DINNER AT THE BOATHOUSE

We had a lovely dinner out for our 31st. anniversary.

We had a great little table on the patio with a view of the inlet and mountains. We live in one of the most beautiful places around and watching the sun drop down behind the hillside…fabulous.

31 YEARS AND COUNTING

Happy Anniversary to my BB Guy!

Married for 31 years, together for 38.

We haven’t changed a bit in all that time…except for my apparent loss of my grip on reality!!! LOL. 

We plan a simple dinner out. Last year was the big celebration you can read about here for Part 1 and here for Part 2. 

BREAKFAST AT MOTHER’S

When we were leaving our wonderful hotel, The River Place in  Portland, (read all about that here & here) we asked our valet, Andrew, for his best recommendation for breakfast in the area.

He suggested we head over to Mother’s Bistro & Bar which was quite close to the hotel. He said they would be very busy but we should be okay since it was still quite early.

I have to say he sent us to the best. If I lived down there I think I would eat there every day for every meal…well at least until I ran out of money.

It is a simply FABULOUS restaurant. Do you notice the capital letters there? FABULOUS!!!

It was busy like he said but we only waited abut 15 minutes for a table. They are full of interesting photos and other decorative items so your eyes are busy and you hardly notice the time.

This is the view from our table. The staff here are moving at warp speed. Every single person there is pulling their weight. I have never seen a more efficient group.

One of the things that caught my eye immediately was that you can order a French Press pot of coffee. Those who know me know I like my coffee strong and black and I knew this was going to be awesome. chefscatalog.com

I ordered a basic breakfast of sausages and eggs. I was not sure I would like the sausages since I like mine crispy brown but these were delicious. You could taste the sage in them, so fresh.

My BB Guy ordered a  Stuffed Frittata. We had waited a bit when our server came to the table with a giant cinnamon bun and two plates. She apologized for the wait and said the frittata didn’t come out to their standards and they were starting over. This was perfect in my opinion since we debated buying some cinnamon buns to go since I really wanted to try one. It went perfectly with that delicious coffee.

I don’t know when I have ever been more impressed with service and food. I am sorry I didn’t get pictures of our food but my BB Guy thinks it is weird to take pictures of our food. I would like to say hello to the woman seated at the counter who was taking pictures of her food. I should have asked her for the name of her blog.

We left a very large tip because they really, really work hard to make sure their customers are taken care of. Just like when you go home to Mom’s to eat!

Mother’s Bistro & Bar is at 212 S.W. Stark Street at the corner of 2nd. Avenue, Portland, Oregon.

BARN HOUSE ANTIQUES SALE

Our 3oth anniversary getaway happened to fall on the same weekend as the Barn House Antique sale. I have always wanted to go but it has never worked out before. The timing this year was perfect and as you can see in my 2 previous posts we were very close to where the sale was being held.

My BB Guy likes antiques too so off we went Saturday morning driving from Portland to Battle Creek, Washington. It was about a half hour drive through the lovely countryside.

The sale is held on a farm and has many vendors who bring in their antiques for the sale. Let me tell you it was crowded. REALLY CROWDED. They had a lot of people helping direct traffic for parking. Great job guys. This barn was full to the brim with different vendors and shoppers. So much to see, not big enough elbows to spread out and get good pictures.I don’t know why I didn’t buy these. I guess it was because we had just got there. Silly me. My photos don’t do the displays justice. It always makes me sad to see photos for sale. I wonder about the family members who may not even know the photo exists and who would love to have a copy.Not everything was an antique but the country style was just what I like.I know I would have purchased off of this table too if I wasn’t feeling so claustrophobic.I got to know this fella really well while standing in line to pay for an old, black clock. The line wasn’t moving because some woman was chit-chatting away at the cash desk about whether or not she should come back later to pick something up or take it now. Whether she wanted to shop more or not. What she thought she might do with her purchases once she gets them home. Really? Lined up 2o deep in a hot barn and you are visiting. Let’s all learn our antique sale manners. Keep things moving.The many booths offered little bits of shade here and there. So much to see.  Who is that good looking guy in the mirror? I didn’t see my BB Guy until after I looked at the picture on here.This Ouzo bottle was about 18 inches tall.This window would have come home with me if it hadn’t been broken. It was so beautiful.  This one below made me think of Sue @ Sullivan and Murphy. I think she likes old typewriters. We wandered throughout the displays and tried to cool down as much as possible in the shady spots. It would have been fun to stay for the music and the food they set up but our time was limited. I thoroughly enjoyed myself here and know that we just skimmed the surface of all the wonderful items on display. In the end I only bought an old black Big Ben clock and a really big badger hair paint brush. BB Guy ended up with nothing.

Click here to see The Barn House blog.

ANNIVERSARY TRIP–PART 2

In celebration of our 30th anniversary I planned a surprise weekend away for my BB Guy and myself. You can read Part 1 here.

As I said it was a great weekend and here is some more about our first day. We stayed at the River Place Hotel in Portland, Oregon. I cannot say enough good things about this place. Awesome. This was the view from our room. I had booked the Romance Package…at least I thought I had… but I managed to mess it up online. I was informed when I checked in that I hadn’t actually done so but they set it up for me anyway as they read my note along with my booking regarding this being our 30th anniversary. We had valet parking along with this lovely Cava (champagne)watiting for us in the room. Being such a shorty it was a challenge to get into the bed but it was so comfortable. I slept great and those of you who know me know that I don’t sleep very well at the best of times. Enquiring bloggers want to know so of course I will include a picture of the bathroom! They had great water pressure and that is something we really care about. You should smell the soap they provide. Of course I took it with me. My suitcase now smells wonderful. We found the cutest litte socks hanging in the closet for those who may get chilly feet. I have never seen that before. I love how they matched the robes that were also in the closet. We had driven a long way and were very glad to take advantage of the wine happy hour in the hotel. They hold this outdoors (weather permitting of course) and we had a great view of the water. They served us local wines and some delicious heirloom tomatoes sprinkled with basil, balsamic vinegar and course sea salt. Now that is how a tomato should taste! There were chairs to spread around as more people came in plus more fixed seating facing the water. They also set up for special events here such as weddings. On the Saturday evening they had it filled with elegant tables for someone’s special celebration. It must have been a spectacular evening.
These 2 posts cover our first day and evening at the River Place. Again you can read my first post right here.

THE SECRET IS OUT…OUR ANNIVERSARY TRIP PART 1

A SECRET KEPT SINCE MARCH IS NOW IN THE HISTORY BOOKS.

There are so many things to show you I hope you are not overloaded.
I planned a getaway for our 30th wedding anniversary last March. It was so very hard to keep the secret since the person I was keeping this secret from is the person I tell most everything to. He is the one person who knows me through and through. He is the one that I share my pain and sadness with along with my joys and smiles.
Most of all we share laughter. We have been together for  37 years and married for 30 as of today.
I didn’t tell him where we were going until we were about 10 minutes away from the Canada/US border.
We were going to Portland, Oregon about a 5 hour drive for us. I was hoping everything would turn out okay since it was all on my head.
First stop across the line was for breakfast. We randomly picked a place called Boondocker’s in Marysville, Washington. Click on the name to see more on this restaurant.
What a delight. The owner is so personable and friendly. I wish we had been there for something other than breakfast because they have some incredible sounding curry dishes on the menu along with their regular fare.
I started with a Red Grapefruit Mimosa. Oh what a treat.

They cook with real butter and the eggs tasted so good. Part way through breakfast the owner came walking through with glasses of fresh squeezed orange juice for everyone in the place. Even the fellow waiting for his takeout food.

We carried on to our hotel in downtown Portland. The River Place Hotel is a real top notch hotel. This hotel is right on the river with a promenade all along the water. It is right next to a huge park. The area you see under the trees is a lovely porch where we spent some time enjoying cocktails. Their flowers were stunning as were those in and around the park and streets.

I had no idea when I booked our trip that the Portland Brewer’s Festival was taking place in the park right next to our hotel. How cool was that! We went for a walk over to the beer tents for a sampling. There were hundreds of brewers to choose from but the line-ups were soooo long for every one of them we didn’t stay long. We tried a brew after our own hearts from the brewery below thinking of our darling Maxine. We didn’t enjoy the aftertaste that lingered for a very long time. I think it would have been better with some food. We wandered around choosing the hot sun over the deafening din under the tents. The cold beer lasted until we got back to the hotel.

The main restaurant in the complex is Three Degrees. We had dinner here the first night after we had gone for an appetizer and glass of wine down the street at an outdoor patio bar. We were too hungry to wait for our 7:00 dinner reservation since we never stopped for lunch anywhere. Once we got back to Three Degrees we sat outside on their patio  for our meal.
I had halibut with a creamy mustard sauce, roasted potatoes and carrots. My BB Guy had prawns and pasta. I am not allowed to photograph his food…lol. He says it makes me look like a whacko. The next day when out for breakfast another whacko was taking photos of her food too. I was going to ask her for the name of her blog because all of us bloggers photograph our food. After some more wandering around we ended the evening on that beautiful porch I showed you above. Here is something you may not know about the differences between drinks in the US and Canada. In Canada you can barely taste the alcohol in the drinks you buy. You don’t even know if you are getting what you pay for most times.
In the US you can taste every drop and they are likely twice as strong as the tightly measured cocktails we get. That being said we thoroughly enjoyed our coffee drinks on the porch and had a couple while people watching. We stayed there until after the sun had gone down. I will leave you with this for today! I will have more about our first day soon. 

SUMMERTIME AND THE LIVIN IS EASY…

Summer is finally in full swing in the Vancouver area. Our month of rain has ended and the sun has been shining brightly for a while now.

The gardens are growing out of control and the restaurant patios are filled with patrons. That is something we do very well in Vancouver. We sit and enjoy a beverage on the outdoor patios soaking up the rays and watching the world go by. It is like we know our summer season is limited and we are going to take advantage of every minute of it.

My 3oth anniversary is coming up at the end of this month. I have planned something but it is a secret from my spouse so I won’t go into detail on here….yet.

I started planning this back in March. You can read that post here. People told me I wouldn’t be able to keep the secret until July but I still haven’t spilled the beans.

Now if only I remember to bring my camera along I will have lots of pictures to share.

Shhhhh don’t tell him anything!!!!