mmmmmm.

greg and I decided to head out for a little taste of portland today...it all started around noon when we headed to lunch a la voodoo, with some of our favorite coffee of course. yes...donuts for lunch. as we were enduldging at an outdoor table a man was enjoying a cup of coffee, newspaper and cigarette and the smell of the smoke almost felt like it fit. almost. I had to write that because I think that is the only time - ever - that I've actually kind of accepted the smell of cigarette smoke. well, aside the time when I was 13 and thought, for about an hour, that it would be cool to smoke cigarettes.

after lunch we decided to take advantage of the sugar caffeine high and went to shop for an outdoor table...finally. we've been putting off this chore for about 2 years now, but, we're hosting a few little parties in july so we've got ourselves a deadline. anyway, we found one, fell in love and found out that it won't arrive at our house until september. so, we then came up with the brilliant idea to go to ikea and find a cheaper folding card-type table that we can use for our july festivities until our new table arrives. it's always good to have a folding table around...right? you can just cover it with a great vintage linen and call it a day. it's not always good to go to ikea on a sunday afternoon...we should have stopped while we were ahead. this is only like our second time to the portland ikea and each time we go we find ourselves walking in circles overwhelmed and burnt out by the time we get around to finding what it is that we're looking for that we can't wait to get out of there and go have a beer. of course, ikea didn't have what we were looking for so we left empty handed, which, is probably a good thing in the end.

we decided end the day at one of our favorite portland eats. pho van (pronounced "fa vahn") has like three or four locations and the one out on s.e. 82nd is by far the best and the most authentic. I believe it's the only one that serves our favorite dish to share (well, second favorite to the pho ga - vietnamese chicken - soup for me). it's a whole crispy fish served with all kinds of basil, mint, pineapple, sprouts, cilantro that you can pull apart and roll up in rice paper with some tasty sauce and enjoy. I especially enjoyed it today with my ice cold vietnamese beer. yum!

vegas.

I had high hopes for my little camera in vegas...I really did. hopes to get shots of interesting people sitting hopelessly or hopeful playing slot machines, cards, craps and roulette, people dressed to the nines with fabulous shoes and sun kissed skin, piles of chips, cards, dice, bright lights, vintage casinos and vintage slot machines, big plates of food, cool neon signs, big polished cars, oh the list goes on and on. rather, I found myself lost in a tunnel of flashing lights, bells, crazy people watching, a little gambling, eating lots and lots of fabulous food...oh the food, extra spicy bloody mary's, beer, wine and laying in the hot hot sun. it was such a great week-end, however, I don't have much to show for it except a little bit of winnings in my wallet and only a picture or two.

a.

is for amber.

amazing.articulate.ambitious.adorable.
memorable.modern.motherly.magnetic.
beautiful.bold.breathtaking.balanced.
elegant.extraordinary.energetic.endearing.
remarkable.ravishing.radiant.respectful.

sending big happy happy happy 30th birthday wishes to my dear friend!

ciao may!

I decided to bid buon viaggio to may 2008 by making a little rustic italian dinner. I was in the mood for something fresh but warm comfort given that it's still cold and kinda rainy outside so I decided to go with a halibut stew over pan fried polenta. I grew up with italian stews and polenta so this definitely meets my definition of comfort. OH...I was also influenced to make something comforting given that greg was away for most of the week and on a flight home from kansas city. I had SO much fun and this experience definitely brought me home in so many ways...making a grocery list and being all official in the grocery store, cooking all day, listening to music, drinking wine, chopping onions until my eyes watered and chopping fresh garlic and herbs which always always always takes me home to family,

stirring until my arms were sore and the thick creamy polenta would bubble a hot little pop out of the pan onto my hand every time I would pause,

being barefoot,

taking a break to go outside,

coming back into the house with the incredible smell of slow cooking,

making pretty little flower arrangements for the table and around the house,

getting a sp in for the may self portrait challenge -- fresh (fresh out of the shower finishing up a dinner using all sorts of fresh ingredients),

and finally, plating it up to enjoy.

now I think it's time for some left over polenta with fried egg and a little parmesan on top and a hot cup of coffee.