Hiking Ramona Falls

If there is one thing our little Shiba loves it's a good hike. Last summer we took her up to the slopes of Mt. Hood to a place called Ramona Falls for a hike that was not only exhausting but beautiful.

Misaki always gets a little excited when we put her chestplate harness on her - and it's not because of the harness. She actually hates the harness, but she knows it means we are heading out to a real hike and not just a quick jaunt around the neighborhood.

This jaunt started early on a Saturday and it turned out to be not that great of a day. The clouds were low and it was a bit chilly, but we figured a 7-mile hike with a 1,000-foot elevation change would take care of a little chill.

Parking at the trailhead is a long ways off the beaten path. The exact route is detailed here, but basically you take Highway 26 to Zigzag, take a few turns, drive down some worn and poorly maintained roads, and you end up here:

We got there pretty early (which means by 10am or so, since it's quite a drive from west Portland) and weren't sure we were in the right place. All of the references we looked at talked about how popular the spot was and how to find extra parking spots if the area was full. As you can see, we didn't have any problems. Maybe it was the weather, but honestly this doesn't seem like a place to decide to go on a whim. You have to plan for this hike to a certain extent, so while weather could be a factor I find it hard to believe people wake up on a nice day and just decide to head out here on a whim. This meant the trail wouldn't be busy though, so we liked that.

The trail follows the Sandy River for a while on a moderate slope. The landscape is pretty in the way nature's power can be pretty; this entire area was overrun with flooding just a couple years ago, washing out homes and roads, and the evidence of that destruction is everywhere.

After while you get to a bridge across the small but powerful river. There is no handrail and the "bridge" is narrow, only a few feet over the rushing water. Misaki surprised us both by jumping right up and walking across like it was no big deal. Honestly, I thought I might have to carry her. That's our pup - always keeping us on our toes.

The trail twists and turns through the forest and moss-covered rocks and dead trees cover the landscape. It's pretty, with every shade of green you can possibly imagine.

Then the uphill rise begins and it seems like it's never going to end. The rise isn't at any time too steep, it's just  constant. At times the river side of the narrow trail is basically far drop to the water and I was keeping a close watch on Misaki, although if anyone was going to slip it was probably me and not the dog.

She likes to freak us out, too. After Wifey and I spent some time talking about how easily you could just disappear out here - and my writer mind started down the path of a horror story - Misaki stopped at one point, staring into the woods. She even barked once, like there was something out there. Wifey and I looked as best as our weak human eyes could manage, but we have no idea what she saw. Bear? Cougar? No idea.

After the major climbs in the trail it switches back a few times through the woods, away from the river. The sound of rushing water teases you, getting louder and louder as you continue. Then, seemingly without warning, you step around a corner and you see this. (Please, click again on the picture. It's impossible to do this justice, but make it as big as you can.)

There she is, Ramona Falls in all her glory. You really have to spend some time here in order to get a true feeling for how magnificent this waterfall is, to see it from all the angles. And check out this bridge crossing the creek flowing from the waterfall.

Given how far from car access you are it's obvious it's built from the area's trees by necessity. It's very, very sturdy. I'd hate to have had to carry the chainsaw all the way in to build this with.

We had our lunch here, which consists of standing around and holding your food because, well, you are in the middle of the forest and there is no seating. It's also really loud, so it's not really the place to linger for a conversation or hang out with a book, so it's time to get back on the trail. You have two choices. You can either turn around and go back the way you came, or continue on down the path, which will eventually go far, far away or loop back to the trail you came in on near where you crossed the river (your choice).

We elected to try out the loop. This follows Ramona Creek all the way to the Sandy River. At points it runs along a gigantic rock wall that seems to just appear out of nowhere and is riddled with thin waterfalls. We crossed back and forth across the creek a few times, once on this magnificent bridge. This one seemed to be brand new.

To the right of it was an old one, battered and broken from many winters and floods.

We followed this trail for awhile and eventually reached the Sandy River, but not where we could actually cross it. Apparently we missed a turn. However, at this exact point were a few people crossing the river on a fallen tree. That didn't look safe at all but they didn't seem to be in any trouble. We turned back and apparently those people made it just fine, because we never saw anything on the news about missing hikers on Mt. Hood. At least not that week.

After we turned around we walked a short distance and ran into this written in the dirt and pine needles on the ground.

How handy! Apparently we weren't the only ones who missed a turn.

On the way back, after we crossed the same bridge over the Sandy River, we came upon some moss-covered boulders the size of a car. I picked up our cute little pup and put her up on top of the boulder, about six feet off the ground. I wasn't sure what she would do, but she seemed pretty pleased with her perch above her human servants. She calmly sat down on the rock, looking down at us as it to say, "Finally you know your place." We had to take some pictures and this one might be my favorite of her ever.

Misaki continues to amaze me. By the time we got back to the parking lot Wifey and I were dragging. That hike was exhausting, testing not only muscles but stamina. Despite packing plenty of food and water we just wanted to collapse on a couch. But Misaki? Not her. I swear she got stronger and stronger, picking up the pace the more miles we put behind us. We usually let her set the pace anyway, since it's faster than what we might set on our own (we joke that she's our trainer, pushing us more than we would push ourselves, and give her credit for keeping us in line), but we almost never see her out of breath.

After over seven miles of hiking, 1,000 feet up and down, she was in the parking lot with a great big grin on her face, wondering where we were going next. I should also point out that she's nine years old, which is something around 60 in dog years. I hope like hell when I'm 60 I'm in at least half as good of shape as Misaki is now.

Portlanders, get out of the city and check out this waterfall because it's not to be missed. Bring your dog, too, but as always, Misaki prefers it if your dog is on leash as she always is.

Should I Correct Someone Else's Kid?

Let me start with this: there is no dog I would trust more, ever, with an unknown child than Misaki. In fact, I'm willing to bet she's a better and more trustworthy babysitter and caregiver than most day cares, but that's another topic for another day.

We are lucky with her. We know that. She loves people and will go out of her way to meet them. She isn't pushy, unless you count the nosing of legs, but she'll go over to people and stand expectantly at their feet, tail wagging (happy, effusive tail wagging, not the wary, anxious kind - we know the difference) and looking up with those chocolate brown eyes, until the person acknowledges her, preferably with skritches. It doesn't matter what age, gender, race - she's excited to meet people. (We joke she'd do whatever she could to help out someone robbing our house if it meant getting loved up.)

A lot of dogs aren't like this. We know this too, because of our experiences with Ruby the Akita. In fact, way back when in the early days of this blog I posted a plea to other dog owners about keeping their dogs on leash specifically because of what we dealt with her. If there is a spectrum of how well a dog gets along with strangers, Misaki is on one end and Ruby almost the polar opposite. She thought she was excited to meet people, but then would get so freaked out she'd pee on the floor. She would jump and bark at the slightest sound (Akita barks = earthquakes). A ringing of the doorbell on TV would put her on edge for hours. We deliberately kept her away from people - and absolutely other dogs - because after trying to get her over her fears it just wasn't happening. Instead, we gave in and decided to keep her within her comfort zone, for better or worse.

With Ruby we always told the neighborhood kids they could not pet her. Most of them were scared of the 90-pound Akita, ripped with muscles and a mouth full of sharp teeth. With Misaki? We don't worry in the slightest. Provided the kids ask politely we let them, because how could you resist this?

You can't. No one could. She puts up with a lot too. Most kids don't know how to properly approach a dog, which is somewhat darkly comical considering most of them freak out over a spider while the dog could rip their face off with one bite. She wouldn't, but she could. She lets them roughly pet her, give her kisses, put their face right up to hers, and her tail will wag wildly the entire time. The worst she might do is sniff their face and huff at them, possibly blowing a little spit on their cheeks.

We trust Misaki, but we know her. These kids? They shouldn't be so trusting. Chances are if they approach her like this that's how they approach any dog. If they had tried that with Ruby they might be dead. Heck, other Shibas wouldn't necessarily respond as pleasantly as her. I can probably count on one hand using three fingers the number of kids who have approached Misaki - a dog they do not know - in the right manner. (This is where I link to this fantastic Huffington Post piece by Sophia Lin regarding the proper way to approach a dog and how to recognize anxiety and fear reactions - hat tip to The Misanthropic Shiba for posting on Facebook. This should be required reading for everyone: parents, children, adults, old people, whomever.)

Every time another kid puts a hand on either side of her face and gives her nose bumps, which she enjoys, I think I should say something. I feel I should say they shouldn't do that, it's not the right way to approach a strange dog. I feel like I should show them the proper way.

But I don't. It's not my kid. I don't have kids, don't plan on having kids. This is something their parents should be teaching them, right? (And no, the parents are never around - not on the sidewalk and not at the park. Yes, they SHOULD be, but they aren't, and the fact they should be is a completely different discussion. Unfortunately the parents aren't in this equation.) And also, most parents don't like strangers correcting their children, even if they are right. The last thing I want to deal with is have some kid go whining home to their parents about how this guy yelled at them for petting his dog, and then at some point that parent wants to have a discussion with me.

On the flip side, if that kid gets his face torn off by the next dog he tries to approach that way, will I feel guilty when I see the story on the news? Do I have an obligation to correct these kids? Should I start? Do I have to take the time to explain to them the right way to approach a strange dog, even though all Misaki wants to do is smell their face?

This is where I turn to you, Internet. I'm going to post this on Facebook, my Twitter account, and Misaki's tumblr blog, and I'm hoping the Shiba community - and the dog community as a whole - can give some insights on this topic. Has this happened to you? Do you say something? How do you do it? Do you feel a societal obligation that you should say something?

Please, leave comments and start a discussion - I want to see where this goes. And thank you!

A Newport Sunset - In Pictures

During vacation a couple weeks back Wifey and spent a couple nights at the Hallmark Inn in Newport, Oregon, right on the beach (and dog friendly - Misaki approved!). The day we arrived the weather was nice, but by about 7pm the clouds had rolled in, so despite our oceanfront room there was no pretty sunset (my favorite part of staying the beach, other than eating a whole bunch of crap).

Then Day 2 it rained all day long...until about 6 (which meant reading most of Chelsea Cain's Heartsick, which was a fantastic book). Then the clouds started to break up off the coast and we actually received a pretty decent sunset. Here are a few pictures as the sun went down (it actually still sprinkled on land, but out over the water it was pretty nice.

Newport is a decent place to spend a couple days. It's pretty laid back and has some good places to eat, in addition to the Oregon Coast Aquarium and being the World Headquarters of Rogue Brewery.

We had a decent meal from Nana's Irish Pub, which wasn't too far from the hotel. The scotch eggs tasted good, but I barely found any sausage flavor at all. The chicken pot pie was very good. They also do food to go, which we did since we had Misaki, and the pot pie came in a piece of cookware ($5 deposit pending the return).

La Maison Cafe and Bakery does fantastic baked goods. Supposedly they do good cafe food too, but again, we had Misaki. Surprisingly hard to find food when the weather isn't nice and we can't eat outside with the dog. We had a decent chocolate muffin (really, a cupcake), and a fantastic chocolate peanut butter pie.

The area we stayed at is called Nye Beach, where there are plenty of hotels and shops. One shop was in the middle of construction but had a sign on it saying Indulge Sweets was coming soon, with a link to their website. After looking them up we found out their original store was 10 miles south in Seal Rock. Since the weather was crappy, we checked it out. Conclusion? Awesome. The chocolate peanut butter fudge had actual peanut butter in it (as opposed to just peanut butter fudge, which sounds like it would be better but never is), the dark chocolate sea salt caramels were excellent, and so was the dark chocolate covered house made marshmallows. Cannot recommend this place highly enough.

On the way home we drove up the coast to Tillamook instead of heading back through Corvallis to the Interstate. Just a few miles north of Newport we stopped in Depoe Bay and took some pictures, then picked up some caramel corn (this is a coast trip must - every single time) at Jordy's Karmelkorn Shop, which we both enjoyed.

Lunch was at the Pelican Pub and Brewery in Pacific City. It was nice outside and they had a patio, so despite the wind we sat and ate there because of the pup. Dogs aren't actually allowed on the patio and are supposed to stay in the sand next to it, but Misaki curled up under Wifey's chair to get out of the wind and no one seemed to mind (probably because it's not busy on a Thursday afternoon). Pelican does most of the normal pub foods and it being the coast had red snapper fish and chips. Between than and a pizza with a couple different meats we had plenty to eat (and bring home). Their Kiwanda Cream Ale is very good. Surprisingly clear for a cream, but with plenty of nuanced flavors. Nice to see they have it at the grocery stores at home, along with others, so I'll be checking those out. Pacific City also seems like it would be a nice place to spend a few days, so maybe our next trip to the coast will be there if we can find a dog-friendly place to stay.

Our final stop before home was at Cape Mears, where Misaki took in the sights with us.

I gotta say - we had never traveled with Misaki before on an overnight trip. We thought she'd be fine because she's a quiet, sweetheart of a Shiba, but you never know, right? As it turns out she was fantastic, minding all of her manners and being a good dog the entire time. We'll have to do it again in the summer where we can eat at more places outside, instead of having to bring food or find places that do takeout.

Portland's Rhododendron Garden

The Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in Southeast Portland, not far from Reed College and just off the Eastmoreland Golf Course, was a common place for us to visit when I was growing up. Back then to us kids it was just "The Duck Pond," because that's where we would go to feed the ducks.

We'd stop by the Franz outlet store for a couple loaves of day-old bread (or week-old, I was never really clear on that...) and then go to this park to feed the flocks of ducks and mean geese. I'm sure it meant a decent chunk of time where the kids were entertained and Mom just had to keep an eye on whether or not we would fall in the lake, but we loved it. (By the way, as always, click on the picture for a larger version. Depending on your screen size and browser, you may be able to click it again to make it even larger.)

I remember there always being so many ducks, mostly mallards, with some big white geese bossing the ducks around and honking quite loudly. I remember having bread ripped from my hand by these geese and freaking me and my sister out, since they were bigger than us. I remember realizing years later it was called The Rhododendron Garden because there are literally hundreds of rhododendrons, and in late spring when they are all in bloom it's quite fantastic to see.

But then again, it's usually raining around here then, so we probably never went there when I was a kid and they were blooming.

My favorite childhood memory of this park has to do with a summer day. Maybe it was around the Fourth of July, maybe it was a family birthday party - not sure - but after a meal at grandma's house we loaded all the kids (me, my sister, my cousins) into cars and drove out to the garden with loads of bread. (This was years before we knew feeding ducks bread was a bad idea. Whoops. Sorry ducks from the past.)

I don't recall whose idea it was, but for some reason all of us kids thought it was a good idea to take off our shoes and socks, roll up our pants, and walk INTO the water in that top picture here. Now, generally, I don't think this is accepted practice and I would absolutely recommend parents don't let their kids do this for a variety of reasons, but we had a blast. I distinctly remember - I want to say I was eight or nine at the time - tripping on a rock and face planting in the water.

One of the many reasons to not do this is, as I mentioned, tons of ducks live here. The bottom of this pond is blanketed in a layer of sliminess which, really, should only be referred to as duck crap. And we slogged through, all around the pond, in bare feet.

It makes me nauseous just to think about it, but we had a blast. I'm pretty sure Mom did not have a blast getting us cleaned up to get back in the car; it was probably pretty nauseous for her too.

I remember the Garden being a raucous, kid-crazy place, but recent trips there have shown it has matured. It's a quiet, almost zen-like park now, filled with bird watchers, sketchers, photographers, and poets. Older couples - and young ones - stroll hand-in-hand, sitting silently to watch the water and the wildlife. Feeding the water fowl bread is frowned upon, but you can purchase acceptable bags of feed. And now you pay a fee to enter, $3 most days and most of the year, which I know wasn't around when I was little (no way we would have gone as often). Come to think of it, that's probably a big reason why it's quieter now.

And surprisingly the park is dog-friendly (on a short leash), so we have to go back and bring Misaki.

There are still plenty of animals and birds, along with flowers, so here's a sampling of what we saw on a late April trip to the park.

I think these are azaleas (rhododendrons weren't blooming yet). See the two colors? They were on the exact same branch.

New leaves on sword ferns, growing in the shade amongst the rhododendrons and under the pine trees.

And what do we have here? A nutria! It was still early morning, so this little guy was our foraging for some breakfast. He didn't seem to bothered by us, though still wary.

And then we saw another out, this one just out in a field. They are kind of cute, in a no-flat-tail beaver kind of way.

And here, of course, is a Canadian goose. I don't remember these from childhood, but there were quite a few Canadian goose couples there now. No little guys though.

Goose butts! Not really sure what they are doing when they do this. Getting food from below? Washing their heads? Gargling?

These two were just hanging out in the path. They watched us walk by, but weren't in a hurry to share the space.

Here is the mean gray goose I remember from my childhood (not to be confused with the much cooler Grey Goose). This guy was very cranky (maybe because he was alone?). In fact, he seemed so mean and old, maybe he WAS there when I was little.

See the bird here at the edge of the water? That's a blue heron. Wish I could have gotten a better picture, but this was on the opposite side of the lake and the best my camera could do. Time to upgrade.

This is a red-winged blackbird. They have a wonderful sound they make that I won't even attempt to put into words, but it's very melodic and distinctive. One of our favorite birds for sure.

These are red-winged blackbirds mating. At least, we think. The other bird was gray and they looked nothing alike, but per the link below the other red-winged blackbird picture could have been a female of the species. Or maybe it was a sparrow, we have no idea. Which brings up a good question: Do they know? Will they cross species? I need to know these things.

And this, my friends, is a double-crested cormorant. If any bird you ever come across reminds you of a dinosaur, it will be this one.

And we saw two! I had never seen ONE before.

This is your standard mallard duck. There are still plenty of these in the park, but I remember it being overrun by mallards when I was little. The shiny green/blue of their heads is still one of my favorite colors. (I also remember the disturbing-looking muscovy ducks, but haven't seen any of those around for a few years. They were cranky too - I always thought it had to do with their appearance.)

Duck butts! In tandem!

And here we have, in my mind, the most striking duck of all, the wood duck. I love the lines in his head, the long feathers over the back of his head, and the red eyes. Okay, perhaps they are kind of creepy too, but very, very pretty.

And here is another wood duck, posing just for us on land.

So there you go, a piece of my childhood. This is a great place to spend a couple hours wandering slowly on the grounds, taking time to enjoy nature. It's quiet, well maintained, and not very busy. We definitely need to go back and take the dog. Hopefully she doesn't try and eat a wood duck.

A Return to Screen Door

There is a fantastic southern comfort food restaurant on East Burnside called Screen Door. I wrote about it way back at the beginning of this blog, but a short while ago we made a return trip that was a long time coming - and we took pictures!

We weren't necessarily planning to go here and we had Misaki with us, so we parked about a block away and made a call to the restaurant. We knew they had outdoor seating, but didn't know if that meant it was okay for mild-mannered little puppies like her. Apparently it is!

The below pictures if of the front door area, on Burnside. The outdoor seating is to the right here (Screen Door is on a corner) and consists of some full size picnic tables and a few more two-seater tables. Misaki laid down under the picnic table and was generally a model little Shiba. Our server also brought a little dish of water, which Misaki appreciated because it was a warm day and we had been out walking a bit.

So what did we order? We started with the praline bacon. It's a house-made bacon they pralined (I think that's a verb - pretty sure) and is pretty damn yummy. The first time we visited Screen Door I meant to order it but forgot when we actually ordered, then didn't rectify it because we ended up with a ton of food. This time we made a point of getting it.

Sweet, crunchy, bacony goodness. I wasn't sure about nuts on my bacon, but it was fantastic. I'm not sure if it's better than the bacon at The Country Cat - it's different - but I recommend this.

I ordered the traditional eggs benedict for my main course, with a side of grits:

I'd never had grits before and neither had Wifey, so I figured what the heck, why not? You always hear grits mentioned somewhat derisively like it's a throwaway dish (at least I have, spending my entire life in the Northwest), but these were actually really, really good. The menu didn't say, but I swear I tasted a little bit of cheesiness to them and the texture was nice. I'd go back and order one of their grit dishes as a main course.

The eggs benedict were very good. The Hollandaise sauce was much thicker than I've been able to manage at home (that is to say, normal, while mine is runny), the eggs were cooked just right so they spread in a puddle when cut into, and the grilled ham and English muffin was very good.

Wifey ordered something called Fried Chicken Cathead Biscuit Sandwich with sausage gravy and a side of roasted potatoes. Does that sound odd to you? Did to us. We had to ask the server what that meant before ordering, and she assured us that all it meant was that the dish was bigger than a cat's head. Southern people are weird. Here's what it looks like:

I didn't have a cat around to measure, but that certainly looks bigger than a cat's head to me. Or two cats heads. I love the knife stabbed in there holding the whole thing together.

The gravy was very good with a creamy texture and sausagey-yummy flavor, the fried chicken very moist and crunchy, the biscuit amazing, and the potatoes were also pretty tasty and well-seasoned. All in all this dish hit all the marks as far as taste and comfort. What more could you ask for? If anything we wished the potatoes were cut just a little bit smaller so there was a little more crunch, but that's a personal preference.

I believe our total bill was less than $30, but that also included an extra order of sausage gravy to go with our leftovers. That might seem a tad steep for a brunch, but considering we got five servings out of the food it's really not.

Just for fun, I decided to take some pictures at home with an actual cat's head (still attached, of course) to truly test Screen Door's claim about the dish. Below is one of the leftover servings - the only difference from what was originally served is a little of the extra sausage gravy and a fried egg.

Lilo graciously volunteered for the cat's head test. Actually, I lie - she didn't volunteer at all, but she's the one without claws and a little more calm when being held, so we can get her to do a lot of things we can't with the other two.

As you can see, the leftover chunk of chicken in this dish could possibly be the size of Lilo's head:

Or something.

Admittedly she is the smallest cat we have, and probably a tad smaller than average, but again, this was the leftovers and only about a quarter of the actual chicken.

So not only did we have another fine meal at a decent price, but Misaki also enjoyed the outdoor dining and we also learned that yes, indeed, the Fried Chicken Cathead Biscuit Sandwich is really, truly, bigger than a cat's head.

No cat heads were harmed in the production of this blog post.

Summer Foodie Roundup

Sometimes things just don't merit their own post, and despite what I have claimed I would do in the past and post more, smaller things, it's just not going to happen. Not in my writing nature - I like to write, so things get longer. Over the summer Wifey and I have tried all sorts of things, so here's a quick rundown of recommendations and thoughts.

Kenny and Zuke's - Pastrami Burger - Co-owner of Kenny and Zuke's Nick Zukin (hence, Zuke), recently completed a personal journey through Portland, trying and rating over 70 "bistro burgers." You can read the results of his odyssey at Willamette Week with the top ten and on his own blog for numbers 21-25, 16-20, and 11-15. It's a very well done set of reviews and I'd like to at some point try them all.

But Nick didn't rate the K&Z burger, for obvious conflict of interest reasons. He has on multiple occasions talked about the K&Z pastrami burger and mentioned how it should rate before though, so I asked him on Twitter where he though that would rank on his list, if he could be objective. Nick hit me about right back and said he'd put it between 4 and 7 on his list, but wasn't promising he could be objective. That was objective enough for me, not doubting it was good and nice to see he didn't just put it #1 (didn't think he would, he seems very honest when talking about food.)

So I tried it out on my last lunch there. It's a very good burger, cooked well with good flavors, and topped with pastrami and Swiss cheese. I loved it and would recommend it to anyone. I was a little surprised by it's size; almost everything at K&Z is huge and I eat half at the meal, taking the rest home for later, but this was actually just the right size for a meal. Not a detriment to be sure, but simply an observation. After trying burgers at Gruner and Le Pigeon (2 and 6 on his final list) I think Nick's placement of the K&Z burger was pretty accurate, though probably closer to 7 then 4. Good stuff.

Broder - Aebleskiver, bacon/tomato/blue cheese baked scramble - After reading a lot of positives we hit Broder, a Swedish place, up for breakfast one day. The aebleskiver came with lingonberry jam and fresh lemon curd for dipping and were moist, almost melt in your mouth. Excellent. Loved the jam and the curd as well. The scramble was interesting - we both thought the tomato threw off the flavor a bit. It's an interesting dish. Would I recommend Broder? Not sure yet. It was solid, but not fantastic. We want to go back for lunch and try out more dishes.

Tasty and Sons - Breakfast board (chicken liver mousse, bacon, beef jerky, yogurt, pickled beets, blackberries, bread), bacon wrapped date, peaches and cream with telema cheese and honey, fuhgeddaboutit (Italian sausage omelette), French toast - Tasty continues to be one of our favorite places. We hadn't ordered the breakfast board before but foodies seem to love it every time, so this time we did. I had never had chicken liver mousse before and had no idea what to expect, but it was borderline excellent. Not sure I would order it given multiple choices of dishes, but I'm definitely not unsure about it anymore Everything on the board, actually, was excellent. The French toast was amazing as usual and the sausage in the omelette couldn't have been seasoned any better. The peaches and cream was something neither of us had had before, but both liked. The cheese on top really made the dish for me.

As before, if you haven't been here yet you need to get here.

Ken's Artisan Bakery - Valhrona chocolate chip cookie, salted caramel macaroon - We've been to Ken's a number of times and always enjoy it, but this cookie fell a little short. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't better than we make at home. In fact, I will be bold and say it's not AS good. There, I said it.

The macaroon was interesting. The flavors were very good though not quite as good as the one from Pix Patisserie, but it was also as big as my hand. All other macaroons I've had before have been about bitesize, but not this one. Shrug.

Northwest Sweets - Marshmallow, caramels - If you didn't heed my earlier comments about this place and go there, you need to do so. Immediately. Fall is coming and that means football and cooler weather, the perfect combination for making hot chocolate or drinking chocolate. And when you do, you need a marshmallow, and these are the best in town. The fresh licorice on the counter almost convinced me...but Wifey doesn't like it and I'd have to eat the whole thing myself, so I didn't get it. Who am I kidding? Next time I'm buying it.

Sterling Coffee - vanilla caramel latte, Cluizel mocha - As usual, drinks from Sterling were, well, sterling. Both the vanilla and caramel come from Two Tarts and we'd never combined the two in the latte before, so we asked the barista if that sounded like a good idea. After he said they were excellent in combo, we ordered and have to agree.

On a side note, Two Tarts does not sell that caramel to the public - we tried. We wanted to use it in ice cream, but were told they currently only do commercial accounts. It sounded like it would be for sale in their store at some point in the future, but that date is yet to be determined. Until then, Sterling and Coffeehouse Northwest are the only places we know it can be found in a drink.

Ristretto Roasters - mocha - I really like Ristretto's mochas. When we ordered this I was very pleased...but then ended up getting one at Sterling a short time later. Night and day Sterling wins hands down. After commenting that the Ristretto one now tasted like crap, Wifey disagreed and she's right. The Ristretto mocha is probably one of Portland's best, but it's just not in the Sterling/Barista/Coffeehouse category. As long as you aren't drinking them side by side, you'll enjoy it just fine.

Part of this could be we always order the dark chocolate (Cluizel at Sterling and Coffeehouse, Valhrona at Barista), which makes a huge difference. Ristretto just needs to add some decadence to their menu.

Nostrana - tossed insalata caprese/rotisserie chicken/rose, gnocchi with morel cream sauce, capuccino, vanilla bean gelato, Pizzeria Mozza butterscotch budino - Add Nostrana to my favorite restaurants list - I have never had anything bad here and routinely the service and food is top notch (though this time the server was obviously new, not just to the restaurant but it also seemed to Italian food in general). The salad/chicken/rose was a complete meal and all of it was excellent. We took one pic of the salad, then forgot for the rest of the food because we were hungry. This may have been the best part of the meal, which would be saying a lot.

The budino is an interesting dessert. Here's a pic of it from the This Is Pizza blog (which I highly recommend it you like pizza):

It's quite the interesting set of flavors, and good stuff.

Nostrana also allows dogs on the outdoor patio, so we took advantage of that and brought Misaki for lunch. She just laid under the table while we had lunch, letting everyone who walked by comment on her cuteness. She also received a bowl of water from the waitress, which was nice of them.

Alma Chocolates - Vanilla bean custard, salted caramel sauce - After missing out on joining Alma's CSI program (Community Supported Ice Cream, where members put up money for a ice cream maker in exchange for a boatload of finished product), we had to check out the results. Especially after making our own. And you know what? Ours is pretty damn good... The caramel sauce we used in our own batch of vanilla bean frozen custard and it may just be the best thing ever.

Ruby Jewell - salted caramel ice cream, peanut butter dream - Portlanders seem to love this place, but after giving it two chances I'm really not sure why. We picked up an ice cream sandwich at Whole Foods once and just couldn't get over how weak in flavor and quality the cookie part was. The ice cream seemed fine, but it was overpowered by the bland cookie. When the new shop opened on N. Mississippi, we decided to try out just the ice cream. It was, well, okay. Nothing special, honestly. You want good ice cream? Walk up the street a few blocks to Lovely's Fifty Fifty. Their salted caramel is about ten times better for the same price.

Piece of Cake - Fantasy cake, orange/chocolate cupcake, peanut butter chocolate cupcake - This might just be the best cake in the city, the fantasy cake. We used to get it at Zupan's in Beaverton, but that store closed a year ago and we haven't had the cake since. Or was it New seasons? Either way, haven't seen it there either. We were in Sellwood at Sellwood Dog Supply (Misaki and the cats recommend this place) getting a few things and decided to go here, just a few doors down, to see if they had the cake available. They did, and it was even better than we remember. One layer chocolate cake, one layer cheesecake, it's pure goodness. The cupcakes were pretty good, the peanut butter one being the better. The orange frosting tasted faintly of orange, but was too much in quantity and relatively little overall flavor. The other had a layer of actual peanut butter topped with chocolate ganache. Does that sound awesome or what? It is.

Lovely's Fifty-Fifty - Mint stracciatella ice cream - Wifey had been wanting to try this, so we maanged to order ice cream without getting the salted caramel - not sure how we pulled that off. As always, the ice cream part was excellent, and the chocolate was also good - it held it's own. The mint, though, is not the mint you grew up with - it's actual fresh mint. And it's strong. Very strong. It was a bit too much for us, but others who really like that flavor will love it.

Some things, on the other hand, DO merit their own post. Here are some places we hit up over the summer:

Beast | Creme de la Creme | Wet Hot Beef | Gruner | Du Kuh Bee 

Plus a nibbling tour through Seattle...and we made some borscht!

Creme de la Creme

A few weeks back Wifey emailed me this post on Food Carts Portland about a new cart specializing in French food called Creme de la Creme. It sounded pretty dang good, so last week Wifey, Misaki, and I headed out to SE 43rd and Belmont to the new Good Food Here pod of food carts to check it out for lunch.

One nice thing about this pod? They have parking spots! Can't say that for Cartopia on SE 12th and Hawthorne or Mississippi Marketplace on N. Mississippi.

Creme de la Creme is housed in a converted school bus - with lots of bright colors - at one end of the pod. There are plenty of spots to sit down, at picnic tables under some trees on the periphery of the pod and spots with umbrellas within.

The "cart" - colorful, clear menu, friendly people.

Simple French food is the carts specialty, with sandwiches, soups, salads, and a couple basic desserts. We opted for the French Onion soup and a Croque Monsieur sandwich.

French Onion soup

The soup came with a piece of bread roughly the same size as the bowl, topped with melted gruyere. All elements of this soup were simply pretty dang perfect. The bread, despite soaking in the soup, still kept it's shape and the gruyere added a great additional flavor the normal soup flavors. The onions were well cooked, the broth rich, and we'd absolutely get this again.

Next up was the Croque Monsier, a toasted sandwich with black forest ham and gruyere inside, then topped with more gruyere. I love gruyere...

Croque Monsieur

We had eaten half the sandwich before I remembered to click a picture, so imagine two of those halves. The sandwich was good. The bread was crunchy, the flavors melded well, and I'd order it again - or maybe go the Croque Madame route next time and get it with an egg. It came with the small side salad topped with a fresh vinaigrette.

One of my favorite things about eating at food carts is we can always take Misaki with us. She wasn't the only dog there at the time, but everyone was properly respectful of personal space, a trait Misaki prizes.

She also, apparently, wanted to try some French food.

Misaki working her Shiba Mind Control

Sorry pups, not on your diet.

Creme de la Creme was a great meal and we will return at some point. If you are in the mood for something quick and French, this has to be at the top of your list.