USA

Last weekend, Mike and I took the drive down to Portland to enjoy some good eats and some tax-free shopping! We stayed at the Hollywood-themed Hotel deLuxe downtown, which had some awesome photographs of celebrities along the walls.

These photos were taken with Mike’s new phone – which now has better quality than our point-and-shoot… I clearly need a new camera. Between meals, Mike and I visited outlets – he was definitely more successful in his clothing finds, but I got myself a ton of new makeup!

Portland always makes me wish that my stomach could expand to store additional food for the week! At one point, we went out for dinner at around 9pm and right before entering the restaurant, we both realized we weren’t even a little bit hungry. We proceeded to walk around and wound up spending a couple hours in the Powell’s Books instead. Worthy trade, I think.

On our last day before heading back to Vancouver, we finally got to taste dishes at the infamous Pok Pok. We got the Muu Sateh (above) which was quite good (especially the peanut sauce). I made the mistake of thinking the cucumbers would be a refresher from the spices… nope! The cucumbers definitely had some kick to them!

We also had the chicken wings that we’ve heard much raving about. I think the best part about them is the inside – very flavourful. I found the skin much too salty, but they were delicious once we ordered a bowl of coconut rice to balance it out.

Lastly, we had the “boat noodles” which left my mouth ablaze! We sure were happy about the pitcher of water that was brought to the table. I think in short, Pok Pok is one very flavourful restaurant. I especially liked the look of the place – the patio was built to look like a street-side Thailand shack, but the heaters kept us cozy. We would definitely want to go back and try some other items on their menu.

Mike and I went to Portland, Oregon the past weekend to celebrate our two year anniversary. We enjoyed many meals – here are a few. Above: our first meal in the states – we flew on an early morning flight and had brunch at Morning Star Cafe.

Blueplate was one of the places I knew I had to go to… as it was on Diners Drive-ins and Dives (that show makes me so hungry late at night) – the milkshakes were so amazing we went back for them twice!

We stayed at the Heathman Hotel and had breakfast at the restaurant, which was amazing – duck confit and french toast!

We had dinner at Little Bird, as recommended by David (@snowshoer). Very delicious french food – we had mussels to start, I had more duck (my favourite kind of meat), Mike had steak and we finished with crème brûlée.

Voodoo Donuts was definitely one of the stops on our list. Pretty much everyone we asked for food ideas suggested it – and it was worth the walk! Mmmmm calorieeeees.

We ended our trip with Italian cuisine at Built to Grill (and another visit to Voodoo Donuts) for some gnocchi and a grilled chicken panini. It was a good weekend getaway… and we brought back a few extra pounds =)