Of Tall Ships, Sushi, Cake and Yankee Slayers

It's been a dandy birthday week. We kicked it off on Sunday. After a lovely drive into Portland, we strolled around the Saturday Market and their new digs under the covered pavilion, then moseyed over to Chinatown, where we caught a dragon dance for the moon festival.



The smells of the food vendors at the Market and in Chinatown drove us to Stumptown Coffee so we could distract ourselves from the growling in our stomachs. We were saving ourselves for dinner at Red Hills Provincial Dining in Dundee. We drove out to Mac and saw Mary and Matt's remodel project, then we all headed to Red Hills for a feast.

Nancy and Richard outdid themselves, and started us off with a bottle of Argyle Brut and crabcakes. Mom had called in an order for a bottle of Richard's Pinot Noir as a surprise. We drank lots of coffee with our homemade ice cream dessert so we could make it back to the Gorge in one piece.

Tuesday, Alina and I got our hair done, and had a lovely dinner of swordfish and salad (with some Wind River Cellars Pinot Gris, the official wine of my birthday 2009) out on the deck. Keara sent a big bunch of sunflowers, AND a packet of seeds so I could grow my own.


Wednesday we returned to Today's Chalet for pedicures. Such a guilty pleasure. Lloyd joined us in an expedition across the bridge to tour the Hawaiian Chieftain and The Lady Washington, two tall ships docked in Hood River for the night.


You might recognize The Lady Washington as the HMS Interceptor from Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, or as the brig Enterprise in Star Trek Generations.

The two ships have been on a tour of the Columbia River for the last month, doing dockside tours, evening sails and battle cruises to raise funds and awareness for the foundation.


Lloyd had to get back to White Salmon for an arts council meeting, so we skipped the battle sail. Alina and I got sushi to go from Sushi Okalani instead. Lloyd's not a big sushi fan, so he bolted for the taco stand and got a big carne asada burrito, which he devoured while we waited for our sushi to be constructed. It was beautiful. And delicious. And it went great with the official wine of my birthday 2009.


After his meeting, we all had dessert, courtesy of chef Alina. She's been a cooking junkie since she got here. Here she is with her Chocolate Genoise Cake with Raspberry Filling and Chocolate Ganache, from Emeril and the Food Network website. It tasted as good as it looks, especially with a scoop of Tillamook Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.


Then it was early to bed, because we had to get Alina to PDX by 6 am for her 7:20 flight back to Boston. She texted that she'd boarded when we got to Hood River, and we were home by the time the flight took off. We were moving rather slowly yesterday, and it took me three tries to get the Sudoku puzzle, my brain was so fuzzy. Another helping of that cake did the trick and we're back to normal today. As normal as we can be, that is.

Now, I'm not one to gloat, but I just can't help myself...the Sox swept the Yankees (again) just for me. I was hoping for a win for my birthday, and I knew Tim Wakefield would be up to the task, but to have all three games this week was almost too much. Almost.