after shopping at trader joe's we decided to try california taqueria down the street, which we'd been eyeing for a long time but never had the chance to try since we so frequently got mexican elsewhere. finally remembering this place, we gave it a go - i got 2 tacos, a carne asada and a fish (tilapia), and m got a HUGE burrito with carne asada. 

they were pretty dang good but the tacos were a bit on the expensive side (fish taco being $4.50 each, the highest i've ever seen).

later at night i made myself a late night snack of dukboki, with some collard greens thrown into it to make myself feel better (since this is almost a korean junk food). i also put some cheese in it to balance out the spiciness and thought it'd add some protein -_-.

very yummy but with dukboki, collard was a little weird - kale is definitely a better match for something sweet and spicy.

m made this amazing dish again - kind of like a fancy, healthy english fry up.
chicken sausages we had left over from the last time he cooked something similar, kale & beans, all sautéed together with some kind tart & savory flavor. with soft cooked eggs and fresh tomatoes, these were so good in my belly - just what i was craving.

for dinner, we couldn't decide what we wanted to eat and after a long walk and sitting at the park, remembered that we could eat middle eastern food at zaytoons. i got a grilled veggie kebab platter, and m got a shawarma wrap. pretty dang good and fresh too.

after my appointment, we went to our usual post-appointment spot, hanco's in park slope.

it's no west coast vietnamese joint but this place is pretty dang good for close-in brooklyn place.

we also got a classic and a grilled pork banh mis but i was too busy eating to photograph them. -_-

since we can't compare korean food to anything we had in portland, we got ourselves a good meal at café 232 - spicy squid (ojinguh bokum) and tofu maeuntang. both very delicious and nourishing today.

after a long brutal trip back home, and barely getting any sleep on the redeye, we cleaned up the house and after the cats and headed out to get something fresh to get the airplane out of us. still bummed that we couldn't get fresh food nearby (and missing cheap and amazing portland food), we just walked around the corner to pillow. got a salad and a garden bagel sandwich each. they were good but we still couldn't stop comparing them to portland food! ahhhhh~!

{ PORTLAND TRIP : Last Day }

 we checked out of our airbnb early (or slept in late and checked out right away - _- ) and headed to alberta to say hi to a new friend who owns antler gallery on it. afterwards we walked down the block to get some coffee at random order pie bar - i tried their "best pie" as some article called out, salted caramel vanilla apple pie - unfortunately, maybe because they didn't heat it up, it was just so so. nothing amazing for me - too bad, i was looking forward to having this slice after reading about it.

for lunch, just because yesterday's khao man gai was unforgettable, we went back to nong's khao man gai again! we went all out and got the pork and rice dish (with khao man gai style rice and sauce) and the regular chicken and rice khao man gai. ahhhhh they were both amazinggggg! the only thing was that we ordered liver with the chicken but they forgot. :(

the chicken also came with this amazing clear broth soup, and with coconut water we got together, it was so perfect - we drove out until we found a little grassy area to sit on and had a great picnic with these.

the flight back was brutal - redeye, delayed layover, squeezed seats, nausea - and erased most of the wonderful energy we absorbed while lying around the grass in laurelhurst park. but we sure came back with some amazing memories of this city!

{ PORTLAND TRIP : Day 4 }

 after all the doughy food (besides mexican) we ate yesterday and so far, we were definitely craving something light and fresh. we had spotted laughing planet on mississippi so we headed over there and got kale salad and a burrito bowl special with pork. somehow these two mixed together were just the exact thing we were both craving. so delicious and not over-filling.

after, we decided to go check out velo cult, a bike shop / bar / coffee bar. 

the bike shop part looked really great - but unfortunately the coffee bar is pretty bare and new and didn't have iced coffee either. even the hot coffee got a little sour after a while, kind of a bummer.

we were invited to a bbq in the evening but decided to have a little snack - monica had told us about this amazing food cart place, nong's khao man gai, and was she right!!!

i can imagine why she'd eat here all the time and why they would do well only serving this one dish for as long as they did (now they do a few more). this is kind of like a thai hainan chicken, with rice cooked in chicken broth and probably some kind of amazing magic. chicken was cooked perfectly, but the best part was the sauce - some kind of crack out sauce that made everything amazing and covered in rainbows.

the bbq was so great, amazing local meats and sausages, but i was too busy stuffing my faces to be documenting it. :/

my belly and mind remember them perfectly though.

{ PORTLAND TRIP : Day 3 }

hoping for a better (and real) breakfast food, we decided to go to a different neighborhood (and to also explore different parts of pdx) - we ended up walking up and down hawthorne - and meeting a pet baby sheep/lamb! - not finding anything we wanted, we drove back west further down to jam on hawthorne (hosford-abernathy area), which seemed like exactly what we wanted. 

somehow i was craving a sweet breakfast and ordered their lemon ricotta pancakes with blueberry compote, and m got 2 over-easy eggs with sausages. this didn't seem like it would be enough food but when they arrived, it was definitely west coast portions. 

i never get pancakes on my own because i get tired of eating them after a few bites - but these were not doughy or caky, they were almost pudding like with moist center were the ricotta was - not to mention how thin they were. blueberry compote wasn't overpowering, and added just the right amount of sweetness - with great coffee ubiquitous in portland, i could finish these no problem.

the best part was m's sausages he got - they were spicy and so perfect with the eggs and hash browns. 

it was good to take a break from the sweet pancake and take a bite of these and vice versa.

mmmm~ so satisfied. and our good food day started like this!

after breakfast, we started walking around belmont and streets behind them, we saw all these amazing raised bed gardens everywhere - we fell in love with the small cottage houses and all the yards that grow food!

then i saw this tiny little treehouse chicken coop (with 2 chickens) - amazing!!!!!

our visit fell on a very unusual heatwave (86ºF on the high, which is very high for portland, it seems), and we made a mistake of deciding to go for a long walk down to mississippi ave from our airbnb place. a little too cooked and cranky we ducked in to get a little something to drink and maybe some chips and salsa at a cal-mex joint called por que no? despite the name, the place was so amazing.

we ended up ordering 2 rounds of tacos, just out of their sheer amazingness.

we started off with beer and seltzer water, with chips, salsa & guacamole, and a taco each - carne asada and spicy calamari. i ordered calamari, just out of its sheer novelty - i'd never seen one. and holy cow, these were without a doubt the best tacos we've ever had. even the carne asada - beef was cooked so tenderly and perfectly, it melted in our mouths. my calamari was cooked super lightly, leaving the meat very fresh and not rubbery. it was sooooo good. we ended up having to get another round, just because they were too good. and we weren't even hungry to begin with. -_-

later on at night we weren't too hungry, but got some fruits and veggies then stopped on alberta and got some biscuits - seems like it was a mistake. not too good and made us feel bad. T__T

{ PORTLAND TRIP : Day 2 }

we were finally caught up on our sleep and woke up early (7 or 8 am?) and headed out for breakfast.

after googling on yelp and actually driving down to cadillac cafe, we turned back seeing how fancy it was. we went back to alberta arts district area, having spied a bike co-op and a food co-op on it, and ended up at helser's. m got a breakfast platter with potato latkes and scottish egg (hardboiled egg in brat worst casing) and i got a crumpet sandwich with scrambled eggs, bacon, tomatoes, and goat cheese. the food was just so so, we could tell they used good ingredients. they flavors weren't amazing, although individual ingredients were pretty good and fresh.

then later in the afternoon, before my opening night on their first thursday art walk, we went to downtown early enough to fill our bellies from one of their food cart pods. unfortunately, most of the good ones seemed to close early around 4pm, and we got a burger and indian food platter (chicken tikka masala & chana masala with rice & naan), they were just so so. and we still went and sat inside stumptown coffee, where we were hoping for these amazing donuts we got there last time, but alas they were gone. we ended up with an iced coffee and a flourless chocolate cookie. the cookie was great, but i just can't seem to like cold brew coffee, no matter who makes it. 

we were beyond full, which came in handy during the openings (i was in 2 shows) - i didn't feel hungry until past midnight!

{ PORTLAND TRIP : Day 1 } 

we had a loooong flight (delayed layover due to snowstorm in denver !! O_O) during which we frequently nourished ourselves with fruits & potato chips. when we landed in sunny crisp weather in portland, OR, we craved something soothing and comforting, so we headed out for a vietnamese place that was on our way to our airbnb place from the airport. we decided on hanoi kitchen based on location, menu and reviews, and it was perfect!

we were so famished (well, i was) that we started off with vietnamese honey glazed wings - which were amazingly tasty and crunchy and juicy all at the same time. and i ordered something i never see back in NYC, bun bo gio cua, a spicy beef noodle soup with beef and crab patties (!!). and m got his usual favorite, pho. but man on man, i couldn't believe how good my dish was. it came out before the pho so we both delved into it, the spicy, umami broth, with tons of fresh veggies, and super round but elastic noodles were all so amazing. the beef in both dishes were even beefier than other beef. -_-

i wonder if it's because most portland restaurants and eateries use local beef, but it was much more intensely flavored and fresher than any other places.

and holy cow were these big - we were beyond stuffed. we forgot how big west coast portions are and definitely over-ordered, even with our starved bellies. the bowls were probably about 12" in diameter!

we made the café 232's lunch special with about 4 minutes to spare - we got bulgogi bibimbap and ojinguh bokum (spicy squid stir fry) with rice to share. both delicious and surprisingly filling.

then for dinner, right about when i was about to skip dinner due to nauseousness in my stomach, m concocted this amazing dish in probably 5 minutes. italian sausages we picked up earlier, with canned beans, kale, chard and carrots - and it was amazing!! how could this be so healing - my nauseousness immediately subsided. the best part wasn't even the sausages - it was everything else that he'd made.

so good, so comforting and all healing.♥  

 kept m company while he sold some bike parts on a stoop - and walked over to the brooklyn flea to get these delicious onigiri from Rice & Miso Everyday stall - we've gotten their miso soup and onigiri before, so i knew to beeline straight there. i got the garlic miso we've tried before, as well as their daily special (right) with ground beef in soy sauce, etc. they were both incredibly delicious. i especially love how they make it with brown rice.

then after the successful day of sales, we biked around the neighborhood and ended up for a real meal at national thai - we got our usual green curry with chicken and salmon filet (buried in their somewhere) with sautéed vegetables in basil sauce over rice from their special menu. 

the salmon dish was delicious, perfectly cooked vegetables and brown rice were just what i wanted.

their green curry is always on the spot - so perfectly creamy and spicy with generous amount of everything.

after a long line at the post office, i was too hungry to bike to another place (i really wanted an onigiri from ash box) and we couldn't decide where else or what to eat for lunch. famished, we just walked across the street for sandwiches at pillow café. i got my favorite garden bagel sandwich (cream cheese, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, and pesto on bagel) and m got a tuna salad sandwich on ciabatta. they were both good, but my favorite there still remains to be the bagel.

then for dinner we met up with friends at menkuitei - people got all kinds of noodles & tapas type food, but i stuck with my usual shoyu ramen and m got his mabo-don. both were so delicious, of course!
so satisfying after a long wait.

we've been talking about this hanco's since we last ate there, and finally made our way back there today for lunch - it was so beautiful to ride our bikes through the park on such a full-on warm spring day. 

even though i was a bit too hot after the bike ride to be eating a hot bowl of pho, it was still so good and cleansing feeling that it didn't stop me from eating it - we noticed that their pho comes with about 2-3 times the meat than other places! and the grilled pork banh mi was as good as ever. i love their banh mi's for being so full of pickled veggies and the crisp yet soft baguette.