When we take our annual break we don’t budget. We figure we work hard all year round (well, Daniel does) and so we deserve to relax in style. With that mindset, tonight we’re off to L‘Aromate for what we heard is a real fine dining experience. I checked it out online and it looks amazing. The food really looks like a work of art and it has a great reputation for having an extremely talented owner-chef.
Daniel is going to try the Pigeon du Lauragais rôti à la sarriette et foie gras de canard grillé. I know that he loves foie gras and hardly ever gets it so I’m sure he’ll love this dish. I don’t know what I’m going to have for my main but I definitely want to try the chocolat noir guanaja Dans un tube craquant, noisettes caramélisées, crème glacée au café grillé, émulsion vanillée. Not quite sure what it all means but there’s chocolate, caramelized nuts, cream, coffee and vanilla flavors so really, what could be bad? Sometimes I think it’s good not knowing exactly what you’re getting – it takes the predictability out of life. Anyway the fact that this restaurant has great reviews and the setting is said to be intimate is enough to make me salivate…
Category: Featured
Lending a Helping Hand
Despite the fact that Daniel and I don’t hold by any particular religion, we do feel it is important to teach our children a sense of doing good by helping those in need. So when I read about a few parishes getting together to collect over 140 tons of food (or money to purchase it), I jumped on the bandwagon and got my family to follow suit, putting religion aside completely.
This food is going to help those in need that are aided by Neighborhood House, SW Portland. Apparently it’s an especially important time to help these people – just after the holiday season. The parishes involved are: St. John Fisher, St. Clare and St. Thomas More. Another thing that appealed to me was the fact that it’s not just Parish congregants who are involved but Jewish and Muslims too – so it’s totally not a religious-based thing which is important to me and Daniel. It has been going since 2007 but, given that according to Neighborhood House’s executive director Rick Nitti, the State of Oregon witnessed a 2 percent increase in poverty last year (as compared to nationwide figures that did not experience any escalation), this is a great year for us to start getting involved in such a project.
Portland’s Wild Arts Festival
I was so excited for the weekend. I’d been looking forward to the Wild Arts Festival for weeks! But I had no idea just how crowded it would be. I later found out that it was due to the 6×6 Wild Art Project that caused the crowd to “flock” (excuse the pun) to the scene.
It was pretty cool actually. Especially since the decorated tiles were done by local artists. There was a book signing and silent auction, all hosted by the Audubon Society of Portland. Jayden – who’s very into nature – really enjoyed it; everything there was somehow connected to nature.
Daniel loved the education birds as a couple of them made a comfortable landing spot in his arm. Ethan got a real kick out of watching that and yelped in delight! They were so mellow; it was cool.
Even though it was more crowded than I originally anticipated, I’m glad we made this a family day out. It was something so different from our usual Friday activities: fun, interesting and educational all at the same time!
Bike Show Returns!
So, I had to admit to Daniel (who promised he wouldn’t brag “I told you so”), that I made a mistake by not going to the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show. It skipped a few years but now this annual happening has returned to our area. I was tired and I figured it might be tough with the little ones but it seems – from Jenny’s account of her day there – that I was wrong.
Organized by the Oregon Bicycle Constructors Association and located at Swan Island, a bunch of the state’s top frame builders assembled. Apparently it was really quite incredible. There were 18 builders and 36 exhibitors and the kids had such a blast seeing their newest creations. It wasn’t just old-timers who are famous either – there were exhibitors who were just starting out who were really creative. Then there were all the cool Chris King Precision Components; Dan Coyle’s handmade wooden helmets; Brian Engelen’s funky light creations and more.
Yes indeed, it was a shame we missed it. But, as Daniel nicely said to me when I admitted my mistake, “there’s always next year.”
Bite of Oregon Festival
We’ve not done all that much with the kids over the summer vacation because Daniel and I have had pretty tough deadlines throughout July and August at work. So when Daniel suggested last weekend we go to the Bite of Oregon festival with the kids and his mom, I thought it would be a great idea. Jayden was thrilled as his best friend’s family was going to. Turns out, so was the rest of the city…or at least it felt that way. I later read that close to 50,000 people had the same idea as we did – to go to the Tom McCall Waterfront Park for this annual happening!
So while I initially felt a bit sick when I got there on seeing the tremendous hoards of people, I lightened up when I saw that the entrance fee was at 50 percent of its original price. There was tons of food (which Ethan gobbled up and I enjoyed), lots of beer and wine (Daniel was in heaven) and celebrity chef, Aaron McCargo Jr. who used to host Big Daddy’s House.
I watched some of the chef demonstrations which Ethan got a kick out of (Daniel is convinced he’s going to be our chef in our old age as he loves food; so much so that he often throws up from eating too quick). Indeed, overall, a fun time was had by all. Tons of money is raised for Special Olympics Oregon too and that means a lot to me.
So apart from finally doing something fun with the kids in the summer, we helped a good cause too!