APRIL IN PORTLAND: PICNICS, PUPPIES, PINOLO AND PALS

Here’s a funny thing about April in Portland; while a good part of the country is still dealing with winter’s wrath, we might just be out basking in the rays.

These past couple days have given us more than our share of beautiful weather (flirting heavily on occasion with late 70 degree weather), and we’ve done as much as we can to enjoy ourselves outside.

With the kids having Friday off of school (another Planning Day), they had lots of time to gather with friends, many of which they don’t get to see as much as they’d like.

Picnics are a great way to connect.

Especially when there’s Pasta Carbonara involved.

I was planning on making homemade mac and cheese but then I realized I had over a pound of really good applewood smoked bacon and so I thought I’d up my game with something a little  more special.

And after the richness of that, fruit was the perfect way to end it.

Next up, a big dinner party with old friends and new.

I love entertaining when the weather turns warm as it’s so much easier to throw a gaggle of kids outside. I usually have them run around and play games (SPUD and Tag are great games for all ages) and when they’re starving and spent, I feed them out there.

They can make a mess, be as loud as they want, and figure out as a group what they want to do next.

This allows all the parents to sit inside with cocktails and then dinner in a quiet house with great music and food.

Here’s my tip for hostesses — provide only the lightest of appetizers (nuts, warm olives, that kind of thing) with pre-dinner drinks. Who wants your guests to fill up before dinner?

A hungry guest is a grateful eater.

And guests who bring dessert (like these wonderful Lime-Coconut Bars) and wine are A #1 in my book.

As usual, I’d made far too much food (four curried whole roast chickens, crispy JoJo potatoes, basmati rice and roasted asparagus with ginger plus garlic naan) so I awoke to an overcrowded refrigerator.

Time to make soup — lots of it.

Thai Hot and Sour Chicken Soup.

The asparagus and grilled corn made an intriguing appearance here and a tiny bit of coconut milk rounded out the flavor.

I’d made 10 quarts of soup, so I decided to drop some off to the guests from the night before and took the rest in a basket and went for a walk. I wanted to take some to neighbors I hadn’t seen in a while.

Wouldn’t you smile if you saw someone with this at your door?

After all that cooking, I was eager for a little fun time out and about.

My hubby and I hit Monticello Antique Marketplace.

I’ve told you about them before — and I’d read that their Garden Show was this weekend so I knew there’d be lots of eye candy.

There are some really good dealers here and so many of the displays are lovely to look at.

The colors of these ranunculus were so vivid that I first thought they were artificial, but no. They really were that vibrant and the arrangement was stunning.

I ended up spending a good deal of time at one of my favorite stands.

Almost everything here is French and the displays are beautifully curated.

I couldn’t resist these little stamps — vintage ones depicting scenes of summer.

The box looks circa 50’s/early 60’s and they are so charming. I can’t wait to do something crafty with them.

(I also bought a couple of those Bakelite forks too, an addiction of mine right now).

Next up was a new gelato place my pal Alicia and I wanted to try. We both arrived with our daughters (and her sweetheart of a husband, Andy) and were eager for a scoop of something cold and delicious.

It’s a minimalist place on Division Street– with all the focus on the goods.

They don’t have as many flavors as at some places, but they are some interesting ones.

What a lovely place– and delicious gelato.

Gelato should always be enjoyed  with friends — especially the ones who are willing to let you try theirs.

As if the day wasn’t good enough, we had some time ahead of us with a new friend.

Meet Dipper.

He’s an eight week old golden retriever and a new family at our school just brought him home.

And lucky for us, this crew has been very generous in giving us puppy fixes.

Isn’t he scrumptious?

But wait — we too may have been tired but we had one more party to throw– our third in as many days.

Tween Girls Movie Night.

I love throwing kids’ movie get togethers — it’s such an easy and enjoyable wait to hang with friends.

Charlotte loves crafty things, so we had to do some things first.

Like make individual tickets.

And because it was a musical, we had to make microphones for a sing-along.

(I’m a huge fan of anything Pom-Pom.)

We needed also to decorate the basement.

And put together a cute snack station.

I love a good snack mix — especially if it features Bugles.

Snacks, sing-along — only thing left to do was deliver some homemade pizza to a hungry crowd.

The girls had just finished playing SPUD with a bunch of the neighborhood kids so they were good and ready.

A sheet pan of cheese pizza, another of sausage, the last with the addition of pesto.

More picnicking to be enjoyed before the weekend was over.

Girl bonding — and talk of crushes and clothes, books and summer plans.

A wonderful weekend of all my favorite things and people — plus a couple surprises to keep things humming along.

Dear Weekend — I give you an A.