BLACKBERRY BLOWOUT AND BLAST OFF TO VACATION

Yep, it’s been a while.

One week, I know, but it’s been pretty busy around here.

First, I had a big blackberry and marionberry issue on my hands.

You see, I’d gotten a lot at the farmer’s market last weekend

and then I picked up the season’s very last gasp of berries at Krugers while attending their Summer Concert Series.

I drove out there with my friend Chrissy and we set up a big spread amidst the field, sharing food with other friends we bumped into out there, listening to music and soaking up every last minute of the late summer  sun.

I love Sauvie Island so much — and Kruger’s Farm is a place that always makes me so happy.

My kids here are like free-range chickens  — roaming the fields with friends searching for berries, playing in a make-shift soccer game, and circling back to our blanket when they feel peckish or need to quench parched thirsts.

Or grab another bittersweet chocolate brownie.

But afterwards there is always the surplus of Sauvie fruit purchases to deal with, but no worries.

I just got busy.

I made coffee cake — like this one I showed you last year.

I swear, coffee cake and berries will be best friends forever.

More berries were still on hand, so cocktails were in order.

Like this one made with pureed blackberries, aged tequila, lime, POM juice and a little bit agave.

This icy blackberry margarita was outrageously good — and tartly tempting.

And then I made one double batch of Greek Yogurt Muffins — some with chocolate chips, the others with the last of the berries.

And when the baking and shrub-making (apple cider vinegar + blackberries + peaches) was done, Charlotte and I headed downtown for a little pre-Paris shopping.

She’d read that Modcloth (one of our favorite online places to ogle) had opened up a pop-up shop downtown, and so we knew we had to check it out.

We both love fashion and vintage, so it was thrilling to check out their little retail spot.

There was a small rack of vintage clothing but most of the new clothes are inspired by older patterns and fabrics.

There were also some graphics T’s and skinny jeans and shoes plus a little bit of homewares.

I didn’t know that I needed a new mini-cooler bag, but once I saw it I knew that we were destined to be together.

(I’m taking this pretty girl to Paris to hold my farmer’s market purchases.)

The last couple days have been a blur of attending to a sick dog (hopefully on the mend now), visiting with old friends, packing for our trip for Paris and all those last minute details that command so much attention pre-trip.

As now as you read this, I’m probably flying somewhere between here and The City of Light.

I don’t know how reliable Wi-Fi will be in our St. Germain apartment (or how often I’ll be able to post) but follow me on Instagram (portlandsampler) if you care to see the very latest of my unearthed Parisian treasures: cheese, bread, pastries, vintage, crepes, gelato, cocktails, wine by the Seine, street fashion, cobblestoned alleys, old painted doors and cocktails on our roof deck.

And who knows what else.

So until I check in with you here again, drop me a note on Instagram and know that every croissant I inhale, every glass of champagne I imbibe

is one I am taking for the team.

A bientot!