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Archives for October 2008

Happy Halloween: 2008 Blazers home opener tonight

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Blazers LogoThe Blazers take on the San Antonio Spurs tonight in the 2008 home opener at the Rose Garden.

As everyone knows, Greg Oden sprained his foot in the season opener in LA and will be resting and healing for the next several weeks. Having watched this team come together last year I am not too concerned; we’ll miss James Jones’ sweet shot (though he’s out with an injury for three months) but this year’s team is stronger than last year’s Oden-less team with the addition of two Europeans, Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum.

My (invariably overly optimistic) predictions for tonight’s game:

  • Travis Outlaw will hit the game winner
  • Rudy Fernandez will flirt with his first NBA triple-double
  • Roy will shoot over 60% on the night

I will be attending the game in lieu of celebrating Halloween. Look for me on TV; I’ll be the one in red!

Update 11/1

So I was a little off on my predictions.

Travis Outlaw did take the last shot for the Blazers, and the shot would have likely iced the victory since we were up 1 at the time, but he did not make it. However, we won the game, which prediction was implicit in my Travis Outlaw predictions, so I give myself partial credit.

Rudy Fernandez flirted with a double-double (6 points and a team leading 8 rebounds), but 0 assists.

Roy shot 55.5% (10 for 18) on the night. Close!

October 30: Watch Zidell launch newest barge

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Zidell Marine Corporation is launching its newest barge Thursday at 11:30am.  From Southwaterfront.com:

Zidell has been working hard – night and day – preparing their most recent barge for launch.  And we have just learned when they will be launching this barge….

When: Thursday October 30th – 11:30am – 12:30pm

Where: Zidell Marine Corp – South Waterfront

Be sure to come by and check this out – it only happens once a year and it’s pretty spectacular to see the barge slip into the water for the first time.

Zidell is not letting anyone on the premises. But you can see it from the other side of the river, Ross Island Bridge, or from the large buildings in South Waterfront.

Hat tip to Heather at Mile73.com!

The Daveknows Portland Trailblazers 2008-2009 guide

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7:30pm at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Portland Trailblazers begin the 2008-2009 season against last year’s Western Conference Champions, the Los Angeles Lakers.

With the expectations heaped onto this young Trailblazer team, it’s no surprise to see fans jumping back (or for the first time) onto the bandwagon. To keep up with the team, these blogs are required reading:

Blazers Blog

Blazer’s Edge

Both rich with original content, these blogs also link to interviews, videos, articles, and blogs around the world if the subject matter is directly or tangentially about the Blazers.

As a Portland blogger and season ticket holder, I too will occasionally blog about the Blazers this season . . . and post season?

Last year I predicted, accurately, that the Blazers would go 41-41 on the season (though that was 11 games into the season with the Blazers a perfect 4-0 at home and a perfectly awful 0-7 on the road).

This year I will make my prediction before the team starts playing: 49-33.

Gourmet magazine fawns all over Portland

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Portland’s culinary scene is lauded in the November issue of Gourmet magazine.

Some of the chefs and restaurateurs interviewed for the article include Ten-01‘s Jack Yoss, Daniel Mondok of Sel Gris, Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon, and Beast‘s Naomi Pomeroy.

Most hail from elsewhere, coming to Portland for its communal spirit — and its ingredients, which flood in fresh each season from the bookend fecundities of the Willamette Valley and the Pacific Ocean. There’s a real sense that Portland today is to the culinary arts what Paris was to the visual arts a hundred years ago.

How’s that for a money quote? Portland today is to the culinary arts what Paris was to the visual arts a hundred years ago. Wow.

A few obvious trends are noted:

  • a love of meat, for instance, notably pig (every part of it): pork-belly starters, pickled pigs’ ears, and bacon everywhere, even candied in deserts
  • a kind of Euro-Pacific farm cooking . . . full-cream spoon breads, flaky brioches, lard piecrusts, gravy galore, and lots and lots of thick-crusted fried chicken
  • the burgeoning local spirits scene
  • passionate in-city purveyors, notably Ken’s Artisan Bakery and Steve’s Cheese

Each of the restaurants mentioned above is profiled, with shorter pieces on Screen Door, The Country Cat Dinnerhouse & Bar, Toro Bravo, Lovely Hula Hands, Pok Pok, and Lucier.  Blue Hour, the Heathman, Higgins, Paley’s Place, and Saucebox get a sidebar mention too.

The article is not online yet. I’m not sure what Gourmet’s schedule is for posting new articles from the magazine.