We just had a knock at the door with a UPS package that was cold.
Thanks, Ashley and Cindie for a fabulous birthday surprise.
I have heard of these strawberries for years but never had a chance to eat one.
Are they delicious? No - actually fabulously delicious. Roger and I shared one before eating tonight's dinner and there are some in reserve for dessert.
Bella's original bed was purchased when she was a baby so now, almost five years later, it was time to get her a new one. We did some shopping at Target today and this bed is perfect. It's under my desk so Bella has to share the space with a transformer and computer cables but she doesn't seem to care.
Dinner tonight was at a restaurant on the Columbia River, Salty's. Their specialty is seafood and the atmosphere, food and service are all excellent. It was a perfect ending to a day filled with indulgence.
Roger left at 6 a.m. to pick up my birthday cake from the Beaverton Bakery. I had no idea that he had left until I went to the kitchen where I found the cake, gift and breakfast pastries.
What a nice way to start the morning!
Now I'm taking the streetcar to a nail appointment and tonight I've been promised a surprise dinner!
Gorgeous weather
Farmer's Market with lunch..........
Italian Sausage hotdog with sauteed bell peppers and onions
Chicken Schwarma sandwich
Beautiful walk
Lazy day......................
After three weeks of dashing here and there, entertaining guests, and enjoying a busy schedule...... suddenly it's all over. The last two days we have attempted to catch up on our sleep and be extra lazy so now it's time to get back to our regular routine.
What was first on my list? Well, having lunch with my favorite women friends. Today, Ann, Cheryl and I walked to VQ where we enjoyed a fabulous lunch. Allison couldn't join us because she's still in California but we'll catch up with her soon.
Now, the next thing on the list is to take care of laundry, cleaning, organizing, preparing the condo with Fall decorations and checking out a couple of new movies. The symphony starts mid September with Chris Botti and Pink Martini so we have great seats in front because they are both our favorites.
We're enjoying great weather with temperatures in the low 80s but we can feel fall in the air in the early morning.
When things go wrong - they sometimes go VERY wrong. The Portland flight Saturday was delayed for two hours so when Afram and Philippe arrived in Houston, they missed their non-stop flight to Paris. Continental Airlines paid for an overnight stay at the airport Hilton.
Sunday, they were scheduled to fly from Houston to Newark (no non-stop flights were available) and they were supposed to get a connection to Paris. Due to bad weather conditions, the Houston flight was late so, again, they missed their connecting flight. Last night they were given accommodations at the Newark airport Holiday Inn. The only flight available to Paris today (Monday) is at 6 p.m. so they won't get home until Tuesday morning.
Can things be worse ? Oh, yeah.............................. Their baggage didn't arrive in Newark so that makes three days without clean clothes and other amenities.
It's always difficult to say goodbye......
We just returned home from three days in Las Vegas, where we stayed at the NY, NY Hotel with a beautiful room and a convenient location. Time was limited so there's not much to tell other than we enjoyed good food, visiting some amazing casinos, shopping, (Afram loves American designer clothes) and a little gambling.
Afram and Philippe were intent on having an "American Experience" so this was the perfect hotel to do it.
Airfare from Portland (non-stop) plus two nights at the hotel (including travel insurance) only cost $319 per person so even though my personal opinion of LV is that it is somewhat "tacky", we actually had a great time. Who knows????? We may return some day.
This morning We walked to the market to buy fresh fruit and produce for tonight's dinner. As I write this, Afram is preparing a fresh tomato, Thai basil plate to go with our fresh baked salmon and barbecued sturgeon and a blackberry/blueberry pie is bubbling in the oven.
We're already looking forward to fresh peaches with breakfast tomorrow.
We're safe back home, Bella is happy and tired (we're also happy and tired) so now we look forward to another busy weekend before we hit the road Monday for a short trip to Vancouver B.C.
Lombard Street is a popular tourist area and we loved walking and driving down the short curvy street.
Sunday, on our way to Ashland we stopped at a favorite coffee shop in Woodburn and it was fun to see what our Paris visitors wanted to eat. It turns out that steak and eggs and dishes with lots of breakfast meat are favorites.
It has been a fun experience just being a tourist in S.F. We didn't do all the things that we planned but we managed to fit in the things that were most important to Afram and Philippe. After breakfast this morning at a French cafe we drove to Oakland for an Iranian lunch with long time friends of Roger. What they call "lunch", I describe more as a banquet so tonight we're talking about a snack instead of dinner. We did the final tourist thing by going to Pier 39 (probably a mistake because it's more appropriate for people with children.) but we're kids at heart so we still had fun. Afram is fascinated with the crooked street, Lombard, so we managed to find a parking place right at the bottom (a miracle) so we could walk part of the way up. Then we learned how to get to Hyde Street where we could actually drive down Lombard so we were like kids (again) enjoying the experience. Tomorrow we're looking forward to a drive to Sonoma to have lunch and do some wine tasting - then it's time to head back to Portland.
Early this morning at about 6 a.m. Afran and Philippe were awakened by loud knocks on their room door. When Phlippe opened the door a naked man tried to push his way into the room.
Afram called the office and Security came quickly with a towel to cover him and lead him back to his room upstairs. Apparently, he's known for walking in his sleep and he became disoriented and couldn't find his room.
When Afram was telling us te story it was extra funny because she didn't know the word "naked" so she used hand gestures of something dangling in front - well, you know.
We laughed and laughed except for them, it wasn't so funny because neither could fall asleep after all of the commotion.
We surely got lucky with the weather. It's cool but sunny which is perfect for walking and enjoying the sights. After breakfast at Perry's on Union Street we took a drive across the Golden Gate Bridge and spent a short time in Sausalito. This afternoon, the boys want to be lazy so Afran and I are walking down to Ghiradelli Square for some shopping. Tonight we're heading downtown for some shopping and dinner at Kuletos.
We're finally in San Francisco after a long drive from Ashland, Oregon. Sunday we made the trip from home leisurely by stopping at a favorite cafe in Woodburn for breakfast and then to the outlets. It turned out that "Coach" was having a crazy wonderful sale - we had to wait in line to get into the store - and Afran found a beautiful leather handbag for less than half of what it would cost in Paris.After shopping we went into Springfield to spend the afternoon with Roger's son and family and then proceeded to Ashland for the night. We got there late so we had to find a cafe that served food after 10 p.m. Both Afran and Philippe are excited about eating American food so they are indulging on things like steak, fries, hamburger, fries, omelettes with bacon, ham and sausage, fries, etc. We managed to get an early start this morning so we were able to get into S.F. by about 6 p.m. Philippe and I are having fun on our computers and the Hatefis are having a rest - (deep sleep). Shortly we'll take a walk and find a place for dinner and then I suspect we'll all rest well after being on the road for so long.
We just had a knock at the door with a UPS package that was cold.
Roger left at 6 a.m. to pick up my birthday cake from the Beaverton Bakery. I had no idea that he had left until I went to the kitchen where I found the cake, gift and breakfast pastries.
We just returned home from three days in Las Vegas, where we stayed at the NY, NY Hotel with a beautiful room and a convenient location. Time was limited so there's not much to tell other than we enjoyed good food, visiting some amazing casinos, shopping, (Afram loves American designer clothes) and a little gambling.
Who would have guessed that a person from Paris would want to eat a hotdog in the U.S. AND - it had to be on the street!
This morning We walked to the market to buy fresh fruit and produce for tonight's dinner. As I write this, Afram is preparing a fresh tomato, Thai basil plate to go with our fresh baked salmon and barbecued sturgeon and a blackberry/blueberry pie is bubbling in the oven.
We just returned from a quick driving trip to Vancouver BC to visit Roger's cousin, Ahmad. Afram and Ahmad grew up together in Iran and they hadn't seen each other for over 40 years so it was a special reunion.
Yesterday was filled with interesting activity, starting with another breakfast at Perrys, followed by a farewell drive over the Golden Gate to Sonoma where we visited Vella Creamery to buy my favorite grated dry Jack cheese. After some walking and shopping we headed down the Kenwood Hwy. to visit Kenwood Winery. As soon as the tasting room heard that our guests were from Paris they received the "Royal Treatment" so they were able to taste some aged red wines followed by a private tour of the cask room.
Lombard Street is a popular tourist area and we loved walking and driving down the short curvy street.
Breakfast was the highlight of each day of the trip so here we're enjoying one of my old-time favorite S.F. restaurants, Perrys.
Sunday, on our way to Ashland we stopped at a favorite coffee shop in Woodburn and it was fun to see what our Paris visitors wanted to eat. It turns out that steak and eggs and dishes with lots of breakfast meat are favorites.
