A KITTY IN NEED…DESERVES C.A.T. INDEED
Ummm…aside from my hugely nerdy headline, I hope this post inspires you to help a very worthy cause!
Cat Adoption Team (who I’ve blogged about in the past) has opened a cat food bank for pet owners who are unable to afford to feed their loved family kitty. The economy has forced a record number of pet surrenders and shelters are filling up. Cat Adoption Team saw an opportunity to help those in need and allow them to keep the comfort of a furry friend with them during trying economic times.
The first Sunday of every month, C.A.T. opens the doors to the Cat Food Bank and hands out enough food and litter to last a month. The food bank will supply food and litter for up to four kitties per household.
families in need fill out a quick application and take home food, litter, and sometimes even toys and treats for their kitties. In September alone, the Cat Food Bank handed out over 2,500 pounds of food, that’s over a ton of food handed out to help feed local cats!
The Cat Adoption Team is in need of food donations so they can supply the growning demand for the food bank and they are also desperately in need of litter donations! Litter is harder to come by and is very much needed!
If you want to volunteer at the food bank, or donate food or litter (or cash), visit the Cat Adoption Team website.
If you also wanted to take home a little kitty while you’re there, I think that would be a lovely idea! I hope the pictures of my little guys below will inspire you to adopt!
A Seriously Good Cause
Portland Rescue Mission offers support and recovery programs to homeless men, women and children in the Portland area. The Mission offers food, shelter, counseling, education, clothing and more to those in need at no cost. The organization is entirely privately funded (no government $$). On Tuesday, 11/24/09, Portland Rescue Mission will host their annual “Give Hope” radiothon in partnership with 98.7 KUPL. The radiothon will be held at the FOX 12 Studios.
I met three amazing people last week who have been helped by Portland Rescue Mission. Two women, who are residents of Shepherd’s Door, a facility run by Portland Rescue Mission offering recovery to women and children, and I also spoke with a man living at Portland Rescue Mission in the men’s recovery program.
Speaking with the people who have been helped by Portland Rescue Mission was inspirational, and humbling. The stories I heard were of hard lives, and pain but also of transformation; and I am so glad there is a place here in Portland not only providing a meal to those in need, but providing an opportunity for an entirely different life.
You can see an 8 O’clock News story about Shepherd’s Door here, and here is a short segment with Edward, the gentleman I got to speak with at Portland Rescue Mission.
Please take a look at these stories. I hope you are as moved as I am every time I watch them. I know money is extremely tight right now, but if you have even a few dollars to give, please call in on Tuesday and donate whatever you can. Or, you can also log on to the Portland Rescue Mission website and look at other ways you can help.
Great Getaways!
Don’t you just adore alliteration? 
I got to do a fantastic shoot this week that I just had to tell you about! We went up to The Resort at The Mountain in Welches. I have to admit, I hadn’t been to The Resort before our shoot, but now I can’t wait to go back!
Just about an hour from Beaverton (that would be 45 minutes or less from Portland or the East side) The Resort at the Mountain is a giant complex consisting of a 27 hole golf course, an 18 hole putting green, a spa, a gourmet restaurant, biking, hiking, warm cozy rooms and fantastic views!
The Resort just finished a 17 million dollar renovation, that not only improved the property aesthetically for human visitors, but improved it ecologically for the rest of nature’s inhabitants!
The Golf course is now an Audubon bird sanctuary as well as a salmon-friendly spawning grounds! Streams that were diverted generations ago to make way for the golf course were re-instated to flow in their natural beds. Salmon that had been missing for years from the small lakes and streams in Welches are now reappearing to spawn in the streams, and hatch in the lakes before returning once again to the ocean. You can actually see salmon spawning in the streams on the golf course right now!
Also new to The Resort is a beautiful spa. The spa was built to evoke the calm and serenity of the mountains that surround it. You automatically want to speak in quiet tones from the moment you set foot in the spa (and wow, does it smell great in there)! Mud wraps, a multitude of massages, and facials await you in the spa as well as quiet contemplation in their serenity tea garden (which is a gorgeous open room with a fireplace and glass walls looking out onto a calming garden and an amazing view of the mountain.
You’ll also find dishes to rival any fancy Portland restaurant at The Resort, the main restaurant, called Altitude is home to Chef Paul Bosch, who specializes in NW Cuisine with a definite twist. Chef Paul practices “molecular gastronomy” which basically means taking familiar foods, and re-inventing ways in which to serve them that open up flavors and textures so that you enjoy foods you love in an entirely different form. Even if you don’t understand the science, you’ll love the results! You can also find traditional NW dishes on the menu such as bbq glazed pork belly (the bbq sauce has an amazing spicy apricot kick)! Everything at Altitude is plated beautifully, and served in a dining room with once again, a beautiful Pacific NW view.
I really love finding a weekend getaway that isn’t too far from home, and isn’t too expensive! They are doing a big Thanksgiving champagne buffet that I’m seriously considering instead of cooking this year…Besides, even if I did stay home and cook, I couldn’t do a glazed ham, NY strip loin, and turkey! I’m good…but I’m not that good!
Anyway, I was really impressed with The Resort at the Mountain, and I’m looking forward to dragging the husband up there (Thanksgiving dinner or no Thanksgiving dinner) for a little getaway. If you’re looking for a little something special, anniversary, birthday, Christmas, or just ’cause you gosh-darn-love your family and want to take them on a little getaway, check out The Resort at the Mountain!
Super Top Secret Restaurant Gathering
Just like the Super-Friends, the area’s best local restaurants gather in an annual meeting to decide what you’ll be eating, when you eat out in the upcoming year.
The Food Services of America Trade Show takes up an entire hall of the Expo Center (each year’s show has a theme-this year’s was Wizard of Oz). The Trade Show is aisle upon aisle, row upon row of fantastic food samples (and by samples, I mean a full plate serving or slightly smaller)!
the Trade Show is only open to Restaurant Professionals and as the area’s best and brightest of the culinary world gather, they walk the aisles, sampling produce, meats, cheeses, drinks, condiments, and of course, dessert. All of this tasting in order to decide which fantastic new items you’ll be seeing on area restaurant menus in the next year!
I’m not a restaurant professional (though I keep hoping if I hang out in enough local restaurants, they’ll accept me as one of their own)! Despite my lack of restaurant pedigree, the fine folks at Food Services of America agreed to let me roam the halls of the Expo Center, sampling the samples in an effort to find a few of the most unique local items you may be seeing on local menus!
The decision was tough, I found non-dairy ice-cream that tasted like the real thing, and chicken straws (just like chicken nuggets, only straw-shaped), and a local company that not only buys local berries, but turns them into fabulous home-made pies, but I finally narrowed the selection down to just a couple fun and hopefully recognizable items to highlight. That way, when you see them in your area restaurant, you may say to your dining partner “this is a brand-new item, and I knew about it before almost anyone else”-people love to say that sort of thing to dining partners!
My first pick was found at the Zenner’s Sausage Booth, where they were unveiling a brand-new sausage variety; a Tillamook Cheddar Jalepeno Sausage, which they’d wrapped in a flour tortilla and grilled. If you see this on a menu, definitely give it a try! It is fantastic and gooey and sausage-y and has just a little kick to it!
Second, I found the only Pacific Northwest pickle producer at the trade show! Pleasant Valley Farms is located in North-Western Washington, and the gentleman manning the booth at the trade show was the pickle-maker himself (they called him “Mr. Pickle”…I’m not making that up)! I got to learn about a brand-new pickle that Pleasant Valley Farms will be rolling out in the upcoming year, a horseradish bread and butter pickle. I also got to try a garlic dill pickle at the Pleasant Valley Farms booth. I will go on record as saying that the garlic dill pickle was the best pickle I’ve ever eaten! If you want to try Pleasant Valley Farms, you will need to visit a local restaurant to do so. The company only sells to restaurants, not to supermarkets or direct to us non-restaurant folk!
Unless you are a restaurant industry professional, you won’t be getting an invite to next year’s fabulous array of samples, so if you want to try any of the items from the Food Services of America Trade Show, a great way to do so is to visit DoItNW.com. The website lists locally owned restaurants all over the area that may be carrying some new items discovered at the Trade Show this year.
Great Restaurant in Suburbia!!
Did I read that headline right?!? (you ask incredulously)
Yes…yes…you did!
First, a little confession…I live in the ‘burbs! The land of strip malls and mulitple chain stores. On the bright side, my neighborhood is quiet, and I have a 10 minute commute to work…on the down side…I feel perpetually uncool! 
However, some of that uncool has been alleviated with my discovery of a unique, delicious little restaurant right in my neighborhood. Kitty corner from the Starbucks (but what isn’t these days) there’s a super-cute little bistro called Bethany’s Table. The food is sophisticated, but approachable NW cuisine. On my last visit, I had a carmelized onion tart with gorgonzola cheese, and a beet salad with fennel and mint that was absolutely fantastic! On another visit for brunch, I had a smoked Salmon scramble that was terriffic and my hubby had biscuits and gravy which he enjoyed very much! (by the way, I’m thinking of doing a blog post just on different biscuits and gravy around town b/c that’s all the hubs ever orders)!
Anyway, back to Bethany’s Table, the food is slow food, prepared to order, so be prepared to sip a glass of wine and talk at one of the family style tables, or tucked off to the side in a candle-lit corner. Windows cover 3 walls, so people-watching is plentiful, and the exposed brick and warm feel inside make this a perfect spot to eradicate your city-dwelling-friends’ predispositions about suburban cuisine! (I wouldn’t try trotting that sentence out after a glass of wine however)! Next on the list, I’ve decided that I have to go back to Bethany’s Table for a little sampling of the sweets menu. I saw a strawberry cake concoction that looked amazing at a neighboring table on my last visit!
If you make it over the bridge or through the tunnel, and you’re in the market for an original, refreshing dining experience (kitty corner from the Starbucks) pull up a chair, or a bench and relax at Bethany’s Table. Also, if you have any other Suburban dining reccomendations, please let me know! I’m always in the market for a little slice of cool originality to shake up the predictability of the ‘burbs!
Scary Good Times!
Halloween is here! I didn’t used to be a dress-up person…and now I am…but I’m a dress up person with no costume wardrobe! That means I get extra excited when I see fantastical costumes (extra points for home made by the way)!
Now, where to where those ghostly get-ups? Here’s a whole list of my favorite Halloween-y fun in Portland!
-Howloween at the Oregon Zoo: This fantastic event is actually on Halloween this year–how cool is that?!? Come out to the Zoo from 11am-4pm on Saturday and Sunday this weekend! Dress-up, do an educational scavenger hunt, and get a goodie bag! Also, be sure to stop by and tell the Tigers Happy Birthday, and watch the elephants squish some pumpkins and see all of the animals at the Zoo get Halloween themed treats! There is nothing cuter than watching an otter bob for a pumpkin! While you’re out at the Zoo swing by the livepdx.com street team car too! I’ll be hanging out all weekend, handing out goodies and taking pictures of cute costumed families to show on the 8 O’clock News on PDX TV Monday night!
-Scream at the Beach: I love this haunt! We’ve been lucky enough to get to shoot with the gang at Scream at the Beach for five years running, and every year, this haunt just gets bigger and more creative and fun! This year, all five haunts are located in the old Circuit City Building at Jantzen Beach Center, there’s a full carinval (or should I say Carn-EVIL) outside and inside, along with the haunts, you’ll find Halloween Town: food, face painting, a little kids play area, bands and you can even get a make-over into a real Scream at the Beach monster. I know, all of this sounds pretty cool already, but I haven’t even told you my two favorite things about Scream at the Beach yet! This year, there are no lines! You pay once for all five haunts, you wait until your group number is called, and then you and your group go through all five haunts at once, no stopping and getting back in line, no standing in line waiting for your turn…it’s fantastic! My second favorite thing is that you can print out a coupon right from livepdx.com that will save you $$ on admission! =)
-Rose City Rollers Get Ups and Get Down Halloween Gala: Need I say more?!? The Rose City Rollers already dress up for every roller derby bout in fantastic team costumes and knee pads! If these fierce females are throwing a costume party, you know it’s going to be EPIC! Along with the costume contest, there will also be a not-so-talented Talent show, where contestants can do anything that will keep them from getting gonged off the stage before their act is over! The dancing, prizes and mayhem all starts at 9pm at the Bossanova on Burnside!
-FrightTown: in the basement of the Memorial Coliseum, like demons from an underground lair, springs FrightTown! 3 haunts, some of them more child appropriate than others, but all of them are a scream! Baron Von Goolo’s Museum of Horrors is the most kid-friendly, offering oddities, rarities, and strange specimens from around the globe, not to mention a food court of the damned and a singing panda bear karaoke! Elshoff Manor features goblins ghosties crazy doctors and hidden passageways, and the third haunt, the Chop Shop is scary, wrong, and disturbing in the best way a haunted house can be. You can score a discount coupon to FrightTown at any area DQ too!
There are some weekend reccomendations for you! Get out there and have a frighteningly good Halloween! Remember, with daylight savings time this year, you can add one more hour of screams! (insert your own version of an evil laugh here)…
Holiday Tradition
It’s beginning to look a lot like…OK…I won’t say it…but you know how that phrase ends! I just got this little press release in my inbox…looks like snow and a little hot cocoa are in order post haste!
By the way, I would totally make my kid eat the grownup menu! If I’m shelling out $$ for high tea, I’ll be darned if they’re eating celery sticks topped with peanut butter and raisins!
HOLIDAY TEA RESERVATIONS OPEN AT 6 A.M. FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13th AT THE HEATHMAN RESTAURANT AND BAR 
Tea menu offers smoked salmon profiteroles with house smoked salmon, Chicken salad panini and Classic cucumber sandwich; Peter Rabbit Tea for Little Sippers available for the younger tea crowd PORTLAND, Oregon – (October 16, 2009) – The Heathman’s Holiday Tea kicks off the day after Thanksgiving with three daily seatings from November 27, 2009 through January 8, 2010. Reservations will be available starting Friday, November 13th at 6 a.m. for this popular – and cherished – family tradition. With the two-story tall Christmas tree and festive decorations throughout the historic tea court, the Heathman’s annual Holiday Tea is perfect after shopping, with friends or as a family celebration. Seatings are daily at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Adults are $32 per person and the Peter Rabbit Tea for Little Sippers is $14 per person. After the holidays, Afternoon Tea continues throughout the year with a seating at 2 p.m. Monday to Friday and at noon and 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. “We love providing this Northwest twist on the traditional English tradition,” says Culinary Director Philippe Boulot. “Pastry Chef John Gayer adds his creativity with desserts from Hawaii and even house-made marshmallows.”
Holiday Afternoon Tea Menu ($32 per person)
Pot of Tea
Smoked Salmon Profiteroles
Chicken Salad Panini
Goat Cheese Crostini
Classic Cucumber Sandwich
Deviled Egg
Heathman Scone
John’s Famous Lanai Banana Bread
Parisian Opera Cake
Haupia (Hawaiian style coconut cake)
Lemon Bar
Devil’s Food Chocolate Tea Cupcake
Fresh Marshmallows
Peter Rabbit Tea for Little Sippers ($14 per person)
Hot Cocoa
Cheddar & Swiss Blocks
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich
Gold Fish, Carrot Sticks and Ranch Dip
Fresh Fruit
Ants on a Log
Snickerdoodle
Coconut Cake
Banana Bread
Chocolate Cupcake
Drag Me…to the Dumb Comedy aisle please!
From demons to Zombies to marital counseling, I thought I’d share some of my cinematical adventures of late.
Before Drag me to Hell hit DVD last week, I got an advance copy. Maybe it was the Sam Raimi cache, maybe it was every movie blog raving about the campy good time, or maybe it was my drive to be “in the know”, but whatever it was, I agreed to watch this film with my hubby last week. Let me just tell you, I don’t care if critics are calling it “the best film of the year”, if you don’t like horror movies, and the film in question is a horror movie…don’t watch it! I’m sure Sam, of Evil Dead fame, is a talented director, I’m sure his vision of horror is campy and over the top, and I’m sure that most viewers with even a passing affinity for the horror genre watched this film with great enjoyment. I however, spent the first half of the film hiding my eyes periodically, and the second half of my film on my laptop steadfastly refusing to look at the screen (while simultaneously asking my husband for a play-by-play…which he loved). At any rate, I woke up at 2am, couldn’t go back to sleep and ended up waking my husband because I was sure I heard noises like the girl in the movie. Again…bottom line…if you don’t like horror movies…don’t watch them! Lesson learned by me and my hubby!!
Along the horror movie vein, but much more watchable by my scaredy-cat standards, I had to see Zombieland in theaters. One of my favorite movies is Shaun of the Dead (not so much for the Zombies as for Simon Pegg), but judging by the trailers, this film had definite Shaun of the Dead potential. Aside from few jumps at the beginning and at the end, I loved this movie! Woody Harrelson is in top borderline crazy Woody Harrelson form, and the writing is fantastic. I’ve also been on the Abigail Breslin bandwagon since Little Miss Sunshine and I’m not jumping off any time soon, this girl is good! Is it a little bloody? Um yes…it’s a Zombie movie (wrapped in a coming of age, romantic comedy)!
Finally, Couples Retreat! I don’t usually go to advance screenings when our station gives out tickets anymore, the screenings are almost always during the middle of the week, and apparently at 31 years of age, I’m officially too old to go out on a weeknight! But, my husband desperately wanted to go see Couples Retreat, so, on a rare weeknight date, we went to the advance screening. The film is almost a perfect date film! Just enough bathroom buddy humor for the guys, and enough funny relationship comedy for the ladies. Yes, the plot is horribly contrived and predictable, and yes, there are a couple of scenes with just plain bad lines and bad acting, but seriously…go with it! This film isn’t exceptional movie making…it’s a popcorn film…and that’s OK! Vince Vauhgn is great fun in a Vince Vauhn-y sort of way, Jason Bateman once again plays neurotic to a T, and Kristen Bell turns in a fun to watch performance. Definitely worth at least a rental…a perfect stay at home weeknight movie date!
If you’ve checked out anything worth seeing lately, drop me a line! It’s getting to be rainy Fall movie-watching weather, and I’ll take all the suggestions I can get! =)
Hard Talks Made Easier
If you have kiddos, you know that there are some conversations that are uncomfortable to have. The birds and the bees, the talk about being nice to other kids and not turning into one of those mean teenagers, and of course, the big talk about not drinking. The hard part about the not drinking convo. is that you want to get through to your kid, you want to make sure they hear you, but sometimes it’s hard to find a way to start that talk.
There’s a new state-wide website called BecauseOregon.com. The site is sort of a clearinghouse list of all the best local and national resources to help you keep your kids away from alcohol. You can search for local resources by county in Oregon, and you can find many different national sites, from those aimed at parents to those aimed at teens. You’ll find ways to start the conversation, but you’ll also find persuasive facts and stories to share with your kids about why underage drinking is bad.
Recently we got to follow a local Mom and daughter as they looked through the website together and talked about some of the information they found.
Lori is the proud Mom of 2 middle schoolers and we sat down with her and Lori’s 6th grade daughter Elizabeth. They looked through some of the resources on the site, and then talked about why underage drinking is the wrong choice for Elizabeth, and they also had some great advice for parents and kids about how to start that open dialogue.
These two were amazing, and by the time I was done with the interview, I wanted to go give my own Mom a big hug! Check out the News story I did with Lori and Elizabeth for the 8 O’clock News, and here’s a shorter segments I did with them for PDX TV Reports.
You have to talk early and talk often to your kids about this issue, and if you need any stronger motiviation…just think about when you were a teenager…I’m sure you did some dumb stuff (I know I did), and I also know if you could help your child come through adolesence a little less scathed than you were, you would. So try BecauseOregon.com. It’s a great way to get that conversation going!
From Giant Pumpkins to a Happy Family!
It might not be the Great Pumpkin that Charles Schultz wrote about, but the pumpkins out at Bauman Farms are the kind of thing you have to see to believe! I got to shoot out at the farm with Brian Bauman, and took a little tour while learning about the Giant Pumpkin Weigh off at the Farm 10/3-10/4.
Bauman Farms is in Gervais, right off of the Woodburn Company Stores exit. The farm is part greenhouse, part Fall Festival and part farmers market! There are Ziplines, hay mazes, apple cannons, a pedal cart track, a petting zoo, and you can see apple cider being made! You can also buy potted plants, vegetables, shrubbery in the nursery area, and go inside the country store for farm fresh produce, a huge variety of baked goods, and country themed gifts!
Oh, yeah…and then there are the giant pumpkins! The Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off will host pumpkin growers from as far away as Canada and Ohio, and while the largest pumpkins will weigh around 1,500 pounds, you’ll be able to see a 500 pounder get dropped from a helicopter into a kiddie pool (as part of a Make A Wish benefit) and you can also see another 500 pound pumpkin crush a car!
If you miss all of the giant pumpkin fun this weekend, you can still visit Bauman Farm for all of the other fun stuff I mentioned above, and I’m pretty sure the car vs. pumpkin aftermath will be available for viewing through Halloween!
Bauman’s is a great place to start your own family Fall tradition! It’s only $10 a person for unlimited activities (Which is a great idea instead of the ride ticket thing)! While you’re out there, you’ve also got to pick up a loaf of their Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Bread…YUM!
So this weekend, bundle up the kiddos, put on some flannel and head out for a day at the farm! and if you bring me back some pumpkin chocolate-chip bread…and drop it off at the station…I would be a very happy girl!
