Birthday

Today was very productive. I started by cutting the grass and watering all the plants. Then we went to Cost Co and did some shopping. One of the things on my birthday list was a new audio receiver, but they didn't have a very good selection, so we stopped at Best Buy and picked one up there. After that, I took a yoga class with the new mat I got from my brother, then I cam home and undid the yoga class trying to set up the new receiver. In the end it was not too complicated, but I made some stupid mistakes that made the process a lot harder than it should have been. The productivity continued with washing both cars; and cleaning up the garage.


To enjoy the day more I opened my presents one at a time throughout the day, not all at once; this was a good strategy as I usually get depressed once the present opening is over. To round out the evening, we went over to Jenny and Al Campbell's house for the Iron Chef Hot Dog Throwdown. This was a cooking contest with the main ingredient being a hot dog. There were several categories including "Best Use of Secret Ingredient" and "Most Creative," and many amazing things happening with hot dogs, including hot dog infused vodka. We didn't stay to eat as we already had plans to have dinner at the always great Bombay Cricket Club.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

I have long wished I could come up with a word or saying that would make its way into everyday lexicon, so I'm totally impressed that everyone in the world knows the title to Joseph Heller's great book, Catch 22 even though they don't know that it's a book. The catch 22 in this book becomes apparent in the Second World War, specifically 1943, when a bomber pilot realizes he can only get out of flying missions if he is crazy, but wanting to get out of flying bombing missions proves he is sane. This is the kind of weird and interesting humor you will experience throughout this book. It is told from several points of view and can seem a little disjointed at times, but it is worth sticking with it. When this book was published in 1961 it was polarizing, half the reviews loved it and half hated it. It has endured however, with The Modern Library ranking Catch-22 as number 7 (by review panel) and as number 12 (by the public) on its list of the greatest English language novels of the twentieth century.

Al-Amir Restaurant

Al-Amir is a great old Portland restaurant that we have not been to in years, but luckily we rediscovered it after a few beers at the Oregon Brewers Fest on Friday night. They have a great bar and I highly recommend the Lebanese Margarita to get you going. Then ask you waiter to start bringing you food, you don't have to look at the menu, it's all good stuff. You'll most likely get the Al-Amir Sampler, a platter of Hummus, Baba Ghannooj, Tabooli, Grape Leaves and Falafel. Then you can add an entree or two, I would go with the Shish Kabob, grilled cubes of lamb or beef marinated in Al-Amir's special spices and wine; and the Dajaj, grilled fillet of chicken breast marinated in olive oil, garlic, lemon and herbs.

You'll have more fun if you go with a large group of people, it will allow you to get a wider breadth of the menu. You can also enjoy traditional belly dancing every Friday and Saturday at 8:00 PM.

I also found this interesting info about the Bishop’s House, where Al-Amir is located: It was in fact the residence of the Archbishop. The Catholic Cathedral was around the corner and upstairs was a balcony where the Archbishop held prayer meetings and, on occasion, entertained guests with scared music sung by the Cathedral choir. Times changed and by the thirties, the balcony housed a band for the speak-easy that operated in the basement of the building. During the first major refit in the sixties, wires were discovered that ran from the the Bishop’s House to the Police Station. However, history does not relate who was bugging whom.

Al-Amir Restaurant
223 SW Stark Street
Portland, OR 97204
(503) 274-0010

This is Happening - LCD Soundsystem

Somehow I missed out on LCD Soundsytem's previous work, including 45:33, which as the name suggests is a 45 minute download, commissioned by Nike and available on iTunes, as a download for runners. LCD Soundsytem is basically James Murphy and various guest musicians. Murphy started out playing in post-punk and hardcore bands, and was a well know producer before he got into one of my favorite genres - fun dance music with dark lyrics. This is Happening is his third full-length studio record. If you were a fan of the self titled debut or the critically acclaimed Sound of Silver, you will be very happy with this latest offering; there is no wholesale reinvention, just more of a very good thing. If you want great lyrics, you'll love "Drunk Girls," if you just want to dance, there is plenty for you on this record. LCD Soundsytem should be on your iPod, they are one of the best bands of the 2000's.

A Pale Criminal by Phillip Kerr

I just finished the second book in the Berlin Noir series by Phillip Kerr, A Pale Criminal, and there is quite a maturing between it and March Violets, the first book in the series. Private Detective Bernie Gunther is back and he has taken on Bruno Stahlecker, another ex-police officer, as a partner. This is an unfortunate decision for Stahlecker, as he is murdered early in the book on a stake out for what seems like a cut and dry case. Of course with Kerr, nothing is cut and dry. In what turns out to be a huge, ever-escalating case, he is forced back into the Berlin police, and worse, is made a Kommisar in the state Security Service (or the dreaded SS, as they later became know). As Gunther tracks a serial sex murderer he interacts with many of the senior players in the Nazi party and Kerr gives us an amazing insight into life in Berlin as the Second World War is about to break out. Once again this novel is not only a good detective story, it is equally interesting as historical fiction.

Mad Men is Back

The most anticipated TV show of the year, Mad Men, is back and better than ever. It's 1964, a year since we last saw the cast, and Don Draper is divorced and a partner in a re-formed advertising agency. Many of the old characters are back, but some real favorites - Sal I am thinking of you - have not resurfaced. Don's wife, Betty, is remarried, but she is yet to move out of the house she and Don shared with their two kids, which is a major stress point. Meanwhile Don has moved into a bachelor pad in Greenwich Village. He is finding dating is hard work and is satisfying he needs with a prostitute, that he likes to have slap him around a little.


The most intriguing element of the show is the rise of the creative advertising agency. As a partner in the new agency, Don has more say over the creatives role in running the agency and in one of the best scenes of the first show, he runs off a potential client for being too prude; as he leaves the room, he says, "now you've seen how a creative agency works, I hope you liked looking in the window." This is where Executive Producer Matthew Weiner does his best work, getting the details right. In most TV shows and movies, it is obvious the writer has no idea how an ad agency works. Weiner has nailed it. This was also a great time for advertising; they are moving out of the boring 1950's play it safe mode, to the more liberated 1960's, where creativity and risk taking really start to take off. We are also seeing the split between large, staid agencies like Y&R and upstart creative shops. What I love most is that they use real agency names and real clients that still exist.

But, as one of the founders of Wieden+Kennedy, David Kennedy, said to me when I recommend he watch the show, "this is not a show about advertising, it's a soap opera." He loved the details of the ad world, but like most of us it's the real world tensions that keep the show going. 1964 should be an interesting year.

23rd Annual Oregon Brewers Festival

It's July, so it's time for one of the best events in Portland, the Oregon Brewers Fest. There are 80 different microbrews from all over the country being enjoyed by over 20,000 beer lovers of all stripe. We have sorority girls and girls with tattoos on their chest, we have young guys trying to meet girls and old guys trying to meet the perfect beer. This year we added a fun new game, you get to punch your friend every time you see a hated utility kilt.


Gone are the days that you can go down to the waterfront on Thursday or Friday afternoon to avoid the weekend lines. This event is getting too popular. You've got to get there at noon if you don't like crowds, because by 5:00 PM it'll be packed. Also, if you really want to fit in, wear some kind of beer t-shirt, like "Beer is Good Food" or "Beer, it's what's for breakfast."

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

If you saw the movie, The Color Purple, I am sorry. This is one of the many examples of a great book, being made into a very bad movie. I have never heard Alice Walker talk about it, but I don't know how anyone thought they could take the amazing inner dialog that she created and turn it into a movie. Sometimes a great book should just stay a great book. The Color Purple is a hard read as the narrator is leading a difficult and painful life. It is an amazing ode to the human condition.

What ever happened to David Lee Roth?

Turns out he is in Portland, riding the bus around in his cut off jeans. He looks great.

March Violets by Philip Kerr

March Violets is Scottish writer Philip Kerr's first novel. It is a detective story set in Nazi Germany during the Olympic games of 1936. Much like Walter Mosley's detective stories, the setting is one of the main characters in this novel. Anti-Semitism is rampant and the SS and Gestapo are already the most feared groups in Germany. You can be sent to a concentration camp for being a Jew, a Gypsy, gay, or just about any other crime the National Socialist German Workers Party deemed you had committed, the only difference is Jews and Gypsy's never came back. Bernhard Gunther is a smart mouthed Private Detective, who is not a member of the Nazi party, but not above a little profiteering. Missing persons are his specialty and in Nazi Germany there are plenty of people disappearing, mostly Jews. While he has sympathy for his clients, he is walking a fine line between making money and being picked up by the SS. When gets hired by a rich industrialist to find out who killed his daughter and return some missing jewels, things get interesting.

March Violets is the name given to late comers in the Nazi party; people who joined after the passage of Hitler's Enabling Act (rendering him dictator) on March 23, 1933. In May, the Nazi Party froze membership. Kerr does a great job of painting a picture of life during this seriously tense time. He has clearly done his research from the Olympics to the street names to the officers ranks. He also has a rye style, with tension breaking wit and a good sense of mystery.

The Mynabirds - What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood

Myna birds are know as mimics, but it would unfair to call the debut record from The Mynabirds, What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood, anything but original. You may hear echos of Dusty Springfield or Cat Power, but Laura Burhenn has put together something fresh and original with her new band The Mynabirds. A veteran of the Washington DC music scene, this is the third or forth incarnation for Burhenn, and her best to date. This record is winning critical praise across the board due to it's easily likable melodies and Burhenn's strong vocals. Her sound ranges from New Orleans jazz to gospel to danceable pop. This is the best record of 2010 so far and well worth a listen.

A Single Man

After hearing an interesting interview with Tom Ford and Colin Firth on NPR, I decided A Single Man might be worth watching. That was a mistake.

Before I started on this review, my wife sent me the review I should have written, by Dan Smith a photographer and editor in Virgina, where he basically has captured my thoughts exactly. The only good thing about this movie was the very cool, old Mercedes that Firth's character, George, drives.

Otherwise this is an overly art directed film about a bunch of boring people that I would never want to meet or spend time with. I do have to admit there is a very touching moment in the film were George receives a phone call from the family of his long time lover to let him know there has been an accident and his partner, Jim, is dead. As were the times in 1962, George is told the service is "family only," despite having been with Jim for 16 years. It made me feel we might have made some small amount of progress in gay rights in the last 50 years. This movie offered little else of interest. Julianne Moore's character Charlie was especially annoying and vapid. As far as I could see she was just a prop for Ford to dress in early 60's couture. I won't give away the ending, I'll just say it's predictable and trite.

The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry

Larry McMurtry is one of my all time favorite authors and most people only seem to know his work because they saw the Lonesome Dove mini-series or The Last Picture Show as a movie. That is a shame as he is an excellent and prolific writer. He has also won Oscars for adapting the screenplays for Hud, Terms of Endearment and Brokeback Mountain.

Published in 1966, The Last Picture Show is in fact a trilogy; the story continues with Texasville in 1987 and Duane's Depressed in 1999. The book is set in a small Texas town and delves into the lives of three high school students as they come of age. It shows the struggles they endure and the mistakes they make as they grow into young adulthood. Hopefully this is the book that will get you started on a long list of great McMurtry books.

Barbara's Birthday

Yesterday was Bastille Day in France and Barbara Baugnon's birthday in the United States. We celebrated both with a great dinner at Genoa, our favorite Portland restaurant. As you all know they have a five course dinner with two pasta choices and three entree choices. Per usual, the food was amazing and we also got a great wine recommendation, although I can't find it on their website menu list, so I'll have to get back to you on that. Below is the summer menu, which should be available for the next couple of months.


First Course
Scamorze allo spiedo - creamy scamorza cheese skewered onto rosemary stems, pan seared then served with marinated baby artichokes and Dulce’s Pickled Asparagus

Pasta Course
Farfalline con pisselli e fave - small hand-made pasta butterflies tossed in a savory San Marzano tomato sauce with tender Viridian Farms peas, fava beans, lemon zest and fresh sheeps milk ricotta

Salad Course
Scapece di salmone alla vastese - a salad of wild Oregon Sockeye salmon that has been marinated in champagne vinegar, white verjus, saffron and aromatic vegetables served over baby spinach, sweet basil and Yukon gold potatoes

Main Course
Dentice e calamari in purgatorio - Line caught pacific rockfish and calamari sautéed in a spicy sauce of onions, white wine, tomatoes and dried chiles. Served with roasted Gale’s Meadow farms broccoli or Lombatine pepate e fiamma - Grilled Pepper and herb crusted strip loin steak flamed with strega liquor and served with a saffron risotto stuffed pepper and a raw zucchini and mint salad. We skipped the mixed grill rabbit.

Dessert
Amaretto soufflé, and chocolate/espresso semifreddo

5:30pm – 9:30pm, Tuesday through Sunday

Genoa Restaurant
2832 SE Belmont St.
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 238-1464

The Gieser Grand Hotel

Barbara Sidway is one of the very nice people I have met over the years in the Oregon tourism industry. Several years ago she and her husband saved the Gieser Grand Hotel from the wrecking ball. Originally built in the 1890's it had fallen into grave disrepair and the owner was trying to find a savior. Baker City had condemned the building, but neither the owner nor the city had the money to tear it down, so it sat as an eyesore for many years in downtown. Luckily Barbara had the vision to restore it to it's original glory and it is now one of my favorite hotels in Oregon. Not only are the rooms cozy and welcoming, with modern amenities, the food it great and they have one of the best bars in the area. the staff is also super helpful and will gladly steer you to all the great things you can see and do in the area.

Oregon Trail Interpretive Center

I was out in Eastern Oregon for a work meeting, and is often the case with these trips, we also got to see a part of Oregon I usually would not have seen.

About 10 miles outside Baker City is the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. It is run by the Bureau of Land Management and they have some great displays that bring to life what life was like for a person making the trek out to Oregon in the 1800's. In a nutshell it was a hard trip. The vast migration took off in 1843 and lasted for over 25 years. The tip was over 2000 miles, with most people making 16-20 miles a day. Then when you got to the end, there was a sign pointing north to Oregon and south to GOLD. It's an interesting kind of person that choose north.

National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center
22267 Oregon Highway 86
Baker City, OR 97814-0987
541-523-1843

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson

I finally got to the last book in Stieg Larsson's trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest, which is the finale to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire. This is the one book that you have to have read the others to get the most out of it. It picks up right where The Girl Who Played with Fire left off with Lisbeth Salander in the hospital recovering from her gunshot wounds and all the bad guys still alive and kicking. Although she spends the majority of the book confined to a hospital bed, this book has more adventure and intrigue than any of the previous books. It is obvious Larsson is going for a big ending here as he ties up a lot of the loose ends.

I have chronicled Larsson's death and the fallout in a previous review, so I won't go into all that again. Suffice to say it is a shame that another book will not be forthcoming as there is still a lot more that could have been mined out of these characters.

Park Kitchen

Saturday night we made our first trip to Park Kitchen in Portland's Pearl District. It must be getting a lot of good accolades in the press as both tables next to us were tourists who had heard it was one of the best restaurants in town. I am not sure I would put it in my top five, but the food was excellent.

We got a great table outside looking at the park blocks, which is always nice on a summer evening. The service was great, and our waitress made several good suggestions. We decided to stick with the small plates and a desert. We were very happy with our choices: pork belly with mashed potatoes, the salt cod fritters with malt vinegar, flank steak with blue cheese, parsley and sherried onion and an amazing salad. Four plates were enough for us, but we would have added the fried green beans and bacon, tarragon aioli if we had had the space. The large plates looked very good, but they were indeed large (and expensive) and probably better suited to cooler weather and heartier appetites.

Park Kitchen
422 NW 8th Ave
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 223-7275

What is that smell?

For a week I have been driving around with a terrible smell in my car. It got really bad as the temperature got up into the 90's, so sitting in stop and go traffic on the way back from Beaverton last week was no fun. As the smell continued to intensify, I decided to take the car apart until I found the source. My fear was that one of the mice that has been seen in the garage took the bait we put out and burrowed into my car and died. After pulling out and cleaning all the carpets, it became more and more obvious this was what happened. I dug around in every crevice the car has until I got to a tiny space in the very back of the trunk where I couldn't see anything, but the smell was very strong. Thankfully my shop vac did the ugly job of removing a small dead mouse from it's automotive grave. I then hit the space with a bottle of bleach and tried to air it out over the weekend.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I was thinking of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald today because we saw the massive house in Newport, RI where they shot the Gatsby movie on our trip last weekend (despite the book being set on Long Island). It's also a great book to read in depressed times to remind ourselves that we never seem to learn the lesson of boom times - that they don't last for ever. This seems to be a trend as the book only sold 25,000 copies when it was first printed in 1925. It didn't become popular until after the Second World War when prosperity returned to the US.

Purple Guy

I see this guy on the bus all the time. Today, he was especially color coordinated in purple, maybe like Prince in his late 50's.

Casa Del Matador

Casa Del Matador is a Seattle chain that has opened up shop on NW 23rd and E. Burnside in Portland. They specialize in Tex Mex and tequila. We checked it out with a large work group and the staff did a good job of keeping the food and drinks flowing. The margaritas are big and strong and are best on the rocks. We started with the Blackened Ahi with Green Apple Slaw, the Ancho-Chipotle Wings and the Habanero Prawns which were both pretty hot and tasty, and the Spicy Fried Calamari, which was the only disappointment.

As an entree, I had the red chile carnitas enchiladas plate with black beans, rice and pico de gallo; the enchiladas also come with carne asada, shredded chicken, or shrimp. Another favorite at our table was the Carne Asada Surf and Turf: seared, marinaded skirt steak and Garlic or Habanero Prawns, served with garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed corn and leeks.

The prices are very reasonable and overall the services was good. They also have a huge bar where you can eat and watch a game. When the opened the big garage doors the breeze made it very comfortable despite being a hot evening.

11am - 2am Every Day

Casa Del Matador
1438 NW 23rd Ave
Portland, OR
(503) 228-2855

The Oldest Tavern in America

One of my favorite places we visited in Rhode Island was the White Horse Tavern in Newport, which claims to be the oldest tavern in America. The original building was built in 1652, and although there were taverns before that, this is supposedly the only one that has been in continuous existence as a tavern since it opened. They also claim that in 1708 the Tavern became “birthplace of the businessman’s lunch” as city councilors dined here and charged their meals to the public treasury. It is a great bar and although we didn't get to eat, we heard from plenty of people that the food is excellent too. I doubt there is a drink that the bar tender doesn't know how to make, especially old cocktails from the 18th and 19th century.

White Horse Tavern
26 Marlborough Street
Newport, RI 02840
401-849-3600

White Baiting

Today we took part in a sacred Roger's family tradition before we got on the plane to head back to Portland; today we got to white bait. White bait are a very small fish that you get in the northeast, that I have also tasted in Scotland. They look like little sardines and can be tasty if you fry them up and make a good sauce. The process is pretty simple, you get two guys with a net down on one side of the beach and a group of 10-12 people about 30 yards away that walk towards the net, scaring the fish into it. The hardest part is getting up at 7 AM to get to the beach. We made three passes and filled up a good size bucket with fish.

You can see a great documentary that David Baugnon made on white baiting at his film website.

The Christening

Today was the main event, the christening of Matthew Emanual Baugnon. It was held in a beautiful church that has been around for a couple of hundred years and Meg's great grandfather was once a minister. It was a great event with family from all over the north east and New Orleans in attendance. Up until the christening, Matthew had been one of the best behaved babies I had ever met. I had not heard him cry and he was only a little fussy if he got hungry. However, as soon as the spotlight was on him he erupted like a volcano. He howled throughout the christening as if the minister were pinching him. to break the tension Meg suggested, "maybe he's Jewish." As soon as the ceremony was over he went back to being a perfect baby.

I dont Like lobster

I have a terrible admission to make, I don't like lobster. I always thought it was because I hadn't gotten a really good one, but today I confirmed it. We all went to Anthony's Seafood Restaurant in Middletown, RI, where the lobster is only hours out of the trap, and I ordered a large lobster. I thought if I am in Rhode Island I have to try the official state food, and I will probably never get a better, fresher lobster. Unfortunately I was about two bites in when I realized I really don't like this. The other lobster lovers tasted mine to confirm it was good, so there are no excuses. I now officially know I never have to waste $40 again to prove this point

Hanging out at the beach

The weather was beautiful on our trip to Rhode Island, so we spent a lot of time at the beach. This particular area we went to is called Wet Stone and is at the foot of the yard of one of Meg's family friends. They have four huge family houses on the property and some great waterfront property. The water was really cold, but it felt great to jump in there and cool off.

Visiting our smallest state

Today we took out to Rhode Island for the christening of Matthew Emanuel Baugnon, son of David Baugnon and Meg Rogers. It was out first trip to Rhode Island where Meg's family has a summer house. The house is pretty amazing and has been in the family since the 1840's. It is in Middletown, which is a suburb of Newport. It is an easy walk down to the beach and about a 15 minute drive into Newport.