Oba!

I took my amazing and lovely wife to Oba! for her birthday last Friday. Oba! is a restaurant in the Pearl District that features great Caribbean/Cuban cuisine and even better Mojitos and Cucumber martinis we put in our drink order with the waiter and started going over the menu in detail as I promptly set my menu on fire. While unaware of said fire I was notified by the guests at the table next to us as “Hey your menu is on fire.” I thanked her graciously and calmly tried to blow it out but the waxy coating of the paper and my blowing on it only fueled it into a small inferno. This situation required water and fast so I began the process rolling the now fully engulfed menu so it would fit into my water glass but just then the waiter arrived with our drinks and serenely asked that I please place the burning menu on his tray. Not wanting to disobey him even though I would have had it doused in my water glass I put it on his serving tray and off he went. He came back a short time later to gave me a new menu and relit the candle which was the one thing I was able to blow out. After all the excitement died down I was able to dive into the wine list searching for something that would go with our dinner selections. I narrowed it down to a short list of wines from Spain and with guidance from the waiter I selected a 2004 Navarra Alzania 21 del 10 which was fantastic. I must find this wine and buy a case.

We ordered two tapas the Spanish cheese plate and the Chipotle calamari both very tasty. For our dinner entrees I chose the Cuban pulled flank steak and Christine got the Butternut squash Enchiladas both were tasty although we switched plate’s midway way through and ended up liking each others entrées better.

Over desert we chatted up with a fine drunk gentleman next to us from Barbados who said he worked for the United Nations and was in Portland for work and was looking for some of Portland’s other “nightlife” activities. To Christine’s delight I was able to rattle off a handful of titty bars within a short cab ride from downtown. As it turned out though he was looking for places with more shall we say “intimate contact”. As we paid our bill one of his other dining companions obviously seeking an opportunity to leave got up and gathered her stuff and whispered to me to take good care of him tonight. As if we would shuttle him around. Riiight… I gave him a name I saw in a Mercury advertisement once and wished him good luck and he left to presumably go find a cab who would know how to get there.

We left shortly after and since we were stuffed to the gills we decided to go for a walk around the area and found Jamison Square were we sat on a bench for awhile people watching trying to decide if the other folks there could actually afford to live in this high priced area.

Even if you hate the Pearl District and what it has become there are some great restaurants and I would put Oba! in your must try list.

Berry Picking

Last Sunday afternoon we drove up to Sauvie Island to get some fresh raspberries and enjoy the scenery. Our first stop was Kruger’s farm. They only had a couple of pints left of picked raspberries but had U-pick. No thanks I will gladly pay more not to have to pick berries. (I picked a lot of berries as a child) I did buy three pints of there Kotata; basically a Marionberry but cultivated to better handle the cold. Leaving Kruger’s we headed North on the island to explore the other farms in the area. We stopped briefly at this crazy guys Lavender farm and showed Eli his chickens and sheep while briefly gazing at his lavender. I wanted to ask him about this little statue of a chicken with no head next to the chicken house but I knew we would get suckered into buying some lavender from him so we just left. The next stop was Columbia Farms which was once a large dairy operation now a large berry and vegetable farm. Of course they also were out of picked raspberries. We reluctantly decided to go pick our own as it was getting late in the day and the odds of anywhere else having any already picked was slim to none. I don’t think I have picked a flat of berries since I was a teenager on the farm.

"This is a hoot"

"Do I look Like I am having fun?"

Yep, picking berries still sucks but the reward of fresh berry cobbler or shortcake makes it all worthwhile. Here is the cobbler my lovely wife made out of the blackberries. Awesome.

Now I am getting a hankering for my mom’s blackberry dumplings. They are freaking awesome.