Ken's Artisan Pizza for 6 + 1 booster seat

I am not a huge fan of pizza (I know, I know "boo Yen, boo"), but hey, I eat it ok! And I even at times enjoy it :) It's just not my "favorite" food and I would probably be the last person to suggest we eat it unless it's "gourmet" pizza (cue Mario Batali)(hehe)... or clam pizza (yum)(again, cue Mario Batali). But like with most relationships, you make sacrifices. You do things your partner likes to do and you try harder at enjoying things your partner enjoys. Most of the time, we're on the same page with our likes and dislikes. Michael is actually quite understanding about our differences, but because I won't rock climb with him, I compromise...

... by eating pizza :)

Two of Portland's most talked about pizza joints, Apizza Scholls and Ken's Artisan Pizza had been on our list of restaurants to try. But that's the problem with hyped up eateries - the wait can be excruciatingly long, particularly when reservations are not accepted. That coupled with my lack of love for pizza hindered our motivation to actually try it, even though I was already sold on Ken's Artisan's dough (see my post on its sister establishment, Ken's Artisan's Bakery), so when Allison invited Tram and I, along with our boy toys Tommy, Souk and Michael out for dinner the other night, it was the catalyst we needed to get into the two-hour wait.

But this entry is not really about Ken's Artisan Pizza or about long waits. It's about our new munchkin friend, Jenny! Besides my friend Thuy, none of my other girl friends in Portland have kids. But on this fateful night, Allison and Tommy brought along their three year-old cousin Jenny to dinner. Now keep in my mind, my friends and I are not accustomed to being around kids. We are all very much "single" when it comes to that sort of mindset :) But imagine my surprise when Jenny occupied all six of our attention! A tomboy at heart and not one to be messed with, she is extremely articulate, smart and well behaved. She prefers black All-Star Converse to pink ones and her favorite color is blue. She loves watching "The Grinch" and is not a fan of American food or pizza for that matter. She favors guys and doesn't care for girls, unless you got something good for her to eat. Lucky for me, I had a box of Girl Scout cookies in my bag! We all fought and climbed over each other to steal her for a moment. She is so clever, I am baffled every time she opens her mouth to speak. She even taught Michael a thing or two in Vietnamese!

Dinner was a complete blur to me. I vaguely remember a ceasar salad and calamari appetizer... oh and four pizzas, one of which had anchovies on it (another one of my preferred pizza toppings :) but the highlight of my night was hanging out with Jenny. Maybe because it was a new experience for me to be around my old friends plus a kid. We had always been kids ourselves! Or maybe because I got to imagine what great parents my friends would be one day. Then again, it might have just been because it was funny when I saw Michael dizzily walking out of of the Papa Haydn, a cake bar we had dessert at, looking as if he had gotten hit by bus. Being around Jenny was exhausting - even with six of us to take turns watching her. But it was so much fun and very endearing.

"Anh Hai [that's what she calls Souk], why are you bald?!"
:: rub rub rub ::

Michael napping while he's suppose to be watching Jenny. lol JK!

"Look, I've worn Michael out! Now I can eat his ice cream!"

O.C.B.T. Part 1 - Pets

A.K.A. Only Child Brown Thumb Syndrome

When I was a kid, my uncle bought me some guppy fish. While attempting to clean the bowl one day, I dropped a few on the floor, panicked and proceeded to step on them. They didn't make it under the weight of a six year old's body.

In high school, I had a fish tank in my bedroom with a a few goldfishes. A few days later, I woke up and found one of them belly up. I was so skeeved out by it, I didn't even bother scooping it out. I just left it there! Apparently, that screwed up the pH balance and killed off the rest of the fish in the tank. Traumatized at this point, I was too scared to tell my parents, but would have problems falling asleep with the dead fishies floating just a few feet away from my bed (until my mom finally discovered the incident a few days later).

Needless to say, I have never had a real pet my entire life. I don't think Michael has either. I can't even keep a plant alive! It must be dominant trait in only children. But we both would like a dog some day... me more so than him, but specifically a French bull dog. So when my friends Allison and Tommy went away to Mexico for 10 days last week, I volunteered to doggie-sit for their two dogs Elroy and Ellie.

I was nervous I'd lose them or kill them... but other than a few puddles of pee here and there and some mushy poop to pick up, it was really fun! It's amazing how smart dogs are - they can hear and understand the word "treat" about 20 blocks away!

Keep on Truckin'

It seems as if I've spent the last five months lazing around (well, technically I have been... if you compare it to what I could have been doing :) but as I sit and ponder what all I have (and have not) done this year, I'm still pleased to say, Michael and I have had quite an eventful year (it's really easy for me to forget all the negatives because when I blog, I'm usually in a happy mood :)

We moved to London, became colleagues, worked our @sses off, fought, laughed, cried - a lot (I visibly aged during my stay there), enjoyed some world reknowned chefs, (but on the same breath) ate more bad food than I ever had in my entire life, delt with the horrid customer service, explored the neighborhoods, roamed the street markets, sun bathed in one of the world's most famous park, met some wonderfully diverse people, traveled to five other countries, did our first family trip (with my parents), saw STONEHENGE!!!... and still had five months left of the year to spend an action-packed summer and autumn here in our hometown Portland!

My biggest personal feat this year was taking that much, much needed hiatus from work. Seems pretty insignificant I know, but after more than four years in an oftentimes volatile (but opportunistic) work situation, I finally found it in me to leave. Really leave (after threatening to leave so many other times). It was the best thing I could have done for myself and the most liberating thing I did all year.

Meanwhile, Michael (who suffered sympathy pains from my unhappiness at work - I love that guy :) applied and got accepted into school and had just finished his first term at grad school <--- so proud of him! Btw, he got straight A's this past term ;) Woohoooo!

It can be easy to forget what fortunes this last year has brought us... for all of us. Have you thought about what you've done this last year or what it has taught you? Life oftentimes seem routine, uneventful and nothing short of ordinary. But never disregard the miniscule or mundane... to forget to reflect or appreciate the events of your life, significant or not, happy or sad, would be a disjustice to your vitality! Guddha (my version of God & Buddha) knows I've had my share of grief this year, but if I've learned anything at all, it's to not dwell on the bad, but focus on the good. Everything happens for a reason (my mantra for the year) because sure enough, if I look back at everything that has happened to me (even/especially) if I focused on the bad things, I now totally see why it happened. You should try it!

In hindsight (isn't hindsight a beautiful thing ?) ...

I have really enjoyed this past year, particularly my time in Europe (even though there were moments I couldn't wait to get the hell out of there) and these last few months of my "sabbatical" where I found the time to dabble in things I never thought I'd like (baking, hiking, hosting, sewing); explore things I've always wanted to do more of or get better at (blogging, photographing, volunteering); and spend time with my family and friends the way I've been wanting to the last six years.

This year has been about realization, strength, love and learning. I've (with all this free time) learned so much about myself. I've realized I am so lucky to love and have people who love me back. They give me the strength and support to keep learning about myself. I've realized, the grass is not greener on the other side (although I'll keep having to remind myself through the years) but even so, it doesn't matter, my grass is green enough! There are so many bigger problems in this world than the ones I face on a day-to-day basis. There's always someone out there who has it worse than me, but they have the strength to keep on truckin'. Hopefully, by this time next year, I can look back, remember more good things and learn from the bad... and through all the hard times, say that I too, kept on truckin'.

Bamboo Sushi

Our friend Charlie is on a mission to discover and try as many different restaurants in the shortest amount of time possible - measured by his own personal clock. We use to think he only did this while on vacation (he once tried 13 different establishments in a single day while visiting us in New York) but it's apparently the case here in Portland as well, as made obvious by the happy hour run we made on Wednesday evening.

We started off at Tapalaya... but as I just discussed and agreed with a business owner friend of mine - if I don't have anything nice to say about an establishment, better to not say anything about it at all, so I guess we'll just leave this one at that :)

We then headed a few blocks down to Bamboo Sushi, the first certified, sustainable sushi restaurant in the world (they use 100% renewable resources for power, sustainable chopsticks, biodegradable to-go containers and even energy efficient toilets and hand dryers)! And with the growing demand of fish consumption in restaurants leading to over-fished waters, Bamboo Sushi has committed to serving the best and freshest fish while fostering partnerships with respected organizations to promote marine stewardship and oceanic sustainability. How cool is that?

Charlie and I were already full and intended to just swing by for drinks (their lychee martinis were made with muddled lychees - yum) but we ended up snacking on a spicy scallop handroll and grilled kobe flank with sweet potato,sauteed garlic greens with bacon, pickled mushrooms and herbed momiji sauce.

Both were on the happy hour menu (from 5pm to 6:30pm) and both were very well made buttery goodness. They have these specials called "Flights," which is their signature way of allowing diners to enjoy a specific variety of their in-season seafood. Currently, they have a crab flight consisting of six types of sustainable crabs ranging from king crab, snow crab, dungeness crab, all the way to stone crabs, all from Alaska, Canada, Oregon and Florida respectively. I am definitely heading back to Bamboo Sushi and dragging Michael with me since there were so many other things I wanted to try! Stay tuned for Michael and his experience with their uni flight!

Po-po-po-porno

I should be so lucky to have a boyfriend who enjoys spending hours on the internet looking at porn.

FOOD porn!

Sometimes we'll be hanging out at home and I'll look over at Michael, who's staring at his computer screen and smiling. A few minutes later, I'll hear him moan, "(y) uummm..." So I'll dart over to see if I can catch him in the act!

Looking at...

... a picture of a juicy gourmet burger!!! Or something of the like :)

Michael saves on his favorites, a bunch of food blogs which he reads daily. Too bad a lot of the restaurants we want to try are in New York, but it also seems that we've been lucky enough to move home just in time for a very up-and-coming Portland. Well, we knew Portland was cool for ages :P but now it's getting publicity all over the nation!

But even as Portland grows (at a terrifying rate - I know this because there is always traffic on I-84, even on Sundays), it still embraces the best of both worlds - staying true to its smaller, friendly city roots, while demurely adding big city conveniences - one of which is its amazing spread of restaurants.

When we started this blog earlier this year, our agreement was that Michael would blog on food and restaurants, while I would blog on... well, everything else! But since Michael is so busy reading other people's blogs, I have (grudgingly) begun taking over that duty as well :) I'm not as good as writing about food as he is, but I'm learning, so please be patient! With all the time I have on my hands and regretful that I did not give London the same opportunity, I am making it a point to blog more often about Portland's ever expanding variety of fantastic restaurants.

I thought about reviewing them on Yelp or Citysearch, but rather than get lost in the mix of hundreds of other reviews, I figured it was more important to illustrate to our own friends and family (especially those far away) what Portland has to offer.

But before moving forward!!!... there are a few notable mentions that I've tried within the last few months that I don't want to leave out. My most favorite being Screen Door, for its take on Southern comfort brunch. I loved (and will continue to love) their fried oyster benedict, along with their fried chicken & waffles and basically everything else on their brunch (<--- my most favorite meal of the weekend) menu - especially from their griddle! While we're on the topic of breakfast foods, I also very much enjoyed Cricket Cafe (with my newlywedded friend Uyen) and Helser's on Alberta (with my dear dear friend Anthy). I had no idea until this recent return that NE Alberta has developed into such a cool pocket of Portland!

Fried Chicken & Waffle at Screen Door

Moving on. Happy hour in Portland is like no other. While other cities stick to the traditional theme of offering discounts on alcoholic beverages during the slow hours of a weekday, Portland has famously taken it to a whole other level. Not only are the drinks cheap, but restaurants and bars compete with each other on offering a ridiculous array of foods. So much so, people these days go to happy hour in place of dinner! A combination of food, drinks and the friends that accompanied me make a few of these (off the top of my head) favorites: Pambiche - Cuban! Great atmospheric, outdoor seating and the happy hour starts at 2 PM! Go for a late lunch! Gold Dust Meridian - somewhere on SE Hawthorne. For some reason while here, I felt like I was on a boulevard in L.A! The Observatory - finally, a hip, hot spot in the SE 82nd / Stark area. Biwa - Japanase yakitori. I went with my Dad to drink it up when my mom was out of town :) 23 Hoyt- one of the sleekiest joints on 23rd with equally stylish outdoor seating. Owned by the same guys as Saucebox and Blue Hour, so you can't go wrong! The Original - Mr. Te's regular stop after work (when he use to work at the US Bank tower :) Try their daily hot dog specials! I dig their modern diner decor. Salty's - go for the riverview (and margaritas) like Tram and I did! Urban Farmer - all I can say is, "ooOoooHhhh." Candy - so cheap for the amount of food they give you! Tempura green beans - yum! Too bad it'll probably go out of business soon, judging by the club/lounge trend in the Pearl.

Which lead me to bars! I can't even begin with the bars! So I won't ;P

And then of course there are the staples... the ones that have been around since even before I left, but still persevere amongst the ever-changing competition i.e. Saucebox for swanky, pan-asian fare, Esan for Thai food and Portland City Grill, not only for its happy hour and views of the city, but a summer lunch with Kathy and Elaine revealed they had a pretty decent crab sammy! Oh and the sushi!!! It's so good to be surrounded by fresh yet affordable sushi! There's Suburo's monster sushi. And then there's Sinju in the Pearl; Sinju in Bridgeport; and more recently, Sinju in Clackamas. They're all empty as hell - you can't expect people to pay those prices in this economy (though it's still pretty darn good if you're up to go) when you can get a steal at Mio and Sushiland (talk about fast expansion)! But the spot of the moment is Miyomoto on SE Stark. I love fine dining (who doesn't), but I am a bigger fan of hole-in-the-wall dining and Miyomota is just that (thank you Tram & Yen)! It's so teeny (hence, hole-in-the-wall) that we befriended Wes, the sushi chef who promised to make a "YenYen Roll" if (the other) Yen and I became frequent customers :) I'm tempted to delete this recommendation because I'm unsure I want to spread the word about this place and risk it becoming too crowded :p but hey, if you've taken the time to read this long ass blog entry, maybe you deserve to know!

Enjoy!

A Lack of Jack

Is it me or are there less jack-o-lanterns out this year?!.. actually, let me correct myself. There are NO jack-o-lanterns out this year!!! Granted, I haven't celebrated Halloween in Portland in over five years, but I could have sworn people use to put out more jack-o-lanterns on their front porch! It's the day before Halloween and as I drive around town, I don't see any orange faces staring back at me. SO SAD! Does that mean less houses for kids to trick-o-treat at?! I really hope this isn't a sign of a slow death of my favorite holiday... or indicate the demise of future holidays to come. Recession sucks.

Tate Modern

I totally went off the topic (what's new) in my last blog entry... not that I had a topic in mind... just a bunch of random thoughts really... so I suppose the last topic was actually more on-topic than I realized!

I can't SLEEP!

Insomnia must be one of the worst afflictions known to man-kind. Yes, yes, there's also hunger, boredom, heart-ache, etc. But look at it this way - if you can sleep, you won't feel hungry, bored or hurt anymore! Clever huh? :) I'm grateful that I do not often have this problem, as sleep has always come with ease for me. However, tonight is an exception... and exception that you guys will have to suffer the consequences for as you read this blog :)

So last weekend, in an effort to do something new (we're seriously running out of things to do here), Michael and I headed to the Tate Modern, a well-known museum (yes, we were that desperate to find something new :) in South London, which has been compared to the likes of New York's MOMA. I'm not cultured enough to appreciate fine art, but I sure did appreciate the sweeping views the bar upstairs had to offer! FYI - I am the same person that went to the Louvre in Paris, walked straight up to the Mona Lisa and then spent the rest of my day in the gift shop :) at the Louvre!!! Say what you want, I've heard it all. At least I'm honest!

From the Tate, across the Thames River, you'll see St. Paul's Cathedral, which is supposedly the 2nd largest domed cathedral in the world - just after St. Peter's in Rome (key words: largest domed). Hard to believe since it doesn't really even look comparable!

After drinks, we walked across the Millennium Bridge, an impressive pedestrian-only bridge that connects Bankside with the City. I never even heard about this bridge until we saw it on Saturday... maybe there are some things left we can do in London!... but not if it keeps staying this depressingly cloudy.

And you guys thought I was exaggerating about the weather! This is standard London weather. I don't even know why I bother to check the weather every morning. It always says, "partly cloudy with chance of rain." And sure enough, there's always some clouds in the sky and eventually, it does sprinkle a bit everyday. No wonder they made the movie 28 Days here! I really have a love-hate relationship with this place. I need sleep.

Right... then Left?

For a "Adventure Blog," we sure don't have that many adventures to write about!... and we live halfway around the world from everyone we know! Well, if you count 6,000 miles "halfway around the world."  When I say it like that, it doesn't sound very far huh? Almost makes it sound like you could drive here if you wanted... ROAD TRIP!!!

Speaking of road trip, we've been talking about taking one! What's the point of living  in country full of historical and lucious landscape, if you're never gonna' see it? The dilemma is however, neither of us want to drive in the UK!  Usually when we have taken road trips on the East Coast, I'm happy to do all the driving and Michael would navigate a.k.a sleep.  But I'm not so sure I want to drive on the left-hand side of the road... would you? Doesn't sound like a big deal and would probably be fun, but honestly, after a year of living here, I can barely walk across the street without being hit by a car or a bike.  You don't think about it back at home - it's second nature to you, really.  All your life, you were taught to "look both ways" before crossing the street and without realizing it, you've always looked left, then right.  But here, you've got to look right then left! Think about it... WTH! For a long time, I was scared to jay-walk.  I couldn't even step my foot off the curb without repeating 5 times, "right then left, right then left..." And just when I was getting the hang of it, I went back to Portland for Christmas, tried to cross a street and got really discombobulated.  Was it right then left, or left then right?! You should have seen me driving - I was all out of whack.  Everytime I wanted to turn, I wasn't sure which direction I was suppose to look first and ended up turning my head about 9 times to make sure I was looking the right way. Each time I made a left turn onto a busy intersection, my neck got a work out. 

So I hope you can now understand my hesitation with driving in the UK.  I mean, when you are making a right turrn in the states, you automatically stay to the right-hand side of the road. But when you turn right here, you stay on the left.  When you make a left turn, you stay on the left. When you bust a U-turn, you stay on the right.  Then there are those crazy round-abouts that occur at every third of a mile. How do those work??? When you merge, do you merge on the left???  How about freeways? Do the slow people drive on the left and is the passing lane on the right? Probably not because get this... when you're walking down a sidewalk in the UK, you should stay on your left (in the US, you stay on your right - it's pedestrian common courtesy)!  But when you are on the escalator in the UK, you stay on your right if you want to stand still, and let the left-hand side of you pass. It makes NO sense! If that rule applies on the escalator, then why doesn't it apply on the sidewalk? And if it applies on the escalator and not on the sidewalk, does it apply on the freeway? 

Day 4: Identity Crisis at the Mosques

Michael and I don't spend too much time sightseeing during our travels (we prefer spending our days eating and drinking :) but we do try to make a small effort to at least see the main sights (usually towards the end of our trip), even if its from a distance! So on the 4th day, we headed to an area called Sultanahmet, which was the heart of the Ottoman Empire and as such, was where the emperors and sultans lived and built these grand places of worship (called mosques) and thus, became a major hot spot for tourists.

As we flew into Istanbul the first day, we noticed many mosques (large and small)... but the most impressive of them all, is the Blue Mosque (pictured above and below), which was built by Sultan Ahmet I between 1603-1617 that would surpass its rival Aya Sofya (above right).

Aya Sofya (below)

Out of all the monuments, we actually went into this one here - the Basilica Cistern (right & below). Built in 532 AD, it's the largest surviving cistern and at one point, held 80,000 cubic meters of water, delivered via 20km of aqueducts from a reservoir near the Black Sea!


Hey, lookie what I had to pee in at the mosques!... just like Vietnam!!! AND I had to pay!

In a previous entry, I mentioned that most Turks figured we were Japanese. I discovered on this trip that I had an identity crisis. When I lived in New York and people asked where I was from, I could easily say I was from Portland. When I traveled out of the country from New York, I just said I was from New York (to avoid having to explain, "... Portland... Oregon?... you know, on the West Coast of the U.S?... above California?... no? How about below Washington?!"). Although I did feel guilty at times for not giving props to Portland. Then when I moved to London, the answer (to colleagues mainly) was, "Yea, I just recently moved from New York, but I'm really from Oregon." More blank stares, but ehh.

But now that I travel from London and people ask "Where you from?" I almost want to be like, "What do you mean where am I from? Where am I from most recently? Or where am I originally from? Could you please be more specific? Or better yet, be more politically correct?!!" Initially, I would answer simply, "I'm from the states," but they're never happy with that answer and would insist, "Really? No, I mean, where are you frooooom?" Experience tells me now that most people mean, "What's your background?" If they had asked it like that, I'd be happy to answer, "Vietnamese!" but they don't! Nonetheless, to avoid useless banter, Michael and I have recently resorted to just responding to the question of, "Where are you from?" with a simple, "Vietnam." It's just easier!

Man, if we tell enough people during our travels that were actually from Vietnam, they'd probably think everyone from Vietnam spoke American! So here's a funny story (this actually also happened to me, Tram, & Lydia while were in Rome last year, but we never really figured out why :)

So while Michael was taking pictures of the mosques, I sat down on a step to rest. Before my butt even hit the marble, 15 or 20 early-teenage school kids gathered around and asked to have their picture taken with me! They asked me to take off my sunglasses, then one by one, they took turns having their picture taken with me. They wanted Michael in it too, but he was shy and ducked away. Unsure of what was going on, I felt flattered at first (like a movie star!... or Mickey Mouse :) but then I realized they must have thought I was Japanese! So I said to a girl, "Where are you guys from?" I figured they were on a field-trip from some really far away country with little tourism and thus, little chance of seeing tourists. Do you know what she replied? "My name is Elif... And I'm from Turkey!"

TURKEY???!!!

Then she said, "You can speak English???!!" OMG. I felt like an imposter! So I got up, thanked them and walked off. But they managed to find Michael and started swarming around him, asking him to take his sunglasses off too (to see his almond-shaped eyes, I bet :) and once more, they all took turns taking pictures with him as well!

Ok, so I just went on a tangent... but what's a blog for if I can't even go off on one of my tangents? :)

HOT WINGS

DANG. I AM CRAVING SOME HOT WINGS. I NEVER REALLY THOUGHT ABOUT IT BUT HOT WINGS ARE AN AMERICAN THING AND THIS WAS ONLY MADE OBVIOUS BY THE LACK OF HOT WINGS IN LONDON. YEN AND I WENT TO A PUB THE OTHER NIGHT AND GOT SOME WINGS. BUT THAT WAS SOME CRAZY SHIT. IT WAS LIKE MIDDLE EASTERN WEIRD ASS CHICKEN. THE MEAT JUST FELL OFF THE BONE... YOU WOULD THINK THAT WAS A GOOD THING NORMALLY BUT TRUST ME, IT WASN'T. THINK ABOUT AN OLD ASS LADY WITH HER SKIN SAGGING OFF .HER BODY. YAH. COMPARABLE.

SO TO MAKE UP FOR THIS. I THINK TOMORROW WE'RE GOING TO GO TO AN AMERICAN BBQ JOINT CALLED BODEANS. WILL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT GOES.

OKAY. YEN IS CENSORING ME FOR ALL MY SWEARING. PFFTT. FREE SPEECH! OKAY. I'M GOING TO GO PROTEST HER.... PROTEST HER REAL GOOD.. OHHHHH YEAH

VACATION!

I SOOO DESPERATELY NEED ONE ASAP. HOW ABOUT YOU? THIS WHOLE GLOBAL ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS JUST DAMN DEPRESSING. YEN IS CURRENTLY BLOGGING ABOUT THE G20 MEETING RIGHT NOW AND THE PROTESTS ALONGSIDE IT. PEOPLE ARE JUST ANGRY. ANGRY. ANGRY. EVERYONE SHOULD JUST TAKE A VACATION. BUT I GUESS THATS THE WHOLE POINT. NOT EVERYONE CAN IN THIS ECONOMIC CLIMATE.

FORTUNATELY YEN AND I ARE LUCKILY ENOUGH TO DO SO. WE'RE GOING TO ISTANBUL NEXT WEDNESDAY! I CAN'T WAIT. WE WILL SURELY HAVE PICTURES UP SOON AFTER WE GET BACK. ANYONE WANT ANYTHING? I'LL TRY TO EAT A KEBAB FOR YOU.

THEN WE HAVE FRIENDS AND FAMILY VISITING US SOON THEREAFTER TOO. CHARLIE WILL BE IN TOWN IN A FEW WEEKS. SO FAR, WE'RE PLANNING ON AMSTERDAM, PARIS, AND MADRID.

AHHH. VACATIONS... ARE YOU GOING ANYWHERE SOON??? IF NOT, GO TO EUROPE AND WE'LL MEET YOU SOMEWHERE!