the promise of veggies to come

Hello!

I had a really great weekend and hope you did also! Friday night I went out to dinner with Elaine, Gina and some other friends at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant near their house. I broke out of my rut and ordered something different from my usual. mmmmmm chicken curry with sweet potatoes. All of us then went to Sassy Jacks where Dave & Jimmy Robb were playing for the night. The owner of the bar also joined in with his banjo so it was really fun. I really love that I was able to walk 5 blocks home.

Saturday morning I planted some tomatoes and herbs that a neighbor had given Camille and I. After that I went over to Elaine and Gina's. Elaine whipped up some breakfast. I'd never had a German pancake before and I loved it! I ran to the store to get steaks and wine for dinner. We wanted the steaks to marinate all day. Gina and I drove to Pier Park in North Portland and got a round of 18 holes of frisbee golf. It was strangely humid out. Daisy got to come with us since that park allows dogs. We love taking Daisy with us since she's so good. After golf we drove just a few minutes to Sauvie Island. I just love Sauvie Island. It's literally minutes from downtown Portland but it's like another world. There's one small bridge going to the island and then it's very rural. We stopped at a farm market and bought fresh veggies for dinner. In the next few weeks it will be strawberry season so we'll go back to pick tons of berries!

From Sauvie Island we drove through downtown and stopped at the Rose Garden in Washington Park. The ground was soggy from all the rain we've had and most of the roses weren't blooming yet but plenty were. We walked around and I took tons of pictures. It was so nice to be outside in the warm sun.

We finally headed back to Gina's house as dinner approached and we prepared our meal. We had New York strip steaks, mashed potatoes, a huge salad with all the Sauvie Island veggies and bread and garlic butter. It was a wonderful meal and a great topper to our Saturday. After dinner we watched "The Life Aquatic" but I fell asleep in the middle.

Sunday I put a bunch of photos in my album, chatted on the phone with Nandita for a while then I went to Gina's to have some of our dinner leftovers for lunch. They were just as yummy the next day. I then drove to Chris' house to get some of my stuff out of his garage and basement. He very kindly let me store stuff that I couldn't fit in my apartment. I stopped at a garden store and bought a bunch of plants and some seeds. I went home and got everything in the ground...peppers, zucchini, summer squash, eggplants and some more herbs. I can't wait to eat them!

That night Camille & I drove to Ichidai to meet Jess for some sushi. It was excellent! We then went back to our house briefly before going down to the Crystal Ballroom to see the Shins play. The concert was lots of fun. The band sounded great and I love dancing on the bouncy floor there. It was a great time and we weren't even out too terribly late for a Sunday night. So that was my weekend. Please let me know what you've been up to and how you are. I hope all is well!

xoxo,
carolyn