Oddfellows, a Great Space: Seattle WA

I love when I find a good hang in another city. You know what I mean... the place you return when you revisit because it makes you feel a little bit local. For me, Oddfellows in Seattle is just that place.

So, on a recent trip when I was left me to my own devices for a couple of hours, I immediately headed over. There is much to eat and drink, with a Northwest emphasis on sustainable, local ingredients. But what I love most about this place is the space itself.

A word that comes to mind is expansive. The big, high-ceilinged room is artfully decorated with vintage objects, salvaged light fixtures and fresh flowers. Then there’s the generous floor-to-ceiling windows, which were wide open on this fine late-spring afternoon, breaking down the barrier between diners and passersby, making for a delightful café experience.



It was a slice of heaven to sit at the rustic bar, nibble my marcona almonds and sip my icy pilsner. I can’t wait until next time.

Oddfellows Cafe + Bar
1525 10th Avenue East
(Capitol Hill)
(206) 325-0807
oddfellowscafe.com

All Aboard! Amtrak Cascades Portland to Seattle

Over Memorial Day weekend I took the Amtrak Cascades to Seattle. And although it may sound cliché – train travel really is more romantic than air travel, and in some ways, car travel too (unless you’re on some life-changing road trip with tons of tunes on your iPod). 

This whole train thing was pretty easy and fun. I purchased my ticket online in advance. ($85 round trip  – about the same as the gas now that we’re at $4.00 a gallon) and parked in the nearby Station Smart Park (two nights cost me $14.00 dollars). I took my laptop and logged into Amtrak’s wi-fi – which works OK if you keep your internet activities simple.

The retro hit I got from the railway was also cool. Hurrying into the historic Union Station, greeting the clerks in their hip little caps, the hustle-bustle to board. Why, even slipping your ticket into the nifty little slot above your seat has a charming vintage feel.

Plus, I don't feel like I'm going to die on a train. They just seem more friendly and approachable than planes. For some reason, a head-on collision with another train seems less likely than plunging into a death spiral at 30,000 feet.

Really, the only tough part was that, since it was a holiday weekend, the dining car was crowded on the way back. After standing in a line that wasn't moving, and while straddling two cars, motion sickness set in. So, fearing I might toss my cookies,  I returned to my seat empty handed. Next time, I'll remember to bring my own snacks.

And You Can Meet the Darndest People

On the way up to Seattle, I sat next to a musician/writer by the name of John Roderick, a witty, intelligent fellow on his way back from performing a reading at Back Fence PDX. During the ride, Mr. Roderick was nice enough to introduce me to Klout scores. So, in honor of that, I’ll mention his band’s site, (The Long Winters) and his Seattle Weekly column. (Although this guy’s Klout score probably doesn’t need much help from me.)

The highlight of our chat was when Mr. Roderick described the Seattle Public Library designed by Rem Koolhaas as “a wayward space station on a planet that nobody likes, and that nobody wants to trade with.”

This guy is funny. I know I’ll be at his reading next time he takes the train to town.

Salt and Straw: Fancy Farm-to-Cone Ice Cream

Getting the scoop at Salt and Straw 

Just when I thought Portland couldn’t get climb the foodie ladder much higher, I caught wind of Salt and Straw, a self-described farm-to-cone purveyor of high quality ice cream, made from the holy trinity of “local, sustainable and organic” ingredients.

The flavor names sound like they’re plucked from a high-end bistro — take Honey Lemon Ricotta and Arbequina Olive Oil for example. This elevated tone around something as simple as ice cream made made me ask: Is Salt and Straw a tad too Portlandia for its own good? But after indulging in the Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache, I had my answer. Indeed, this ice cream is a culinary achievement.

The night I went, there was a line out the door - and that was a weeknight. It wasn’t just adults enjoying the stuff. There were plenty of little kids in the industrial-chic surroundings slurping down high-end waffle cones at $3.75 a pop. And I mean little kids – like under six years old. Which made me hearken back to my own childhood, when a night out for ice cream meant a trip to Baskin-Robbins, or maybe Tastee Freez for a chocolate dip. I also couldn’t help but think that, if at age four, you acquire a taste for Honey Balsamic Strawberry with Cracked Pepper ice cream, a Drumstick from the Good Humor truck might not cut it anymore.

Lining up for artisan ice cream 

But enough nostalgic musings on childhood and the joys of crappy ice cream loaded with artificial ingredients. Let’s get back to the good stuff. Did I mention they also offer flights? Yes, that’s right — you can now get a flight of ice cream. Ain't life grand?

Apparently, Oprah likes the stuff too. And it doesn’t get much better than that.

Salt and Straw
2035 NE Alberta Street
Portland, OR 97211‬
saltandstraw.com

Tornado Tuesday: Dallas TX

This week’s winner of the Venture Out Award goes to my sister, Lisa, who attended a trade show in Dallas last Tuesday. She went there to beat the bushes for new business for Beehive, a marketing agency she runs with her husband, Greg. To say that a typical business trip ballooned into something else is an understatement. As it turns out, this was not just another day walking the show floor. I knew that when Lisa gave me a mid-day ring at work. The conversation went like this:

Laurie: “What’s up?”

Lisa: “I’m on the bottom floor of the Dallas Convention Center with about 40,000 people. They made us come down here. We’re surrounded by tornadoes”.

Laurie: “Uh… whoa… what?”

Lisa: “Oh, wait – they’re giving us instructions …they’re telling us to get away from the windows. I gotta go.”

CLICK.

Trying my best to suppress visions of Hurricane Katrina and the Superdome, I logged onto weather.com and, indeed, the Dallas/Ft. Worth area was blanketed with little red dots. Each one represented a storm cell, and all together they looked like an angry army of red ants marching towards Dallas. The map was accompanied by a "DANGEROUS WEATHER WARNING" that said “LIFE THREATENING SITUATION, SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY”.

Uh …OK.

Later, once I knew everything turned out all right, I shot her an email. Being her bratty younger sister, I couldn’t help but ask if she saw Dorothy or Toto. (And, by the way, where the hell was Glenda the Good Witch of the North when you needed her?)

Here’s her email reply, an eyewitness report from the depths of the Dallas Convention Center:
---
It’s very interesting to see 40,000 people herded down escalators. They were WAY serious about having us get away from the front windows and into the bowels of the hallways where the private meeting rooms are.

I didn’t see Toto - but I did see everyone watching the weather channel on their phones, and the convention center was a dot in the middle of the screen. And there was one storm cell right to the East maybe a couple of miles, and also to the West, which is where the storms come from as they move Northeast. There was – no lie – about a hundred miles of red storm cells… and at that point I knew we were pretty much on the path of something.

And then they had the weather channel on a big screen TV, where it showed 18 wheelers being tossed around and I thought "no big deal" ...UNTIL they showed a long shot of one of the twisters, from probably 2 miles away… and it was friggin' HUGE........not one of those half mile wide jobs, but the next step down.

Anyway… I think i'll facebook this. : D
---
Beehive
beehiveagency.com
310-548-1516

Dallas Convention Center
dallasconventioncenter.com

Blown Away: Lincoln City OR

On a recent trip to Salishan Resort, my friend and I went into nearby Lincoln City where we wandered into the Jennifer Sears Glass Art Studio.

It's an interesting place where you can blow your own glass objects, including simpler pieces like floats and paperweights, and more elaborate items like sea creatures and bowls. It looked like fun, but at $65 for a float (the entry-level piece) we decided to observe rather than participate.

There was more glass action across the street at Volta Gallery, where the artists in residence from the Jennifer Sears studio sell their creations. I was most intrigued by a glass hammerhead shark, which was in striking contrast to the cuter, more colorful pieces in the gallery. I thought it was just plain cool – although I'm not sure I'd want it staring at me at home. It did, however, give a whole new meaning to the term "glassy-eyed."

Jennifer Sears Glass Art Studio
4821 SW HWY 101
Lincoln City, OR 97367
jennifersearsglassart.com

Volta Gallery
4830 SE Highway 101
Lincoln City, OR 97367
541-996-7600

Get Your Groupon: Salishan Resort, Gleneden Beach OR

Remember when “impulse buy” meant you actually had to walk into a store? Now, thanks to sites like Groupon, enticing retail-therapy offers get dumped into your email box daily. Call me a sucker, but an e-coupon for a $129 one-night stay at Salishan popped up and I bit. The next day I had a vague sense of buyers remorse, as I thought, “Hmmm … Salishan – isn’t that some kind of corporate retreat/spa/golf kind of place?” But too late. I had clicked.

So, in late February, a friend and I headed out to the Land of Salishan, coupon in hand. Not really knowing what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised that the resort was not nearly as slick as I anticipated. It's more like where Mid-Century-Modern meets macramé. There’s the discreet '60s entrance, and room décor dominated by '70s earth tones. As described on their website, Salishan is “entirely unique from today’s minimalist urban design.” I’ll say!

Since it was the off-season, and a wet and windy winter storm raged, no nature walks to the beach this time. We did, however, partake of the dry sauna and the pool.

Another highlight was dinner in The Attic bar. Not so much the food (which was mediocre at best) but the entertainment. That evening, the Beth Willis Rock Duo performed and they fit right into the Salishan groove. They covered classic rock hits from the '60s to the '90s, and their playlist felt dated in the same comfortable way as the resort. I confess – it was fun to bob my head along to familiar tunes from back in the day. Plus, that Beth can really belt it!

Now, is Salishan the hippest place to stay on the Oregon Coast? Probably not. (And I’m not sure where that place is – and it’s probably not available through Groupon.) But in the end, I did come to appreciate it, mainly because the original owners seemed on the forefront of the “eco lodge” movement. (And for 1965, that was pretty far ahead of its time.)

Plus, this '60s/'70s throwback resort does manage to reflect the quirky, low-key, natural beauty of the Oregon Coast.

Salishan Spa & Golf Resort‎
U.S. 101
Gleneden Beach, OR 97388
salishan.com‎

Donut Destination: Sandy OR

Silly me. When I first moved to the Pacific Northwest, I used to blow right through Sandy on my way up to Mt. Hood. That is until one trip my ski buddy asked, “Do you mind if we stop at Joe’s Donuts?” I could tell by her polite-yet-firm tone that this was a rhetorical question, and that stopping at Joe’s was definitely on the agenda.

Since that day, it’s rare that I drive through Sandy without hitting this scruffy red-and-white checkerboard shop. On winter weekend mornings, there’s often a line of skiers and snowboarders out the door. However, the line moves quickly, and you can be back on your way in about 15 minutes.

Ok, so what is it about these goodies that make people hell-bent on hitting the slopes actually pull over? I’m not quite sure, but I’ll offer this: Joe’s Donuts has taken straightforward favorites like maple bars, old-fashioneds, and apple fritters to the next level. Their versions of these classics do seem lighter and more flavorful. Even the icing is tastier. All this adds up to a superior donut-eating experience. The folks at Joe's sum it up best on their website, where they refer to themselves as a “nationally acclaimed donut paradise.”

Funny, it wouldn’t have occurred to me to put the word “donut” and “paradise” in the same sentence. But in this case, it seems to work.

Joe's Donuts
39230 Pioneer Blvd
Sandy, OR 97055
(503) 668-7215