We only have the picture of dessert, but we had a delicious dinner at Urdaneta!
This isn’t our first time eating this delicious food. We also ordered from this restaurant to celebrate my new job. It was during the quarantine part of the pandemic and so this is the first time we’ve sat down in the restaurant.
Matt and I tried out the mini golf at Portland’s only amusement park.
I like that all the holes had these flags. They made it easier to get the ball in.
In fact, I was on fire during this golf game. “On fire,” in this case, is defined as mostly only being one over par and sometimes making par but still losing. Usually it takes me six or seven tries, hand-eye coordination not being a thing with me. But for whatever reason today, I could really get that golf ball where I needed it to be.
The course itself was very basic. But it was also deserted, which was nice. I hate to feel hurried during mini golf.
Unfortunately we had to cancel In-Portland Vacation Restaurant Experience No. 2. I was very ill for about three hours on Sunday afternoon, and so we were not able to attend our tasting meal. I think the illness was probably food poisoning, but from food I made, not food the Firehouse Restaurant made. Matt ate the exact same thing as me at the Firehouse Restaurant and he was fine.
We also missed out on the Everett House, so no soaking for us during this vacation. But now we are back on track.
Matt wanted to introduce me to Carioca Bowls and so we got some before our movie. It was my first açaí bowl. My experience wasn’t great as I requested no bananas on the Ultra bowl I ordered. The clerk confirmed no bananas, then went in the back and made my bowl with bananas. When I reminded her no banana, she offered to remake the bowl. I suggested she just take off the bananas and she did, but there was also banana in the Ipa blend that was part of that bowl. She told me about it, and offered to remake the bowl, but we were headed off to pick up shave ice and I felt we didn’t have time. Also that maybe she should have thought of that and mentioned it when I ordered. I ate around the glop with the banana in it and Matt finished off my bowl.
His order was a very big bowl and he quite enjoyed it.
Having experienced shave ice in Hawaii, we opted to make Waihua Shave Ice part of our day. We ordered online ahead of time and stopped by to pick up our shave ice.
While waiting, we discovered that I’m just the right height to wait in this particular spot.
I got the Almond Joy and it was delicious! Matt got Da Mango One and liked it. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to each much due to eating 1.5 açaí bowls.
From there we headed to the Laurelhurst to see Vengance, which was the kind of film that we had things to discuss on the way home and the next day.
After several years of thinking I would attend Portland Center Stage’s JAW New Play Festival, I finally went! Matt came too. It was a date. And a very cheap one as all the plays are free. We did buy cookies. I like PCS’s cookies. So that was $2.00. And we paid for parking. But a date for less than $5.00 is a win!
Also a win? The performance we picked to attend. It was very fun to see Larry Owens’s three different untitled things. One of them was the start of a play about a Black royal family that I would love to see a full production of.
By the time we signed up for our free tickets, they only had seating in the upstairs simulcast space. But I asked and the box office lady said to ask the house manager after all the ticket holders were seated. We didn’t have to even ask. We just hovered along with several other people. When the house manager said, Are you all standby? we said yes and we all got seats. That’s the win about free tickets. A lot of people don’t show up.
We also inadvertently sat next to the artistic director. That was handy because artistic directors tend to know when to clap.
I’ve been attending Cinema 21’s Seven from the 70s series. It plays at 11:00 on Saturday morning and that is a perfect time for me. And for the various other gray-haired people who are perhaps revisiting the movies of their younger years.
This woman came prepared to wait for Paper Moon to start. And she brought her own book light.
I’ve done my fair share of reading before movies start. For a long time I could just tilt the book toward the screen and be fine. Now I need the assistance of my phone’s flashlight.
Macbeth was right by this rope swing and Matt took full advantage
We had fancy birthday dinner at Eem on Williams. They have a strict proof-of-vaccination policy to dine indoors, which I appreciate. We ended up sitting outside because the indoor tables were full. I was fine with this as I don’t love dining indoors in a crowded restaurant.
The food was amazing! We got some hot cauliflower, fried chicken, and amazing fried rice. Then we also ordered curry (mine was green, Matt’s was red) and that was amazing too!
Plus, because I forgot what drink I ordered, and the drink delivery person delivered drinks to the wrong table, I got two cocktails for the price of one.
It was a great birthday dinner!
Or as we call at the Orange Door “Fours!” (Tim Riggins on Friday Night Lights remains a very quotable character, all these years later)
The mothers, Matt, and I celebrated by going out to eat at The Old Spaghetti Factory and then eating Triple Chocolate Cheesecake. Which was delicious!
I forgot I signed up for this challenge, but that turned out not to matter. I accomplished 20 activities of at least 20 minutes before the 20th of the month.
One day before, but still!
As has been the case during the pandemic, the wedding we attended was not the actual marriage ceremony. Greg and Renee got married on 12/02/2021, a date which is not only a palindrome but also an ambigram because it reads the same way upside down. (Assuming you choose the right font.)
Here was the script from the ceremony, full of nerdy fun things.
And the wedding party.
