Tofu Dengaku + Picnics at Council Crest = Weekly Love
I have a hard time remembering the last time I got completely absorbed in a book. Mildly embarrassing, but I spend so much time reading online, that I hadn’t picked up an actual book in too long. So I took The Rum Diary (Hunter S. Thompson) to the park on Saturday and left a few hours later, book finished. Reading undisturbed for hours on end, while drinking rose in the park has to be one of the best ways you can spend a Saturday afternoon.
This Week:
Beet salad – Dove Vivi has one of the best beet salads: beets, roasted walnuts, blue cheese, served on a bed of greens with shallot balsamic vinaigrette. Dinner.
evening rides & tofu dengaku – I love mid-week evening bike rides that have no destination. We ended up swinging by Biwa on the way home and I got my favorite little snack of tofu dengaku.
running – I [slowly] ran three times this week.
$5 community yoga – Drop-in prices of $5? Yes, please!
Clarklewis happy hour – one of my favorite happy hours in Portland, sometimes I don’t stop by for a while, but I always love their cheese and apple plate and gimlet.
bike race – I watched a fixie bike race on Friday night, and I felt kind of like an old lady from the ‘burbs.
Council Crest picnics – one of the best ways to spend a Saturday afternoon:
Lazy picnic w/supplies from Meat Cheese Bread & La Vielle Ferme rosé #summer@ Council Crest Park instagr.am/p/NFRCN8Bg0v/
— Olivia Raymer (@poweredbytofu) July 15, 2012
Accanto brunch – cheapy Genoa substitute, Accanto, has brunch. No lines. Tasty. Done.
What are you happy about this week?
Spring + Wafu Ramen + Arrietty = Weekly Love
Spring is in full bloom around here — bring on the sunshine! Here’s what I’ve been loving this week.
This week:
-neighborhood breweries – Migration Brewing is quite possibly my favorite brewery in Portland because it’s super relaxed and a great place to take in a bit of sunshine out on the picnic tables. I also tried a new brewery this week — Coalition Brewing over by Crema and Grilled Cheese Grill on 28th and Ankeny.
-Wafu ramen – I finally made it over to Wafu Restaurant to try their ramen, which was amazing, and now I need to go back to Boke Bowl to compare. This could take a while. ;)
-Creative Mornings – I stumbled across the Creative Mornings series via swissmiss a while back and thought “that would be cool if there was one in Portland”, and then I discovered last month that they are indeed in Portland now. It was a fun way to mix things up on a Friday morning, with thoughts on curation and user experience from Namita Wiggers (curator for Museum of Contemporary Craft here in Portland). Check to see if there’s one in your area, if you haven’t been!
-Nong’s Khao Man Gai on the East side – Nong’s kitchen on Ankeny and SE 10th is now open for to-go orders. Yes, please!
-English vs Japanese animated films – I saw the Japanese version of The Secret World of Arrietty while in Hawaii, so when I saw the Disney/American version on the board outside Laurelhurst Theater, I thought it would be fun to compare the English and Japanese version. Of course the Japanese one was my favorite, but that’s probably a given.
-spring biking – there was glorious sunshine again this weekend, so we ended up riding to Ristretto and up to Skidmore Bluffs/Mocks Crest property, back down to the Saturday Market, and over to Bunk Bar. Followed by an evening ride up to St Johns. All that riding has me wanting a 2nd [speedy/light] bike. Unnecessary? Probably. But technically I could buy a new bike every year and it would still be cheaper than having a car for my annual transportation expense. That’s what I’ve been telling myself anyway.
-Prasad – I love the Dragon Bowl at Prasad. While it’s a bit more than I like to pay for lunch, it’s so tasty, and leaves you feeling like you make fantastic food choices — always.
What are you up to this week?
Bike a Bee {Week 2}
I stumbled (really wanted to say bumbled just now) across the Bike-a-Bee campaign on Kickstarter this week. I felt an instant connection with this project since my dad was a bee keeper, and from an early age, I’ve been fascinated by bees. It was equal parts magical and educational to watch the bees work, and have them as a little piece of our lives. And having an endless supply of honey was nice too. :)
So Week 2 of the Forkover Friday project is all about the bikes and bees.
I chose to work with urban farms and gardens over private backyards because these spaces offered the greatest benefit to the largest amount of plants and people. The hives will serve as educational tools while the bees act as the garden’s resident pollinators. Hive hosts will also benefit, as they’ll receive a share of the honey harvest to keep, give to friends, or add to their CSA shares. —Jana Kinsman
Bike-a-Bee
What they do: Working to build a bee community in urban spaces, farms, and gardens with a bike trailer system — promoting sustainability and urban agriculture.
How we can help:
Who it helps: urban agriculture
What non-profit or company: Bike-a-Bee
Where: Chicago, Illinois
Why: bees!
Want to participate in Forkover Friday?
Match my donation of $12 this week to Bike-a-Bee or pick your own cause and leave a comment below if you feel like sharing!
Car-free = More Adventures #indie30
Prompt #22: The word travel comes from a French word meaning “work” and sometimes getting there is work. Between crowded buses, long airline delays, overnight trains and crazy rickshaw rides, transportation can be stressful, but it can also be a rewarding part of the tip. Tell us about a time when the journey became more important than the destination.
“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.” –Don Williams, Jr.
I’ve learned to appreciate the process of “getting somewhere” from traveling. Today it’s my turn once again on the BootsnAll blog, so go check out Enjoying the Journey at Home, about embracing transit and my transition from traveler to car-free.
What’s your favorite method of transit?
Join the 30 Days of Indie Travel project and share your story.
Traveling Light by Bike #indie30
Prompt #16: Mental baggage can weigh us down as much as physical baggage when we travel. How do you travel lightly – either emotionally or physically?
“Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings – always darker, emptier and simpler.” –Friedrich Nietzsche
I’m all about traveling light. One of my favorite ‘traveling light’ memories from this year was biking the San Juans over Memorial Day weekend. It was so fun to cross over on the ferry with just my bike and a little backpack and be set for the whole weekend.
How do you travel light?
Join the 30 Days of Indie Travel project and share your story.
Things I ♥: travel, food (I'm a pescatarian), the Pacific Northwest, bikes (I ride an orange mixte), beer (IPAs), summer, coffee, lists, and kittehs. Travel enthusiast, dabbler, and product manager at BootsnAll Travel Network.
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