Portland Chefs

The New York Times has been running alot of great articles about food in Portland. The latest is about how chefs from around the country are flocking to Portland. NYTimes writes of Portland, "In the way New York drew artists in the ’50s, this city at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers seems to exert a magnetic lure on talented chefs who come from almost anywhere else and decide to stay right here...Portland has emerged from its chrysalis as a full-fledged dining destination."

I experienced this first hand last week when our church small group had a dinner, prepared by our leader's roommate, Mike, who is a chef at Milo's Cafe. It was so much fun watching Mike prepare with expertise the salmon that our group leader, Cam, fished out of the Willamette just days before. Mike prepared it two ways, 1) grilled with lemon and herbs to bring out the pure paste of the fresh fish 2) baked in a hazelnut and panko breading with blackberry bulee on top. We also had butternut squash with butter and brown sugar; orzo with roasted red peppers, artichoke, and feta; and bread from Grand Central Bakery. I volunteered to bring the dessert and of course I went to my favorite bakery in Hillsdale, Baker and Spice and picked up their Flourless Chocolate Cake(Belgian chocolate, butter, eggs, and a touch of orange liquor. Topped with ganache and white chocolate curls.) It was wonderful meal with good friends.

Beauty and the Geek

is my new favorite reality show. I find the Geeks surprisingly lovable with their awkward babblings in interviews and nerdy talents. One guy actually carries around a roll of duct tape attached to his belt. They are just so honest and their geekiness comes out so naturally in everything they do. I think my favorite so far might be Josh, President of the UC Berkeley Rubberband Club.

The Beauties are also really entertaining in their sweet obliviousness. You've got to love the "non-intellectual" statements like "my worst subjects in school were algebra and math."

But, what is UP with the lack of diversity on this show? Are you telling me that all Geeks are all white? Ok, so there is one token Asian guy, who is adorable in his bow tie, by the way. And really, there are NO African-American geeks out there? Now, on the other side, the Beauties have two African-Americans but no Asians. Is this just bad stereotyping? I can assure you that there are plenty of dumb Asian American hotties out there. At least the show has crossed one stereotype barrier and added a twist to the plot by introducing a couple where the Geek is female and the Beauty is male. Way to break down barriers in our society, BatG!

Online Nation

Rhett and Link, former Campus Crusade staff, are co-hosting a new show on the CW network! You may know Rhett and Link as the fun and quirky duo of youtube fame. If you don't know them, check out their website. They make hilarious, smart, and clean videos.

I first met Rhett and Link when I led their new staff training for Campus Crusade. They were young bucks, just married, and ready to take the gospel to the world with their unique talent for entertaining and relating to college kids. I love that they are thinking outside the Christian box to draw people to Christ in fun and relevant ways. Check out their new show this Sunday at 7:30pm on the CW.

8 Things About Me

I was tagged by my friend Daniela to tell 8 things about myself.

1. I'm addicted to carbs, usually the bad ones. I sometimes have an undeniable urge to eat a big bowl of pasta (usually with tomato sauce) or a big squishly warm piece (or loaf) of bread. I love donuts, bread, brownies, cake, rice, and potatoes.

2. I've never been outside of N. America and Asia. Granted I've traveled alot in those two continents. In Asia, I've been to China (twice), Thailand, Japan (only the airport) and Korea (I lived there at two separte times in my life and have visited two other times).

3. I love reading the newspaper and magazines. I subscribe to Fast Company, Entrepreneur Magazine, Budget Travel, New York Times, and Shape Magazine. I even read magazines at book stores. It has something to do with my short attention span.

4. I like to kayak and flyfish. I have an inflatable kayak that I throw in my car and put out in all sorts of fun places like Mt Rainier and Mt Hood. I've only caught one fish in all the times I've fly fished, I'm pretty bad at it. It was a small blue gill in the stocked retention pond at the Crusade HQ.

5. I've been told that I "love the mic." When I was with Crusade, I used direct and MC a training for our new staff (usually between 125-250 new staff at a time). Shane, one of our National Directors was speaking and he had already been introduced before so he said he could just go up without an introduction, but no, i wouldn't have it. I went up to introduce him, unnecessary but hey, I got to be on stage. I don't really love the mic as much as interacting with a large group of people at once. :)

6. I wanted to be a stockbroker when I was in college. I used to manage my own investments and trade individual stocks until I lost my shirt in the tech crash. I realized that I wasn't really a good trader so I gave it up.

7. I have a forearm fetish. I like to look at guys' forearms.

8. Since high school, I've never lived in the same place for more than one or two year.

I tag Kerri and Julie.

Labor Day Weekend

It was the last days of summer and I got to enjoy every moment. My old roommate, Tanya, from Orlando came to visit me for the week and we took advantage of every speck of sunshine and all that Portland has to offer. Here's all that we did.

Events/Sightseeing:
Oregon Symphony Free Concert - The symphony kicks off the season with a free outdoor concert at the waterfront.
International Rose Test Garden at Washington Park- beautiful view of the city and thousands of wonderful smelling roses
Pittock Mansion- it was closed but we took the poor man's tour by peaking in the windows.
Saturday Farmer's Market - We bought french bread and tomatos for a great meal at home.
Oregon Ballet Outdoor Performance - every summer the ballet rehearses outdoors and then does a short performance.
Art in the Pearl- annual outdoor art festival
Shopping at Woodburn Outlet Mall- I desperately needed some business casual.
Scenic Drive to Mt Hood and Timberline Lodge - love this 3 hour drive to Mt Hood
Hood River- Windsurfing capital of the US and lots of local farms with great fruit stands. Kerri, Tanya and I did a little tour of farms and I got some pears although it was peach season. The pear is the official fruit of Oregon.
Multnomah Falls - the 2nd highest year round waterfall in the US.

Eating Out :
Tin Shed- they have the best breakfast in town. It remindes me of a cute little place in Eugene, OR. I had their famous potato pancakes (basically hashbrowns) fiesta style with jalepeno peppers and salsa. We also had sweet potato french toast.
TeaChaiTe- Tanya thinks they have the best pumpkin chai she's had. I only drink bubble tea there. I tried the Red Bean flavor bubble tea. It's hard to find good Red Bean bubble tea and it was ok but I still think my Red Bean bubble tea is the best. :)
Portland City Grill- the best view in the city from the 30th floor.
Oba- kind of a ritzy spanish restaurant in the pearl, it has great happy hour prices. The rotisserie chicken tostata is awesome. Since I am alcohol-intolerant (it's an enzyme thing :), I drank marionberry lemonade.
Pastini- great inexpensive pasta!
Kennedy School McMenimens- The McMenimen brothers transform old buildings into restaurants, pubs, and theatres here in the NW. The Kennedy School is my favorite because of the beautiful outdoor garden seating. Tanya really loved her mediterranean chicken pizza. Of course we ordered tator tots too.
BBQ at my house - since we technically ate our food outside, i'll add this to the list. We had a BBQ outside with a few friends on our deck and then pulled out the firepit stand to roast marshmellows for smores in the backyard. Tanya cooked my smores for me. It reminding me of the time when we cooked marshmellows over a candle when the power went out during the hurricanes of '05.