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You are here: Home / Uncategorized / SUMMER-ENDING GOODNESS: FOUR THINGS TO ENJOY RIGHT NOW

SUMMER-ENDING GOODNESS: FOUR THINGS TO ENJOY RIGHT NOW

September 2, 2018

Best of Summer Portland Blowout -

When family visits during your last days of summer, you simply must find a way to pack it all in while the warm weather and open schedules avail themselves.I was thrilled to learn in July that my sister and family found a way to join us in the week leading up to this week’s school start.

I always get a bit depressed when I see my kids go back to school so this was the perfect distraction for our pending separation — and the perfect excuse to go all out with loved ones.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Grand Central Pastries

I have four suggestions for you all as to how to eke out the last bit of summer you might have left.

First and foremost, duh.

Let’s be honest — there’s no small amount of  joy in celebrating wonderful food with those you love the most.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Porter at Voodoo Donuts

So there’s was a lot of indulging in the best our city has to offer — at places that were affordable and easy to manage with a small crowd.

Polly lives in Concord, Massachusetts, a lovely colonial town that’s gorgeous but lacks interesting food options, so one of the first requests her family had was to eat out.

So if you want to sample some of the most varied, delicious and affordable food in Portland?

ONE. Hit the food carts and some of the affordable quick/delicious food spots in town.

Perhaps my favorite cart food pods is the one at 9th and Alder. It has a huge variety and while there’s no seating there, Director Park with its shade, tables and over-sized chess game is just a few minutes away on foot.

I got one of my favorites downtown, the crepe at Bing Mi: a Chinese street food staple that has a black bean sauce, a crisp wonton cracker, green onion and a fried egg and it’s absolutely addictive.

Bing Food Cart Jianbiang Crepe Portland

In our group of seven there were multiple noodle dishes (Thai and Italian), that crepe, pot stickers, gyros, Nong’s steamed chicken and rice, and a bacon-lashed mac and cheese.

food cart macaroni and cheese Best of Summer Portland Blowout -

There were other wonderful eats we enjoyed out.

There was Little Big Burger for the kids — and Poke Mon for us gals.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Poke Mon

I’ve been to Poke Mon four times in the last three weeks, and I’m addicted to it.

Poke Mon Portland

We had a couple other sumptuous surprises, too.

You guys have to try Fried Egg I’m in Love — that egg food cart on Hawthorne.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Fried Egg I'm In Love

Don’t think a fried egg sandwich lacks the power to surprise because I’m telling you theirs will.

(Spoiler alert — I think it has to do with their insanely crisp sausage patty and choice of either aioli or pesto sauce on impeccably toasted sourdough.)

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Fried Egg I'm In Love Sandwhich

And if you have a little more time on your hand and have a car, seek out this Mexican taco truck in the Brooklyn neighborhood.

Its called Taco Express and it’s on Steel St. in this funky industrial area but the Yelp reviews aren’t wrong.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Charlotte and Sarah Taco Truck

Their tacos are unbelievably delectable and for 1.35 a piece your whole family can blowout on these for a song.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Taco Truck Menu

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Taco Truck

What the heck — maybe your dog can even enjoy one (hold the onions!).

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Porter Taco Truck

TWO. Whatever your definition of amusement is, in Portland you should all jump in right now.

Jumping off Pier in Wisconsin, Family Reunion

No we didn’t make it to the Lake (see above) his year, but the cousins have fun whenever they’re together, and Portland has plenty of fun just ripe for the taking.

We have Pips and Bounce, a ping pong place that I love (but unfortunately we didn’t get to show them).

We have Grand Central Bowling — which is always so much fun with the videos and music going on.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Grand Central Bowling

We have the quaint and old-timey Oaks Amusement Park which always charms me with its simplicity, scale, affordability and location (river front with downtown views).

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Oaks Park and Porter

The kids jumped on and off rides

and then roller-skated until they were almost too tired to move.

Any activity that reminds my 17 and 14 year old what it feels like to be a kid, I’m all in.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Christian Tillikum

Portland also has wonderful old movie theaters like Hollywood and Roseway which are always fun to check out.

(Griffin, my nephew, is obsessed with movies and moviemaking and we, like apparently 500 billion other people, went to see Crazy Rich Asians.)

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Crazy Rich Asians Movie Food

THREE. Brunch it up — and taste some of the Portland’s best bevies in town.

Mornings with my family were usually leisurely affairs with big breakfasts

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Smoothie Break

featuring smoothies with either eggs or pancakes and sausages or homemade buttermilk biscuits and bacon.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Biscuits

As always, there were games and games and games.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Monopoly and Biscuits

We did, however, also manage to get them to Nuvrei

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Nuvrei Pastries

which I think makes the best pastries and cookies in town.

Best of Portland Girls Weekend Nuvrei Best Pastries

Some of us went to Proud Mary, my number one most loved brunch spot right now.

Proud Mary Portland

It’s the kind of place that you can go to and eat the same thing over and over and be completely satiated

Proud Mary Portland

or you can try something new (like this miso crab cake plus the burrata with tomatoes and peaches) and be smitten anew.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Proud Mary Lunch

Whatever you do, do not miss Proud Mary’s lovely drinks.

I’m currently obsessed with their turmeric latte.

proud mary portland turmeric latte

Speaking of lattes, any visitor to Portland has to try some of our amazing tea and coffee shops.

I wanted my sister and her crew to try one of my favorite drinks in town, an iced Mint Majik Latte.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Tea Bar

They come from Tea Bar and that gorgeous hue is thanks to a specially harvested spirulina.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Tea Bar

Best of Summer Portland Blowout -

Best of Portland Girls Weekend

We also went to other two new favorite coffee spots.

Barista.

Barista PDX

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Coffee Barista

And Extracto on Killingsworth.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Coffee

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Polly and Charlotte Extracto

FOUR. Go to our rivers and spend time near our bridges.

I miss the proximity to the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco, but I never fail to get a mood lift from spending time near the Willamette River.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Charlotte and Porter Sandy River

We took Porter to a park along the river and it was so fun to skip stones, check out the view downtown and watch Porter wade in the water to go fetch his bouncy ball.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Charlotte and Porter Sandy River

The Willamette separates the westside (where downtown is) from the eastside (we we live) and my favorite bridge right now is Tilikum Crossing, a carless bridge near OMSI that is used only for light rail, pedestrians and bike riders.

tilikum crossing bridge

tilikum crossing bridge portland

It’s very similar to the Bunker Hill bridge over the Charles River in Boston, and ours is also a beauty.

Tilikum Crossing Bridge Portland

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Meyer Tillikum

And speaking of rivers, here’s one last outing I recommend highly.

Take a quick drive out to the Sandy River.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Sandy River

Since Porter is so new to us we didn’t know what he’d do with moving water and swimming so early on in the week we thought it’d be fun to do this with Polly and Co. (who also have a Golden named Riley who loves to swim).

We’d never been here, but it came recommended to us as a place where dogs were free to join in on the fun (and it’s only 20 minutes from my house).

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Sandy River

It was a little tricky climbing down the rocky cliff to get there, but so worth it when we got to the bottom.

And guess who is a natural swimmer?

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Sandy River Porter

My nephew Cooper spent just a few minutes with him in the water helping him acclimate to the water but before you knew it, Porter was swimming back and forth between cousins.

He was so happy!

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Sandy River Photo

Of course we had to celebrate with another wonderful new find for us: Sugarpine.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Sugarpine

Turns out this is a little drive-through that’s just steps from this beach and it’s beyond adorable.  It attracts throngs of thirsty swimmers from the Sandy River (and thousands of foodies from Portland who’ve heard the tales of the magical soft-serve, froze and delectable salads).

We LOVED Sugarpine — and I can’t wait for some of you to try it, too.

We particularly liked the floats (like this spectacular Black Cherry)

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Sugarpine

and the soft-serve and toppings were on point.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout -

I mean c’mon.

Just look at that homemade brittle.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout -

And look what Porter and I shared to celebrate his first big swimming adventure with us.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Sugarpine

(Kettle Potato Chips as a soft-serve topping? GENIUS.)

And before you knew it, it was time for summer to end and a flight back to Boston loomed.

But not before we had the opportunity for one last lovely meal enjoyed together.

Grilled flat-iron steak with shallot butter sauce.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Steak

A crispy potato gratin.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Potato Dinner

Ciabatta garlic bread.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Christian Garlic Bread

A giant arugula and herb salad.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Griffin Salad

And one last group pic.

May I present to you, awkward prom prose, cousin edition.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Meyer and Kline Prom Photo

So Adios Meyers and beloved summer, we all miss you more than words can say.

Best of Summer Portland Blowout - Porter Taco Truck

(Someone get me one of those potato chip laden cones, STAT.)

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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Comments

  1. Sandra Covington says

    September 4, 2018 at 5:24 am

    Looks like you were having a wonderful visit! Thank you for sharing the delicious dishes and the great pix. Love you all! Sandy

    Reply
    • Sarah Kline says

      September 5, 2018 at 12:58 pm

      Thanks, Sandy. Having Polly and family here was the perfect way to close up shop on summer. I miss you! XO

      Reply
  2. Linda says

    September 7, 2018 at 11:23 am

    What a wonderful visit. Love your blog! Great pictures.

    Reply
    • Sarah Kline says

      September 7, 2018 at 1:19 pm

      Thanks, Linda. I hope this note finds you well and happy to turn the chapter on the summer season. It’s always hard for me, but next up, apples!

      Reply
  3. Polly Meyer says

    September 10, 2018 at 12:14 am

    Thank you, Klines!
    What an incredible, memorable, delicious trip!
    You were so wonderful to plan such fun adventures and spoil us with treats & yummy meals.
    Being served a latte in bed was amazing… to be followed by homemade biscuits accompanied by peach jam and lemon curd.
    No wonder my clothes don’t fit!
    WE love you like crazy and even if you had served us McD’s all week, we still would have had a blast b/c we were with you,
    Thank you for making it such a special week.
    We love and miss you !

    Reply
    • Sarah Kline says

      September 11, 2018 at 1:55 pm

      Polly! You made our summer with your visit and I’m so grateful you carved out the time to be with us. Miss you mountains, miss your family immeasurably. XO

      Reply
  4. Rachel says

    September 15, 2018 at 11:27 pm

    Just stumbled across your blog in a search for Mama Lil’s Peppers and it was such a nice surprise! My husband and I just moved to Portland a little over 2 weeks ago and I will be exploring all of these suggestions above (especially the Roseway Theater and Nuvrei). Looking forward to following along and trying out recipes!

    Reply
    • Sarah Kline says

      September 18, 2018 at 1:52 pm

      Hello Rachel and welcome to Portland! Where to do you come from and what neighborhood did you move to? Let me know if you have any specific questions about eating out in Portland (olivebred@aol.com)… In the meantime, cheers!

      Reply
  5. karepass says

    October 7, 2018 at 3:12 pm

    Hello, love to read your article and get so much information through your blog and learn new things. You write very well, am amazed by your blogging, you will definitely achieve success.

    Reply
  6. tsepass says

    October 27, 2018 at 10:21 am

    Excellent post. The information you provided is useful to all of us. Keep on posting like this. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Sarah Kline says

      October 29, 2018 at 1:54 pm

      Thanks for the kind words!

      Reply

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