Our Table Cooperative–Membership Month

September 5, 2015 by Sarah Leave a Comment

If you haven’t heard me mention Our Table Cooperative yet, then you’ve only known me for about two minutes. Others will tell you that I love this place and basically won’t shut up about it!

I am so excited to share that I am partnering with Our Table this September to help them celebrate membership month! I’ll be sharing my personal experience with Our Table (how we met and fell in love and are now going steady), and showing you what being a member of a co-op is all about and what it means to really own your food.

Our Table has challenged me to eat local this month using their on-farm grocery store for the majority of my grocery shopping. That makes it pretty easy since the store is mostly all Oregon-sourced organic foods anyways. I’m looking forward to sharing some of my favorite products and showing you how much fun this place is.

This challenge comes at an interesting time because I just revamped my budget and have a set amount for groceries each week that I need to stick to since groceries are where I tend to overspend. It will be interesting to see how local and organic shopping goes on a budget but I’m hoping I’ll be pleasantly surprised. Obviously I won’t be emptying my kitchen and starting from scratch, that would be silly, but I will need to get creative and use items already in my freezer and pantry in order to make my budget stretch, but I’d be doing that no mater what grocery store I was using.

I’ll be sharing with you each week what came in our CSA share, as well as what I’m buying for the week’s groceries and how I plan to use them. This is going to be so fun!!

Speaking of CSA shares, those come on Thursdays and this is what we got this week:

Rosencrantz Lettuce
Sivan Charentais Melon
Napoli Carrots
Stocky Red Roaster & Jimmy Nardello Peppers
(if you’re lucky, the Nardello peppers will look like elf shoe, ha!)

I’m a big believer that sometimes the simplest ways to prepare foods can be the best, so of course I made a giant salad! I used the lettuce and the stocky peppers from the CSA along with some tomatoes, lemon cucumber, and zucchini that were all garden gifts from friends! And homemade Ranch because Ranch is everything (and always will be).

If I’m being honest, the reason I’m into simple is also because I have lost all kitchen skills I once had. Before we moved to this apartment in January, we spent two years in a smaller place with the tiniest galley kitchen. It was difficult to do much of anything in that kitchen and over time I just stopped trying and we ate a lot of take-out. Now that we have a decent kitchen again I’m feeling very awkward and clumsy and I question everything I do. For example, that head of lettuce, I actually wondered to myself if I was washing and chopping it correctly. So embarrassing!! Admitting the problem is the first step and I fully admit it and am working on getting my kitchen mojo back – all tips are welcome!

In addition to the CSA items, here is what I picked up at the grocery for eating and attempting to cook this week:

Fuller Foods Serious Cheese Puffs… because cheesy puffs, duh
Housemade Meat Sauce… this will be going over some meatballs currently in my freezer, and then those will be going on a bed of sweet potato noodles! (oops – got the sweet potatoes at the farm store but forgot to put them in the pic)
Yellow Onion… this will be added to some chicken breast and red potatoes I already have which will then be covered in a delicious curry simmer sauce currently in my pantry from Trader Joe’s. I’ll also be using some onion with the elf shoe peppers from the CSA, roasting them up and then adding some fried eggs on top as a breakfast-for-dinner type meal. Already have some eggs in the fridge from the farm store and you should see those gorgeous bright orange yolks!
Black Rockfish fillets… planning to use the melon from the CSA to make this grilled fish with spicy cantaloupe-cucumber salad ala Martha Stewart, but might dice the salad to make it more like a relish to go on the fish.
Yellow Peaches… since it’s just Mr. Won’t Run and I, I’m looking into more cooking-for-two type recipes so I’m thinking little individual peach cobblers or something like that. Or just eating them straight up since they’re pretty much perfect as-is!
Bread… this isn’t just any old bread you guys, it’s from Roman Candle Baking Co. and they deliver to Our Table on Fridays and Saturdays. The focaccia is unbelievable, but this is one of our favorites as well, except I can’t remember the name!!! It’s nutty and fruity and peppery and awesome. I’ll get the name for you next time because you’ll definitely be seeing me buy it again.

I’ll let you know next week how those meal ideas turned out, but if you want to know sooner just follow me on Instagram and I’ll post the greatness. Or maybe the sadness.

Another thing I love about Our Table… there’s almost always a chalk heart somewhere out front. It’s the little things.

Stay tuned… next time I’ll tell you all about how I discovered this gem in my own backyard and fell fast and hard in love!

To learn more about Our Table and their co-op/csa/farming ways, check them out here:
Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter
13390 SW Morgan Rd
Sherwood, OR 97140
503-217-4304

(The fun legal disclosure: This September is membership month at Our Table and I’m partnering with them for a blog series sharing my co-op story and how they help me eat local. I am receiving a small discount on purchases I make, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. If I didn’t genuinely love this place I would not be telling you about it. Check out all my Our Table coverage here!)

Getaway :: Astoria & Long Beach

April 21, 2015 by Sarah 2 Comments

Warning: extremely long and photo-filled post ahead

A few weekends ago we took a quick trip to Long Beach, WA and the weather on the coast was amazing! The forecast said mostly cloudy which I was fine with since that meant we wouldn’t have to worry about Koko getting heatstroke when we had to leave her in the car, but it actually turned out to be pretty sunny and not too winy or cold. It wasn’t shorts weather, but it was certainly enjoyable.

Long Beach is a little over two hours away from Portland and has been on my radar for a while now. I knew Cape Disappointment State Park and a couple of lighthouses were up there, and I kept seeing Living Social deals for the newly renovated and eco-conscious Adrift Hotel and their [pickled fish] restaurant. Recently a couple of local blogging friends also posted about Long Beach and Adrift – Lindsay & Suzannah – so we finally went to check it out for ourselves.

Stopping in Astoria on the way was a must, and my Instagram friend Jonena (we still haven’t met in real life yet!) lives there so I asked her where we should eat and she suggested Blue Scorcher Bakery & Café. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint!

It’s actually a worker-owned cooperative and they’re all about local, organic, and in season which is really cool, and I’d say it shined through in the bright and fresh flavors of their food. There’s free wi-fi, a very eclectic magazine selection, a children’s play area, and I heard something about gluten-free Fridays if you’re interested in that.

That photo is a very small part of their bakery case!

We ordered some lunch, including sweets and coffee which were meant to be dessert, but I dug into mine right away. I had a Cardamom Almond Roll + Americano, and Mr. Won’t Run had the Ginger Tea Cake + Honey Cardamom Latte. I’m not typically a fan of cardamom, but I think that’s because I’ve never had it done right, but Blue Scorcher does it right for sure! You could absolutely smell and taste it but it wasn’t overpowering. And that Ginger Tea Cake was like the most amazing gingersnap cookie you’ve ever eaten but in cake form. De-freakin-licious!

(Can we just pause and talk about natural light for a moment? I’ve always heard that taking pictures in natural light is the best, and we were sitting next to a window in early afternoon so natural light was abundant, and I am officially a fan. This photo (and all others) were just from my iPhone, but seeing how things come out in natural light makes me want to figure out my “real” camera! Okay, back to the post… )

Mr. Won’t Run ordered the special on the board which was Grilled Polenta with a Spanish red sauce and sauté of Tuscan kale and pinenuts – he really enjoyed it and said it had great flavor. I ordered the 3 Egg Scramble with pesto and goat cheese on a bed of greens with toast and jam – when you eat at a bakery you order the toast, it was obviously amazing. The eggs were perfect too, cooked to that still-wet-but-not-gross-and-runny stage and the pesto and goat cheese combo was fantastic. We left very satisfied and will definitely be back!

(Again with the natural light! I know these pictures aren’t gallery worthy, but the difference with natural light just blows me away!)

Even though we’d technically had dessert already, we also had to check out another recommendation from Jonena which was Frite & Scoop – french fries and ice cream!!!

It was nearby so we walked to the cute little shop specializing in French-custard style ice cream made with local ingredients – yum! There is seating inside or outside under cover with a view of the water, or just grab your scoops and walk around the city which is what we did. I got Espresso Cardamom (made with Stumptown Hairbender), and he got the Hokey Pokey as an ice cream sandwich (sweet cream custard with house-made honeycomb candy).

Since their ice cream is made fresh daily, they post the current flavors on Facebook, but I’m warning you, don’t look unless you’re ready to drive to Astoria right this minute – so much good stuff! Authentic Belgian Frites will be added to the menu in the next month or so and I think it’s a genius combination, just like dipping french fries in your milk shake! You do that too, right?

After ice cream it was over the bridge to WA, and thanks to some bridge construction we were stopped for a few minutes so I snapped a pic from the Oregon side.

Cape Disappointment State Park was up next since it was on the way to the hotel. Neither of us had been there before so we found the little parking lot and took the short trail up to Fort Canby and the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center:

The view wasn’t too terrible:

Looking left you can see the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse:

And then we hiked over to the lighthouse which was a bit of a surprise. I didn’t do much research before going so I wasn’t wearing appropriate foot ware for hiking but thankfully the trail was pretty clear and it hadn’t been raining so it wasn’t muddy, and the last half is paved which was nice. It’s 0.5 miles from the parking lot to the lighthouse but we were already up the hill and there’s a trail (towards the left in that Fort Canby photo above) that meets up with the one you would take from the parking lot, but it’s was short so I think 0.5 miles from Fort Canby would be an accurate estimate too. It’s not long, and the trail is pretty easy.

On the way there’s the ominously-named Dead Man’s Cove Overlook:

Which was quite beautiful:

There is beach access further down the trail, although I’m not sure if it’s official access or just rule-breakers blazing their own trail, but we kept heading to the lighthouse. Here’s a view from the other side of the cove:

This is also right next to the US Coast Guard station which I thought was cool since my Dad and Uncles were in the Coast Guard, and at least one of them was stationed right around here for a while:

Next up was the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, built in 1856, and apparently it is the oldest functioning lighthouse on the West Coast:

From the lighthouse, looking to the right at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center:

And this is a silly gif that Picasa automatically made for me when I uploaded my photos. Mr. Won’t Run was taking the picture and he took a ton, of course not telling me when he was taking them so I was channeling my inner Vanna White while I waited for him to say “okay, smile” (he never did), and this is the magic that happened. You’re welcome.

The it was off to find the hotel which was a piece of cake thanks to a nice big Adrift Hotel sign on the main road telling you where to turn. This picture is taken from the beach side, not the road as you drive in. The top right part of the building painted green is the [pickled fish] restaurant which we didn’t get to eat at but we hear it’s really good.

Check-in was a breeze and he gal at the counter was very helpful, explained everything they had to offer and tipped us off that the restaurant was booking up quick so if we wanted dinner we should make a reservation ASAP. We tried, but they were already full! Somehow when we booked this getaway we sort of forgot it was Easter weekend so I think a lot of people got away to the coast for the holiday because this place was hoppin’!

We were in a “West Queen” which is on the 2nd floor (pet-friendly rooms are on the 1st and 2nd floor) facing south in their west building and had “a view of the expansive dunes and pines leading south to North Head with just a slight view of the ocean”. It came with a queen bed, a small table + two chairs, mini fridge, 28″ LCD TV, DVD player, and the bathroom had a tub/shower. The view when we walked in was the sink area which leads to the bedroom and a nice big window. The shower and toilet are to the right with a door but the sink is in the common area which was nice, and they have a recycling bin in the room which was handy, as well as recycling bins next to the garbage down by the lobby. Yay recycling!

We had a partial view of the ocean but you had to look hard right to see it which was fine with us for this trip. If we’d been staying a few days and planned to spend more time hanging out in the room, then being ocean front would be nice, but since it was just one night and we knew we’d be out and about, the partial view was fine. They do have rooms in the other building that I believe have full ocean views from the higher floors.

For being a more basic/minimalist/industrial hotel, the room is quite comfortable and has everything you need. My favorite part of the room was probably that box fan! We’ve gotten used to sleeping with a fan on at night for white noise and air flow, so now when we travel it’s hard to sleep without it. Well, it’s hard for ME to sleep, Mr. Won’t Run could sleep through anything. Not sure why the bed looks so lumpy, it was a comfortable memory foam mattress.

They also offer fun packages you can add on like the bonfire one where you get everything needed to make a bonfire on the beach + fixins for s’mores + a bottle of wine. How fun does that sound?!! We almost did it but then were so full from dinner we decided we’d try it next time. They also have bikes that are free to use, you just have to sign up for them, we’ll also be doing that next time.

We decided to take a walk on the beach before dinner and to wear Koko out a little bit. I think we succeeded.

Since we missed [pickled fish] for dinner, we asked the gal at the desk what they would recommend and we ended up at The Shelburne Inn which was the cutest hotel and restaurant right off the main road.

I’m trying to broaden my wine horizons so I got the Trio of Half Glass Northwest Wines. All three were fine but nothing blew my socks off. Apparently I still like the super sweet white ones the best.

Mr. Won’t Run got Pan Fried Oysters of course, he loves those things:

The Daily Focaccia was outstanding, that night it had tomato, greens (obviously), and house-cured chorizo (maybe chorizo, I can’t remember exactly, it was a house-cured meat of some kind), and some olive oil on the side for drizzling.

I ordered the Wild Chinook Salmon with Local Garden Veggies and Fettuccini, and Mr. Won’t Run got the Shelburne Beef Wellington with Deliciosa Mushroom Duxelle, both were delicious.

And then… yes, more food… if there’s crème brulee or lava cake, we will eat it.

After sleeping that off we took a little beach walk the next morning and since [pickled fish] wasn’t quite open yet we headed to Laurie’s Homestead Breakfast House. A little “interesting” from the outside, but charming inside and great diner food! Yes, there is a real Laurie, and if you go you’ll probably see her there! I also loved the picture of the praying man on the back wall. We had that picture in our house when I was growing up and there’s just something about it, it’s peaceful maybe, and now it reminds me of home.

How cute are the mismatched mugs, I love that! We always have to try the biscuits and gravy at a breakfast place so we got the half order and could have shared it between four people. Be warned, it’s a lot of food, but all delicious!

Nothing left to do after that but head home with super full bellies.

And if you’re still reading, yes, Mr. Won’t Run did order a side of bacon for Koko.

Details all in one spot:

Blue Scorcher – Cafe Menu
7 days a week, 7am – 4pm
1493 Duane St.
Astoria, OR 97103
503-338-7473

Adrift Hotel and Spa – Rooms
Current room rates appear to be $108-$202
409 Sid Snyder Dr.
Long Beach, WA 98631
360-642-2311

We didn’t eat at [pickled fish] but here’s the menu if you’re interested.
7 days a week, 9am-12pm (Breakfast), 3pm-5pm (Bar & Provisions), 5pm-9pm (Dinner), 9pm-Close (Late Nite Menu)
360-642-2344

The Shelburne Inn – Rooms – Restaurant
Current room rates appear to be $149-$199
4415 Pacific Way
Seaview, WA 98644
360-642-2442

Laurie’s Homestead Breakfast House – TripAdvisor, UrbanSpoon, Yelp
7 days a week, 6:30am – 1pm (unconfirmed)
4214 Pacific Way
Seaview, WA 98644
360-642-7171

Portland Food Map {Google Maps}

May 24, 2014 by Sarah 2 Comments

If you are a foodie, living in a foodie city, you probably have a never-ending list of restaurants to try. I have that list, and unfortunately I kept it in my notoriously unreliable memory and would immediately forget the name of that great place I heard about.

Back in October I finally decided there had to be a better way to keep track of them all, and how cool would it be to plot them on a map, and then it dawned on me…

Google. Maps.

Did you know you can create custom Google Maps? It’s not just for directions anymore!

I’d love to write up a tutorial for you, but at the moment there are two versions of Google Maps, and I don’t know which one you’re on so I’ll just point you to these: for Classic click here, for New click here.

I am a visual person so the map format appealed to me A LOT! I can see at a glance where things are located, the contact info is right there as well as a link to the website, and there is a spot to enter notes so I can remember who referred me to that restaurant or post a link to the article I read that made me want to go there, and I can write my thoughts on the place afterwards.

You also have a lot of options for the pins you can use to mark places – they can be different colors or different icons. I just went with the standard red pin and those are restaurants we still need to try. If I marked it green it means we’ve been there and would recommend it, if I marked it yellow it means we’ve been there and it was fine but didn’t really blow us away. Now, if it’s marked with the light blue hiking people, that means we love it, we’ve been there multiple times, we’d be sure to take an out-of-town visitor there, and we’d walk 500 miles if we had to. Not really, but you get my point – so far that’s just Blue Star Donuts, Lardo, and Pine State Biscuits. We haven’t hated anything, but if we ever do it will probably be a tornado symbol or something, ha!

I have been able to help out a few friends too when they ask me where they should eat. If they tell me they’re going to an event at Keller or the Moda Center, I can look up the map and see what’s near those locations. If I’m heading into Portland to check out a new shop, I can see what’s nearby, and maybe alter my route to hit up something (donuts!) close to where I’ll be.

Here it is, my EAT ALL THE THINGS map of Portland, let me now what I should add:

(No idea why the map isn’t showing up right, just use your mouse to move it around and see the pins hiding behind the list, or open in a new window.)

Google Maps is also a lot of fun if you’re vacation planning! We’re planning one for this Fall and I have LOVED using Google Maps to plot out where everything is, I even have a separate map for each day with the tentative itinerary and route. More to come on that fun stuff!

What do you think about Google Maps? Yay? Nay?

What’s on your walk-500-miles-for-it list?

Fogo de Chao {Portland, OR}

May 17, 2014 by Sarah Leave a Comment

There’s a new kid on the block in Portland!

The Brazilian steakhouse (churrascaria) restaurant, Fogo de Chão, opened a location on 6th Avenue a couple of weeks ago and I was invited to their grand opening dinner to get the full experience for myself. I was able to take Mr. Won’t Run which is good because he likes meat, and this place is all about the meat!

Before I get to the meat though, let’s talk about the drink, the salad bar, THE CHEESY BREAD, and how to Fogo.

The Drink

While waiting for our table we hung out in the bar and tried their signature cocktail, the Caipirinha, which also happens to be Brazil’s national cocktail. It’s made with lime, sugar, and Cachaça (an alcohol made from fresh sugarcane juice that has been fermented and distilled). I had read that Cachaça is like a sweet rum, and I’m not a huge rum fan, but this drink was delicious and now I’d like to go drink them on a beach in Brazil!

The Salad Bar

So, this is not your regular lettuce and bacon bits type of salad bar. There are 30+ options to choose from, including fruits, veggies, cheese, and full-size bacon, no bits here! And meat, yep, meat at the salad bar. It’s pretty perfect!

This is just part of one side of the bar:

Lovely cured meats and cheese:

And in case you need more meat and cheese (who doesn’t?):

I didn’t want to go too overboard with the salad bar since I knew there was more to come, but everything I did have was great:

THE CHEESY BREAD

When we got back to our table with our salads, the cheesy bread arrived. You guys, I’m telling you right now, you want these babies!! Apparently it’s a Brazilian cheese bread called pão de queijo, and after the first one I basically wanted to shove them all in my mouth chubby-bunny style! So cheesy. So chewy. Soooo good. And I hear they’re gluten-free too!

Some traditional Brazilian side dishes also arrived: crispy hot polenta, garlic mashed potatoes and caramelized bananas. All delicious! But a little out of focus, sorry.

How to Fogo

Now let me introduce you to the Gauchos! And their meat! Their meat on skewers!

There are 16 different types of meat available, and the gauchos are really the chefs, they grill the meat and then walk around the restaurant carving it up as needed.

How do they know you want some meat? There are handy little coaster type cards on your table, one side is green and the other side is red (you can see a little of the red side in the picture above). When you have the green side up they’ll stop and offer you some meat.

They must have green-side-up sensors because it never took them very long to notice our card. When you want the meat onslaught to stop, you just flip your card to show the red side, chow down on what you have, then flip it back to green to resume the meat-palooza!

And we can’t forget dessert! Mr. Won’t Run had the Key Lime Pie which we both thought was just okay, but we love Key Lime Pie so we’re pretty picky about it.

I had their signature dessert, the Papaya Crème, but sadly, I wasn’t a big fan. Mr. Won’t Run loved it though and thought the papaya flavor punched you in the face. I thought it was bland which is so weird, Mr. Won’t Run just thinks I don’t know what papaya tastes like. he might be right. The serving seemed a little “off” too, a giant goblet on a dinner plate, but that’s just me being picky again, ha! It’s definitely a great crème , really smooth, but it’s a large portion, so plan to share!

I’ve heard rave reviews on the other dessert options so I’m excited to go back and try the Flan, Crème Brule, Molten Chocolate Cake, Grilled Pineapple, and more!

If you’re looking for something different I would definitely recommend checking out Fogo de Chão, such a fun atmosphere and good food too!

Fogo de Chão
930 SW 6th Ave
Portland, OR 97204
503-241-0900
(menu)

Lunch: Mon-Fri, 11:30-2:00
Dinner: Mon-Thurs, 5:00-10:00 / Fri, 5:00-10:30 / Sat, 4:30-10:30 / Sun, 4:00-9:00

Find a location here; you can like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter too.

Read more reviews from Portland bloggers here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here!

(Disclosure: This was a complimentary meal I was invited to as part of a media event with Little Green Pickle for the grand opening of their client’s new restaurant. As will always be the case, all opinions are completely my own, completely honest, and I wouldn’t be telling you about it if I didn’t like it and think you would too!)

C A T C H . U P .

April 27, 2014 by Sarah Leave a Comment

Do you have a blog? And a day job? Do you ever write blog posts in your head while at that day job and then get home and the last thing you want to do is turn on the computer and write that blog post? No? Uh, me neither.

So, let’s see, what’s been happening the last nine weeks…

F E B R U A R Y

I had an amazing dinner at Cocotte for a blogger event thanks to Heather Jones. I got to hang out with Brandie, Fabi, and Marisa while eating some seriously good food. I need to take Mr. Won’t Run there for date night sometime, and I suggest you check it out too!

M A R C H

I met up with the Ladies Who Brunch to discuss The Snow Child and Little Bee. While I didn’t love either of those books, I am absolutely loving this fun little book club! It’s getting me back into reading (and out of my usual YA Vampire genre), I get to eat B R U N C H, and I hang out with people I really like. Win–Win–Win. This meet-up took place at Maurice – “A Modern Pastry Luncheonette bound by old world charm” – and I had the most amazing rosemary currant scone with candied kumquat jam. They had me at rosemary!

Mr. Won’t Run wanted to get lunch at Double Dragon one Sunday afternoon, and it was just as good as last time! We drove down Division to see what else there was and ended up stopping at Salt & Straw (because ice cream on a cold and rainy day in March makes total sense in Portland). We walked right by Roman Candle Baking Co. which we still need to try, and it’s right next to Ava Gene’s. I told Mr. Won’t Run that we should try Ava Gene’s sometime because Portland Monthly voted it the restaurant of the year and it was on all of the top new restaurant lists (Portland Monthly, Willamette Week, Bon Appetit, Eater PDX).

I had my 7 year anniversary at the day job – almost 7 1/2 years if you count the time as a temp – it’s the longest I’ve ever been at one place! I guess that’s what happens when you’re an adult. I am very thankful for it, but it’s not my passion, so hopefully the doula career can take over in the next couple of years.
3/6 Apparently Mr. Won’t Run couldn’t get Ava Gene’s out of his head because just four days after we walked by it, we had to go for dinner. It was a Thursday and the earliest reservation I could get was 9:15pm! We LOVED all the food, and we sat at the kitchen bar so we got to watch the food being made which was fun!

We took an impromptu trip to Cannon Beach for the weekend and stayed at Tolovana Inn which we really enjoyed. The room was more like an apartment, it had a separate bedroom, full kitchen, and dining/living areas. We grabbed dinner at Mo’s the first night since it was right next door (and since Tolovana Inn gives you coupons for free chowder and drinks). The next day we walked around town eating all the things! We would definitely recommend Tolovana Inn, The Lazy Susan Cafe, Ecola Seafoods, Chocolate Cafe, Cannon Beach Bakery, Cannon Beach Distillery, and Crepe Neptune! We would NOT recommend Warren House Pub, although that is based only on the lack of customer service – we were never acknowledged by wait staff that walked by multiple times so we left. I’ve heard the food is pretty good, but I’m not sure how they expect to get new people to try the food if they don’t even acknowledge them. We’ve both worked in food service and sales so we are extremely critical of customer service!

The Veronica Mars Movie premiered on 3/14! Did you watch the show when it was on? It was only one for 3 seasons before it was cancelled WAY TOO SOON!!! The fans have held out hope the last seven years that somehow, someway, Veronica Mars would live again, and thanks to their Kickstarter campaign, we made it happen. I am proud to say that I donated to get the movie made, and I loved every single second of it. There is also a book that just came out and it picks up where the movie leaves off. The genius creator, Rob Thomas, has said that there will be more books, and that any future movies will pick up wherever the books are at, so everything is on the same timeline. I love how much the Veronica Mars creators and cast are just as in love with it as the fans are.

Missed a meeting of Ladies Who Brunch at Meriwether’s because of stupid cramps. Am I allowed to talk about cramps or is that TMI? Do people still say TMI? We had read the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, all about women in today’s business world and how a lot of them are sabotaging their potential success in ways that a man wouldn’t, and they most likely don’t even realize they’re doing it. I definitely related to a few of the examples, and I would totally recommend the book.

Photo from Rachel’s Instagram!

Mr. Won’t Run turned 38! He wasn’t feeling well so we didn’t really celebrate, just picked up some Thai food. I didn’t even bake him a cake. I know, I’m an amazing wife, huh? The thing is, he’s not even a cake fan. Maybe I’ll make him a belated key lime pie. You know, now that it’s almost May.

A P R I L

Took a quick trip to Tucson to visit family on my Mom’s side. I was born in Tucson and lived there until I was 8 and still have a lot of family there. My Mom and Stepdad both work at a school so they get Spring Break and they haven’t been to Tucson in ages so they decided it was time and I joined them for a few days. I got to meet up with my friend Becky which was great! She’s been through a lot since the last time we were together and I hated not being close enough to hang out with her so it was great to spend some time together and catch up. She’s been staying at a farm type of place, and there are a bunch of animals, including A BABY GOAT! NAMED JOY!! Cutest thing ever! If you stop petting her she’ll do what a dog or cat does and paw (hoof?) at you! When in Arizona… snakes, prickly pear margaritas, and coffee by the pool!

While in Tucson I missed another meeting of Ladies Who Brunch, this time at Tasty & Alder to discuss Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. I still plan to read this book as soon as my library hold comes in, all the ladies loved it, but apparently I’ll need to be prepared with tissues nearby for an ugly cry sesh of grand proportions. I was so sad to miss Tasty & Alder, it’s been on my to-eat list for forever and everyone seems to love it!

Photo from Lindsay’s Instagram!

Thankfully there was another Ladies Who Brunch meeting in April that I could make it to, we went to Kern’s Kitchen and discussed Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple. When I say “discussed” in regards to these book club meetings, I mean for about the first five minutes, then we just chat and catch up. The book might come up again here and there, and while we all enjoy the reading, I think it’s really just an excuse to get together, and I’m totally okay with that!

Aaaaaaand, I think that brings us current!

See you in another nine weeks.

The Sugar Cube {Portland, OR}

February 7, 2014 by Sarah 2 Comments

This past Sunday I got together with some Portland blogger friends to try brunch at a new spot: The Sugar Cube.

With a name like that you know it’s going to be good, and it did not disappoint. They even do my kind of math!

The Sugar Cube story is something I think you could call typical of Portland; an amazing young pastry working at places such as Genoa and Clarklewis before striking out on her own with a food cart! See, I told you this was a Portland story.

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