the seester turns 30

monday my older sister hit the 3 decades mark.  we celebrated the previous weekend by indulging in maine restaurant week.

friday night was dinner at point five - the bar [that i didnt know existed] within the insanely over priced 555.  appetizers were rutabaga soup with ...wait for it.  ..warm ginger meringue and jalapeno gel, and date stuffed arancini with curry dipping sauce.  the soup was amazing, despite the questionable raw egg and slightly too molecular gastronomy wannabe-esque gel.  roasty root vege soup gets me every time.  not pictured: the three baskets of bread we snarfed down with baking soda bread and mini biscuits

main courses were hanger steak with feta potatoes and buttered veggies and slightly bloody"taco" burger with avocado butter, cumin cayenne salt, and cheese with a side of sweet potato chips.  i generally prefer my meat ...well dead.  my medium well intentioned burger was a bit more medium rare than i like, but i dont send things back unless i fear illness.  all that remained after id had my fill was a quarter sized rare bit out the middle.

dessert, arguably the best part, was a salted caramel and praline ice cream in a mocha sauce with candied pecans, or chocolate chip cookies, hand rolled truffles, and oh-so-rich salted caramels.  after barely finishing the cookies and truffles, both my sister and i popped the caramels in our purses like old ladies hoarding away a bag of werthers. 

saturday brunch was at the aptly named silly's, followed by milkshakes to go.

i had chicken in a boat.  essentially, thai peanut noodles in a deep fried burrito shell.  with a side of sour cream.  and a crash cart for when i have to immediately be taken in for a stent and possibly open heart surgery.  but if you peek at the menu... the gravy danger will all but guaranty you just wont make it to the hospital.  happily ecstatically dead from solidified arteries from what is no more complex than poutine topped with bacon.  oh and some scallions.  cos green makes it healthy, no?

dinner with the whole fam was at 20 milk street.  slightly too fancy for me, but it wasnt my choice.  appetizer of duck confit gougeres [which is a fancy name for duck in a biscuit] with cheddar and cabbage slaw, main course of chicken fettuccini with long stem artichokes and oven roasted tomatoes, followed by kona coffee cake filled with macadamia vanilla icing, and a side of caramelized banana ice cream.

during dinner, it was determined both the mums and i make snap judgements [as opposed to long drawn out painfully deliberate decisions] even when ordering food to the point where... neither of us remembered the entire description.  "the pasta has what besides alfredo?"  "banana ice cream?  was that even on the menu?"  this quick decision making allows for little regret...generally because the other options arent even on the far horizon of the memory.  terrible metaphor there, but you get my drift.

sunday breakfast was at the brea lu cafe - the little greasy spoon literally across the street from my apartment complex..that took me about 5 months to discover.  no need to venture downtown and wait for hours for brunch that costs 3x more.  wander across the street [granted one of the busiest 4-lane roads in portland] and boom.  breakfast.  unless you arrive after 9:30 aaand then the wait is about 45 minutes.

essentially a weekend of eating.  delicious foods everywhere, wanderings through town, some drinks, and family time.  it wasnt my birthday but i had a pretty damn good time