Portland, Oregon. The land of beer and coffee. Oregonians fuel themselves on these liquids alone. While there are literally restaurants on every corner (My head was spinning deciding where to go) food comes in third place.

I visited my friend Risque last weekend. She had recently escaped LA for her previous digs in a colder, wetter climate. I grew up in Seattle but had never been before. Why would I have? Seattle’s better. 😉

After Risque picked me up, we decided on dinner at Navarre, a casual, neighborhoody tapas restaurant. We ordered one of everything, but this lamb stew really stood out.

I remember our table being so small I kept knocking things over onto the ground.

After dinner, we decided to go to a velvet painting art show at a bar (the Aalto Lounge). Typical Portland behavior. We ordered 2 drinks for $5 bucks since Risque knew the bartender. As I waited in line for the bathroom, I saw this sign on the door.

After that bar, we went to another place called the Florida Room, another typical Portlandian divey, casual and random establishment that perhaps was once an upstanding restaurant. I listened to a drunk girl talk about…hmm…food probably.

Which got us thinking. Portland is known for their Food Cart Food Courts. Random yummy food carts that just set up shop in unused parking lots.

As we unncessarily ordered a mini pot pie, a cone of fries and a ham and cheese crepe, we watched the droves of intoxicated teens spilling out of bars, needing sustinance.

Bellies full, we headed to bed. And by bed, I mean a slowly deflating air mattress that rendered my back useless the next morning.

Thankfully my mood was brightened by this!

We headed to Bakery Bar, a casual (I’m gonna stop saying that. Everything in Portland is casual) breakfast spot known for it’s gourmet baked goods, specifically breakfast sandwiches!

It was literally the best breakfast of almost my entire life. That biscuit….oh my….I could have formed a civil union with it.

Now, for coffee.

Portlanders don’t eff around. They treat coffee like some treat wine. The barista at the coffee bar, Barista, literally told me to smell the espresso first, to make sure I smelled all the aromas he told me I should be smelling.

After getting our buzz on, we headed to Powell’s City of Books. The self-proclaimed largest independent bookstore in the world. We were handed a map as we entered! This place takes up an entire city block and is 5 stories high!

Too overwhelmed to actually buy anything and knowing I would never read it anyways (my bed is surrounded by unread books, like angry friends who I never pay attention to) we decided today was a day of festivals!

So, we headed to festival #1 of 3! THE PORTLAND CHEESE FESTIVAL!

It was basically a farmers market with all the booths giving you their cheese. They were literally cutting their cheese AND passing the crackers.

After sufficiently clogging our colons up for the day, we decided we needed lunch. What? Yes, we were still eating….

We headed to a sandwich shop with the BEST name in town! “Meat, Cheese, Bread”

So as not to seem like big ass pigs, we split the Spring Chicken Sandwich. It wasn’t too mayonnaisey, which means it was very light but the chicken fell out of the bread at each bite. I have NO issues eating a sammy with my hands.

STAY TUNED FOR TOMORROW:

When I take you to the Bacon Festival, the Greek Festival and an all night donut shop with sexually offensive donut names.