Having a fun weekend so far, despite an annoying head cold. I won tickets to see Al James from Dolorean at Mississippi Studios. We had planned to walk, but it was 95 and I was feeling miserable, so Brian was kind enough to drive. Meridian opened, and we really liked them. Can’t find any info yet out there, it’s a new project for the lead singer of Jackstraw but we want to see them again. Al James was fantastic as always. Each time I see him or Dolorean, I like them even more. I need to get their new album – the two I have on my phone are played frequently.
Yesterday I set a goal for us of walking across town to get dinner. We decided to check out Savoy Tavern in the Clinton neighborhood and set off. It’s about 3.5 miles from our house. It was too hot on the way there and I overheated (something I need to be better about not doing, I’ve had heat exhaustion a few times). The restaurant was great – we were there just in time for happy hour, and Tom Waits was playing when we walked into the bar.
Had to laugh though, of all the places in Portland I could have picked, I picked one with a Wisconsin theme. Needless to say, we ordered the fried cheese curds (as far as I know, the only ones in Portland). They were good, but not as good as the ones you get in a good dive bar setting in Madison. We’d get them again though for the novelty. Apparently Savoy Tavern’s Old Fashioned is pretty fantastic, and they serve Wisconsin cheddar instead of Tillamook (blasphemy!). Really liked the vibe there and definitely will head back to try a cocktail next time (and maybe sit outside if I haven’t walked there). Fun stuff.
We didn’t linger over dinner long enough so it was still pretty warm when we started walking back. Despite the big meal at Savoy Tavern, we decided to go for dessert at Pied Cow in hopes of the temperature cooling down. We sat out on the patio where I got an ill-fated gingerbread cake and Brian got the largest banana split I’ve ever seen. It was great to sit in the shade (I didn’t know they had a patio) and feel a nice breeze.
By the time we headed out from there, it had cooled off, but I was beginning a reaction to something in the gingerbread cake. My fingers swelled to the point that they looked like sausages! Thankfully, my breathing wasn’t affected so I was able to finish the walk home. Freaky though and I wish I knew what it was that caused the reaction. I make gingerbread cookies without any problems, but I wonder if they use a spice I don’t normally have and that’s what did it. Disappointing, the cake was really good!
Today is going to be pretty mellow, I’m still catching up on laundry from all the visitors we had so I’m going to work on that and study for the SCJA exam.