Portland: Let the Food Adventure begin!

Oh my lord. How long its been since I sat down to share food thoughts. I still have sticky buns to share with you from the holidays and a road trip that was less than fun although the dogs loved watching Wizard of Oz in a weird little hotel room in Mount Shasta.
I have been in Oregon for a week and already my mind is reeling with the possibilities of a place where food takes the #1 spot in people's lives closely followed by dogs and the arts. I am living a semi - urban existence. Meaning I am in Portland proper but in a lovely neighborhood with trees and sidewalks and neighborhood schools. Everyone does everything in the rain - really. Biking, walking, shopping. No panic at getting a little wet. I took the 2 dogs down to a dog park today - can you believe it , from ranch to a dog park! - they loved it. They raced and rolled in the mud and chased balls into the Willamette RIver. Just swell. My #1 Dw and I have pledged to go to lunch and try all Portland has to offer. We had the best of intentions to go to a food cart in a neighborhood near us called Sellwood but it was too damn cold and the cart I wanted to try was closed so we went instead to a Vietnamese restaurant where it was warm, the people so wonderful and the food just great. I include our menu in today's post and will follow up with our other restaurant visits. I do have to tell you that the first week I was here I made a Mexican dinner for 20 which I did not photograph but Do want to share the chilaquiles casserole with you at a later date. One of the questions I would like to try to answer while I am here is how Portland can sustain such an amazing local food scene - from restaurants to markets to food carts to food banks. I am just stunned by the communication between farmers, purveyors and consumers. Is it something in the water? The rain? Not sure. all I know is that I do not know a place near home in CA where you can have a 20 minute conversation with the butcher about grass fed beef that includes a detailed description of why the farmer ( a woman) turns to raising lamb in the off season when cattle need to move to other pastures. Amazing.Salad Rolls (shrimp)

Crispy Tofu Noodles
Chicken Pho with fresh mint and cilantro
Oh and what I didn't say was that all this cost $20.00 and there was enough to take home for dinner!