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This week = delicious. Someone (me) needs to start cooking more again. Tried a few new places: Dig a Pony, Kitchen Dances food cart at the Good Food Here pod (fantastic vegan cart!), Tapayala, Utopia Cafe, and Navarre. A tasty week indeed.

This week…

-Reading: The IKEA Effect – “when we make stuff with our own hands we like it more than the pre-fab version” via Sarah Wilson

-Reading: Travel is Not a Contest (& Other Reasons to Embrace Slow Travel) on BootsnAll

-Reading: Living In: Midnight in Paris – Design Sponge cute!

-Biking: Biked down to Sellwood this week, and discovered a path that continues under the Sellwood Bridge and connects to the marina. There were blackberries. I absolutely adore August in Portland.

-Breathing: I never get tired of wandering about Mt Tabor and talking about life. And picnicking at Council Crest. Our summer picnic menu: avocado/Tillamook cheddar sandwiches, avocado/corn/tomato salad, La Vieille Ferme wine, chocolate chip cookies, Kettle chips, cherries.

-Gardening: cherry tomatoes, golden tomatoes, cucumber, and sugar snap peas this week! Woo!

-Listening: Puro Instinct – Californian Shakedown… seriously beautiful

What are you up to this week?

Pie is so the new cupcakes. And pie might be the new macarons too, or maybe macarons are the new pie? I’m sure there’s some hip dessert I have yet to discover that is even cooler. Regardless, “Let them eat pie!” and here are a few things I’ve had my eye on lately.

This week…

-You Are What You Eat is a series of portraits made by examining the interiors of refrigerators in homes across the United States. Why are interiors of fridges so personal feeling? Mesmerizing. [via Flowing Data]

-Impossible to scold kitteh for using my Hobo International clutch as a pillow when she looks so cute!

-Kokblog is an illustrated food blog with super cute illustrated food, and I loved her recent collaboration: Kölsch (collaboration).

-Went to the coast last weekend. There’s simply nothing more refreshing than walking the beach in the morning (even if it feels like winter out).

-Latest song on repeat Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers. Catchy.

-The grilled corn (Khao Poht Ping) is back at Pok Pok, and as I posted on Foodspotting: I could eat an entire cornfield of this. A summer favorite!

-I picked the first golden tomatoes from my garden this week. So tasty. I can’t wait to make pasta with roasted summer veggies soon when I stop eating them immediately after they ripen.

-Checked out Central’s new outside seating & happy hour last Thursday. Love the converted alleyway on SW Ankeny into picnic tables, but won’t be ordering drinks off the happy hour menu next time, think I’ll stick to my favorites, the PB Jewel and #8.

-Some mornings require pie for breakfast. You can’t really go wrong with any of the baked goods at Crema.

What fabulous things have you been doing/reading/eating/Instagram-ing lately?

I use the tumblr off and on again, and I still love the idea of it and the UI, and the reblog feature, and a million *several other little things. What I liked most about my tumblr was that it was like a giant mashup of a way to share what I was liking in my RSS feed, random pics throughout the week, quotes, funny things, links etc etc etc. However, it’s tough to keep up this blog sometimes with work and life and fun… and summer, let alone maintaining yet another bloggy/social outlet like tumblr. So I’m going to give that a try here this week instead. *My other little problem with tumblr is the lack of attribution of photos, design, and content in general. I’m all for sharing, but giving credit where credit is due makes the creative world go round. Onward.

This week…

-The long-awaited Spotify is here. So far I don’t see how it’s better than Grooveshark — especially since you have to download it (vs Pandora & Grooveshark). Any insight on what the big deal is? Please share.

-I’m loving the latest “A Dress & A Gig Poster” by The Shallow End

-Obsessed. much: The Cults – Go Outside

-I attended a wedding last weekend where the bride & groom got married in their backyard, and each guest had a tea cup with their name attached. Super cute.

-Here’s a tattoo I might not get tired of: a world map across my back via A Cup of Jo

-Aaaand {are you still there mom?} since I will probably always change my mind about having something inked on my skin, I love the new tatt.ly project by swiss-miss and friends — designy temporary tattoos are too cute.

-”Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?” –Friedrich Nietzsche

What fabulous things have you been perusing this week?

It’s time once again to take a little peek at my Foursquare checkins & Foodspotting pics, as I’ve hit another 50 new places to eat. This time around, Portland had a little competition from the San Juan Islands, Vancouver, and the Oregon coast. So here are the new restaurants, bars, and coffee shops I’ve been to lately…

1. Arabian Breeze (now Nicholas 2) – so so, Ya Hala is still my favorite
2. Spella Cafe – Affogato!



3. Apizza Scholls – doesn’t everyone love Apizza Scholls? I would give it another try, but not a fan of ordering a giant pizza and then discovering I totally misordered, but I’m stuck with a pizza that I don’t like.
4. Mudai Lounge
5. St Jack – I’ve been hearing awesome things about St Jack, so we finally headed to brunch there last month, and I was so disappointed! The pain au chocolate from the bakery was great. My omelet, not so much. Only 25% of our brunch party enjoyed it. Sad. I still want to give their dinner menu a try though.
6. Sip Juicery – love love love. This little juice cart is outside of People’s Co-op and is one of my new favorite places to stop. Chocolate peanut butter. Say no more. The berry ginger is also super tasty.
   
7. Green Dragon
8. Gorditos Mexican, Everett, WA – Yelp fail
9. Maloulas, Friday Harbor, WA – Yelp fail. Ok, more like Friday Harbor is just expensive. Not that great.
10. Lime Kiln Cafe, Roche Harbor, WA – brilliant. As I mentioned in my post about biking from Friday Harbor, I hope my recommendation isn’t skewed from riding the 9.5 miles there. :) Yelp, you are redeemed.



11. Downriggers Restaurant, Friday Harbor, WA – blackened salmon sandwich and sweet potato fries quite tasty after our ride out to Roche Harbor.
12. World’s Skinniest Latte Shop, Friday Harbor, WA – carrot, apple, ginger juice was tasty
13. Rocky Bay Cafe, Friday Harbor, WA
14. Stark Naked Pizza – tasty
15. The Wrapture (food cart) – meh
16. Diamond Thai (food cart) – I don’t know about their food, but crazy cheap and refreshing Thai iced tea
17. Caffe Umbria – it’s like Portland’s Little Italy in one coffee shop
18. Fifty Licks
19. Central – this place is almost too cool for school. Our last stop on an impromptu DIY cocktail crawl. Complex, no seriously, cocktails.
    
20. Waves Coffee House, Vancouver, BC – good paninis
21. Uva Wine Bar, Vancouver, BC – I just ordered a beer. (at our Meet, Plan, Go hosts meetup at TBEX)
22. Guu, Vancouver, BC – I was really excited to try this Izakaya restaurant, but we were short on time and I only ordered one thing. Boo.
23. Steamworks Brewing Company, Vancouver, BC – not that great. Also, there was a mouse in the bathroom. True story.
24. Smiley’s Public House, Vancouver, BC – free drink tickets are fine by me, TripAdvisor’s After Party for TBEX.
25. Giovane Cafe, Vancouver, BC
26. Japadog, Vancouver, BC – seriously tasty veggie dog!
    




27. Thai Pod – zero atmosphere, but my new favorite place when I just want some pad thai
28. Crow Bar – typical Mississippi Ave dive bar
29. Manzanita News & Espresso, Manzanita, OR – Manzanita is one of my favorite cities on the Oregon coast.
30. Delta Cafe – so much good food. I want to go back.
31. B-Side Tavern
32. Rontoms – Hey look, I finally went to Rontoms. Hipster.
33. Gilt Club – Another place I finally went to. We stopped at Gilt for a drink after riding around town one night.
34. Fruitilandia – smoothies
35. Cricket Cafe
36. Irving St Kitchen – awesome happy hour. This one had been on my list to try for a while, and their mac & cheese is delicious.
    
37. La Buca
38. The Slammer Tavern
39. McMenamin’s Grand Lodge – Perfect weekend getaway from Portland. Disc golf, bocce, Ruby, movie theater, soaking pool etc. Typical McMenamins, a little quirky, some history, lots of fun and easy on the bank account. :)
40. Hair of the Dog Brewery
41. Katie O’Brien’s
42. Foster Burger – I love it that Foster Burger was in Bon Appetit magazine. A had the kiwi burger and a strawberry shake. So filling.
43. Tiny’s Coffee
44. The Globe – The Globe is one of my recent favorite happy hours. Caramelized onion & blue cheese pizza for $6!



45. Water Avenue Coffee
46. Alder Pastry & Dessert – fairly new place on Burnside. They have gelato too.
47. Fire on the Mountain
48. Rotture
49. Helser’s on Alberta – German pancake. Yum.
50. Santeria – this place used to be called El Grillo. Even though it’s right between Tugboat Brewing & Bailey’s Taproom, I never really noticed it. Good for late night food. Interestingly, the bathrooms are through the back door — in a strip club (Mary’s Club). Giggle-worthy.
51. Accanto – They should have named Accanto Genoa Jr. Tasty gnocchi & cheap happy hour menu.
52. Dante’s – ewww

How it all started: I had a goal to visit one new restaurant a week.
1-52: Go To 52 New Restaurants – 30 Before 30 List
53-103: 52 [More] New Restaurants
104-156: 156 New Portland Restaurants, Bars, Coffee Shops in 299 Days
157-208: 208 New Places in One Year

What new places have you tried lately?

Oh, summer! You’ve finally arrived. Here are a few things that made me happy, happy, happy in June.

1. summer! & lazing about Col Summers Park

2. an impromptu cocktail crawl to Beaker & Flask, Veritable Quandary, and Central. (not as a cheap as a pub crawl fyi, ouch.)

3. I found this delightful, blue tank at Anthropologie. I like to think I look a tad bit happier with my new shirt, than this gal here is.

4. Vancouver for TBEX! My first time back to Vancouver since I was a little one. I didn’t get to see much of the city on my trip, so definitely on my list to revisit soon. I have more food carts to explore. Japadog was quite tasty. (It was also really fun seeing the excited crowds of Canucks fan after game 5 before the Bruins riots debacle happened.).

5. Camping at Nehalem Bay. We got rained out, but it was gorgeous on the Friday we arrived, and still one of my favorite campgrounds on the Oregon coast.

6. Gorgeous Portland sunsets. I caught this one from the Hawthorne Bridge, biking home on summer solstice.

7. Turning 30! Celebrating at Pix & I got a Public bikes basket for my birthday :)

8. new haircut. I look like my mom in the 70s.

9. Pedalpalooza. My first year participating in the Pedalpalooza fun, and Bike Noir was the coolest mystery theater/theater by bike/group ride… like evah!

10. Cooking - a combo of the farmer’s market and sunshine had me cooking a bit more last month. It was fun to pull out a few of my summer staples, like Tuna Nicoise sandwiches, and my favorite super fresh salad: lime, avocado, corn, and tomato salad.

What’s been making you happy lately?

It’s not quite July yet in my time zone. So I can officially still share my favorite things from last month. 1, 2, 3. Go!

1. Fleet Foxes! Really, really, really good live.

2. Picking out my garden at Portland Nursery – yay for tomatoes! {I have no photographic evidence of this}

3. Cotton Jones at Doug Fir. There aren’t words… so here’s a song.

4. San Juan Islands. We’ve already discussed my love of biking around on the San Juans.

5. Shark sheets… yep, I bought them. I’m ready for Shark Week!

6. I <3 my city. And speaking of, I’m writing our Portland travel guide for work now, WhyGo Portland. So go like me on the the Book of Face, and I promise to provide you with photos and anecdotes of my lovely city (and the randomness that comes with it).

7. Vermont Cheddar & Fuji Apple Cheese Plate @ Clarklewis = just about my favorite happy hour in PDX.

8. Putting an Ayn Rand quote on the TBEX postcard I designed for work. Winning.

9. Veggie burger w/chevre at Little Big Burger. Very much like this little snack still. Small enough to not give you food coma… but yes, you’ll also be hungry in a couple hours.

10. Ping Pong @ The Nest. {I was too busy kicking ass to take photos. No, not really, but regardless, I have no photos.}

What are you happy about?

Since my last 52 new restaurants post, I’ve been to 52+ more, which kind of blows my original “Go to 1 New Restaurant per Week” goal, out of the water. Definitely a fun experiment this past year, of making an effort to try new places. And a few of them even ended up on my Things to Eat in Portland list. So without further ado, here are some places I’ve checked since March… now I really need to return to cooking more!

1. Bijou cafe – meh
2. La Bonita Taqueria – tasty
3. Mississippi Studios
4. Bar Bar – friiies
5. Jade Teahouse
6. Veritable Quandary – Chilaquiles with Queso Fresco. Yum.



7. Bella Faccia Pizzeria
8. Vita Cafe
9. Besaw’s – oh the French toast. Besaw’s is one of my favs now.
10. Oasis Cafe- pass
11. Bumblekiss
12. Savoy Tavern & Bistro
13. Iorio – I bought this Groupon before they stopped offering deals to good places :P Excellent dinner
14. Circa 33 – went for the Kopstooje drink and had potato chip nachos…. rich. I should have listened to the little voice in my head that said “You already had nachos 3x this week”
15. Byways Cafe – snagged brekkie here after the wait at Besaw’s was too long. Tasty.
16. Cilantros, Lahaina, Hawaii
17. Ono Gelato, Lahaina, Hawaii (& again in Paia!)
18. Thai Chef – Yelp you have failed me *tear*
19. Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar, Kapalua, Hawaii – Yelp, you have been redeemed. One word: Butterfish. Ok, and Karaoke :)
20. Honolua Store, Kapalua, Hawaii – great lunch option before heading north
21. Fish Market Maui – not a restaurant, but they sell the best butterfish here! Ended up stopping by twice
22. Kihei Cafe, Kihei, Hawaii – Banana Macadamia Nut French Toast. No words necessary.



23. Hula Cookies, Maalaea, Hawaii – tasty ice cream sandwiches
24. Star Noodle, Lahaina, Hawaii – please become a chain restaurant and open in Portland. k thx bai. Our waiter here was from Eugene! True sign of an Oregonian: she said “How long have you lived in Portland?” heh :) Yes, yes, I know, I’m not an original Oregonian since I spent my first 11 years in Washington. Back to Star Noodle. Hello Vietnamese crepe! I loved this place so much, I put it on my 10 Things Loved in April list!
25. Julia’s Banana Bread, Kahekiki Hwy, Hawaii – best banana bread in the world? Definitely amazing, that’s for sure. :) Note: There were no rental cars taken on this “highway”
26. Aloha Mixed Plate, Lahaina, Hawaii – so apparently this place has the same owners at Star Noodle. Yawn! My meal fell into the “meh” category
27. Maui Tacos, Napili, Hawaii – chain Mexican restaurant. Did the job.
28. Flatbread Pizza Company, Paia, Hawaii – really tasty wood-fired brick oven pizza on the main street in Paia
29. Aunty Sandy’s, Hana Hwy, Hawaii: don’t tell Aunty Sandy, but Aunt Julia makes better banana bread. Still a great place to take a break and grab a fruit shake & snack on the Hana Hwy.
30. Random food truck – fishn’ chips
31. Makawao Sushi & Deli, Makawao, Hawaii: expensive for what it was, but still a tasty option. Also, I like to say the word “Makawao”… quite a lot.
32. Charley’s, Paia, Hawaii: a reasonable breakfast. Not spectacular, not bad.
33. La Jarochita Mexican food cart, (yep, back in Portland!): definitely be back to this cart.
34. Courier Coffee – I’ve walked past this place so many times and never noticed it. Love the window seat.
35. A Roadside Attraction – porch swing. I’ll be back.
36. Fresh Pot
37. Space Room Lounge – grabbed a drink before the last show of Bridgetown Comedy Festival. I was mesmerized by an awkward first date in progress, and the local elder folk. Character.
38. Eagles Lodge – here, here for laughter
39. Built to Grill (food cart)
40. Kokomo Beach Smoothies
41. Basha’s Mediterranean Cuisine food cart – at the PSU Farmer’s Market. I’d never noticed this one before.
42. Two Tarts Bakery @ Farmers Market – macarons! Now a default stop on my farmer’s market trip



43. Koi Fusion (food truck) – hey, look who finally went to Koi fusion. And I’ve been a few times since. :P
44. Toast – Tasty potato cakes.
45. Off the Griddle (food cart)
46. Alma Chocolate – Thai peanut butter cup, I adore you.
47. Migration Brewing – <3 picnic tables and sunshine and the cheese plate (Brie, apples, honey, almonds) = nom
48. Red Fox – a cool space, if they wouldn’t have served up some waaay old and nasty asparagus (and then stare and said  “Yeah” when it was returned.) i might have been a fan. Eww.
49. Sila Thai
50. Yorgo’s Tavern – for when you want to see people pass out drunk by 9pm. How does this happen?
51. Compote Cafe – cute space. granola and homemade yogurt is a nice simple breakfast
52. The Nest – ping pong! fun!

What new places have you checked out lately?

I have entered a new decade of life!

This also means that my 30 Before 30 List is over. And once again, I didn’t complete my entire list. I finished about 50.5% of the things on my list this year. A few favorites include: visiting Iceland, buying my first house, trying standup paddleboarding, biking the San Juan Islands, buying a mixte bike, doing yoga for a month, and going to 200ish new restaurants.

So of course the next logic step is to create a 31 New Things Before 31 list. And then I need to try harder this year! :)

What should I put on my 31 Before 31 list?

First World Problems Alert! Sometimes life gets busy and you wake up and realize you’re turning 30 in a few days. And then you think, “I thought I would have done more and seen more and experienced more and make more, and be altogether more ‘successful’ by now!”

And then someone near and dear jolts you out of your mild self-loathing and asks what you’ve been smoking and reminds you of all the lovely experiences and challenging accomplishments you’ve had in a short 30 years… I was privileged enough to be born in a country with an educational system that even allowed me to work my ass off in the first place, get my MBA, quit my job, travel around the world for a year, and buy a house by age 30. Life is good great brilliant! But most of all, I’ve been blessed with the most supportive, built-in best friend that a girl could ask for.

Happy Birthday to my BFF {and me}

Onward!

My weekend getaway

I went on my first bike trip over Memorial Day weekend! It didn’t involve camping or biking for several days continuously, but I’m still referring to it as a bike trip, since we arrived by bike on the ferry and did a 20 miles round trip ride from Friday Harbor out to Roche Harbor.

ferry to the San Juans… I love the Washington State ferries, takes me back to my giddy 5 year old self.

my bike’s first ferry ride

Boat shopping in Friday Harbor

Bike parking in Roche Harbor

Lime Kiln Cafe – my recommendation may be slightly skewed by hunger after our 9.5 mile ride, but yummm!

post-brekkie bocce ball



It’s a hard life…

Rode past this camel on the way home. Camels on islands… hmmm…

Not gonna lie, I was coveting everyone’s road bikes on the way home. Hoo-rah for finally reaching Friday Harbor Town Limits!



Much deserved post-ride dinner at Downriggers – blackened salmon sandwich with sweet potato fries

Last ferry of the day arriving at Friday Harbor

Morning walk with carrot apple ginger juice

Farewell Friday Harbor! I’ll be back.

San Juan Islands 2-night trip costs:
Gas – $20
Parking – $13
Ferry ticket – $15
2 nights cottage rental in Friday Harbor- $60 (split between 6 people)
Food – too much! Probably $100ish?
Entertainment: free!
Total: $200ish

Have you been to the San Juans?