Spring Blooms in Portland: Photos by Pech

Seen on the Rose Garden/Pittock Mansion hike:

Seen around my work campus:

And near the Millikan Way Max station:

And on the way to the Farmer's Market from my home:

Larger versions can be found in the Adventures of Pech 2009 Picasa Album

 

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Recently in the Columbia Gorge

That same day I posted pictures out the bedroom window, I drove to the Gorge and drove along the Historic Columbia River Highway. I stopped at…

Women's Forum Overlook

And then followed the highway to Vista Point. Finally! After driving by it so many times, I finally got up there! It's the little building you saw on the right in the shots above…

Since we'd been to Latourell Falls already (as seen in my previous waterfall post), we went on to Shepperds Dell instead.

Same reason for skipping Bridal Veil (also seen in previous waterfall post). Unfortunately Wahkeena, the next waterfall, was packed- there was no parking anywhere. I was annoyed that I had to keep driving on by, but it is a 2 lane historic road, so I couldn't turn around to circle or make the line of cars behind me wait. Needless to say the Multnomah parking lot from this highway was also packed, and I kept driving. We didn't do Oneonta because of time constraints and I didn't have my hiking shoes. The trail here is not paved like the others. But, we did see Horsetail Falls, and hike up to Ponytail Falls to walk behind the waterfall, which was a 1 mile steep hike but worth it.

I'll get you next time Wahkeena and Oneota!

 

From Album Histroic Columbia River Highway 

 

 

 

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A clear day in Portland…

In the post about Mt St Helens, I visited when it was a cloudy, rainy day. However, without even leaving the city, on a clear day the view can be pretty magnificent. For instance, here are shots from the "Big Pink" building downtown (the tallest building in the city)- just out of an office window, of what you can see.

Looking North- to Mt St Helens…

And just with a zoom on the camera lens…

And then Mt Hood with the digital zoom of the same point and shoot camera:

Today is one of those clear days. Here are shots just out of my bedroom window, which looks north…

     

  

 

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Belly Timber- perfectly executed, simple flavor profiles that work

Belly Timber has closed.

I loved Belly Timber. Maybe the service was a bit slow to get to our main courses (we finished our cocktails, bread, appetizers, and salads and still waited noticebly for the entrees to appear), and it is a bit loud (we heard the belly laugh of a guy from somewhere in the house that we couldn’t even identify, but it echoed all around us…). You definitely do not feel any privacy. But, the food is good. Just don’t expect it to be romantic, despite existing in a beautiful house.

We started out with bread with softened sweet butter and coriander salt and chili salt.The butter and salt was great- the bread was chewy in the crust and doughy in the middle.

For salads, I didn’t order a salad, but was given one because the waitress got the order wrong. By pure luck, the salad I would have ordered is what she misunderstood! And, it was delicious. Perfectly cooked, the flavors and textures were well balanced. Look at how beautiful that small plate of asparagus with poached egg, duck bacon, and pistachio vinaigrette looks. Wonderfully savory rich starter. The other salad, beets, watercress, and carrot with goat cheese vinaigrette was very mild and a bit salty. Would have preferred this to be premixed rather than having all the sauce at the bottom as it made it uneven. Except for those small quibbles, it was still a good salad- just not as good as the asparagus (though of course, seemingly healthier)

 

lso as a snack while waiting for our entrees was the menu item that immediately caught my eye on initial scan: housemade fries with bone marrow aioli. Good, but I had high hopes for these and they did not match those expectations, though the fries were still crisp and tasty (though they could be even crispier). The aioli was more creamy with a subtle bit of meat in the after-taste, but it was very tame despite the description. I guess I am a frites connoisseur as they were not on the caliber of the crisp fries I’ve had at Firefly in Washington DC or the duck frites in Chicago at Sweet and Savories, or even the truffle fries at Rockit in Chicago . The fact that I can recall these fries off the top of my head so specifically says a lot about me.

 

The dinner entrees included for the vegetarian, first a side of stinging nettles risotto with asparagus, spring onion, lemon and grana. This dish was going to be shared between us, and it disappointed us both. At first, at the top, it was ok- not outstanding, but not bad. But, then the oil collected at the bottom and was just too much. The lemon was a nice addition to this though- the rest of the ingredients just didn’t balance out to anything.

The other vegetarian dish was an entrée of swiss chard, currants, and pine nuts inside of phyllo and resting atop ricotta salata and aged balsamic. This had a lot of flavor- in fact didn’t really need the butter phyllo as it weighed the dish down with its butter content (ironically since the phyllo is supposed to be light) – but maybe some other starch as a better counterweight would have been perfect. Great flavor inside the dough though- every forkful was a burst of intense juices and textures.

 

I had the best dish though: simple in description, but just genius. I ordered the honey poached chicken breast, then topped with crumbled crispy skin (genius combination! You get the juicy moistness and the crispy goodness) accompanied with glazed carrots and tarragon. Well executed, excellently balanced dish. If I could criticize anything, it is only that the chicken and carrots alone were so wonderful that the tarrogon seemed like a runt tagging along on the plate- but it didn’t hurt the dish though, I’ll take seconds please!

The little bite of dessert, Stumptown custard with caramel foam, is like having an airy coffee for dessert. Yum, a perfect ending. When we left and away from the echoes of all the people around us, we could finally sigh in contentment and take a little walk down this neighborhood of great window shopping.

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Mt St Helens- a nice trip even on a cloudy day

I went out to Mt St Helens this past Saturday to test out what a visit for my parents and two siblings would be when they are here in a couple weeks. Unfortunately, putting the trip off from the previous weekend to this past weekend didn't give Portland any clearer weather. In fact, it alternated bizarrely from 70s and sunshine to hail and 40 mph winds during the afternoon. When we first got there around lunchtime, it was very misty and mysterious and peaceful, and we went straight up hoping to get to the Johnston Ridge Observatory. Then we found out it is closed until May 18. Oh well. At least it will be open when my family arrives.

We then took the return trip back in which we pulled over at various pullouts on the road and at a few viewpoints. Even though there was actually snow when we got high enough, the roads are wonderfully well maintained and clear, and as we got down the sun of course came out.

We didn't walk more than 1/4 a mile and that was only at the first stop by the lake on pavement, no hiking at all. All other shots are from pullouts and various visitor center and viewpoints. I would say that going up to the top and then working your way down is a good way to see Mt St Helens so you can see the epicenter, and then follow the trail of what happened as you go down the mountains.

Don't expect it to look like the pictures from 10 years ago with all ash and mud and grayness. Instead of being a place of destruction, you can really see the area recovering and earth pulling itself up by its bootstraps, which is more a place of rebirth. It was a really different experience from my visits to Hawaii's Volcano Park- instead of feeling like I was on another planet, I felt much more enveloped in the context of the life that was here then and now, which was a neat experience.

Here are some of my favorite shots from our cameras that day.

   

 

 

 

 

Warning for animals against getting fat:

 

 

 

 

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