Portland

A week or so after Mother's Day, I had the opportunity to steal Annie away for a quick weekend to visit my brother in Portland. He always takes my parents to these amazing places to eat while they visit and boy did he ever deliver. The first stop was a Vietnamese place which I didn't get pictures of but still dream of their chicken wings....oh my...

Second highlight was Papa Haydn. This place is a must if you are ever in the Portland area. They serve food but I think most people know it for their desserts. They are super gourmet and quite delicious!

Check out those desserts!!!

Waiting for our turn...

Bumpa might spoil her...just a little bit ;)

I teach my daughter well, she couldn't take her eyes off the cakes!

Mum's choice was Marjolaine:Chocolate Mousse and hazelnut-praline cream piped between layers of toasted hazelnut meringue. Topped with crème fraiche and French vanilla-chocolate.

Dad went with the Chocolate Truffle Cake: Super fudgy chocolate cake layered with dark chocolate and white chocolate genache, finished with dark chocolate icing

Neal ordered the Autumn Meringue: Swiss meringues layered with rich chocolate mousse and pot de creme, wrapped in ribbons of chocolate (this truly was delicous!)

And I ordered the Georgian Peanut Butter Mousse: Peanut butter mousse layered over chocolate buttermilk cake, encased in milk chocolate ganache.

We bought Annie a couple of meringue cookies and she scarfed them faster than I could grab a picture :)

We thought we would let Annie blow off some energy while we waited for Neal to get out of school one day...

Bumpa, of course, was a trooper and let me and my Mum sit and chat while he played with her on the play ground.

Next stop for lunch, the Food carts. Portland has a whole city block dedicated to these food carts and they have everything! I'm sure most countries were represented quite well. We all got something different and shared.

Mum and Dad got the grilled cheese sandwiches from the Grilled Cheese Grill. These were AHMAZING! 

Loved their sign it says "Come by for a taste of your childhood. Unless your childhood sucked, then we'll share a taste of ours."

Neal ordered some dumplings from the Dump Truck.

Mum also got a Hawaiian bowl and I ordered my very first lamb gyro.

Annie enjoying a good old fashioned grilled cheese.

Another cool restaurant Neal took us to was called McMenamins Kennedy School. Some people took an actual elementary school and converted it into a restaurant and hotel. It was PACKED! So while we were waiting Neal and I went for a tour.

A lot of the original paintings and pictures were still in place.

I'm pretty sure at some point in time in the night the little girl in the picture above walks right out of the frame...creepy...I'm just saying.

Each classroom had been converted into a hotel room complete with a full bath and everything.

Lovin' Annie

Okay, so though I'd love to say we went to Portland just to visit Neal and eat good food but truthfully we went because Neal had decided to go through the temple. We took the excuse and ran, or rather flew, with it.

Me and my Mum

Mum, Neal, & Dad

The family...or rather part of it

My grandma is standing just to the left of me. A good friend of hers volunteered to drive her up to Portland so she could come through the temple with us.

My bro...isn't he handsome ;) I can't believe how much taller he is than me. I mean we shared a womb, you would have thought he could have shared that gene or something (I'm pretty sure I was wearing heels too).

This is how it usually is with Grandma. Neal was trying to talk some lunch sense into her...

Mum & Dad

Final food outing...Voodoo Donuts. I'm not sure how appropriate this place was after going to the temple but their maple bacon donuts are DELICIOUS!

The line to get in was huge. We were at the end when I took this picture and the line went about halfway down the left side of the building and wrapped back to the front before you got in to order...

The menu...

The donuts...

Our order: maple bacon, cotton candy, oreo, and the mustache one above I believe was creme filled...

Thanks for a fun weekend Neal. We'll have to do it again and I'll bring Jared next time :)