Author: Staci

Staci blogs about travel at TheVoyageer.com.

Portland: Part One, Things to Do

Time has been flying! Can’t believe I haven’t done a writeup on our quick Portland trip yet. In June we went up to the Portland area to attend the wedding of a good friend (Doug was an attendant). Friday and Saturday were spent in Washington about an hour away, doing wedding stuff. We picked up a rental car which was nice to have freedom, and useful as I actually got to perform tons of wedding prep duties.

We arrived at our friend’s house right across the state line in Washington. The picturesque town was enjoyable, and the weather was beautiful. Rainy, of course, which was expected, but it sure made for some nice light.

Washington

Friday night I had the privilege of attending my first bachelor party! Don’t worry, the guys were cool with it. When your close friend is a minister things stay pretty tame and generally involve lots of junk food, and just hanging out and joking around. We went to Portland where we had dinner, and ice cream (Ruby Jewel, I had honey lavender, yum) and stood in line for the famous Voodoo donuts. Pro tip: The line is not that long in the middle of the night! We brought a dozen back for everybody to have the next morning.

Voodoo Doughnuts

Washington Wedding

Saturday morning, the area was valiantly set up for the wedding, and then it poured. Serious rain for an hour or two. After it cleared up, and the seats were all toweled off, the show went off as planned. It was my handsome hubby’s first time as a groomsman!

Washington Wedding

And now for the scoop on Portland. The Thursday our plane touched down, we had some extra time to spend in Portland before heading to Washington. We checked in with a high school friend of mine and walked around “Trendy-Third,” 23rd St. We partook in the obligatory Salt and Straw ice cream (so good!) and had lunch at one of the McMenamin’s locations. What a neat concept–the restaurant owner owns dozens of locations and each is customized to the history and style of its building. Love this idea!

Trendy Third was lined with both small local shops and larger ones (like Williams-Sonoma). We walked up and down the length of the main area a few times, mostly talking and catching up, and not doing much shopping. Then, we overstayed our welcome by about 15 minutes and got a parking ticket! Thanks a lot, Portland! That evening we headed to Washington and you just read the recap of that above.

For our first day actually in Portland, we had brunch in the Ace’s restaurant, Clyde Common. The food was delicious but the portions were smaller than anticipated. Actually, this happened to me several times in Portland. Could it be that San Diego’s dynamite restaurant scene has made me piggy? (Spoiler alert: Yes, it has).

Other highlights of day one include spending a lot of time shopping/exploring at Powell’s City of Books and meeting with some other friends for a walk by the river and sushi for dinner.

Stumptown Coffee

The second morning was spent walking around the neighborhood and getting Stumptown Coffee and Blue Star donuts for breakfast. I had read online that Blue Star was better than the more famous Voodoo, and I have to agree– I preferred Blue Star. The glaze was tastier (I had lemon poppyseed and Doug had maple bacon) and the body of the donut was lighter and fluffier.

Blue Star Donuts

Jacksons in PNW

If it seems like most of this write up was about food, then you are correct! We spent lots of time windowshopping but not spending a lot of money (aside from a small pile of books at Powell’s) and we walked, walked, walked, watched a bit of the World Cup, and just enjoyed being off work in an exciting new city.

Ace Hotel Portland

Come on back Friday for my writeup of the Ace Hotel! I got to check it off of my bucket list!

For more travel, be sure to check out my On The Road posts.

2-Second Tip: Hardware Swap

When we got married we used most of our Target gift cards to get two pretty nice bedside tables. Gotta have a place to put your charging phone, a lamp, and a glass of water while you snooze, right? Lately I have been giving them the side-eye because their traditional look did not fit in with the mid-century boho look I have been leaning toward lately.

A couple quick impulse buys at Anthropologie fixed that quickly.

Anthro Hardware

Bedside Table Hardware Update

I don’t always gravitate to the mix-and-match look, but for these simple black tables I like it. The upper and lower are the same on each bedside table which makes sure they still look like a set.

I don’t know why it took me so long to do this, but the side tables look so much more eclectic and chic now! We swapped out the kitchen cabinet pulls at our Kansas house before selling it too, and it quickly brought the cabinets from 1930 to 2012 in, seriously, an hour’s work.

Even if you aren’t near an Anthro, there are great knobs at World Market, and even some nice traditional ones at Target or Home Depot if you just need a quick-something-new.

Make sure to check out some more 2-second tips for beautifying your space.

Chorizo Pesto Tortellini

I posted this pic on instagram and thought it was so pretty and the food was so delicious that I had to share the recipe with you guys, if you can even call it a recipe.

Raise your hand if it’s been hot and muggy where you live this summer. This weekend was especially humid, which for San Diego is a big deal. I didn’t want to turn on any heating elements in the kitchen, but we had this fresh tortellini I was worried about turning the corner. So, tortellini for dinner indeed. The good thing is that the amount of time my stove was on was brief.

Ingredients:

  • Tortellini (I prefer cheese tortellini, fresh, not frozen, tricolor)
  • Pesto sauce
  • Shredded parmesean
  • Cherry tomatoes, quartered (mine were so small I just tossed them in whole)
  • Chorizo (I used linguiça, a household favorite since we made Choripan a couple of years ago) Pancetta would also be a yummy option, but takes longer to cook
  • Lemon
  • Salt
  • Good quality olive oil

Directions:

Bring water to a boil, and meanwhile begin preheating a small skillet. You’ll want the skillet right at medium heat.

Cook tortellini according to package instructions. Since mine wasn’t frozen, it only took 2 minutes once the water was boiling. I removed from water using a slotted spoon and put directly into our bowls.

Meanwhile, cut up chorizo into small cubes. Throw them into the skillet with a little oil until hot, greasy and yummy. The reason I like using a sausage like chorizo it it’s already cooked or cured, which means cooking it is really low pressure. Just get it up to heat and it’s ready. The meat step and the tortellini step took me about the same amount of time and were ready simultaneously.

Spoon chorizo onto cooked tortellini in bowls. Immediately sprinkle with cheese so it melts.

Spoon one or two hearty spoonfuls of pesto onto each bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, squeeze on lemon juice, and sprinke a little salt.

Toss on a handful of cherry tomatoes.

Since everything I added to the tortellini was cold with the exception of the meat, it brought the temperature of the meal down to a level that was just right for a humid summer evening, while still being hearty for a good dinner.

I know the recipe is kind of basic but maybe you haven’t thought of this combination yet.
Enjoy! I know I did.