4.20.2009

Oregon, a post about food and beer

Philip and I are back from our trip to the Pacific Northwest. We had a great time in Oregon and I have been using the better half of this week to recover from all of the amazing food we ate. Here is a breif synopsis of the trip.

We left early for the airport on Tuesday so that we could stop by Ramsi's in Louisville for lunch with my dad. Philip and I split the vegan seitan parmesan panini and my dad and I shared a side of plantains and as usual the food was amazing (which was fortunate since the airport pickings were slim.) We flew into Portland and met up with our friend Amanda and her girlfriend Lisa around 10pm. They took us to the White Eagle Saloon (a McMenamins pub) for drinks and the best tater tots we've ever had. After that we were pretty much spent (plus it was after 3am our time) so we went to bed.

The next morning we stopped for coffee and caught the Amtrak to Eugene. Robert, Philip's brother, met us at the station and took us to the Morning Glory for a vegan brunch. I had the biscuits and gravy (actually they were out of biscuits and substituted dill rolls which really complimented the oniony gravy) and Philip ordered the taco salad.

The next few days were a blur, but they included eating giant pizzas at the Pizza Research Institute, micro brewed beer and root beer at the Steel Head Brewery, record and yarn shopping, lots and lots of walking, a great nacho adventure, and we saw wildlife including a bunch of snails, a nutria, and a deer (which is about as much nature as Philip and I can stand.)

Every morning, Philip and I would sneak out while Robert and Bambu were still sleeping and we would walk up the street for coffee and sometimes breakfast at the diner that was about six blocks from their house. We did this for a couple of reasons, first, Robert and Bambu only had a French press for coffee which didn't make anywhere near enough for Philip. Secondly, no matter how hard we tried we never really got used to the time difference so we were always up way earlier than our hosts and we didn't want to make too much noise. At the diner we could sit and talk and make plans for the day, plus it was really nice going for a walk in the mornings, it kinda reminded me of our trips to Fair Grounds on the weekends in Norfolk.

All of the places we visited in Eugene and Portland were fabulous except for one place, the Eugene City Brewery. We hit the Eugene City Brewery because they are the Rogue location in Eugene and we had some time to kill before the happy hour at another place. The brewery has over 35 beers on tap, yet they have no beer list. There is a small list of the featured beers, but other than that you are supposed to just tell the waitress the kind of beers you like and she will pick one or a selection out for you. Well, our waitresses choices were horrible and Philip felt too guilty to tell her so she kept bringing him things he didn't like.

After our week in Eugene we returned to Portland for a night of karaoke at the Alibi, a tiki bar we discovered on our last trip. We drank fruffy drinks with lots of fruit and umbrellas and Philip and Amanda sang a fabulous duet.

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