My Favorite Places to Eat In Portland

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A small collection of restaurants I am fond of in Portland, OR

Japanese:

  • Murata – in my opinion the best sushi in town. 200 SW Market St
  • Bamboo Sushi – almost tied for first for the best sushi in town.
  • Biwa – izakaya and some of the best ramen in town. Spectacular pork belly skewers.

Italian:

  • Ciao Vito – a delightful happy hour menu and some of the best Italian food using local ingredients.

Northwest Cuisine:

Breakfast:

  • Tin Shed

Places to take mom and Clay:

  • Ox -a delicious Argentinian inspired steak

Places to take dad and Pam:

  • Ox – reminiscent of the restaurant we at at in San Juan de Bariloche, Argentina
  • Bamboo Sushi

What To Do With Kid Visitors in Portland

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My brother and his clan came to visit back in June and now that they are gone I feel as if I squandered my opportunity to show them the best of this town. It’s hardly true, we did plenty of fun stuff but I feel that I didn’t prepare enough for their arrival.

With that in mind, I have set out to compile a short little guide for myself and my future visitors. Big, small and in between.

Places to run wild:

Water play:

  • Sandy River
  • Multnomah Falls
  • Jamison Square Fountain
    810 NW 11th Avenue (Jamison Square)
  • Salmon Street Springs Fountain
    SW Salmon Street at Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park
  • Portland Fountains – Self Guided Tour
  • SW Community Center Pool - by far the best kid pool in town! It has a big giant slide and play structure smack dab in the middle of the kid pool and a separate lap pool

Outdoor fun:

Restaurants for kids:

  • Pause

This list will hopefully expand over time. Suggestions happily accepted.

The Delicious Baby blog has a number of good suggestions. Many of which I mentioned above.

Colette’s Delightful Crepe Dress

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I hid out in the basement Saturday morning to escape the heat and this is the rewards of my labor! A delightful Crepe dress in smashing purple. I see why the elite classes of days gone by wore purple. It is so empowering!

Pardon the early morning fog of these photos…until I can take some more respectable ones.

My not so love affair with jeans

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Over the last year I have had the pleasure of taking several sewing classes over at Modern Domestic. Those gals are a fabulous and knowledgeable group! I encourage any of you out there who want to take up sewing to head on over and take any one of their beginner classes. You will surely leave with and ego boost and a finished object to boot!

My most memorable class to date is the Jeans class taught by Erica Horton. I haven’t liked jeans since puberty and I went from a twig to a curvy gal. No manufacturer makes a jean that fits an hourglass figure. Don’t believe ‘em! Every brand I have ever tried fits through the legs and hips but is gaping at the waist. In this class we used Swedish tracing paper to make a mock up of our jeans and tried them on before we cut our fabric and began sewing. This step has revolutionized my relationship with clothing in general and with pants specifically. Erica helped fit the yoke of the pant and waist band for each of us in the class. It was so enlightening to watch her modify the pattern for each of our specific body types. We ended up tossing the standard waist band all together for me and made a curved one. It ended up looking like a giant smile when I held it up in the air. Tangible evidence of my life long pant troubles!

Walking away from the class I not only have the first pair of jeans I have ever wanted to wear, I also have an idea of the modifications I will need to execute in order to get most pants to fit me in a flattering and comfortable manner. It’s exciting to think that my long term hate toward pants is morphing into a love affair with hand made garments. I will never have to step foot in a store again and try on a dozen pants, only to find they are all inadequate. Hunting for fabric and being in control of my options is so much more appealing.

Classes I have taken at Modern Domestic and cannot say enough good things about:

  • Peony dress – this one really took my rusty and dormant sewing skills and shook the dust off!
  • Knit Skirt – learn how to use a serger
  • Minoru Jacket
  • Baby Quilt
  • Jeans
  • T-shirt

Classes on my wish list for this fall:

  • Pattern Drafting 101
  • Delicate Fabric Techniques: Taffy Blouse
  • Gathered Scarf – where I get to play with elastic thread!