Bite of Oregon

Things have been quiet around here lately. Work has been really busy for me and we haven't been doing a lot of fun stuff. Mostly just backyard BBQ's and watching crappy summer TV. This week we decided we were going to make the trip downtown and go to the annual Bite of Oregon. It was advertised  as being a food festival with booths that sell small plates and local beer and wine. It turned out to be more of a county fair without the rides. More on that later. 

As usual, I will start the post with a random photo of the dogs that has nothing to do with the blog itself, but I find amusing anyway. 

This is the neighbor cat that pokes his head in my window in the morning. I woke up one morning and he was staring at me like this. 

If you remember my New Years eve post, which I'm sure all of you do, you will remember that our friends Steve and Kim were pregnant. Well, I am happy to announce they are now the proud parents of a healthy baby boy. Nate Olson born 8/12/2011.

We made a detour to stop by the hospital to say congrats before we headed to the Bite. You could tell they were both exhausted, but so happy to be parents. Mirav held Nate while we stayed and chatted. 

This is what a 25 hour old baby looks like

I brought some celebratory beers for me and Steve. Apparently the hospital approves of this. Maybe not the best idea at 11:30am, but how often do you get to drink beer in a hospital? We could not be happier for Steve and Kim, they are going to be great parents. 

Steve and Kim had to go do baby stuff, for the next 18 years, so we said goodbye, dropped off the car and hopped the bus into downtown. Bite of Oregon was right on the waterfront downtown. It was pretty big, lots of tents, unfortunately I was not impressed overall with the event. Luckily, there were some high points that made up for it. 

One of the "Bites" was steak tenders and sweet potato tots. The dipping sauce was some kind of creme fraiche. I would say this was the high point of the day. It was fantastic. I am completely sold on the idea of sweet potato tots. 

Next, we split a philly cheese steak. It was the kind where use cheese whiz. This is Mirav eating her half. It got everywhere. I think I got some of mine on the camera while I was taking this picture. Not bad though. 

We were getting tired so we grabbed some cake and went to watch the Oregon version of Iron Chef. The two people competing were very talented amateurs. They were making sturgeon dishes that looked very good. It might have been fun, except for the two idiots they had announcing. They were some kind of radio announcers for what I can only assume are awful radio shows that no one listens to. For 30 minutes, they talked over each other and shouted "That looks so good, what is that, dill?" It wasn't dill. By the time they gave the food to the judges, I couldn't take it anymore. We left without finding out who won. All I know is that I lost. 

This is the cake we ate while we watched the idiot circus on stage. They called it champagne. White cake, butter cream frosting and custard filling between layers. Amazing cake, all I can say. I think the world would be a lot better with more of this cake and less radio DJ's. 

We also got this whoopee pie from the cake place. The lack of filling was disappointing. 

After all that, we got on the bus and rode home. It was a fun day. Cake, cheese whiz, morning beer and tiny humans. I would say that's about all the fun I can take in one day. I came home and took an hour long nap on the floor. Just another crazy day in Portland.