After my photo shoot at the Ace, I took to the city by foot and headed towards Pioneer Courthouse Square. I couldn’t have asked for better November weather in a city that averages sun only 1 day a week from October to March. Eeesh. I reckon Portlanders just appreciate the sun that much more.

Right, so a beautiful day. As soon as I saw and smelled these little buggies in a parking lot, I knew I had to grab lunch. Portland is known for its food carts – mostly independent mobile food sellers. Here there were 20-30 of them set up. The vermicelli from Pho Sam was terrific.

Portland has a proliferation of Food Carts and they seem to be growing in numbers and locations. Some might call them lunch wagons, taco trucks or even snack shacks, but whatever you call them, they are truly a phenomenon in Portland. Set up in parking lots, sidewalks, and even parks (sometimes in large groups and sometimes solo), one might nosh on a fresh tortilla Baja fish taco one day, a rib-sticking bowl of traditional goulash the next, have a coffee and pastry for an afternoon snack, and then take home a giant Indian combo box for dinner.

This fun directional sign at the Square, or the city’s “living room” gave mileage to the Zoo, Times Square, Mt. Hood, etc. And these little bronze guys welcomed passerby’s and watched as a giant evergreen was being prepped for a tree-lighting ceremony.

I continued southwest to recently completed Director Park, a new paved plaza over underground parking. Then further to the very pretty Multnomah County Central Library.While not quite the Seattle Public Library, this 1913 restored gem features 17 miles of linear bookshelf space.

Next, I hit up a few design shops. Canoe is a warm showroom of modern, designer home and office accessories. It’s a great place for gifts and they even carry Monocle magazine!

I especially liked these wool felt coasters by Parkhaus.

Just around the corner is Alder & Co., another design shop with women’s clothing.

North of here is the new Indigo commercial/residential high-rise. At the base is Cacao. I tried a simple cup of drinking chocolate. And it was heavenly. As you can see below, I unflatteringly spilled it all over the table. Tasty nonetheless.

The city is really something special. It has the street-level density of a New York, but without the height. You can see people everywhere: walking, talking, dining, shopping. It’s a vibrant and successful case for the American city. And it’s on the up.

I didn’t wait in line (which was at least three times as what is pictured above) for Voodoo Doughnut this time, but this place is a Portland legend. I saw one happy customer walk away with a FruitLoop topped donut for starters.

Portland is also huge on supporting local, independent businesses. Everyday Music featured a very large collection of CDs and vinyl records while Powell’s City of Books covers an entire city block, and then some. It’s a tourist destination and very comprehensive. The rooms are color coordinated, and by the sign below, you can infer that there are lots of rooms full of books. Twists and turns, stairwells and tunnels – this is truly a unique experience. And it seems to be working. The downtown Border’s is going out of business.

On the third floor was a pop-up graphic prints show. I wanted to buy one but the Christmas rush was on and the line was quite long.

Tree-lined streets, food vendor, bicycles, street performers…

I headed east towards the river to scout out the UO campus. It’s on Couch St. Though I was informed by locals that it is not pronounced like the potato…

One of two park corridors through the city, this one between the Pearl and Chinatown/Old Town districts featured a giant elephant statue.

In October 2002, a 12-foot bronze sculpture was installed between Burnside and Couch streets. A replica of a wine pitcher from the late Shang Dynasty (circa 1200-1100 BC), this sculpture is about sixteen times larger than the original. The young elephant standing peacefully on his father’s back symbolizes safe and prosperous offspring. The elaborate surface decoration features cloud-shaped curves and birds and animals from ancient Chinese mythology. The piece is titled Da Tung & Xi’an Bao Bao. Da Tung may be translated as “universal peace” or “large bronze.” Xi’an Bao Bao means “baby elephant.”
The sculpture was a gift to the city from Chinese businessman Huo Baozhu, whose foundry in Xi’an, China, is licensed by the national government to reproduce Chinese antiquities. Huo, who visited Portland a number of times, said he was motivated by a love of Chinese history and admiration for Portland.

The historic Union Station tower can been seen on Broadway.

The White Stag Block houses the University of Oregon, Portland campus. It has been recently renovated and houses several satellite departments including Journalism, Law, and the Architecture & Allied Arts.

My last stop for the evening with the Portland Saturday Market, just southeast of the UO campus on the Willamette River. A great pavilion protects the oldest vendors in this weekend sellers market. Everything from toys, honey and jewelry can be found here between the months of March and December.

Stay tuned for part 3!

December the 24th is probably my favorite day of the year. As a child it was important because we would open our Christmas presents that evening (before everyone else!) but now it is even more special as it means tradition, memories, family and food. Each Christmas Eve we gather in Beaumont at my Grammi’s house after the church service. We munch on all sorts of finger-foods, catch up with one another and prepare for the pickle! Us grandchildren walk slowly around the Christmas tree, tediously looking for the shiny pickle ornament that is hidden that day. The one who finds it acts as “Santa” and selects the first present for opening. The rest of the night is spent exchanging gifts, opening them one at a time, with more eating, background music and laughter – if you get a clothing item, you must try it on – house rule! This lasts far into the wee hours of Christmas Day morning when we finally finish and hit the sack. Family gathered around the living room. Warmth, light, sharing, love, Christ.

But before we leave Dallas, I wanted to share a few images of the holiday festivities taking place here. I finally finished my portfolio, which is the most time-consuming portion of my graduate applicaiton <whew!> and can now get back to my life.

We brought home the bottom tree limbs from our Fraser Fir and T strung them into garland.

A trip to Bows & Arrows gave T all she needed to get crafty. And for our place to smell great. Ahh, juniper.

Wreath 01 of 02. This one was for a gift and had the pinecones and greenery already. T added more juniper, the red berries and the bells.

We hosted a dinner party of some of my architecture school friends, tapas-style. Yum.

These were my favorite – goat cheese and churizo stuffed tomatoes.

With book exchange.

And our second annual snowflake cutting contest.

There were some pretty great creations. Though some of us never mastered the circular shape…

T’s second Christmas wreath for our front door! This one she made from scratch, starting with a twig base.

As part of our “buy local” and “homemade” christmas gifting, we recycled my Stendig calendar as wrapping paper. Sure is pretty.

TIme for sleep. For Lulu and me.

So whatever your holiday traditions may be, I hope they are just as special as mine and that you have a very blessed several days.

This morning I was finally able to check out Murray Street Coffee. It’s conveniently located about three blocks away from where we live, at the corner of Main & Murray in Deep Ellum. It has a very nice vibe, mixing intimate living room and chic modern, tasteful art and great coffee.  They apparently also serve food at later hours of the day, so paired with their free wifi, it would be a great place to work or study, late into the night.

Recently (within the past year or so) the discount grocer, ALDI has made its way across the USA and finally into Dallas. Their website is a little misleading as it states that the first ALDI opened in Iowa in the 60s but I think their origins lie across the ocean. I first encountered this friendly store in Germany as it, and competitor REWE, make up the two largest grocery suppliers in Germany.

Not too long ago, I was on a business trip near Memphis and was astonished to see this little store on the highway. We went in and the experience brought back fond memories as it was nearly identical to the German store. The biggest difference was in the parking lot, in that it had one. But we are in America and American love their cars. Anyway, ALDI has now flooded the greater DFW area with a staggering 29 stores! And they have an interesting style. All their items are set on the sales floor straight from the delivery truck – pallet and all. Also, there are no prep areas or fancy displays – just huge aisles, two walls of refrigerated shelving and one long refrigerated bunker. And, if you want a shopping cart, you insert a quarter into the cart to release it from a storage area. After you’ve shopped and loaded your groceries into your car, you take the cart back, re-lock it and your quarter pops out. Imagine the company’s savings on staffing… and your car’s joy at no shopping cart dings!

One other thing I noticed is their graphically pleasing weekly circulars. When I think of a common retailer circular in the newspaper, I immediately think of the ugly, messy and chaotic smash of colors and dollar signs all competing for my attention. With ALDI, their circular is a breath of fresh air. Clean lines, excellent photography and an appealing color scheme all make me want to shop there even more. I counted and ALDI displays 37 items while the competitor (shown below) has 45. There is less, but I actually looked through and considered each ALDI item after throwing the other in the recycling. I can’t be the only one.

And the commoner:

95% of the food ALDI carries is under their own brand. The manager at our local store informed me that nearly all the food is actually the name-brand food, just under the ALDI name… and packaged in Illinois. Apparently many stores do this – they may not have the infrastructure to produce a certain item so they pay someone else but receive permission to sell it under a different label. For example, Target’s “Archer Farms” or HEB’s “Hill County Fair” or Walmart’s “GreatValue”. All of these are really just Kellogg or General Mills or Tyson. It at least made T and I a little more at ease at eating food packaged under such unfamiliar titles. The store doesn’t carry too many specialty items, or more of one kind of item. They have a lot of pre-packaged foods and frozen foods which is great for most things. So, welcome to Dallas, ALDI. You are on your way to saving us a lot of drive time and money!

Top images from ALDI website.

I came across this fantastic food stylist and photographer, Aran Goyoaga. She truly has a talent for culinary presentation, lighting and composition. Not to mention the food looks delicious. I was beginning to wish the recipes were available and then I found her blog!

Please take a minute to look at Aran’s online portfolio, (http://www.arangoyoaga.com/) and add her blog (http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/) to your reader of choice.

All photos are copyright of Aran Goyoaga.

Have I mentioned that my wife, T is a superb cook? Tonight she graced our table with scrumptious ricotta cheese manicotti, mushroom tartlets, fresh baked french bread and a spinach salad (I contributed the homemade honey-mustard vinaigrette). Anyway, I need to do a series of updated posts since Christmas and New Year’s. Thanks for bearing with us and the limited posts. Keep reading.