Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The Oregon trail I blazed in Portland

Once again, I eat and drink my way through Oregon. I went out this year to visit Laura and Rob but conveniently planned my trip the weekend of the Oregon Brewer's Festival, always held the last full weekend in July. I finally got to take the Portland Underground Tour and see some of the Shanghai tunnels.

My weekend and a few extra days went like this: Brewer's Fest (twice), Ping, Tugboat Brewery, Pine State Biscuits, Bunk Sandwiches, Portland Farmers Market, Tony Starlight's, The Screen Door, Berry Picking at Sauvie Island, and of course a visit to Portland is not complete without a visit to Stumptown and New Seasons! Who knew someone could be so obsessed with a grocery chain? :)

First the brews, my favorites from the festival:
*Track Town Ales 200 Meter
Caldera Brewery Co. Hibiscus Ginger Beer
Boundary Bay Brewery Amarillo Double Dry Hopped Pale Ale
*Eel River Brewing Organic Acai Berry Wheat
*Standing Stone Brewing Co. Double IPA
*Astoria Brewing Co. Bitter Bitch Imperial IPA
Beer Valley Brewing Co. Leafer Madness IPA

*my most favorite of the favorites!

The Brewer's Fest was awesome once again, and I'd like to make the yearly pilgrimage. This year they had a tent with extreme brews but I am saving that for next year to appreciate with my beer partner. Tugboat Brewery was interesting, it was finally open when I wanted to go. I had the Cherynobyl Stout. Bunk Sandwiches had quite a line and was worth it before the fest. I feel lucky to have been to both Puk Puk and Ping. See the menu for Ping here. I am pretty sure everything on the menu is great, so I am not going to recommend, but go hungry! I will recommend the Veggie Scramble (no eggs) at The Screen Door for brunch, expect a long wait, folks get up early in this town!

Oh yes, I was in Portland during record breaking heat, 7.27 was 103 degrees, a record breaker!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Norway, Sweden, Denmark!

The trip began like a movie, I arrived first and waited for Shaun to land from Paris. That hug was the hug of a lifetime, I'll never forget it, it was as if we were separated for years.

The first thing we did after arriving in Oslo and checking in at the Perminalen Hotel was to go see a famous painting by Munch, Skrik, The Scream, at National Gallery. It was like seeing Picasso for the first time. We made our way to Vigeland Park, which was a favorite of mine. The smooth texture of the more than life size sculptures was breath-taking. The human body was brought to life in ways I had never seen before at this beautiful park. We attempted to go to the "trendy" Grunerlokka but could not get served. What amazed me about this night, was the never ending daylight, but this would just be the start!

After a game of Phase 10! (I won) and train rides to Flam we were on a ferry ride to Balestrand for adventures on the Sognefjord, the world's largest. We went swimming in the Fjord and MET RICK STEVES! Visited the Old Hotel.

The next day we visited the Norsk BreMuseam in Fjaerland, Supphelle and Boya Breens.

We were off on a ferry ride to Bergen, train to Oslo and boarded an overnight train to Stockholm.

We stayed at the Nordic Light Hotel, smoked our Stockholm Card and made our way to Rosendal's Organic Garden. Do I see greens? Do I see KALE? I was joyous! However, it was only in the gardens and not on my plate!

It was awesome to see how excited Shaun was at the Vasa Museum which I also enjoyed. I think we lost out on Skansen, but it's something we can look back on and laugh about.

We ate twice at Herman's Vegetarian Cafe in Sodermalm and made the touristy visit to the Absolute Ice Bar.












On our second day we saw some rain and after City Hall Tower/Tour, Skargardsturen we enjoyed a local IPA in Gamla Stan.

Copenhagen was my favorite, it's sometimes a vibe that one can't explain. When we arrived we went to see the Little Mermaid and Nyvan. We made our way to Norrebro to Norrebro Bryghus. Beers included collaborations ironically enough with Garrett Oliver and so I drank a Kings County Brown Ale modeled after Brooklyn Brown, Globe Ale and Pacific Summer Ale, a second guest brew, with north American hops. We bought Helene Heather for my departure night.

On day 2 we rented bikes and started at Christiana where we had lunch at Morgenstedet. We visited the Carlsberg Glyptotek and frolicked in the delight of Tivoli where there was a Michael Jackson Tribute, and I finally saw Thriller in its entirety.

Shaun so kindly took me to the airport via train and he was off to Brussels. All pictures here.