8-29-2013 Football Game at Jeld-Wen Stadium in Portland, OR

After work we had plans for a football game downtown.  We took the bus over and met up with new friends Ron & Mary (and several others) for food and drinks at their apartment near the Jeld-Wen Stadium.

Eric & Cara hanging out before the game

We then walked over to the stadium and couldn't resist taking a picture with this weird head (below).  Apparently, there is one at each end of the stadium.

The gang, posing with the weird head outside the Jeld-Wen Stadium

It was a college football game - the PSU Vikings against Eastern Oregon University.  We were surprised how few people, especially college students, were in the stands.  A guy sitting nearby told us that it's a commuter college, so that probably explains a lot.

PSU Vikings v Eastern Oregon University football game

We had fun talking with each other and talking with our neighbors in the stands.  By the fourth quarter, with a score of 30-something to 10, we figured PSU had them beat, so we snuck out early and went across the street to The Matador for more drinks and conversation.  We didn't stay out too late, though, because several people had to work the next day.  (As it turns out, PSU did win, with a score of 57 to 17.)  Go Viks!

Also, many thanks to Mary Dewey for the lovely photos.

8-19-2013 Dinner at analog

We went to a place called Analog that is owned by a record label.  It was one of the most bizarre dining experiences of my life.  There were lots of staff people there and they all just looked right through us.  Finally I went up to the bar and ordered a drink.  The place is like a dive bar crossed with a fine dining restaurant.  They have an executive chef and high prices on the food, but then you don't  get greeted when you come in and you have to order at the bar...then if you want anything else you have to get up and then go and ask at the bar again? 

I had concerns about the cleanliness of the restaurant and the whole thing was wildly bizarre.

With that said here is what we ordered.

ravioli



seafood stew

I didn't even bother to rate this place online because one of my customers hooked me up with this nice free dinner and I just wanted to accept his gift and move on.

8-17-2013 Haystack Rock & Cannon Beach, OR

Eric packed for our day trip while Cara & Lindsey met another of Lindsey's friends for a nice breakfast at The Waffle Window on NE Alberta.  Everybody loved their waffles, and it was a hearty start for the day.

Cara's Bananarumba waffle

Lindsey's Berry Bliss waffle

Lindsey is a huge fan of the movie "Goonies", which features Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, OR, and she really wanted to see it.  So, we hopped in the car and drove out to the coast.  We got to Cannon Beach around lunch time, so we walked the town a little and decided to eat at Sweet Basil Cafe.  We sat outside and had a nice lunch, then headed to the beach.  We enjoyed a nice long walk to Haystack Rock, where we found loads of wonderful tide pool creatures to check out.  

one of two wedding setups  we saw on the beach

nice clouds over Haystack Rock

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach

starfish

underside of a living starfish (held by one of the naturalists)

sea anemone

Later Eric napped on the beach (nice except for a few flies that would leave him alone) while Cara and Lindsey walked the little tourist town's main street and visited several shops looking for souvenirs.  When Eric awoke we all headed back home, then walked up to Bollywood Theater on NE Alberta for dinner.

Samosa Chole

Kati Roll w/Paneer Cheese - yummy!

Dahi Papri Chaat ("Indian Nachos") - delicious!

8-16-2013 Portland Sampler Night

Papaya Pok Pok (vegetarian)

While Eric and Cara worked Lindsey met up with a friend from school who now lives in Portland.  They had lunch at Gravy on NE Mississippi, then went hiking at Mt. Tabor Park (we haven't even been there yet!).  That evening we all had a disappointing, overpriced dinner at Pok Pok Noi on NE Prescott.  I guess the restaurant had been built up so much that we did have really high expectations.  The drinks were good, though expensive.  Eric and Lindsey did like the wings (that's what everybody recommended), but Lindsey's Steak Salad was inedible - little steak and way too much strong topping (lemongrass they thought).  Cara's vegetarian Papaya Pok Pok was odd and very spicy - it came with a huge slice of raw cabbage that she wasn't sure how to eat with the rest of the dish.

Ike's Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings at Pok Pok Noi

Neua Naam Tok (Steak "Salad")

Drinks:  Mango Alexander, and Khing & I

After dinner we hopped the bus and headed downtown.  Cara and Lindsey explored Powell's Books until they closed.  The place is enormous, and very fun to look through.  Both found gifts for loved ones there, and could have easily spent several more hours there.  

 a stairway to heaven at Powell's Books

After Powell's Cara and Lindsey met up with Eric at Ringler's Pub for some pinball and drinks.  We stayed out late then finally decided to take the bus home.  After a decent wait we hopped on the 8 and headed home, talking the whole way.  In fact, we ended up missing our stop and found ourselves at the end of the bus line with no more busses coming that night.  It was 2 or 2:30 in the morning, and we were a good 3 miles north of where we needed to be.  We got off the bus and decided to call a cab, but we needed to know exactly where we were at so the cab could find us, so Cara went up to ask the bus driver.  The guy was on the phone, so she waited until he was off.  Just as he hung up the phone he turned to Cara and said, "I've been authorized to take you down to MLK and Prescott" (which is only 5 blocks from where we needed to go).  Elated and hugely grateful, we all hopped back on the bus for our private ride home.  Where else does that happen except Portland?!  So, hats off and many thanks to the last shift bus driver of bus #2834 (Line 8) on 8/16/2013 (technically 8/17 since it was the wee morning hours) - he was our lifesaver!

8-15-2013 meetup at Nedspace and voodoo doughnuts

At 4:30 Lindsey, Cara, and Eric went to Luc Lac which is a vietnamese restaurant that is very popular.  We got a bunch of happy hour small plates to sample all of the fare.

we ordered 6 small plates which cost a total of 13 bucks

tofu spring rolls

steak skewer (4 stars)

coconut shrimp (2) 4 stars

chicken skewer (3 stars)

chicken wings (2) 4 stars

Overall I love this place and it is very popular and crowded usually.  It was my third visit here and I would say that I prefer the regular meals which are just as economical and a lot of these dishes need rice or noodles to balance them out.  Still I give our meal 3-4 stars overall.  

After we finished with our meal we headed to Nedspace for the young entrepreneurs meetup.  The meetup format was drink some beer, network, then listen to Mark Grimes talk about a startup and what it's value might be and why you would want to start a startup.  He was very informative and very helpful and if you dont know about incubators and nedspace then you could definitely look at www.nedspace.com.  The people there are super nice and they all came to talk about tech and business which is awesome.

Cara and Lindsey got bored and took off.  I later met them at Voodoo Doughnuts.  This is a Portland staple and usually there is a huge line.  When I got there they had already eaten several donuts and they had a pink box to take home.

this is about a 2 hour line for voodoo doughnuts it stretches off to the horizon.  This was taken on a different day.

After we ate the doughnuts it was already 9:30 so we headed home.

8-14-2013 Lightbar and Hump Day

The second Wed. of every month is a fun little block party with lots of great art.  It is at http://www.humpdaypdx.com/    They say this about the event.
We are shutting down 4 blocks on SE 9th Ave between Belmont and Taylor. There are 3 areas for live music and around 100 artists will be showcasing their artwork.

Hump Day a new monthly art and music festival that will be hosted on the second Wednesday of the month in the Central Eastside Industrial Business District.

It is a very fun event and the prices are cheap and the artists are good and I get the sense that they are starving artists and are there because it is a cheap place to vend.  We all found some cool stuff to buy for gifts.

The vibe at humpday was like a tecno grateful dead show.....lots of fancy hula hoopers with lights and lots of cool art.  One guy did amazing picaso style pieces that he painted on plywood or OSB board and he sat his paint out in the sun to harden up.

After we did Humpday we went over to www.lightbarpdx.com and chilled out.  It was 9:30 and we felt like we stumbled into the perfect place.  The restaurant is new and we have been working with the owner to help them understand and implement better Internet marketing.

quinoa salad

avocado and spinich panini

baked mac and cheese with homemade sausage

8-13-2013 More Public Art in Portland, Oregon

Part of the fun of walking the various neighborhoods all around the city is seeing a big diversity of public art.  Here are some more pictures of Cara's favorite public art:

Eric and brother Dan with a friendly beaver on NE Alberta Street.

Interactive art piece on W Burnside.  The wind can make it sway a little, but people can really get it moving.

Eric sitting on "Mago Hermano" ("Brother Wizard/Magician") by Maestro Alejandro Colunga.  (It said "Please have a seat" right on the base!)  This piece can be found in the lobby of Antoinette Hatfield Hall at SW Broadway  & Main.

These trees are called "YA-WA" (Chinook for "there it is") by Judy Pfaff.
This piece is located outside the entrance to a building at SW 2nd & Alder.

8-13-2013 Social networking breakfast and a band

There was a 7:15 social networking meetup to kick the day off.  This was in a panel format and the panelists were:

1. Donna is the head of social networking from the portland port authority which runs the airport and more
2. Scott Trepanier Sr. Manager, Public Relations, Promotions, Social Media at Columbia Sportswear
3. Tiffany is with mambo and works social networking for burgerville amongst other things.

They all use advanced techniques for social media.  My takeaway is that there is x amount of time in the day and you have to make a plan and follow that plan and then monitor the results and improve from there.  It is a judgement call exactly how allocate your time and energy to social networking.  My other takeaway is that the way you use social networking is very specific to your industry and those needs.

There was a full house at the social media breakfast

After the social media breakfast I met with Justin and we talked about how to market the portland restaurants.  I talked to the guy in the hot dog food truck and got a card from him.  He didnt know anything about the Internet or social media.  

After that I came back to the office and had a lunch meeting with Andrew Voss.  This guy is a real idea guy and really loves to debate.  We had a good lunch that made me think about several things.  I am also an idea guy that likes to debate so things were interesting at the meeting.

Then we found on Yelp that there was a free concert that was really good.

8-11-2013 Saturday Market, Bite of Oregon, and Sellwood

We started our Sunday by hopping the bus over to the Saturday Market downtown.  We bought a few more handmade items as gifts, then walked down the street to Bite of Oregon again.  We enjoyed free samples, beer, and cider (Cara loves 2 Towns Ciderhouse's cider with marionberry).  We thought about buying something at one of food trucks at Bite, but we ended up hopping the bus over to Sellwood-Moreland, an area we had only been to once before.  We walked around, then sat outside and had dinner at Stickers Asian Cafe.  Eric had Korean BBQ Beef (Bulgogi), while Cara had a small Thai Salad and vegetarian Jiaozi.  We both agreed that the place deserved 5 stars!  (That's Cara's first ever 5 star rating.)  The salad was light and refreshing, and the vegetarian Jiaozi (described as lighter dumplings than potstickers) were also light and delicious.  Eric had been wanting Bulgogi, and he loved it, especially in combination with the rice.

small Thai Salad from Stickers Asian Cafe

vegetarian Jiaozi from Stickers Asian Cafe

Korean BBQ Beef (Bulgogi) from Stickers Asian Cafe

8-10-2013 Alberta Street Festival and Bite of Oregon

We live only a few blocks from Alberta Street.  Alberta street has a bunch of interesting little restaurants, bars, and shops.  The last Thursday of each month they have a street fair and they also hold this street festival.  It is HUGE and spans about 20 blocks.  There were tons of vendors selling handmade art, jewelry, food, etc.  There are also plenty of corporate outreach like the power company, car companies, home energy auditors, etc.  There is a real green focus here in Portland and a lot of the booths were about energy saving, electric car sharing, renewable energy opt ins, etc.

After that we caught the bus and headed downtown to the Bite of Oregon. It was a pretty big event, but honestly it was mostly fair food and food trucks.  They did have a chefs table but that food wasn't vegetarian and the portions were small and it didnt look all that great.  The trouble with the Bite event is that Portland is an outstanding food town and it is hard to compete with the restaurants when you are operating out of a carnival atmosphere.  The band didnt really resonate with us so we headed over to get some dinner.

We went to Luc Lac.  This is a very popular, inexpensive Vietnamese place....it is so popular that they have a very particular way to operate.  They have it in 3 rigid steps that are written down.

1. order your food at the register
2.  get your number and step aside
3. At the appropriate time the "guy" will tell you where you can sit.  You get your own silverware and water and everything.

This place can get very crowded and has a great happy hour from 4-7

crispy vege eggrolls

Peanut tofu with rice (replace pic)

Anyway, you can order the main dish with either noodles, rice, or on a sandwich....your choice.

After that it was getting late so we played a couple of games of pinball and cara shopped at a resale shop and then we headed home.

8-9-2013 Meetup at the slide in

We worked hard all day and then at 6:30 we went to The Slide Inn to a meeting with a meetup group called "new and not so new to Portland".  Last time we met with this group it was a lot of fun and we made some good business contacts there.  They bill themselves as Germanic and American food with a mid century modern decor.

We met a few people there, and coincedentially there was another meetup happening there and it was a 20's and 30's group.  The groups politely mixed together although the reason they came was probably different.  The food is pretty good there and it is cheap during happy hour.

Sweet potato gnouchi ($4.50 happy hour) 3 stars

After that broke up we went out and walked up Burnside avenue and then we whipped out this new YELP HEATMAP FOR SEARCH WORDS.  So you can type in cheap, or hipster, or other certain words and it will show you where these words show up in reviews and descriptions.  It led us to a couple of divey places which were pretty cool.  I will add details soon.

8-8-2013 meetings and pinball

Eric had a morning meeting and an afternoon meeting with a computer programmer and an ad agency executive.  The programmer did a few websites and was happy to talk about how to promote his brother's pizza place.  In the afternoon it was very interesting to talk to the ad executive who has been very successful in the world of radio, television, and print, but really doesn't know how to jump into the digital age.  It is all so complicated with smartphones and tablets and all of that stuff.

After that we went to the Mississippi art exhibits that are on the second Thursday of each month.  Only 5 places participated and it wasn't much.

We had a happy hour app at Sidecar 11  We had the a really really good tapanede plate.  It was the best I have had and was more of a sampler.  The star of the show was the roasted garlic cloves.  All in all I tasted this app in my mouth for over an hour.  It stood up well agains the IPA.

Tapanade app $4.50 for happy hour

After that we scooted off for a game of pinball and called it a night.