Archive for December 2008
What’s So Great About Ikea (Besides the Prices)?
Photo of Ikea in Red Hook, Brooklyn/Flickr Creative Commons/Listen Missy! http://www.flickr.com/photos/listenmissy/2428733478/
Today I shopped at Ikea for the second time in my life. I almost wish I hadn’t stopped there after dropping my parents at the Portland Airport. But that adjacent towering yellow and blue sign beckoned. I just find it to be a headache-inducing place that urges you to buy way more cheap made-in-China crap than you need. But their prices can’t be beat.
Ikea is also sparsely staffed and a confusing maze to new customers. I spent forever measuring out components for a mirrored-bathroom cabinet, only to learn when I went to fetch the pieces from the self-serve area that those mirrored were discontinued.
But you don’t want to come home empty-handed after wasting your time there. I was also bothered by the layout of the Ikea store, which forces you to walk through different showroom areas (living room, media storage) on your way to the exit just to convince you to buy items you didn’t know you needed.
Am I being too harsh? The $1 Swedish meatballs and 50-cent beef hot dogs served at the Ikea snack bar are a bargain lunch. And of course both of my second-hand couches originally came from Ikea. I just didn’t have to go through the trouble myself to get them.
Do you avoid Ikea or deck out your apartments and houses with their loot?
Dungeness: Better than Lobster, Better Than Blue Crabs
We had sweet, delicate, freshly-caught Dungeness crab on the Newport coast tonight for my parents’ last dinner here in Oregon. I know I’ll take flack for this, but I think I like Oregon’s crab better than Maine lobster or Baltimore’s blue crabs. It’s less rich.
Our timing couldn’t have been better. Dungeness crab season commenced Dec. 1. The crabbing appears to be sustainable and well-regulated here.
I recommend the Local Ocean Seafood Restaurant and fish market, where we ate, right on the Newport harbor. Raw crabs retail at the market for $4.50/pound and the staff is quite friendly.
Before dinner, we sampled beers at Newport’s famed Rogue Brewery. It’s by no means our favorite micro-brew here. But I liked the Hazelnut Brown Nectar and the Honey Orange Wheat enough to bring 22-oz. bottles of those home.
Wild, Wild Mushrooms Drag Us Away
One of the three yellow chanterelles I found on our hike today up Mary's Peak just outside of Corvallis.
My trip foraging for wild mushroomsin October has been one of the more memorable experiences I’ve had thus far in Oregon. So it’s no surprise my parents have gone ga-ga for the state’s champion champignons during their visit here.
For my birthday, we had a marvelous mushroom dinner at the Joel Palmer Housenear McMinnville, a meal that even included mushrooms for dessert in the form of truffle ice cream (I prefer to save the precious fungus for savory recipes!)
Dad has worked his magic in our Corvallis kitchen, whipping up a spectacular Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup and a chanterelle pasta (made with local spinach fettuccine). Can’t wait to see what he’ll do with the three chanterelles I stumbled upon while hiking Mary’s Peak today.
Now the ‘rents are scheming up ways to smuggle mushrooms back to Virginia with them. Those precious chanterelles, for example, go for as low as $9 a pound here but can fetch as much as $20 to $30 a pound back East. And that’s only on the rare occasions when fresh ones are even available. Ah, a good reminder that life is good here in the fertile (and did I say wet!) Pacific Northwest.
Look But Don't Touch: Mom and Dad marvel over abundant but expensive matsutake mushrooms at the Saturday Farmers' Market in Portland.
Breitenbush Hot Springs: Leave Your Bathing Suit Behind
Photo of Breitenbush Hot Springs/Flickr Creative Commons/sparkle glowplug http://www.flickr.com/photos/sparkleglowplug/1213590569/
We found the perfect place to shock us out of our stuffed-turkey coma. Breitenbush Hot Springs, a hippyish rustic retreat 60 miles east of Salem, tucked away in the Cascade Mountains. During our one-night stay, we soaked in natural hot springs (that lacked that unpleasant sulfur smell), ate all-you-can eat vegetarian meals, did yoga and had Thai massages and hiked part of the Columbia Gorge trail.
Being there with the parents made the clothing-optional hot springs awkward, so we split up into bathing groups:) It’s just not the kind of place you feel comfortable wearing a bathing suit. And there’s nothing like hot spring water against your bare skin. It was especially surreal and spiritual to have the springs to ourselves last night in the pitch black dark, the rushing rapids of the Breitenbush River the only sounds we could hear.
It’s was also a needed detox after the Thanksgiving holiday — no meat, no caffeine, no alcohol for that 24-hour period. Of course Dan and my dad had to sneak coffee in, but they’re beyond addicted.
Now Breitenbush is on the top of my list for anyone who comes to visit in Oregon. But it’s not for everyone:)
BaltimOregon to Maine 
