we heart portland soule

Last weekend Jersey and drove down to Portland. Jersey has never been and I really wanted to see my dear friend Damon Soule, whom I hadn't seen in four years. Damon is one of the most talented artist in America and he's also an amazing person. I missed him so much! We stayed at the cool Ace Hotel. The staff is friendly, the rooms are decent, a very hip hotel.
Portland is such a cute and wonderful city. The people were genuine, sweet, and dressed WAY better than here in Seattle.

We went the Portland Farmer's Market and I was impressed. I always talk about my beloved Ferry Building, but I gotta tell you, it was BIG and the vendors had yummy food to offer.

We got some bread from Dave's Killer Bread. Now we only bought the bread, cause of their interesting marketing, but the bread ended up being a great treat. I wanted to buy more stuff, but we didn't bring a cooler. We ate brunch at Byways Cafe in the Pearl district. Try the ginger pancakes if you go there!

On the way to meet up with Damon we saw a fat rainbow!

We went for dinner at Delta Cafe. Jersey and Damon got the low brow champagne. The best thing on the menu was the tater tot casserole!

It was so great to see Damon, I wish I lived closer to him. I really miss hanging out. It's very rare in life for a woman to meet a decent man and be good friends without any weirdness. I am lucky to have Damon in my life.
Before we left we ate at the BEST PLACE EVER! Simpatica, located in a loft building. I had the most amazing frittata with porcini and butternut squash. We ended our best brunch ever with pear gelato and a chocolate hazelnut torte.

We love Portland, the land of hazelnuts and tater tots!