First foot forward

Hello friends,

As some of you may know Dan and I recently relocated to Portland (herein referred to as PDX because that is what Portland-ers call their city) from Orlando, FL. It's true, we couldn't have gotten further away from our home unless we'd moved to Alaska, which certainly was not an option.

So we've been living together in PDX since I arrived in March. One of the reasons we choose PDX was because of the amazing food and wine scene here. Dan got a job in the wine industry as a tasting room manager for Wines of Oregon and I'm doing advertising for Fred Meyer and Kroger. And when we aren't working we are living and dining in PDX. So if you'd like to sit a while and hear our tale we'd be happy to share some of our favorite things about our new city and all of those things that make it so great.

Let's start with our favorite happy hour spot: Uptown Billards on NW 23rd and Burnside. Now I know what you are thinking, this is a city filled with hot happy hour spots. Hell, there is even a happy hour guidebook that gives you the skinny on all the good places to go. But Uptown has found a special place in our hearts, and not just because Dan is pining for his pool table. The happy hour food here is AMAZING! They do a 5 course tasting menu for happy hour. It's $15 for the tasting menu or $25 for the tasting menu + wine pairings (we haven't turned down the wine yet). Our most recent trip was for their Lovin' Latin America menu. All of the food was inspired by Latin American cuisine.

First course: crab cake wrapped in avocado topped with micro-greens

Second course: grilled scallop on a bed of veggies and quinoa with cilantro and chili sauces

Third course: shrimp on polenta with ancho chili sauce (my new comfort food)

Fourth course: hanger steak with mango salsa

Fifth course: house made mango ice cream with house made peanut fudge and mango bits

All of these paired with excellent Latin American wines and for just $25. It's a sin really.

But then we haven't found a place yet that wasn't wonderfully delicious. So stay tuned for more entries on our new lives in PDX.