It’d been a while since I moved to Oregon, and the only chance I’d had to host a party was back when Brian had come out to visit.  Now, hosting dinner parties was one of my favorite things back in Boston, so when Sarah mentioned wanting to throw a party at her place, I got kind of excited…

Doubly so because I had found a place that sold New England oysters, and even shipped them overnight across the country.  See, Oregon has a lot of amazing things, but in my opinion oysters are not one of them… I’d tried them a few times, amd the milky texture just never did it for me.  Old school Wellfleet oysters, straight out of Cape Cod? Now those  are oysters!

 

Friday, 11-September-2015

I headed home from work about normal time, stopping just long enough to grab the oysters, and take a quick shower before heading into Portland.  Dropped the oysters as Sarah’s house, let Jasper out for a quick walk, and then headed downtown where I picked Sarah up from work.

The plan for the evening?  Sarah is a huge fan of Brandi Carlile, who happened to be playing in town… and she’d happened to buy tickets just for us!  So we had a dinner of a dozen or two oysters, relaxed, and then headed East to the concert, which was being held at this really nice outdoor venue.

After a great Portland concert, what do you do?  Eat delicious Portland food, duh.

And where, pray tell, does one find delicious Portland food?  Why – at the Portland food trucks, obviously!

So, we ate food from the food trucks.  Yummy.

 

Saturday, 12-September-2015

The day starts with a walk to get sandwiches – delicious paninis are delicious, especially as a quick breakfast, and doubly so when they have avocado on them.

Then – party prep time!  Starts with a drive to the local Wal-Mart-but-not-as-evil location; Fred Myers!  We get good food and new outfits and just generally take our time relaxing.  It’s a lazy Saturday, what do you want from us?  We did buy some tiki torches though, and even got back to the house in time for me to shuck a few oysters and do some last minute cleaning (as well as take a quick shower) before people started showing up.

 

Then – party time!  People show up.  We eat.  We drink.  We make merry and chat and hang out.

It was excellent, honestly.  I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed my dinner parties back in Boston, and this was a great way to stretch my socialization legs, so to speak.  I did spend a good bit of time working the oysters, but it was a good way to relax and chat with people while doing a job… I’ve found that it’s always easier to make small talk while there’s something to do in the background, so that was a nice way to chat with people

 

Sunday, 13-September-2015

Sunday was the pinnacle of a lazy, relaxed city Sunday.  We woke up slowly, and made a quick breakfast at the house.  Then got all dressed up fancy (because why not) and took the train down to the city center.

Powells Bookshop, climbing guides, and travel scheming was on the menu, as well as comic books and Pumpkin Spice Lattes.  Old Lord of the Rings books were on show, and we even took some time to hit the Portland Store, where they had tons of hip and cool products… not the least of which was a “bearded man” scented candle.

Then we wandered around some more, before meeting up with Dave for more breakfast sandwiches for breakfast!  Second breakfast is always ideal, when there’s an excuse and you’ve done enough walking / adventure to earn it, that is.

 

Then we kept wandering – relaxing in the grass at a small park that we found, chatting, and just enjoying the sun and the beautiful Northwestern day.

We got home via the MAX, thanks to a quick bit of running to catch a train that showed up a little earlier than we expected, and then set about to getting some stuff done around the house.  Cleaning up after the party, getting some things cleaned up, and generally reorganizing a bit of life.  I took some of that time to hit a bouldering gym called The Circuit, which was nice, but overall the day was relaxed recovery from the party.

And the evening?  Basically the same.  We stuck with our theme of making dinner after a walk, so we head to the equivalent of Whole Foods (A place called New Seasons) and grab some steaks, veggies, and have ourselves an excellent “congrats, you hosted a party!” meal.