My beautiful friend Tara invited me to photograph her newest family member’s birth day. For me, words can’t really describe an event like this. Tara was magical and strong. Her new baby boy is full of possibility.
You can see more photos on my facebook page here. (SFW)
I grew up with a mother who loved antiques. For a time, she even ran a large Antique Warehouse on Apache and McClintock in Tempe, Arizona called Cheap Antiques. It was huge: one of those buildings filled with different vendors and rooms. It was unlike any other I’ve been in since though. The back section of the warehouse was a workspace for certain employees to refurnish the some antiques. I used to watch in awe as they dipped heavy pieces into an industrial sized tub to remove all the varnish. It smelled like stripper, oil, and wood shavings back there. I loved it.
It’s been a long time since then; my mother has long since changed careers, but I did inherit a couple of large chairs that wouldn’t quite fit into her house the way she wanted. I lugged them all the way up here to Portland. (Thanks David! I know they were heavy!)
One of the chairs in particular has always been ugly. The fabric on it, I just don’t even know how to describe it. Colorful?
I have provided evidence with a “vintage” photo of me and my cat taking a nap on it. As you can tell, it is comfortable. Definitely worth saving. MAKEOVER MONTAGE! (Just kidding, although if I already had photos of the after…sorry you will have to wait. JUST.LIKE.ME.
I took it to my local reupholster-er. These folks are legit. Alexander Baghdanov is the third generation in his family to practice this business. His wife Lyubov runs the front desk, and his children work in the shop as well. They have beautiful accents and are wonderfully friendly.
Part of what they do is give the furniture a little love. I look forward to seeing how they salvage what my mother’s pug pack did to this arm.
Alexander Bagdanov
There are A MILLION FABRIC SAMPLES. It was so hard to decide. But I finally did. EEEEEEEE!
I hope to have the “after” photos in another week or so!
I received a call from a good friend; his cousin wanted to get married the coming weekend-could I shoot the ceremony? Of course! It was a small gathering, and their most special guests were their family of dogs. (I am sure some of you can relate!)
We met in one of the parks in Sellwood. They wanted to be surrounded by nature, so we had the ceremony near a small pond surrounded by trees. After, the dogs ran free near the river and they celebrated with (so Portland!) Voodoo Doughnuts!
Congrats to you both! Thanks for letting me be part of your big (little) day!
There’s a little workshop in my neighborhood of Sellwood called Camamu Soap.
It smells amazing-and it should! They named it after a little piece of paradise in Brazil-a small port town inside an amazing mangrove edged bay. When you first walk in, you are actually standing in their workspace. If you are lucky, they’ll be pouring or cutting the soap into bars. I visited when they were doing just that! They take the soap out of the wooden molds and cut them into pieces with wires.
Sarah is pushing the soap through the wires here in the above photo.
After they cut them into bars, they go into a cool closet for about a month to cure.
You might think that handmade soap is just for little old ladies, but I was surprised at all the products they had. The soaps had all different uses-some were gritty for gardeners, but I could see mechanics and cooks using it too. They had shaving soaps, soaps for skin conditions, and gentle soaps for babies. They even had dirty dog soap!
I wish you could smell these hand poured soaps. So many different combinations! All made with essential oils, hand foraged herbs, and quality oils! (I’m hoping that Lori will let me follow along on one of her herb picking walks.)
They make more than just bar soap too! They sell some gorgeous Turkish towels-they are a smooth cotton, much different than the type of towel one normally finds in a bathroom. I think I may splurge on one.
Lori is creating an oil here that she infused with herbs. If I recall, it’s a hair oil-like a leave-in conditioner or for bearding softening. Mmmmm! Smelled lovely!
They also make lotions, toners, creams, and salves.
I asked Lori a few questions about how the business came to be and the inspiration behind it:
”I started the company 13 years ago after apprenticing as a cheesemaker on a biodynamic farm in the UK. I’d always been interested in both cheese-making and soap-making…ended up back in Portland without farm or sheep/goat’s/cows and so started making soap instead. I had no particular intention of starting a business but loved the process and the alchemy of it, the creativity and artistry involved and couldn’t stop making more and more batches. I worked for years out of my home until 2006 when the business had grown to the point that it could support a storefront/fabrication area. I have always loved the idea of having what we do be visible and the process accessible.
I have created most of the recipes. Sarah created the chakra soap line.
We source our ingredients and packaging supplies as locally as we can. The bulk of our base ingredients (fixed and essential oils) come from three local businesses. Our organic culinary and botanical ingredients come from a company in California. Items in our retail section are also primarily from other local artisanal businesses (Wild Carrot Herbals, Portland Bee Balm, Big Dipper Wax Works, Cusp Natural Products, etc.)”
These little buddies are magical. Just make them paleo food eater or not. They are the perfect combination of sweet, salty, tangy and bacon. Make them for yourself at home (they taste delicious even cold), or prepare them for a party. Although I don’t know how to share something this delicious. It’s difficult, but some of you are more generous than I. You could also make this dairy free by stuffing the dates with an almond or something else, but I recommend the goat cheese if you would prefer to reach nirvana.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees WITH THE BROILER PAN IN IT. That way, when you put the bacon on the hot pan, it’s less likely to stick and pull your precious bacon away with it.
Count your dates.
Cut your bacon in half. (I had ginormous dates, so I did full pieces of bacon for the pictures.) Now, you either have more pieces of dates or bacon. Whichever one you have less of, that’s how many you can make. I am assuming here that you have about eighteen pieces of bacon after cutting them in half. One of the small goat cheeses should do you, but you should always buy the larger one because GOAT CHEESE.
Soak eighteen plus extra toothpicks in a little bowl of water (a couple extra in case any of your toothpicks are janky and break)
Prep those dates-they may have pits if you didn’t pay attention and buy the de-pitted kind. Take the pits out, remove any stems, and use a knife to slice them open from top to bottom.
Then, shove some goat cheese inside with a butter knife. Put in as much as you want. It’s okay if it shows out the side. Stuff them all before wrapping them in bacon. (Trust me, it’s easier and reduces the risk of cross contamination.
(At this point, you could eat these or bring these to a vegetarian party. Or serve up extra dates and goat cheese while waiting for the bacon ones.)
Then, wrap each one with bacon and secure with a toothpick. Do them all, and by this time, the oven and pan should be ready!
Place them all onto the broiler pan (they should sizzle! Be careful!) Give them a little room-no touching! Put them into the oven and turn them once after about 10-15 minutes. They should be done after 20-25 minutes, BUT IT DEPENDS ON THE SIZE OF YOURS! And also your bacon crispy preference. The dates and goat cheese do not need to cook, so the only thing you have to worry about is the bacon.
Enjoy!
I read a lot of blogs about paleo/primal/caveman/whatever-you-want-to-call-it eating. THERE ARE SO MANY. One of my very favorites is The Paleo Mom. She’s someone who came to paleo eating because of a lot of health issues. Her writing comes with a scientific perspective; she has a PhD in Medical Biophysics. You can read more about her journey here and here and here. (That last link has some super inspirational before and after photos!)
She shares some great recipes and this is by far my favorite: Perfect Paleo Pancakes
They are super simple, only six ingredients: green plantains, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla, salt, and baking soda. You could always add extra spices like cinnamon or nutmeg. I topped mine with kerrygold butter and maple syrup. They really hit the spot when you are craving something special. I especially love how easy they are to make and flip. The texture is perfect and they keep well in the fridge for second breakfast.
Get out all your ingredients. Heat your pan with some coconut oil. Then peel and rough chop two green plantains. Throw them in the food pro with four eggs, two teaspoons of vanilla, three tablespoons of coconut oil (I’ve also used coconut butter here), a half teaspoon of baking soda, and a pinch of salt. Wazz it up until the plantains are all chopped up.
Then spoon it into the pan! The pancakes bubble a little and crisp up around the edges perfectly. Flip it! Cook the other side! Then slather them up with whatever paleo or mostly paleo ingredients you believe in! My vote is butter and maple syrup for the classic angle, but you could serve and eat with fruit or nut butters if you are into that sort of thing. I’d imagine that these pancakes (without the added vanilla) would be great as a bread substitute as well, although The Paleo Mom has some recipes for that too.
Last week, David and I decided we needed to celebrate so we searched for happy hours on Yelp and we choose The Sapphire Hotel based on the reviews and the menu. Their website claims long roots into the history of Alberta Street:
The Sapphire Hotel was originally a turn of the century seedy hotel in Portland, Oregon inhabited by sailors, travelers and ladies of the night. They rented rooms by the week, night or by the hour and spent long days and evenings in the lobby drinking, laughing, eating, talking and kissing.
Aside from entertaining one another you could count on the presence of a mystic, traveling musician or a handful of gypsies to lend some fun and adventure to your night. As the years went by, the area around the hotel grew more affluent and the ladies of the night took jobs as shop girls along the avenue. The artists began to sell their work at the galleries that cropped up along the Avenue and the rooms became upscale apartments leased to the people in the local community.
There’s a long list of signature cocktails, wine and beer followed by a shorter list of tasty food.
I ordered the hour hour special marionberry margarita and (I think) David got the Common-Law Girlfriend.
I couldn’t resist ordering a couple happy hour appetizers in addition to the food. We chose pickled veggies and nuts & olives.
Dinner was a seared tuna nicoise salad and a meze platter. Two thumbs up! Give them a try for some ambience and delicious drinks and food!
Okay seriously. This place is so good! I heard about it through someone on Instagram (can’t remember who), and I rode my bike up Milwaukee to visit it. It’s right by Bushwacker’s Cider.
They juice hundred’s of pounds of vegetables, fruit, and nuts every day. They specialize is juice fasts-you can actually have them deliver to your house or work. I just happen to like fresh juice and had a craving for a thick nut milk. So I picked out The Ohm. It was perfect. Exactly what I wanted: hazelnuts, dates, cinnamon, and filtered water.
If you are undecided, they have no problem opening up bottles for you to sample the flavors. Next time, I am getting the lemon, ginger, honey one.
They even have these vintage inspired postcards -FOR FREE! I took one or six.
Spent time with some of my best friends on Saint Patrick’s Day watching them get tattoos at Martian Art’s Tattoo Studio on Hawthorne Street. The lighting in the shop was lovely, and I managed to get some dramatic shots. (See the full set on flickr)
There’s so many great things about our new neighborhood. I’ve mentioned the many coffee shops, and here is a cappuccino from one called The Ugly Mug. They brew Stumptown coffee which is a local roaster.
This shop has a high shelf filled with a lot of mugs. (ha!) They serve a handful of pastries, coffee and espresso, and even beer and wine. They’ve got games and books and the rumour is that you can bring your dog inside although I haven’t witnessed that yet.
I’ve come in today to start working on some photos that need to be edited. It’s been a whirlwind of unpacking, planting, meeting new people, job hunting, and going for walks. David and I are both so amazed by all the lush greenery and the budding blooms of spring. It’s incredible. You can find more photos of our journey on our instagram feeds here or here.