decided to go to Nutshell for dinner. As usual, the service was great and so was the food. I can't emphasize enough how much even an omnivore (such as me) can enjoy this place. The breads with a variety of olive oils and salts are a perfect way to start the meal. Bigfoot's Bamboo Fries are positively addictive. I love that the soups come by the shot glass. The salads are creative compositions of tastes and textures. The entrees can be curiously lacking in salt (curious because of the presence of the salt tasting selections) and some of the sweet elements in savory dishes can be a bit cloying, but those are extremely minor criticisms. The Chocolate Maple Tart was intense and rich.
Saturday:
L joined us for and excursion to the Portland Farmer's Market, to return a blouse at Talbot's, and general meandering about downtown PDX. We had tickets to see Live Wire, a radio variety show aired on public radio. L suggested we go out for German food, since vegan 'A' had a dog birthday party to attend and wouldn't be joining us. It was a brilliant idea, as The Berlin Inn is located just around the corner from the Aladdin Theater where the show is taped. We stuffed ourselves on brats and spaeztle und red cabbage und schnitzel. Ach, ja!
The show was terrific, AS USUAL. One of the guests- -has a blog Macaroni Maniac that I think many of my friends, especially those with an East Coast sense of humor will enjoy.Seriously, if you live in Portland and haven't gone to see Live Wire just go. Really. The writing is sharp, irreverent and hilarious and they have the best guests. At least listen to the podcast if you are too cheap/poor/cool/apathetic to spring for a $15 ticket you lazy hipsters.
Sunday:
Mr. & Mrs. Betsy Ross, Christo-pee and his 9-year old son "Dance Dance Revolution" joined us for a day at Edgefield. We described it to Dad and the Lady as resembling "...a tiny village dedicated to drinking", so of course they were game. Typical of McMenamins, the food was mediocre. But the beer flowed like water flows down the Columbia and everyone enjoyed the day in the sun.
Monday:
A & L both had the day off and we figured we could split Dad and The Lady up, for their own good. The Lady wanted to go back to Ikea, and since all things retail appeal to L, she accompanied her. 'A' would rather torture puppies than wander through miles of affordable Swedish furniture, so she agreed to go to the science and industry museum with Dad and boyfriend Christo-pee. At the end of the day we all ended up at Portland City Grill, on the 30th floor of the US Bank building enjoying the view on a beautiful, clear day.

We then went to The Jam for dinner. I realized by then that I was definitely getting sick, and I could barely wait for my Sassy Mary- a super-spicy Bloody. We were planning on having dinner and it seems that they had made a decision to only do sandwiches that evening. It became increasingly confusing as we were given a mix of lunch and dinner menus and then were given dinner menus and then those were removed and we were given lunch menus. No one really seemed to know what was going on. This place is tiny- WTF? I got my food first and was finished when almost everyone else got theirs. It then was obvious that they hadn't even started the Lady's food or L's; they had to wait until their food was prepared. It was all very inexplicable. I had stuffed mushrooms (perfect and delightful) and fried, pickled asparagus. I hear they are having trouble getting their dinner service off the ground. Yeah, I think I have a few ideas of why...

L had an interesting thought: why do we refer to pickled cucumbers as just "pickles," but specifically call out the vegetable names for other pickled vegetables?

and more...

Wednesday:
L and I met Dad and Lady at Pioneer Square where lady was shopping and Dad was doing his "old man on a bench in the mall waiting for his wife" impression.
When cocktail hour arrived we settled in at Pazzo's lounge/bar. Hmmmm. OK, so you really don't see much press about this place anymore like you did 4-5 years ago and I can see why. The cocktails were inconsistent. Yes, the Lemon Drop was great: icy, tart, right amount of sugar. But some of the more "original" offerings were just indications that the restaurant is trying too hard. The drink I ordered, 'Lieutenant Dan' (it might be the 'Sargeant Dave' or the 'Corporal Alonzo' as I almost ALWAYS get names wrong) sounded appealing to me because I prefer savory over sweet and this had hot pepper and some fruit juice and some...um...bitters, maybe? Basically, it was totally underwhelming. L wasn't fond of the her cocktail either. We ordered some snacks off of the "Bar menu" and finding the cashews to be pretty much a Trader Joe's offering out of the bag, and house cured olives that tasted like burning. We still refused to read the writing on the wall and ordered pizzas. Two of them. In our defense, this was after several Lemon Drops- which were good-so we were feeling lucky.
We were not lucky. When the Margherita and the Sopressata, Asparagus & Onion pizzas arrived, we ate all of them but liked little. I was not impressed by Pazzo's at all.
Here's why:

* pizza crust has the texture of crushed, low-sodium Saltines (oxymoron alert) mixed with water until fine & crumbly and pressed into a "pizza pan."
* sauce tastes of salty and 'red' but not of tomatoes.
* too much greasy cheese.
* Service was wildly inconsistent. Our server was so enthusiastic and helpful in the beginning but completely faded out. So much so, that I actually asked her if her shift was up and should we cash her out and start with a new server. She looked at me like she she didn't know what I was talking about. I think that fact that she hadn't come by our table while we sat there for at least a 20 minutes with no food on the plates and no liquid in the glasses while she busily did side work for dinner service was reason enough for me ask about her shift plans.

Granted, our whole experience was limited to the bar/lounge. But I think what we experienced did inform us about the restaurant as a whole.

More PDX Activities...

Monday:
Dad and the Lady stayed at my house for most of the day. That evening we all gathered here at Alder Street for cocktails. French 75s, the house special!
Tuesday:
I took the day off and the 3 of us go to Ikea . We then drove to Sauvie Island and look at the house boats. Dad liked this; Lady stayed reclined in the backseat. Then to downtown Portland to the Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden. we all really got a kick out of the Rose Garden- testing Dad's minimal sense of smell, picking out our favorite roses (mine was the 'Julia Child'; I didn't even know the name when I picked it, I swear! Its yellow and smells like licorice...), taking pictures. The Japanese Garden was nice, too, but much more subdued. We then went to the Eastside for cocktails at Rontoms where 'A' joined us. I left my denim jacket because L, aka 'The Noticer', wasn't there. Wow, sometimes you don't appreciate people until they're gone. We then decided to have dinner at Carafe, picked up Lisa and met Christo-pee at the restaurant. We all enjoyed our French bistro fare- even Amy who made do with frites and salad.

Dad and the Lady visit PDX

Well, Mom (aka 'Lady', properly said with a Jerrry Lewis-like nasally whine: "Hey, Laaaaady!") and Dad left for home this morning. They had to leave the most perfect, beautiful Oregon summer weather for muggy, thunderstormy Vermont. Actually, I quite like those summer thunder & lightning storms in New England. But they can keep the black flies, ticks and mosquitoes, thank-you-very-much.

We had a great visit. Lots of dining, sightseeing, cocktailing, weed whacking, Ikea-ing... There were few tense moments and a lot of laughs. When installing a solar sensor light, only 2 items crashed to the ground from the roof- and neither of them was Dad. Copious amounts of alcohol were served and consumed and not one tear was knowingly shed. Such a jovial mood ensued that soon we were able to joke that we had to say everything twice because "Dad can't hear and Lady can't listen." Unfortunately for me, I had deliberately left the refrigerator rather skanky to distract Lady from conducting a full-on health inspection of my entire house. But though she complained about the fridge, she was not stirred to clean it. Darn.

Before their arrival we 3 sisters discussed what activities to plan for them for 10 days. This is what we actually did:

Saturday:
Arrival. Picnic and cocktails on my deck. Dad expressed interest in attending a Timbers game with A and L. Mom and I had dinner at The Country Cat restaurant nearby. We had a very good dinner sitting at the bar. A & L returned Dad, none the worse for wear at midnight.
Sunday:
Father's Day. We actually all went back to The Country Cat for brunch. I ordered the house-made roast beef hash. The peices of beef were a perfect combination of chewy and tender and the potatoes were crispy-browned and it sat upon of braised collard greens accompanied by 2 poached eggs. I left my plate absolutely clean. We then hiked around Powell Butte. I'm embarassed to admit I'd never been there. It was like an alpine meadow, covered in daisies and purple grasses. Afterwards, Dad said he could go for a cold one, so it was drinks at the Moon & Sixpence patio. I, as well my parents, can only go there if the patio is available because it is sooooo smokey. But I do love the place and hope to go there frequently this summer. Later, it was dinner @ Wild Abandon. The restaurant surpassed all my expectations. Dad wanted Bouillabaise, but didn't want to go back into downtown. I knew Wild Abandon was in the area and specialized in seafood but had never been there. Their online menu said they had cioppino which is Italian-American and Dad wanted French, but it is close enough. The food was good, the service was kind and friendly and all-in-all I could not come up with anything negative. It wasn't the most innovative, flavorful food I've ever eaten, but they don't advertise themselves as such. It was tasty, relaxing, fun reasonable and so very Portland- in a good way. The patio looks very inviting and I'd like to check out their happy hour. I will definitely go there again.