Portland 2016 Recap Part 2 - All the vlogs

The last post would be too long if I put in all the video blogs so here's a recap of Portland in video form. Enjoy!

Portland 2016 Recap

A few weekends ago, we took a quick trip to Portland. Virgin America had a great flight deal. We paid about $200 RT for two people and a baby (no charge). Here is a summary of our 3.5 days there.

A trip to Portland is not complete without a cappuccino at Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

Must stop at Pine State Biscuits for fried chicken, biscuits, and gravy. I usually don't like heavy country foods like this but dang these biscuits were good and the gravy was great.

Don't skip on the hot sauce. I thought the Foot High sauce was really good.

I had an ice cream flight all to myself from Salt and Straw. They are known for some unique flavors. I was not a fan of most of these flavors. I found that there was usually one ingredient that dominated the entire taste. For example, the Strawberry Balsamic tasted mostly of balsamic. The Honey Lavendar jsut tastes like lavendar. It was kind of disappointing for me. Phil had a cone of the Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache which he really enjoyed.

 From left to right: Wildflower Honey with Ricotta Walnut Lace Cookies, Double Fold Vanilla, Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper, Honey Lavendar

I hear everyone rave about VooDoo Donuts but Blue Star Donuts is where it's at. This old fashioned buttermilk was so perfect. 

Of course I had to try Pok Pok. I've heard so many great things about the chicken wings. They did not disappoint at all. Spicy, salty, sweet, sticky, crispy. Everything else pictured here was also spicy, espeically the papaya salad. I suggest getting the coconut rice. 

Vegan/vegetarian food was also on my to-eat list because Portland is a hipster town so why not try what the Portlandians eat. We were very satisfied and surprisingly full on the Thai fake chicken wrap and the raw nachos. My mocktail was also great.

For one of the dinners, we had Italian food at Grassa in downtown. I wasn't a huge fan of ordering at the front before I sat down. It adds pressure to the decision making process. The meatballs and carbonara were fantastic anyway.

Brunch is also a very Portlandian thing to do so we tried Tasty & Alder. Steak and duck egg on top with eggs, grits, and steak at the bottom. Yum.

We are super into acai bowls now and had to try a few in Portland. Top is from Carioca Bowls and bottom is from Moberi. Both very good. I liked Moberi just a touch better. They're a truck and there's a bike out front attached to a blender so you can blend our own bowl.

Speaking of trucks, Portland is well known for its food trucks which take up entire blocks and are pretty stationary. I tried the Bing Mi which is a crepe with egg and black bean sauce. It was only just ok.

We also explored the Portland Japanese Garden and it was a nice time.

Shut Up and Eat Sandwich Shop - Portland, Oregon

Phil's second guest post from his trip to Portland, OR with his friends. 

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After hitting up the Nike shop, I was ready to eat.  Problem was that all the very popular brunch places in Portland had at least a hour wait.  When people are hungry, they ain't gonna wait.

I found this place called "Shut up and Eat Sandwich Shop" on Yelp while doing research of Portland and found a lot of good reviews.  I also liked the name of the restaurant.  The group ended up going to this sandwich shop.

I ordered the Broad St Bomber, which is half pound of thin sliced eye round, chipped with fried onions, cheddar, provoline and hot pepper($10.75).  For the sake of trying as much as I can, I also ordered a hash-brown patty($2) and shoe string fries($2).

The sandwich was good.  I have to admit, I do not have the highest standards for sandwiches, but this did its job to fill me up.  The best part of this sandwich was the bread, which is nothing against the fillings, but the bread was real good.  The meat was juicy and had a good flavor with it.  I chose the hot pepper for a kick, but I did not get the spice level I was hoping for.

The hash brown was made with shredded potatos and zucchini.  It was real good and toasted perfect.

The french fries were some of the best french fries I've had in a long time. Perfectly cooked and they season with some type of coating that gave it so much more flavor.  I loved it so much, I ended up buying three more sides of french fries so everyone at the table could try it.

Overall, I left the restaurant with a happy stomach. There's so many great restaurants in Portland, its hard to choose which ones to go to with limited time.  If you have the time, I would recommend checking out this spot. I would go here again.

Warriors vs. Blazers and a Trip to the Nike Employee Store - Portland, Oregon

Last month, my husband Phil flew to Portland with his friends for a weekend trip. I asked him to take some photos and do a few guest posts for me. Here's the first.

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With a family hookup at the Nike store in Portland, I was able to visit the Nike Employee Store and everything I got was 50% off along with no sales tax.  Here are a few pair of shoes that I got for Ngoc and myself.  Not pictured are the clothes that I bought for us as well as Colin's few pair of shoes.

The total damage after purchasing everything was a bit over 1k.  It was not easy to come back with all the shoes and boxes.  I had to break down the boxes and put the shoes in individual bags.

The whole point of the trip was to travel to another city with friends and watch a Golden State Warriors game in someone else's house.  It's an awesome feeling to rep your team, especially when they're the champs.

My friends and I got into Portland early and randomly walking downtown, we noticed a crowd.  It turns out that the Golden State Warriors were staying at a nearby Hotel.  A few of us stood there for about 20-30 minutes to catch a glimpse of the Warrior players slowly exiting the Hotel.  Here's a photo of Andre Iguodala.  As far as I know, he was the only player to sign any autographs and he only signed two.

Here is a picture of the guys walking towards the Moda Center.

Here is picture from our seats, which was at the very top.  Can't complain about $35 tickets.  I was lucky enough to buy the tickets before they doubled in price.  There were a lot of Warrior fans in the crowd and in fact, a lot of people I met on the trip flew in from the Bay Area just to watch the Warriors like us.  It's hard to see, but there was a lot of blue and gold in the crowd.  I would say at least 30% of the crowd was Warrior fans.  Warriors won and everyone won free Jamba Juice,

What a good night.....