a full house

May 26th, 2008Tags: , , , , , ,
| beauty, beer, farmers market, friends, fun, good stuff, life, oregon coast, portland | chris | 0 comments


last monday our good friends gabriel & jaclyn arrived in portland. they are in the middle of a grand road trip to alaska and are stopping in portland via the “long route.” first they stopped in denver to stay with a friend, then los angeles to go sailing for a few days with a friend, and now here in portland for the last week. they leave today to finish the last leg of their trip through british columbia and on into the great frontier. gabriel will be a guide in the alaskan backcountry while jaclyn nanny’s for a family for the summer.
on friday night, our good friends ren & rebecca flew in from iowa city. just before that, however, our old buddy pete found out the gang was going to be in town, so he jumped a train down from seattle. so friday night we went to bailey’s taproom for a tasty brew, hit up the farmers market saturday morning, then a hike in the sun up by the rose and japanese gardens. (we also cracked open my homebrew, but that post will be coming later) yesterday we rented a van, piled in in road trip fashion and hit the coast. after spending time at haystack rock in cannon beach, looking at the abundance of life in such a small area, we walked through town in search for a kite. then we drove further down the coast to find the right spot to put some wind under our stringed rainbows.
now, pete has boarded his train and is safely home, gabriel and jaclyn will be packing up and heading out this morning, and ren and rebecca will be here until this friday for some more portland shenanigans.
(p.s. if you didn’t put it together, that is 7 people in our 550 sq. ft. apartment. :) )

visitors

December 14th, 2007Tags: ,
| family, farmers market, life, oregon coast, portland, school | chris | 2 comments

last week we had our first visitors(not including terra and pete, who helped move us out here). deeanns parents came out for about 6 days to see our new home.

we showed them around town, ate at a few local places including bleu, the restaurant ran by my school, went to the coast, visited multnomah falls, and shopped the farmers market. we had a great time. it was nice to finally have some family come and see how we are and get a glimpse into life in portland. thankfully the weather cooperated most of the time, slight rains here and there, but absolutely beautiful for the farmers market and our trip out to multnomah falls.

i also had a chance to do some cooking for them. the homemade pizza and braised lamb shanks turned out beautifully. i could go on about the food, but i’ll spare you the boredom.(maybe i should start a food blog. i find myself wanting to talk more and more about it. :) )

we had a great time with them in town and it was so good to see them. now we’re looking forward to my parents coming out the first week of january and whoever else(hint hint) that wants to come out and visit us!

flickr

a little update

November 7th, 2007Tags: , , ,
| bike, dogs, farmers market, food, fun, good stuff, mmmmmmm, movies, portland, single speed | chris | 0 comments

things in portland are moving right along. deeann has settled well into work. it doesn’t seem to be too stressful at this point and the contract at this VA hospital is really going well. i had orientation last saturday and we went to blue night at the school on monday. it was so delicious! a few of the chefs that are graduating get to cook and serve the incoming students. here’s the menu: salad: beets, mache lettuce and horseradish vinaigrette with manchego cheese. appetizer: grilled shrimp on saffron risotto cake and basil cream sauce. entree: sauteed game hen on creamed corn with parsley pesto and chanterelle mushrooms. dessert: fresh pumpkin souffle with cinnamon creme anglaise.

needless to say it was unbelievable and i can’t wait for class to start.

other than that, we’ve been on a few hikes around the parks here. i also got the bike out for the first time this week. i can’t tell you how much fun it is to ride in a city that embraces cyclists. it was a good time.

to keep us busy we have been watching a couple movies, meeting neighbors dogs, eating our way through some of the local restaurants — not to mention farmers market, and playing lots of scrabble. good times. it’s also been quite nice to keep in touch with many friends and family through video chat online. if you have skype or AOL let me know and you too can enjoy the fun! (or just download either of them!!)

so check out some of the new photos and toss us an email. we’d love to hear from you! (cgrebner@gmail.com)

another beautiful weekend

October 28th, 2007Tags: , , , , ,
| autumn, beauty, farmers market, food, good food, just stuff | chris | 0 comments

Forest Park
we got a few extra hours of sleep friday, which was needed. since the weather was nice we decided to check out forest park, a local hiking park. it is only about 6 miles from downtown and provides a semi scenic drive and beautiful wooded surroundings. it was a nice little hike. friday night we went out to eat at aura, a hipsters lounge and restaurant. deeann had the grilled salmon with steamed veggies and new potatoes. on the side was a marionberry-port wine reduction that was killer. yum. i had a creole rice dish that had all sorts of seafood, along with sausage and sauteed veggies. to drink, deeann had some crazy delicious orange citrus mixer. i had the fish tale organic amber ale which is a medium-bodied beer. with a gentle sweet character, it had a zesty flavor without a bite. very yum.

saturday we did not sleep in. we got up and drove down to the portland rei store which was having a garage sale. we got there at 8:30am and the line was already around the block twice. we didn’t get inside until about 11:45. afterwards we hurried our way home to make it to the farmers market just in time. rushed through to get what we needed(one of which was ground buffalo to make a screaming good chili for tonight) and went up and unloaded everything. i cut up a bunch of fruit(apples and pears are deliciously in season) and mixed up a quick sangria to set for the afternoon. then we decided to go to whole foods to pick up what we weren’t able to get at farmers market. on our way home, on the streetcar, i forgot i left my coffee mug on a table back at whole foods. get back to the apartment, unload(again) and make our way back to whole foods. thankfully they held on to it for me. whew. by the time we got home it was 7:00 and we were beat. poured up some sangria and plopped down to watch little miss sunshine. i had seen it but deeann hadn’t. i recommend it.

today, we got up and went to imago dei. good ‘ole time with them. made a quick run(if there is such a thing) to best buy and ikea, and now just sitting here waiting for the buffalo bill chili to finish so i can send deeann to work with a full happy tummy. i think i might go for an evening run before i chow on my chili.

all in all, it was a good weekend. beautiful fall weather. now we have to start gearing up for the week.

our new home

October 21st, 2007Tags: , , , , ,
| family, farmers market, fun, good food, life, moving, portland, road trip | chris | 1 comment

we are finally settled in(for the most part) to our new apartment. over the past few days of travel, back and forth from furniture stores, and just learning the city and public transit, we have really been enjoying our new home. many things are unfamiliar still but more and more we are getting used to the flow of our new lives.

yesterday was the farmers market, which is right outside our front door. we spent the morning squezing and smelling a lot of the local produce. everything was so bright and fresh, just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

today terra and pete will be heading out to take the long way back to iowa city. i think they’re going up through seattle, then across all the way to mineapolis, then down to iowa city. probably another three day drive. after they leave, deeann and i are going to finish bed shopping and go visit deeann’s hospital. she starts work tomorrow. (yikes)

here are some pictures from the city and farmers market. enjoy.