Chicken and Waffles Forever: July 2011

I've lived in this city for seven and a half years now and I'm still in love. I haven't expressed my Portland love lately, what with the lack of oh, I don't know, SUMMER. Nevertheless, with the epic visit from the BFF from OKC on the horizon I feel the need to re-visit why I moved here in the first place.

The story of how we moved to Portland is one fraught with danger, madness and true love. Also, possibly alcohol. All I knew is that we had to get the hell out of Texas. Sorry Austin, you're great and all, but I'm not living in the middle of a sauna. So we had to choose. Go east to NYC or Boston? Too expensive. Go west to San Francisco? Also too expensive. Middle America was a big HELL NO. Florida was out as being, well, Florida. So that pretty much just left the Pacific Northwest. We picked Portland because it seemed a little quirkier than Seattle. Really, it was process of elimination. And I say we chose...wisely.

Things I Love About Portland:

1. The food. It's not for nothing that Portland is a food city to rival NYC. The sheer amount of crazy rockstar chefs and foodies in this town is mind-blowing.
Some examples:
Bunk
Le Pigeon
Beast
Pok Pok
Toro Bravo
Russell St. BBQ
Not to mention the foodcartapalooza that has taken over the city...

Fried pie at 2am? Yes please!

2. Mountains to the east, ocean to the west. Can't decide if you're a mountain man or a water baby? Pick both. How about at the same time! The Oregon coast has a wildness to it that you don't get in the Gulf. Also, less sewage and jellyfish. So bonus all around. It's harsher, more rugged and a hell of a lot colder. (That would be my only complaint. A day at the beach should not include three sweaters.) On the other side you've got Mt. Hood and all the hiking, camping and roughing it you can stand. In the summer anyway...