We made it to the NW Lucky Lab (1945 NW Quimby) Saturday afternoon to take in a bit of the Cheers to Belgian Beers. I say a bit because we were only there for about an hour (we had to get to the Timbers game!), long enough to try five beers and to witness the [...]

UPDATE: 2010 Wurstfest is February 12-14 Giant Spaten banners fluttered in the breeze outside the Oktoberfest Community Building (500 S Wilco Hwy) in Mount Angel Saturday afternoon. The melodic aspirations of an amplified accordion greeted us as we stepped from the car. The scent of sausage and sauerkraut beckoned. In the past if you found [...]

As a commenter pointed out recently, it is believed Portland was built on an ancient unicorn burial ground. Next time you, a Portlander, are interviewed by a reporter from afar, throw that fantastic fact into the conversation, and act as if you believe it. The goal is that someday we’ll be reading in the New [...]

I have a new favorite Trailblazer blog: El Blog de Rudy (not to be confused with el blog de rudy at ADN.es, the newspaper with a Sexo section!) The blog’s first post in December was merely the (bad) translation into English of a post from Rudy’s Spanish language blog. The Spanish post, ¡Greg Oden es [...]

Saturday morning found us at PSU’s Smith Center for the 24th annual ScanFair, celebrating the sight, sounds, tastes and traditions of a Scandinavian Christmas. The event raises funds for PSU Nordic language classes and the Scandinavian Heritage Foundation, the mission of which is to preserve, communicate and celebrate Scandinavian heritage and culture. Events like the [...]

Co-piloting is hard. I was craving a beer. Also homemade sausage. Lo and behold in Astoria, Oregon there’s a brewery and attached pub that makes its own sausages! At Fort George Brewery and Public House I ordered a pint of the excellent Cavatica Stout. Heather partook of a Dakota Fanning, a concoction containing cranberry juice [...]

The highlight of our visit to New Deal Distillery open house Saturday was tasting the yet-to-be-released chocolate vodka.  From what we gathered it will be called Mud Puddle, and will be available in spring.  The warm buttery elixir was poured from a masking tape labeled bottle into clear plastic sampling thimbles. It smells of cocoa [...]

Behind the Goose Hollow Inn, about a quarter of the way up the steepish slope of SW 19th, one can find the best corned beef with reuben sauce breakfast sandwich in town, at the Fehrenbacher Hof Coffee House (1125 SW 19th). Fehrenbacher Hof also makes available the typical assortment of pastries, and prepares above average [...]

Year of the Fish is a modern adaptation of the Cinderella story set in New York City’s Chinatown. Cinderella is young émigré Ye Xian. She has come to America seeking a job so she can send money back to her sick father in China. Mrs. Su, a distant relative, takes her in with the promise [...]

Just below the masthead on the Polish Festival website are the words: the best kept secret of Portland, Oregon. Well, the secret is out.