Portland Weekend: Lauren's Visit

Last weekend, Lauren came up from San Jose to run the Portland Rock n Roll Half Marathon. The last time Lauren came to visit me in Portland was at the end of our junior year of college, before she was 21 and when my knowledge of Portland was limited to NoPo, Downtown, and the Pearl.

So of course there was a lot I wanted to show her. Instead of writing a bunch of long posts covering each spot we visited, I'm just going to share our itinerary. You can check out Lauren's blog, Sugar Coated Sisters, for more detailed reviews.

Friday:

Chicken wings and drinking vinegar cocktails at Whiskey Soda Lounge.

 

Moscow mules at Secret Society. 

Shuffleboard at The Fixin' To. 

Live music and tots at Slim's.

Saturday: 

Breakfast at The Waffle Window. 

 Hike (and a very cold impromptu swim) at Oneonta Gorge.

The Betty and The Oregonian from PBJ's Grilled. 

Walk to the Rock n Roll Expo and Banagrams at On Deck. 

Carbo-loading at Piazza Italia. 

Sunday: 

HALF MARATHON! Lauren did amazing! So proud of her!

Post-race treats at Voodoo Doughnuts.

Lunch from Native Bowl at Prost. 

Mini pub crawl from Prost to Amnesia to Hopworks (with a pit stop at Pix Patisserie).

Such an amazing weekend. Can't wait to show Lauren around Seattle when we run the half marathon there in a month or so! (Yes, I am running a half marathon. Stop laughing. I've been training. Sort of.)

P.S. Just wanted to brag that Lauren (aka Boo Radley) brought a dozen of her world-famous Snickers cupcakes (my absolute favorite) with her and they were just as delicious as I remembered them. Doug is officially obsessed as well. Thanks, Lo!

Portland Food Carts: Native Bowl and Miss Kate's Southern Kitchen

What: Native Bowl
Where: Mississippi Station Pod (by Prost)
Honeys Heart: Healthy food cart food

I love eating at food carts, but you have to admit, the majority of carts offer less than healthy fare. That's why I was so excited to try Native Bowl.

Native Bowl packs their bowls with fresh veggies, rice, and locally made tofu. Yum!

I decided to try the Broadway Bowl which is made with jasmine rice, garlic tofu, house-made peanut ginger sauce, cilantro, shredded red cabbage, carrots, scallions, and sesame seeds.

I'm not a huge fan of red cabbage, so I could have done with a less generous portion of that, but otherwise, I found my bowl to be quite delicious. Loved the combination of peanut ginger sauce with cilantro.

Doug ordered the Mississippi Bowl with jasmine rice, house-made ranch sauce, barbecue soy curls, barbecue sauce, slaw, and scallions.

Doug was a little apprehensive about what soy curls meant, but in the end, the bbq and ranch flavors of the bowl won him over.

I would definitely recommend Native Bowl if you're looking for a tasty and healthful food cart option!

What: Miss Kate's Southern Kitchen
Where: Mississippi Station Pod
Honeys Heart: Fried pickles

And now we move to the opposite end of the healthy food scale...

Miss Kate's Southern Kitchen is a recent addition to the Mississippi Station Pod. Miss Kate's serves good ol' Southern dishes based off recipes from owner Charles' grandmother, Kate.

I love chicken and tuna salad sandwiches, so I tried Miss Kate's Rosemary Chicken Salad Sandwich ($7.50). Charles threw in a fried pickle too. Thank you, Charles!

Even with the addition of rosemary and pecans, this sandwich was a little too basic for me to justify paying almost $8 for it. The flavor of the chicken salad was good, but not unique enough to order again. I felt like I could make this at home.

Doug ordered the Grilled Pimento Cheese & Bacon Sandwich ($5.50).

I don't think I've ever had pimento cheese before- I actually had to look up what it is. In its most basic form, it's cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, and red peppers that have been blended together. No wonder this sandwich was so rich! The combination of pimento cheese and bacon on buttery bread was just too much for me. Doug liked it though, so to each his own!

In addition to sandwiches, Miss Kate's also offers entrees like fried chicken and breakfast items like biscuits and sour cream coffee cake. I think I'll try the biscuits if I go back. Obviously Miss Kate's does not skip on the butter so I'm pretty sure their biscuits would probably be worth a second trip!