Thanksgiving 2010

This posting is long overdue but I'll blog about it anyway.  After all, Thanksgiving was only four months ago.  My husband's brother and his fiance came to visit us last Thanksgiving and we spent a weekend in Portland to watch the Blazers game and took them around Seattle.

Downtown Portland

Downtown Portland was our first stop where we did a self-guided walking tour.  I must say that there were a lot of bronze sculptures and water fountains around the city center.   We caught the free Trimet MAX light rail and stopped at the PSU Portland Farmers Market for a quick bite.  Then walked back to Pioneer Place Mall for some shopping.  It was time to check in to our hotel after all that walking and to eat some more!  Someone recommended us to eat at Saburo's, a little hole in the wall sushi place.  I researched it on yelp and many people said to go early because the wait is long.  Hence, we went at 4:00 pm for dinner.  Mind you, it's fall and the sun sets early so it actually felt like 6:00 pm.  We thought we were right on time for the first seating but as soon as we got there, the dining room was already packed and we had to wait for almost half an hour for our table.  Sheesh!

The sushi rolls were ginormous! No wonder we saw so many people leave with doggie bags.  The seafood quality was not the best but it was worth the value.

Look at the size of the unagi - almost as long as the chopsticks!  Unagi is the Japanese word for freshwater eel for all you sushi virgins.  It's usually cooked in a sweet basting sauce, grilled, and tastes yummy over a hot bowl of rice.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel by the Convention Center to drop off our car and headed over to the Rose Quarter for the game.  Of course, Blazers lost, thanks to us.  We jinx every local team that plays at any major sports event.  We have never seen a victory game where our team wins.

The following day, we went to Helser's for breakfast.  See my previous post and photos of the scrumptious food we consumed there.  Two words:  Scottish eggs.

After breakfast, we went to Woodburn Outlet for more shopping.  The mall was about 30 minutes south of Portland.  It was raining buckets while we were there.  Not so fun when the stores are in an open air mall, but I did score a pair of boots for cheap so I ain't complaining.  Best of all, no tax!

We spotted reindeers while we were shopping!

Our plan was to drive back to Seattle after shopping and stop at 99 Ranch Market to pick up ingredients for hot pot but we were running late.  We decided to grab dinner before heading back so we ate at Ocean City Seafood Restaurant.  A guy from the party ahead of us at Saburo's recommended this place for dim sum.  Well, of course it was night time and they didn't serve dim sum.  All of us were craving for noodle soup and my brother-in-law was not feeling well so we ordered congee.  Looking at the menu, they did not have any noodle soup so we asked if we could order off the menu.  We got an order of wonton noodle soup and beef noodle soup.  There was a good reason why they weren't on the regular menu because it wasn't good.  Maybe, just maybe, I'll go back there to try what they are actually known for next time.

Finally, what is a trip to Portland without stopping at Voodoo Doughnuts?   They now have 2 locations in Portland.  We've already been to the original location so we went to check out the "new" store.  I liked it there - bigger space and they had parking!

We picked out a couple of doughnuts to share.  Like a kid at a candy store, we just pointed to the ones that looked good in the showcase.  That was the last stop in Portland.  Back in Seattle, we took our guests to the usual tourist traps - Pike Place Market, SAM, Space Needle, Safeco Field, International District, UW, Olympic Sculpture Park.

Fresh seafood at Pike Place

Space Needle view at Kerry Park

Now for the food....

Jade Garden was busy as usual on Black Friday so we went across the street to Harbor City for dim sum.  I like it there - less crowd and the food is comparable to their competitor.  In my opinion, the dumplings here in general are huge compared to the food served in Hawaii's dim sum restaurants.

For dinner, we headed over to the eastside for some tongue numbing Szechuan food at Spiced.  For just $5.99 you can pick 3 cold dishes up at the counter next to the cashier.  We got the salt baked chicken, spicy beef and tripe slices, and hot and sour seaweed.  The salt baked chicken was among our favorite.

Cold appetizer dishes

Main courses

Their menu was so huge that it was hard to choose but we managed to narrow it down.  We had the hot and sour soup, Szechuan dan dan noodles, shredded pork in Szechuan hot garlic sauce, and a beef dish with chili sauce and Chinese vegetables.  I can't remember what the last dish was called.  The noodle and shredded pork dishes were excellent.

On the last day of their visit, we went to Serious Pie for lunch.  This is the place to go if you like wood fired pizza but you must have a tolerance for waiting and sharing tables.  They do not take reservations and seating is communal.  We made the mistake of taking my friends there for dinner on our first visit.  We had a party of 8 and ended up waiting for almost 2 hours.  Luckily, my husband and I got there first to hold a space in line.  I quickly called my friends and told them to take their time while my husband and I killed time walking around Bed Bath & Beyond across the street.

The pizzas at Serious Pie are simply delicious.  I prefer thick crusted pizzas but I really like the light crispy thin crust they serve.  The menu only has 6 pizzas to choose from but they are all good.  From top to bottom, we had buffalo mozzarella and san marzano tomatoes, sweet fennel sausage, roasted peppers and provolone, and chanterelles and truffle cheese.

Chinese hot pot

You know how tiring it gets after eating out day in and out and not to mention the havoc it does to your wallet?  So for the bon voyage meal we decided to lay low, kick up our feet, and enjoy a nice dinner at home - just us and the cats. 

Bon Bon nosing around