Archive for February, 2009

Make way for Trader Joe's

Friday, February 27th, 2009

traderjoes
I generally try to shop close to home — the farm stands on Silverton Road are my newest favorite haunt — but I can’t help driving the 35 minutes to the Lake Oswego Trader Joe’s to get the items you can buy cheaper there: brie, Tasty Bite Indian, pine nuts, real dark chocolate.

But whatever you do, DO NOT GO AT 3:00 p.m. on a Thursday. That’s when all of Lake Oswego’s  little old ladies in their long coats and $100 haircuts flood the story for a lean, mean event of grocery cart derby. Yesterday, I got edged out of produce by a woman making a beeline for the packaged endive and another holding her ground — for ten minutes!–equivocating over parsley (“But my recipe calls for flat parsley, is this parsley flat?”).

Or, if you’re a fan like me, you can join the growing legions of Salemites who are signing petitions to bring Trader Joe’s to Salem.  According to a recent news report a move to Salem is unlikely for the high-end food specialty store. But you can’t ignore the madding crowd for long. Word on the street is that the Lake Oswego site is expanding into the space next door (former furniture store) next May.

Posted in Food, Shopping | 4 Comments »

See you in another lifetime, brutha.

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

dutch-bros-pic

Dear Dutch Brothers Guy:

I don’t know how you do it.

I don’t know how you can seem so hoppingly happy every time I roll into the drive-thru window at the Dutch Brothers Market Street location in Salem. Perhaps you are still jazzed up from your first latte of the day. Perhaps you are just doing your job.

In the two months that I have been frequenting your little blue parking lot kiosk I have learned a lot about you. That you have worked in all six Dutch Brothers locations in Salem. That you are a young father and work full-time crating coffee drinks that rock my face off. That you have lived in Salem all of your life and still love it here. That you’ve got the fastest hands in the West. That you make the best coffee I’ve ever drunk out of a plastic cup (and no, I don’t want a straw).

If it weren’t for our conversations, which clearly label you as a real human with a story, I might think that the Dutch Brothers corporation farms its baristas — like robots farming humans in the Matrix. How else could they have hired people that are so preternaturally peppy?

I refuse to believe that your interest in my day is merely part of your job description, that our jibber jabber is the “solid communication” touted on the Dutch Brothers website.

So I thank you, Dutch Brothers Guy. I didn’t need anything else in life to connect coffee to my happiness, but you have given me something to look forward to the one time a week that I can afford to buy a real coffee drink. I’m only sorry I can’t come more often.

Posted in Coffee | 9 Comments »

For Better and for Wurst

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

glockenspiel Drunk Americans, a garish carnival scene, more  sausage than you can shake a stick at — the Mt. Angel Wurstfest is just like the real Oktoberfest, only smaller!

No, really. I lived in Munich for three years and attended the real Oktoberfest, the worlds’ largest folk festival and celebration of beer culture, about a dozen times during my time there. I’ve also been to my share of lame German-American festivals. This one rocks.

The tent was packed when we arrived Saturday night, so much so that the free gift we were supposed to receive with our steep $10 entrance fee, a Spaten beer stein, had transmorphed into leftover Mt. Angel Oktoberfest white wine glasses from 2008.

I was most impressed with the many families that attended the Wurstfest in full Bavarian Dirndls and Lederhosen.  German folk festivals are really family affairs, and it has always bothered me that the American versions sometimes end up looking like afternoon bingo matches for the blue plate crowd.

There were people dancing the funky chicken and they weren’t even doing it ironically.

Thank god that wasn’t the only music they played, though. My husband’s quite the polka artist and we had our feet on most of the dance floor.  Sorry we didn’t get any pics of the actual event, but we were too busy dancin’.

Posted in Travel | 2 Comments »

Hello, Salem!

Monday, February 16th, 2009

oregoncoast-0402

Well, we finally made it. After six months of traveling the country, with a side trip to Panama to visit my husband’s twin brother and his wife at their remote Peace Corps village, we arrived in Salem on December 1, 2008.  So before I start seeking Salem, and desperately, here’s the answer to the obvious question.


Top Ten Reasons We Moved to Oregon:


10. The chance to live an hour from the mountains and an hour from the coast

9. Because we make great transplants, and we can always go back.

8. Trees! Trees! Trees!

7. To live in a wine-growing, cheese-producing region

6. (Eventually) send our kids to the German American School of Portland

5. To live somewhere with enough going on that Emily has steady freelance work

4. Lush life – it’s green like Ireland here, both of our favorite colors. Moss on the shingles!

3. To be closer to my sister Ashley (CA) and Adam’s brother Steven (WA)

2. Portland. Ok, we actually ended up in Salem, and we’re pretty sure Portland’s coolness quotient might have gone down a notch had we made it there. Salem’s definitely went up with our arrival.

1. Starting fresh in an area where neither of us has ties. New! Exciting! A little scary!

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

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