Friday, January 30, 2009

Recession? What Recession?

This joint was packed to the gills last night.


Ok. So, having lived (Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Manhattan and now Portland to name a few) and traveled pretty much all over the country and to quite a few other countries, we have eaten many a pie.


I can say with confidence that Apizza Scholls serves up arguably the best pizza on the planet. Thin to win as we like to say when cutting the Euchre deck!

Last nights savories included the Caesar salad (very good and I don't eat greens much) and in their own words the...

Tartufo Bianco - $21

Mozzarella (whole milk & fresh), pecorino romano with Truffle Oil & sea salt

This baby is a real winner and I defy anyone to say otherwise. Being the carnivore that I am, I can also testify to the delectability of the Sausage & Peppers option.



If you like Pizza and are in the hood, don't miss this experience (47th and Hawthorne). But, be sure to get there early as once the dough is gone, the party is over.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Hearts & Rainbows


We walked up Hawthorne today with Hugo in tow and we came across this double rainbow along the way.


Stopped in at Peet's Coffee (for the pot of gold) and was surprised to find a heart in my latte milk froth. Things are looking up even if the weather is not!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Sam I Am


Sam has decided to stay (Photo from NYT).


We think his decision is the right one as long as Beau Breedlove was of age when the sex began. At this point, this seems to be the case.

While not condoning the decision to lie during the campaign, the fact of the matter is, Sam's private life should be a private matter and none of our business.

Whether or not Sam can remain effective has yet to be determined.

Gawker has a rather humorous take on Beau here and this is where I got the Beau photo above.

Berries With Snow

Well we got more winter dusted upon us yesterday. These berries are on a tree from Marilyn's hilltop at Oatfield Estates.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Mt. Hood Ski Adventure


We headed out to Mt. Hood for some skiing on Thursday. Awesome days and we chose to ski on the night shifts.

We stayed at the the only pet friendly Hotel in the area, the Mt. Hood Inn located in Government Camp. The hotel was fine and they were nice enough to upgrade us to the King bed with the jacuzzi tub (which came in handy after a night on the slopes).

Thursday night we hit Skibowl and it was pretty icy. We only got in a couple of runs before we headed back to our digs.

Dinner was awesome from Ice Axe Grill and I just can not say enough about their wings. Large, tender and kinda spicy with a sweet asian dipping sauce. Susan had a beet salad that ruled as well. For the main course, the individual pizza's were muy bien. This place also has a great micro brew selection to lubricate the throat for the the fine food.

We ate the leftovers for lunch on Friday!

Friday we slept in a bit and then hit Meadows for their 3pm to close ski experience. The skiing here was much better with a lot more options across run categories. I think we skied until about 8pm and it was great (even though the conditions were not optimal).



We awoke Saturday to... wait for it... about an inch or two of new snow! Too bad we were already spent and ready to head home.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Inauguration Libation Tour


Our inauguration day festivities started off with a visit to the doctor for a check up.

Susan grabbed this delicious looking latte from Stumptown Coffee on Division while I was giving up some blood.


We then walked up to Bar of the Gods but, they were closed (opened later than we were willing to wait). In passing, we considered the Space Room (love the sign and the Alien) but, this was not be and we ended up at Vertigo for an initial libation. The staff was very nice and we enjoyed our visit.


As we walked the strip, we had to swing by one of our favorite stores, Elsa + Sam. If you are in the market for some cool dishware, or just looking, we highly recommend checking this one out.


Bridgeport Brewery has always been on our list to check out and so we did. Had a great bottle of Pinot Noire there and passed out a couple of Obama buttons to some other patrons. We were under the impression that these guys were stilled owned by Ponzi Vineyards (we are wine club members) and found out that they were sold off long ago. Apparently the founders of Ponzi founded Bridgeport as well.

"1984 – The Ponzi Family founds Bridgeport, Oregon's first craft brewery and brewpub." - From the Ponzi Vineyard web site

We ended our day in search of some vittles. Meridian was the choice since we needed some hearty Mac & Cheese to soak up the wine.

So goes the day of Obama from the Brown's perspective.

Bad Sam

Well this broke yesterday during all the Obama fanfare. This does not look good for Portland and this could get uglier if the liaison proves to have been with a minor.

"I've not made my mind up," Adams said, sounding discouraged and deflated. "I still haven't determined whether it's in the city's best interest for me to stay or go." - Samuel Adams

So much for the earlier post we had regarding his achievement as a top 30 cities gay first.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Feel Free To Proceed



Well, it's the last night before Obama takes the reins. As the photo illustrates, it is now time to move forward and make amends for the past.

Enjoy the festivities tomorrow and good bye to the Bush dynasty.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

I Pity The Fool


Yeah. That fool would be ME. I had to go check out the liquidation sale. Laptops, Games TV's, Cameras and pretty much anything you would want bigger ticket was a mere 10% off. I picked up Resident Evil The Umbrella Chronicles as Susan and I should be able to play this together. I also noticed after I got home that I still got ripped off.

CD's & DVD's were 20% off and I picked up Nine and this seemed to make economic sense. The selection was lame but, they managed to pry some green from my warm live hands.

Oh and TV stands were a whopping 30% off! As if anyone really needs/wants one of these crappy pieces of furniture.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Another Sunny Day In Paradise


Way windy today which made it feel much colder than it really was. Not that we can complain when it's -32 in Rockford IL.

We took the pooch out for a good walk today up Hawthorne amongst the throngs of people and dogs (For Portland). Hugo embarrassed us sufficiently with his aggressive behavior and high pitched shreak/bark.

Stopped off to see Evil K and Jim. Hugo and Sly visited too (NSFW).

Friday, January 16, 2009

Left, Left, Right, Left, Right


Walking has become a priority for us lately. As such, we bought some pedometers at REI on Super Clearance for $9 bucks each. Pretty good deal we think and we find them to be motivational as well. We shall see if we can stick to it!

We walked 10K+ steps the last 2 days and 5k+ steps today. Our trip today took us to the awesome New Seasons Market (corner of 20th & SE Division). We shot this sculpture dude outside the store and got a good photo of Hugo as well.

Our other priority is to shop the local independently owned stores in our hood. With this in mind, Hugo is sporting a wool sweater from Pets on Broadway, a vegan recycled bicycle tube collar by Etta Says purchased from For Paws on SE Division Street (between 31st & 32nd).

Shop these stores for your pet(s) as they have great stuff. Pets on Broadway has a huge selection and For paws is more on the boutique side with excellent customer service.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Tricky Dick

This may be the republicans best chance in 2012 (Richard Milhous Nixon).

We shot this at Jake's Famous Crawfish in Portland. We had a half dozen little creek oysters and of course, the crab leg cocktail. Not to be confused with a regular old crab cocktail.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Cudos to Oregon!

Are we living in the most progressive state in the country? Most would say not quite but, we do have these highlights to point to that arguably could make the case.

Portland's Mayor, Samuel Adams (named after a beer for God's sake, or maybe a historical figure), was sworn in at 12:01am on the 1st of January. He is the first openly gay mayor of a top 30 city in the nation.

Silverton, Susan's hometown, elected the first ever transgender mayor in the country. We have many friends in Silverton and they were all overly supportive of Stu Rasmussen. I recommend watching the embedded video clip in the attached link and you can see Stu for yourself.

Ashland opened the MAda Shell Gallery on January 2nd and had a interactive Bush shoe toss as the center piece. You could dip shoes into red paint and toss them at a large picture of W on the wall.

I don't know. Judge for yourselves.

Duck, Duck, Goose






So, it's been awhile since the last post.

We took Hugo to the park after visiting Susan's Mom (Marilyn) the other day. We stopped to check out the Geese in the park and got these photos and video.

I believe this is the Canada Goose and they are noted as pests in some cases for their abundant droppings in parks, golf courses and other open spaces that humans use. It is noted that each goose can drop up to 2 pounds of crap per day. Now, that is prolific!

Anyway, Hugo managed to wolf down his share before we could get him to another area of the park to run. Gross.