Beach Birthday Week Dining Schedule

Our family is big into food, in particular eating as a group can make a meal that much better. So in preparation of a week at the beach we decided each of us would be responsible for one full day of meals. Those collective meals are definitely one of my favorite memories of the week. We chose the first day to be our day because we wanted to get it out of the way and be able to relax the rest of the week. All the meals were casual, relaxing, memorable, comfortably familiar and focused on all of Dad's favorite foods. Our breakfast was one of Dad's favorites - burritos!

We ended up eating breakfast every morning later than we normally do, because we were on vacation and we could! So we didn't eat lunch once that week, but we never missed a dinner! For our dinner we prepared another one of Dad's favorites - burgers! We had a build your own burger bar with different kinds of cheese, bacon, guacamole, roasted pineapple (which were the cause of Mike's seared eyelashes!), roasted hatch chilis, sauteed mushrooms and all the fixings (including various pickled items in case plain old pickles didn't cut it for you).

The next day it was Tri/Justin's turn, which started with a traditional breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheese, roasted potatoes and english muffins. For dinner we had terrific grilled fish tacos, made with local ling cod. Delicious!

We ate a lot of eggs on this vacation, almost everyday for breakfast. So the following morning, which was declared a free day to do whatever you wanted, we started our days with the leftovers from the previous two egg breakfasts.

We planned to have one day to ourselves smack dab in the middle of the week, which was great. And the following morning we were greeted with, you guessed it, more eggs in the form of an omelet station.

And delicious Bloody Marys.

For dinner that night we were treated to a paprika chicken meal. Served with olives underneath the crispy chicken skin, a cheesy broccoli mac & cheese and a raw zucchini salad. This was really delicious also.

Now by this time I'm sure you're wondering is this man is Asian? He sure looks it. Yes and he loves new foods, but by the end of the week we were all craving some comforting Vietnamese food, so our morning started with a delicious wonton noodle soup made with fresh crab and shrimp wontons. So good!

For our final dinner together we were treated to an epic do-it-yourself street rice paper rolls unique to the southern part of Vietnam - Bo Bia. Brought by the Chinese community, these rolls are totally different from typical rice paper or salad rolls. And it's always fun to see how well everyone's rolls come out.

We stayed very active the whole week to ward off tummy aches from all the snacking and big meals, and these meals and all the food was definitely a highlight of our time together for this special birthday beach bash!

The Surprise that Was...Sort Of

Due to my parents' need to be insanely punctual, our plan to surprise Dad on his birthday was somewhat of a disappointment, but nothing a walk on the beach couldn't wash away.

After way too much snacking and a short rest, we drove a few minutes up the road to a small restaurant with a terrific view of Tillamook Bay for a celebratory seafood birthday dinner.

Of course we ended with cake and champagne. I think it was a pretty terrific birthday, if not all that surprising.

Birthday Brunch: Kenny & Zuke's

Last week was Ba's 70th birthday and we knew we had to do something special to mark such a grand occasion. We plotted, schemed and decided to surprise our dad with a week long beach vacation with his favorite people on earth (his family). We distracted him with brunch at Kenny & Zuke's to throw him off our plans. Truth be told, I think he was so mesmerized by his triple decker sandwich (corned beef, pastrami and tongue) that he may have even forgot it was his birthday.

Summer Heat Wave

Last week when Portland was melting under hot summer heat, we were at the beach looking like this. More to come on our week long beach birthday bash!

Our First Wedding Anniversary

For our first anniversary we decided to splurge and made a reservation for uber popular and critic darling Le Pigeon. It was a gorgeous summer evening so we decided to start things off at Noble Rot's 4th floor patio, with a hot breeze, that we just loved, a view to die for and delicious cocktails.

We had heard how difficult it was to get a table at the 30+ seats French restaurant, but we made reservations well in advance and once seated immediately started to drool and scheme whether we should do the 5- or 6-course tasting menu or go ala carte.

We decided to go ala carte and started with 3 starters.

Starter #1: Spicy Greens, chevre croquette, raspberry vinaigrette, basil. This was delicious, the panko fried goat cheese, crisp greens, raspberries and kiwi seeds was fantastic start.

The next two starters arrive shortly after we finished the salad. Octopus with nectarine, porcini mushrooms and palm hearts; and a Rabbit Spanakopita with peaches, prosciutto and black truffles.

Then our entrees arrived: Summer "Thanksgiving" which was duck stuffed with sausage served with green beans; and the fish of the day - Salmon poached in butter.

The food was well executed, and you know it's good when Mike says these are dishes he couldn't recreate at home. The sauces and all the preparation would take time and a professional understanding of the ingredients.

As far as an anniversary dinner went it was intimate, romantic and casually "Portland". We didn't enjoy the food as much as we had anticipated. It was, well - French. Very heavy and rich, not heavy in the belly, but heavy in the mouth. The first bite of every dish was terrific and by the 3 or 4 bite we were over it. Maybe it had something to do with us wanting lighter summer fare, we're not sure, but it did bum us out a little that we didn't enjoy Le Pigeon as much as we had hoped. Although the menu changes often to reflect the availability of seasonal ingredients, we just weren't into the sauces and the serious overload of flavors. However, it wasn't crazy overpriced either and the other dishes looked delicious so maybe in the fall or winter, and after a long hike or bike ride we may be up for Le Pigeon's food.

However, the desserts looked very interesting, unlike any other restaurant desserts we have ever seen. Foie gra profiteroles (seriously), apricot bread pudding with a sauce made from the seeds of the apricot pits (seriously), bacon cornbread with maple syrup ice cream (seriously?). But we had plans to hit up another dessert spot and asked for our bill, which came with the yummiest raspberry filled white chocolates adorably stamped with a pigeon.

We made our way home and walked up to the last service at Pix Patisserie on Williams Avenue. By the time we arrived the dessert case was pretty much emptied and all that was left was some ice cream and sorbet. We decided to get a mango and strawberry sorbet to cleanse the heavy dinner we just had. Bonus was we bargained down a jar of their homemade nutella chocolate spread.

We thoroughly enjoyed the sweet tart sorbets while walking home in sandals and summery clothes under a semi-full moon. It was pretty magical. When we got home we immediately opened our first anniversary note left by guests at our wedding. 1 year down and 50 more to go!

Daytripping: For Some Summertime Fun

We took a short day trip to chase the heat, eat one of the most delicious burgers we've had in awhile and enjoy a refreshing time at one of the most awesome swimming holes. Hoping you're enjoying the best the summer has to offer!