Girls Beach Weekend

There's nothing like a relaxing weekend at the beach with your girlfriends. We were lucky enough to rent a cute little cottage just a block from the beach in Cannon Beach, Oregon this weekend. Two of my great girlfriends and I were able to eat at the famous Mo's restaurant, walk along the beach, and lay out and read in the sunshine. We made homemade pizza for dinner and drank good wine!

reading in the sun....but the wind called for sweatshirts! Oh Oregon beach.

Mo's restaurant, famous for clam chowder

I remember eating this every trip to the coast as a kid

fish and chips

seafood sliders...crab, shrimp and albacore tuna

shrimp salad

good friends

bloody mary and a beer

Nicole's homemade veggie pizza (sooo good!)

fresh salad, with lettuce Kristen grew in her garden plot (the one we share)

good wine

haystack rock

I left the coast feeling re-vitalized! It's so great to get away sometimes. The coast is only an hour and a half from Portland, but sometimes it feels like another world despite being so close!

Eleni's Philoxenia and Estiatorio

This weekend one of Tricia's (bf's sister)  friends was in town that studied with her in Greece, where I visited her last year. We wanted to get together with Tricia's sister, who also visited them in Greece, although not at the same time as I did. What better way than to celebrate with Greek food? We tried Eleni's in the Pearl District. Turns out our server studied abroad in Athens the year before these girls did! The food was excellent and reminded us about our time in Greece.

Spanikopita (filo dough with spinach and feta)

Tzaziki sauce

MELITZANES PAPOUTZAKIA (Roasted baby eggplant stuffed with Cascade Natural ground beef spiced with cinnamon, cloves and garlic; baked in a tomato feta sauce)

MAKARONIA ME KIMA (spagetti with ground beef simmered with peppers, onion, tomatoes, zucchini and garlic; lightly spiced with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and chili flakes)

MOSCHARI (Braised short ribs with sautéed seasonal vegetables and roasted potatoes)

MANITARIA ME SKORTHO (Seasonal wild mushrooms sautéed with pancetta, garlic, onion and fresh herbs; served over orzo pasta)

Sockeye Salmon

This sockeye salmon was grilled just right (by Shane) and was so delicious!

healthy dinner

I like my salmon slightly undercooked. If it's overcooked, I think its ruined!

Al-Amir restaurant

Al-Amir is an authentic Lebanese restaurant in the heart of downtown Portland. The food was so yummy---take a look!

baba ganoush!

pita

King Estate Pinot Noir...serving up some local!

lamb with rice...delicious!

shrimp with delicious spices and sauce, plus the rice had some cinnamon and almond flavoring...so good!

can't have some Lebanese food without having baklava!

Obviously the food was great, but the service was wonderful too! It seemed to be a family atmosphere as well as date night.

Weekend breakfast--egg sandwich with fruit and coffee

You can't beat a breakfast sandwich. This one has an egg fried slightly hard, organic Trader Joe's mayonnaise, fresh basil leaves, avocado and turkey sausage.

I love peaches this time of year!

the avocado and basil add a punch of flavor

...and iced coffee. 

Watermelon & Mint

 a little fresh mint sprinkled over cubed watermelon is delicious!

Vault Martini Bar

Vault is a martini bar in the Pearl District of Portland. It's right in the middle of an area with lots of bars and restaurants, so it's ideal for drinks on a weekend. I went here for a friends birthday and we were able to sample lots of different martinis and some dessert too!

the "Honey"

birthday girl!

chocolate fondue

Limo Peruvian restaurant for happy hour

I loooove Peruvian food! One of my favorite restaurants (which I have not yet reviewed, oddly) is Del Inti Peruvian. However, its not in my neighborhood so I decided to try Limo, which is on the corner of NW Westover. The tapas were delicious and I'd love to go back to try some of the entrees! 

patio all to ourselves! (I think we were quite early for happy hour)

Sangria and Heff. Shane didn't go for the Peruvian beer

asparagus with goat cheese

white fish with yummy sauces

ceviche! we got the white fish/shrimp/octupus mixture

before we devoured the ceviche.

I loved this place! The atmosphere was great too. A little quieter for happy hour than I would have expected but it was a Thursday so maybe that had something to do with it. I spied some empanadas at the table near us and almost ordered some as we were finishing, but I'll have to wait until next time!

Timbers and VIP as can be

Shane's law office gave us some tickets to see the Portland Timbers play soccer at the newly renovated Jeld-Wen field (formerly known as PGE Park, as I will always catch myself calling it). The Timbers became a Major League Soccer team this year but we had not yet made it to a game! I think we are spoiled now and will never want to get general admission tickets because the seats we were given were so fancy. We had to enter through a special entrance, our tickets were checked multiple times, and when we got to our seats, all the food and drinks were free! Hot dogs, cracker jacks, pretzels, red ropes, ice cream, you name it. $free.99 was the price, as I would say. Plus, at the end of the game, we were given endless Voodoo Donuts!! Voodoo Donuts is Portland's most well known donut shop, having been profiled on The Food Network for their original donut creations, such as the maple bar with bacon and the fruit loop donut.

in our beloved Timbers gear:)

I was trying to take a picture of the mascot up there, with the chain saw!! Key Bank is the name of the section we were in...for fancy-pants people!

Voodoo donuts!

more kinds of Voodoo!

yummmm!

delicious donuts