Mellow Mushroom Pizza in the Pearl

Mellow Mushroom has come to Portland! This place opened up on the edge of the Pearl District last year. I finally had a chance to try it this weekend. It was just what I wanted after a long week!

Caesar Salad

the view of the bar

half BBQ Chicken, half Mediteranean which included feta, olives, steak and portabello mushrooms

I was definitely in the mood for some pizza and so this really hit the spot. However I would say it was just what I expected---a chain restaurant experience. It was nothing over the top or too special but pretty good! It's a great location, right across the street from The Rogue Brewery. I probably won't be back anytime soon unless it ends up being the place to watch a particular sports game. I wouldn't be surpised as it had a couple of good size TV's!

Weekend breakfast--egg & bacon sandwich on Dave's Killer Bread buns

I LOVE Blue's Buns, which are buns made by Dave's Killer Bread. There are so healthy too, with 4 grams of fiber and lots of seeds.


One of my favorite breakfasts is to use these buns for egg sandwiches for breakfast! I'm pretty sure these are meant to be used for hamburgers....but I don't care, they are delicious with eggs! yum! Dave's Killer Bread is the most organic and natural bread that I can find. It doesn't have any crazy ingredients. In fact, their slogan is something to the effect of "bread that's not on drugs!". So funny.

I don't want to scare you because this company is legit, but Dave is actually and ex-con, and he employs all ex-cons at his store. Don't be afraid because these people are not dangerous, they are all shining examples of changing your life. He made something of himself after getting out of jail and wants to help others do the same, so he gives them a job and believes in them. I love this concept, and have actually seen it in progress when I shop at the Dave's Bread store in SE Portland. One day we were there, we saw Dave finishing up training a new employee and he was getting ready to go home. Dave told him he did a great job that day and that he could choose a loaf of bread to take home to his family. I almost got teary eyed!

Do you like Dave's Killer Bread? If you haven't heard of it I would definitely try it! It's delicious and healthy.

Fish on Friday's---Open faced Tuna Melt's

It's still Lent and so I have been following the tradition of no meat on Friday's. Check out my previous post here. This week I decided to use a little inspiration from Gina's Skinnytaste when she made The Skinny Tuna Melt.

mix one can albacore tuna with 1 shredded carrot, one diced slice of celery, one tablespoon mayo, one tablespoon plain greek yogurt, salt, pepper and thyme.

assemble tuna on top of Dave's Killer Bread Blues Buns. One scoop tuna mixture, 4 slices halved roasted asparagus, topped with one slice Habanero cheese. I used Rumiano's.

finish assembling! I realized I only had enough tuna for 6 halves so I put the other bun back:)

bake at 350 degrees for about ten minutes. Serve with remaining roasted asparagus and carrot and celery sticks

Have you been eating fish on Friday's? Did you give anything up for lent? A lot of people do this at my work even if they are not practicing Catholic's!

Oh How Pinteresting!

My obsession with Pinterest continues!

I have been pinning a lot of slow cooker recipes. I love coming home to dinner pretty much all done. Plus, meat seems to taste way better when it is slow cooked. I work late on Mondays and Wednesdays so I love using the crockpot so that when Shane comes home dinner is done and when I get home there is some for me and I know its healthy and delicious!

Soy Balsalmic Slow Cooker Chicken (pin above)

My hand at this recipe below!

Putting it all in the crock pot (hand me down from Mom---so old school!)

and the finished product! It was delicious, and so easy. All Shane had to do was turn on the rice maker and steam the broccoli and dinner was done!

What pins have you tried lately?

House-warming...finally!

I know I said I'd post pictures of my new place after moving in with the boyfriend, but I just haven't taken any until now! This weekend I had a few co-workers over for wine and dessert for a semi-house-warming/semi-birthday. My 26th is coming up and I thought it was a good excuse to have them over. Here are some snaps of the apartment with all of my dessert/wine/decor!

St. Cupcakes!

The dining area. I love my Monet's that I brought back from Paris!

Amazing menu's my friend Tiffany from tiffwilldesign@blogspot.com designed for my party with menu specific details!

Luscious lemon bars, Kalama bars (PB & Chocolate) and Lime Cheesecake bars

couch...bookshelf....coat rack, ect.

living room....and our 60 inch flatscreen. NBG

My paintings from Greece and on the left in the hallway, a painted canvas my good friend Molly brought me back from Africa

our bedroom with drawings of Paris that I brought back when I went there last year

lots of wine selections!

our kitchen...small yet updated! I love it.

all the girls!

My good friend Kelsey and I....the only ones who made it out to Bartini for a cocktail after everyone else went home!

It was a great house-warming! Although our place is so small we were able to fit about 4 couples and a few others in here. Everyone wished me a happy 26th birthday, which is coming up on Wednesday. I'm glad my friends finally got to see our new place, and that you, my readers did too!

Race Report--Shamrock Run in Portland!

This is my 3rd year running the Shamrock Run in Portland. The first year I was marathon training and ran the 15K. The next year I was injured so I had to skip it and last year I ran the 8K with my friend Zoe. This year I ran the 8K again with my friend Kelsey. I hope to run the 15K again one year because it is really challenging and the downpour that occurs year after year on the race morning makes for another interesting twist to the race. This year we were luckier than usual--it didn't start raining until about mile 3! But it was very cold and there was a delay in the start time due to a train passing that made us wait around before starting in the cold. Once we got going I warmed up and we actually had a really good pace! We weren't expecting to do great because both of our throats have been bothering us this weekend, but we kept up a pace between 8:30 and 9 minute miles. Kelsey is a great running partner for me because she pushes me to go just a little bit faster, has great form and likes to partake in the freebies given away at the end of races! Today's loot included clam chower, free appetizer coupons for Stanford's, pop chips and Coconut Water.

before the race! Kelsey met me at my apartment and we took MAX down to the race which started on the waterfront

at the finish line!

We finished in about 43 minutes! A great time for us for an 8K. I couldn't have done it without her next to me since I was trying to match her pace. The funny thing is that she says the same thing about me, but I for sure feel that she keeps me going faster. We are still waiting to see our official time on the web site but we both clocked it using Nike Plus and it was right at 43 minutes. I look forward to doing the Shamrock run every year!

Update: I checked my chip time and it was in fact exactly 43 minutes! That is an overall pace of 8:39, a record for me! I have never paced that well before. Here is the link to my results:
http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php#racetop

Fish on Friday's & Shamrock Run

For years I remember eating only fish on Friday's during Lent. I learned in church that it was a sacrifice to God to give up meat on Friday's. Although I rarely make it to mass anymore, this tradition has become habit to me. Even when I lived in my sorority in college our cook would only make fish on Friday's, and so it really stuck with me. This Lent I have made a couple of different meals including breaded tilapia, shrimp pesto pasta, and the salmon meal below!

 Salmon drizzled with garlic butter, salt & pepper and oregano. so easy and so good!



  I make brown rice in my rice cooker, but I throw a couple of cubes of these frozen herbs from Trader Joe's in the rice cooker with the water to give it some extra flavor. Anyone else used these?





Serve with roasted asparagus and enjoy! Healthy and simple.

This weekend I am running in the Shamrock Run for the 4th year in a row. Every single year it has poured buckets of rain and I get soaked! This year the forecast says a rain/snow mix. This is one of Portland's biggest races with more than 20,000 people and it is so much fun! People don't care about the rain (come on, we are Oregonian's) and everyone gets a beer afterward in the beer garden. I'll do a recap next week!

Snaps from the Roadtrip

From Portland to Denver, so much can happen! It was a lot of nothingness speckled with lots of amazingly beautiful scenery, especially in Utah. Here are some snaps!

Tricia posing with her packed car, holding a stickie note from Mom

attempting to get a shot of her car full of her belongings but failing!

Tricia learns to pump gas! Yes, us Oregonians have no clue how to pump our own gas.

The majority of Oregon, Idaho & Wyoming looks like this. A whole lot of nothing!

as we approached Utah we started to see some beautiful mountains

beautiful mountains in Utah!

taking photos while driving is my thing

Welcome to Wyoming, the longest stretch of nothing you'll ever see. Except for Texas, I've been told.

the little Nissan Suzuki made it up this hill! Yeah! Go lil Suz!

Home Stretch!

Possibly my favorite treat of the trip, and probably just life in general right now. Unsalted peanut butter filled pretzels from Trader Joe's paired with exactly two M&M's in the same bite. They key is pairing these together! delish.

and....we're here!

approaching downtown Denver

My favorite moment of the trip was this stretch of mountains where it appeared like we were entering a mountain crevice and there were huge snow covered mountains on each side of us. It was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. I loved Utah but was pretty bored in Wyoming! We drove from Portland to Layton, UT in 12 hours and stayed the night in a Comfort Inn. Then we drove for about 9 hours all the way to Denver. I'm glad I got the chance to road trip, I just wish I didn't have to leave Tricia there! I will miss that girl, but I know she's got a good life ahead of her in Denver.

Pambiche for Postres

One of my friends that I met through Pilates Instructor Training invited me out for dessert. She looked on Urban Spoon and Pambiche came up for some of the best desserts, so we decided to try it! They were super fancy and looked almost too pretty to eat! See our picks below!

Pambiche is a cuban restaurant and it smelled divine! I almost wished we had come for dinner when we walked in the door, but as soon as I saw the dessert menu I wasn't disappointed. They were rich and delicious. I want to go back for dinner, or even breakfast! They look like they have a great menu. Anyone been there?

I'm baaaack!

I'm back from road tripping to Colorado! I feel like a huge idiot because I didn't realize how much wide open space exists! I guess I am a city girl at heart. Wyoming was the biggest stretch of nothingness! Even as we passed through Cheyenne, a city I thought would be bigger, it looked tiny. We drove for about 12 hours on Friday and about 9 on Saturday. Adventures along the way included learning to pump our own gas (hey, we are from Oregon!) eating multiple Subway sandwiches, stopping at Little America for 50 cent ice cream cones and listening to some rad tunes including Foster the People, The Head and the Heart, Fun, Mark Wade, Adele, Mumford & Sons, ect. 

My first time pumping gas!

Denver was beautiful and the weather was great. I got to experience running in high altitude! 3.5 miles felt like 7 with an elephant on my chest. Tricia's new apartment was super cute and her sister and cousin were so happy she had arrived to start a new life with them in a new state. I will miss her so much! 

More to come as soon as I have a chance to upload photos!

Road trip!

We are off to Denver! I'm driving with my boyfriend's little sister to Denver, then flying back on Monday. She is moving there! 

Can't wait for miles and miles of music, snacks, deep convo and exploring several states!

Birthday Girl & Road trip

Shane's little sister Tricia turned 23 this weekend. We celebrated with family and then went out downtown. She is so cute, pictured here with her cake. She just graduated and is moving to Denver for a change of pace. I'll be driving with her there this weekend and then flying back. We have quite a little road trip in front of us!



I've never road tripped since my family drove to Disneyland when I was probably only 5 years old. So I basically have no memory of what it is like! We are bringing tons of food and music. I am praying for no snow on the mountains and hours of giggling and dream sharing. I love this girl so no one better to road trip with!
Anyone ever driven to Colorado!?
Be back on Monday!

Seed Planning

I'm prepping to start planting in my community garden plot this year. Check out how it went last year. Since I have a balcony at my new apartment this year, I'm also planning on doing a hanging tomato plant, a salad pot and some herbs. I'm so excited! Stay tuned to see how it goes.

The seeds in the envelopes are seeds I gained at a seed exchange that I was invited to this year. What a great idea! I never need all of the seeds in one packet so it was perfect to trade with other gardeners!

Plainfield's Restaurant

I have been wanting to try this Indian restaurant in Portland for a long time. It's located in Goose Hollow in an old mansion that was owned by the owner's of the first Mier & Frank downtown. Plainfield's is a high end Indian food restaurant with one of the best wine list's in Portland. We were impressed with the food but not the price! It was quite spendy for portions that don't really compare to other Indian places in the area. However, it was really delicious and had a great quiet atmosphere.

the exterior of the restaurant

the interior---right in the mansion's old living room

Dahi Wada---dumplings in a creamy sauce. This was our appetizer--we were told this was the most popular appetizer

Naan. so yum

Butter Chicken. We just couldn't resist---it's seriously the best Indian dish so why not?

all the different sauces. Great flavors although I didn't know what all of them were!

I really liked this place but I'm not sure we would go back because of the cost. At Swagat not too far away we could spend less than half of what we spent here and feel just as satisfied. I'm glad we gave it a try and the restaurant was very quaint. I wish it wasn't so pricey as it is really close to our apartment and was delicious!