Last night Ann invited us to join her at El Gaucho for dinner and we were treated like Royalty.
Dinner started with a Caesar salad made and served table side (delicious!).
The restaurant is next to the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland and it was an exceptional dining experience.
The menu has a huge amount of choices; mostly featuring exceptional beef and seafood dishes.
This is the extent of our New Year celebrating so tonight will be a quiet evening at home.
Happy New Year, everyone !!
This afternoon we had an enjoyable visit and dinner with Roger's son and family, Rachael, Chris, his wife Caroline and Brian aka "Sleepy" (I'm told that all photos of him show him with closed eyes and, out of the four that I took of him, it's true).
Roger fixed a special rice that he calls "jewelry rice" and it was delicious. It's filled with several different nuts, homemade orange marmalade, raisins, bayberries and shredded carrots, along with spun sugar.
It was a wonderful Christmas and we thank you for the cards and telephone calls.
Now I'm going to contemplate my new diet and exercise program - it's not a promise - but I'll think about it......................
Christmas is always more fun when there are children in the house (even the grown-up kind) but it was almost as much fun watching Bella unwrap her present. There was no hesitation - as soon as the package hit the floor she was on top of it - enjoying eating the paper as much as finding the toy. The Santa toy got chewed on so much that a seam opened so it had to be repaired to keep the stuffing from escaping. We're enjoying a quiet day but also starting to prepare a special Christmas dinner tomorrow for Brian and his family from Springfield.
Merry Christmas to friends and family!
Today I was offered a free diabetes testing kit. Yesterday I got an advertisement from a book club that only prints books in large print and for the last six months I've received calls encouraging me to get a hearing test to see if I need a hearing aid.
To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old. Oliver Wendell Holmes
My friend, Cheryl, will be leaving soon for a two month stay in Palm Desert so we wanted to spend some time together before she leaves. The morning started with a walk to the Streetcar and Downtown where we had an early lunch at Pazzo, a fabulous Italian Restaurant. Their specialty is fresh made pasta dishes and fresh baked bread so we enjoyed a delicious lunch.
After lunch we took a walk past Moonstruck Chocolates where we stopped to get something decadent - then we headed for Macys as they were having one of their many sales. We really hit paydirt there with 85% off some of the prices plus some additional coupons that I had in my purse. I bought four items that started out at a total of $150 and I paid $20. That's always a great feeling and now I have something new to smash into my already overcrowded closet - sigh.
Cheryl took me to a shop that I've not been to before named XXI (she calls it Forever 21). The merchandise is geared more to younger women but we still found some really cute things and the prices are low. I definitely will go back.
Last night Roger and I went to Kolbeh Restaurant where we enjoyed some delicious chicken kabob and celebrated "Yalda" the shortest day of the year when winter begins. The place is huge and it was packed with Iranians celebrating the event. The music was provided by University students who play on authentic old instruments. Afterward there was dancing and the place really got crazy. It reminded me of the discos in Mexico with really loud music and lots of noise. We old folks finally left around 11 pm but we think the party went on through the entire night.
Good news - Ed's surgery went well and he's home recovering - I know that he's getting lots of TLC from Liz. Ron and Rosanna are on their way to New Jersey to celebrate Christmas with Susan and her family and we're tucked in out of the cold enjoying the holiday spirit. Roger and I wish all of you a happy and joyful Christmas!
Ed is undergoing surgery today for a recent ski injury so prayers are going his way for a fast and safe recovery.
Most of us in his age range are complaining about aches and pains and body parts giving out -
BUT, here is a man who is still snow skiing. GO, Ed................ With a little luck, you can still hit the slopes in 2011.
I thought that today I would have a good excuse to stay in my jammies all day - you know, with the snow and stormy high gale winds..............BUT none of that happened. It was cold but that's about all - we even had sunshine for short periods during the day. It doesn't matter - I stayed in my jammies anyway until about 3 p.m. when I decided that a shower and dressing in real clothes for dinner would be a good thing.
Mike and Teresa saw my comments about Cabezon Restaurant so today we got a gift certificate in the mail. We're really excited to go back for another fabulous dinner.
Thanks to all of you for the beautiful cards and photos to celebrate Christmas - we enjoy and appreciate them all.
Today Allison and I drove to Tigard to have lunch and do some shopping so we spent several hours - where else? - Well, Costco, of course. It's lucky we didn't buy anything more because we wouldn't have found room in the Toyota for ourselves.
Tonight Roger and I went to a Sadeh - a mid-winter festival to celebrate the Winter Solstice which will occur December 21st. It was conducted in both English and Persian with beautiful Persian live music and poetry - plus food, of course.
Tonight the forecast is for freezing temperatures and we're told that by morning we'll either experience freezing rain or snow so we've decided that it will be a good day to stay inside where it's warm and cozy.
Tonight we were the guests of our friend, Pat, at a restaurant in a building that she owns in the Hollywood District. The Restaurant, Cabezon, specializes in seafood but tonight they also offered Grilled Quail (one of my favorites) so it was hard to choose.
After a basil wrapped shrimp with curry marinated eggplant and toasted almonds, I ordered the Cioppino and I wasn't disappointed. Roger had Hawaiian Walu with Napa cabbage, trumpet mushrooms and Chinese black bean sauce and Pat had the Cod with gnocchi, cipollinis and a calamari, tomato, olive, caper sauce.
Pat and I shared a Migration Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley and we all agree that it was one of the best meals we've ever encountered in Portland.
The restaurant is new so we're hoping to advertise it to our friends to help them build up their business. Our tummies are full and happy so now we're thinking that we need to stay home the rest of the week and get back to "normal".
I've managed to watch the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire during the last two days so this week is a little like being on vacation.
This afternoon a huge box of merchandise purchased from an auction in Pennsylvania arrived so tomorrow morning I'll start unpacking to see all the goodies. (And clean and catalog and research so it will be a busy few days.)
Last night we boarded the Portland Spirit for a dinner cruise that coincides with the decorated boat parade which occurs every night for about two weeks in December. We enjoyed good music and food while watching beautifully decorated boats sailing by the window. They ranged from small fishing boats to a couple of huge yachts so it was a nice holiday experience and a pleasant way to spend a Tuesday evening.
The drive to the airport yesterday afternoon was very slow because of extremely heavy rain. Even the freeway had flooding and some city streets had enough water to float a boat. It was one time when we were happy that the plane was late because, otherwise, the girls may not have made it in time. The last two days of their visit went quickly with many little activities and a lot of laziness and relaxation. Ashley returned to Powell's and she did some exploring downtown by herself so it was great to see that she has already oriented herself to the map and public transportation.
It was Ashley's first time to take almost a week off from work and we could see that she has fallen under the spell of Portland - already talking about returning - and, maybe staying............... The University and colleges here are excellent for medical studies so we'll see what progresses.
Bella's having an adjustment from 24/7 attention from Ashley to a quiet condo so last night she unzipped her bed, probably to see if Ashley came back to sleep. She was wandering around looking sad when I got up this morning.
Now it's time for us old folks to get back in our usual routine with a slower (much slower) pace. Rain is forecast for today and tomorrow so we've decided to stay home and just watch.
For those of you who enjoy watching DVD's - we watched "Mambo Kings" last night and it was a really good story with some great music. Today I'm going to tackle "Angels and Demons" while I catch up with ironing.
Wishing you all a happy weekend....................
After home made scones for breakfast we ventured down to Powells Book Store and spent about an hour shopping for books. A short walk down the street is Big Little Burger so Ashley and I ate the greasy ones and Cindie had the veggie burger. When we finished it was raining really hard with high winds and cold temps so we stopped at Penzie's Spice Shop and then Anthropology before we found a taxi to take us back to the warm condo.
Tonight Ashley is meeting a friend for drinks and we "old folks" are settling down in front of the TV.
The first thing that Bella does when Ashley is here is run to her room, scratch on the door and hope that she'll be put up on the bed. After covering Ashley's face with "kisses" she generally ends up under the comforter for her first morning nap. This morning she opted for a pillow instead.
We're still being lazy but soon we'll head over to the Pearl for a shopping expedition and to another "Big Little Burger" for lunch.
Today after Raclette for breakfast we took the streetcar to the new Max station on 6th Avenue and went to the indoor downtown shopping mall to check out some Christmas shopping. We didn't bring any gifts home but we couldn't resist visiting Santa and acting like kids. He even gave each of us a coloring book so we got some laughs out of the experience.
It's said that time goes faster when one is having fun so that's my excuse for forgetting to post some Happy Birthday wishes; first to Orlan, my brother-in-law - December 4th, Christopher (Roger's grandson) on the 5th and to my Niece, Kathleen whose birthday is today.
Saturday evening we picked up Ashley and her mom from PDX and we've been on the move every minute.
Yesterday, after breakfast, the girls and I went to a boutique that featured local artists who had an open house with holiday gifts - followed by a visit to an upscale Estate sale in the hills near Tigard. In the afternoon we watched the DVD, Entrapment and last night we had a small dinner party. We pan fried a whole fresh salmon and Roger made Iranian Vegetable Rice so dinner was fabulous. One guest brought a Jordon Cabernet which made a perfect accompaniment. Now it's time to head to the bakery for a baguette so we can enjoy a Raclette breakfast.
This afternoon we're taking MAX to head downtown to check out a new department store that opened about two weeks ago.
The decorating is STILL not finished but the condo is clean, groceries are purchased and we're ready for a visit from Ashley and Cindie. They'll arrive tomorrow evening so that may give me an incentive to finish getting things ready for Christmas.............. or, not ....................
Ashley loves to decorate so I may have to put her in charge of the finishing touches.
Weather is lovely - cold but sunny - so we're enjoying the Holiday spirit.
Only a few years ago it was nothing to set up and decorate two to three full sized Christmas trees, decorate every wall, room and more........... Now, just putting up something on the mantle and decorating one tree feels like a major task. Today it took three trips from my storage unit and now all the boxes, etc. are in the entry. The tree is in place but not decorated. The garland is on the front patio balcony railing (lights don't work, though) and the mantle actually looks quite lovely. I figure another six hours should do it (let me think - that's about two hours for the next three days......).
One good thing about being older is that we can always put a task off until tomorrow but I'll feel much better when this decorating task is completed.
Last night Ann invited us to join her at El Gaucho for dinner and we were treated like Royalty.
