waffles, carts and the portland street

if you live in or have ever been to portland you know that there is a food cart culture here. food lovers with a vision take over little pieces of land, often vacant lots on a street with lots of foot traffic, park a trailer and start making food. i like this for a couple reasons.

1. low risk. the price of starting up a trailer restaurant has to be so so much less than starting a traditional restaurant so this allows for people to actually get into the food game without a trust fund or going into crazy debt. i imagine this brings a diversity to the ownership that you can't find in the regular restaurant business.

2. the carts are cute. having a sweet little cart, some seating and decor filling up a vacant lot on a walking street is brilliant. a neighborhood can blossom without a lot of capital rich developers coming in. it also adds a wonderful vibe to the street to have people working outside, you can wave at them when you walk by. i like that.

3. food container innovation. there are so many more ways to serve food than just on a plate. i particularly love food wrapped in a small piece of paper. little waste, including the water and soap used to clean real plates. plus there is an opportunity for artistic expression.

What do you like about street carts? What are your favorite carts?



this is a waffle from Little Blue Waffle Wagon* near my house. it is beautiful, the ladies who made it were lovely and it tasted supper yummy. there are a few reviews on yelp and they pretty much say it all so I'll pass you over there. *LBWW did have a website I could find. boo!

stay tuned for more reports from the street carts of portland.

*LBWW did have a website I could find. boo!

kitchen update

i've been busy if you can imagine but I wanted to quick put an update photo.  this is what it looks like right now.

This is miller paint: summer olive. Don't you love it! I can't wait to see the cupboard fronts on. We had to make a change of plans with the flooring.  we want to use the Click Marmoleum so we don't have to put a new subfloor down and pay someone a bunch to install the tricky Marmoleum sheets but the Click only comes in 16 colors! But the regular marmoleum comes in 250. Such a bummer.  But I think the new pick will be even better. We are looking at a really great cork now. I'll update later on that and tell you about the great flooring company we found. 

gotta run.

we also painted the inside of the hall pantry pink.

New Kitchen: Colors and mid week progress

Things are going well. We are a couple days behind on our original schedule but for good reason and we are feeling really good about it all. We decided to replace the window and then when we did the plumbing work it became clear that the drywall on one wall just needed to be replaced.

Here is were we are with colors. The gray is the cupboard front, the blue is the floor and the green will be a few of the walls (green is showing quite a bit more yellowy in these photos). We both decided very easily on this pallet and it fits really well with the rest of the house and looks great with the nature you can see through the sliding door, blending well with the outside was important for me. I want to create seamless movement between inside and outside. Oh, and these colors will be balanced by the solid oak counter top and the birch colored cabinets.

(click the images to see a better view)

I love some parts of our modern life so much. These days if you need to go to the hardware store to pick up something you know nothing about you can just take a picture of it and bring it with you. fool proof construction supply shopping. This week we have be referring to my role in the remodel as the "Getter of Things" I've been everywhere. Wait tell you see the wonderful kitchen faucet I picked up for $35 at the Rebuilding Center. Damn! I'm good.


Chad had some fun with the drywall demo.
I feel like I really know my house now.
The chi is finally unblocked! The fridge is in the proper location. This alone made our day.

New Kitchen: Demo Day

Here are some shots from yesterdays exciting activities. It went really well.





No time to write but stay tuned for more over the coming days. it's going to be wonderful!

Introducing Structure Massage

Look! It's official, the sign is up. Isn't it lovely? It's been many weeks coming but it's finally done. I came up with the concept and name, our friend Elena did the design work and Hubby made the sign. i'm so happy with how it all turned out and that it only cost around ten dollars. If you live in Portland and are looking for an amazing massage therapist you should come on into the heart of Belmont, to Structure Massage

what to do with all the corn? Sweet Corn Ice Cream of course!

we have a fridge full of corn due to the super funness of picking it straight from the stalk. Now I am wondering if we can eat it all, but I just came across this and man, now I know what to do. I'm hoping I can find a recipe that dosesn't call for an ice cream maker.

Leah from Spicy Salty Sweet (who's blog is lovely and inspiring) also wrote about Cucumber Sorbet! I get excited for cucumber water so the thought of this melting in my mouth sounds heavenly. It reminds me of an amazing tomatoes and basil sorbet hubby and I had a couple years ago at Marjorie. We still talk about it when the topic of best desert moments comes up. If you haven't been to Marjorie it is a little known Seattle Must Do. The atmosphere, food and people are wonderful. You won't be disappointed.

Happy Monday!

this afternoon in portland

i've been working from home today which is so nice because i don't have to get up as early and i can enjoy my wonderful house during the day.

today it is 75 and sunny and I've been sitting next to the window in my office enjoying the breeze and sounds of the neighborhood.

i haven't decorated yet but i have been working with the furniture layout. I really think this one is working for me. what do you think?

dirk and weetzie keep me company while i work.

i need a monitor but for now it's just me and my little mac. do you notice anything odd about this photo?

this my entry table with the dahlias chad and i cut at the farm this past weekend. the yolk is a new addition. i love the what it adds to the room. people have the oddest responses to it. most people say, "why do you have a yolk" and look very confused. i don't get this response yet.

this is the beast.

it is eating the rocking chair.

it's part of our "see what happens" attitude with the yard this summer.
now we know what all the plants do so we know how the change the landscape next year.

happy friday everyone. Go Barack!

a surreal take on the adirondack chair

me and lovery lauren took a day trip to Cannon Beach a few weeks ago and i spotted these great chairs on someone's porch. i love this curvy take on such a classic piece.



and might i say that this little beach town was so cute. many sweet little things to photograph.

Sauvie Island

Me and Hubby Love are trying to check out all that Portland has to offer in between putting in a new toilet (we got a designer one regularly $450 for $140 Ha!) and moving furniture around. This weekend we visited Sauvie Island which is a super lovely little island full of farms about 30 mins from our house. we took a hike and picked blackberries, cabbage and corn. it was a perfect afternoon. my camera lost power but I was able to take a couple lovely photos.

Report from the Pie Off

So i didn't win the Portland Pie Off. But it was super fun. We arrived and set up the pies on the judging tables. i made an apple with candied walnuts and a peach custard. they both were made with my famous family crust recipe. After everyone arrived the judges started tasting, there were only 3 which seemed a little thin in order to get a good range of taste buds but it was the first year so there were bound to be some hang ups on the process. But I will say they were so cute to watch judge, they really seemed to take it seriously and have a great time. There were only 1st place prizes for the categories which left you wondering if maybe you had been a runner up. I think there were about 50 pies and maybe 100 people there to participate and watch.

I have to say my crust was amazing and the peach custard was to die for, evidenced by how quickly the crowd ate it up after the awards were given out. Isn't that so fun? After the contest everyone who was there was given a plate and we all set out to try each and everyone. Hubby Love only ate mine. Isn't that sweet. I think the apple wasn't sweet enough to sway our sweet tooth judges, but I like pie that can be eaten for breakfast, that is closer to eating fruit than desert. Many of the pies were super, toothache sweet. I guess I know what they like for next year.

The highlight for me was a beautiful absolutely delicious quiche, packed with plenty of summer veggies. i can't remember the girl's name who made it but she was as lovely as her pie. There was also a really interesting multi-nut pie. I am so dabbling in that concept come the holidays. The organizers did a really nice job of creating a fun, wholesome summer afternoon for all. Thanks Pie Ladies!

Here are the photos. Hope they inspire you to bake one up for yourself this week.