Chinese New Year, Cupcakes, and Pets

This past Saturday, my Uncle Charley invited us over to his house in Beaverton (a suburb of Portland) for Chinese New Year. Talk about a celebration! I think he had over 25 people there. I got to see Uncle John and Auntie Eileen as well (who live in Camas, WA...which is only ~15 min. outside of Portland). It was great to be able to spend this holiday with family, even if they aren't technically blood relatives. My Uncle Charley and Auntie Eileen are my Uncle Bill's brother and sister. This celebration really taught me the true meaning of family because they were just so welcoming of us. And the food was amazing! Uncle Charley smokes his own meat and salmon and makes his own jerky - it was phenomenal! Below is a picture of Matt, Kristina, and me prior to digging in!


On Sundays, my new cupcake spot in town (Cupcake Jones) has the best specialty cupcake I have ever had! It's a chocolate chip cookie cupcake - chocolate chip cupcake, a little cookie on top, some vanilla bean buttercream, and a cookie dough center. They change their flavors everyday, so there's a lot of variety. But Sundays are definitely my day! It's a good replacement for the Ron Bennington cupcake (chocolate cupcake with peanut butter ganache and and peanut butter filling) at my favorite cupcake joint in Chicago, Molly's Cupcakes.

And these last 2 pics...Brad wanted me to put them on here. I have come to the conclusion that pets like to sleep on me. The one below is Zoe (Matt and Kristina's dog) getting comfortable and posing for the camera and the next picture is of our cat Jasmine enjoying her "chair".

Theatre performances and screenings

These last few days have been busy! We just got home from a free movie screening and panel discussion of "Pig Roast & Tank of Fish." The panel discussion consisted of the director of the movie as well as several professors and some city planners. The movie is a documentary about Portland's Chinatown and how Chinatown was essential in developing Portland into the city it is today. Today, the Portland Chinatown is severely dilapidated and depressed. All of the traditional small businesses and longtime residents have been driven out of the area. Poor urban planning by the city placed several homeless shelters in close proximity, leading to a microcosm of poverty that effectively quenched any hopes of attracting new residents and/or businesses. The movie discusses how these factors contributed to the collapse of Chinatown and the current and future plans to revitalize the area. It was a really moving documentary and really makes you appreciate the history and culture behind Chinatown. Here is the trailer for the movie:


"Pig Roast & Tank of Fish" trailer from Ivy Lin on Vimeo.

Yesterday, we went to Keller Auditorium (only 1 block away from our apartment!) to see Divine Performing Arts. It was a colorful blend of Chinese classical dance, music, and singing. The dances were beautiful, the costumes were amazing, and the singing was phenomenal. It was a great way to begin celebrating Chinese New Year (which is on Monday, January 26).

On Monday, we went to see Movin' Out at Keller Auditorium (we're absolutely loving that this theatre has some great performances and is close to home!). Movin' Out is a musical based purely on Billy Joel songs. It was definitely a little different than what you usually expect with musicals like Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera. This musical is separated into two groups: the musicians and the actors. There's a band and 2 singers who perform all the Billy Joel songs and then there's a group of about 30 actors who perform out the scenes. Personally, I like traditional musicals better because I appreciate the talent involved in being able to sing and act at the same time. But it was definitely worth seeing once.

Not too much new here. More snowboarding. However, last time we went up, Em managed to sprain her ankle. Unfortunately we don't have a cool story behind it, like doing jumps or rails, instead she was simply walking in an icy parking lot and took a nasty spill. It has been progressing through the spectrum of purples and blues. She is gradually getting better, but still tender. I guess her timing wasn't bad because we have had 50-60 degree weather this week, which means the snow is kinda wet and slushy anyways. So in the mean time, we have been getting caught up on some movies on Netflix. We also got season tickets to a local theatre and have a few shows we will be attending in the near future. We went to see a show tonight with a friend from Northwestern. It was nice because the theatre is only one block away from our apartment. Gotta love living downtown in the heart of it all!! We are going to see a show Tuesday night for the Chinese New Year. It involves traditional dance and drumming, similar to that of the Olympic opening ceremony. On Wednesday, we will be attending a screening for a documentary about the downturn of the Portland Chinatown.

Walking around town the other day, we saw a historic home which had to be physically moved to allow the construction of a new condo building. They jacked up the house on wooden blocks and drove it down the street a few blocks. After digging out the foundation for the new condo building, they rolled the house back to its original location. I wish I had pics of the whole process, but I only have this pic from my iPhone after they put the house back. (the new condo is the glass box in the background):


Because the warm weather would not allow snowboarding, I decided to do some mountain biking with Kern. It is nice to be able to say mountain biking and truly mean "mountain" biking. When I was in Chicago, I had to drive about 45 min just to get out of the city and hit some decent trails. Here, it is within riding distance. The day was 45 degrees and sunny so we geared up and rode out to Mt Tabor. It is only 5 miles from the city, however we didn't realize it is literally uphill the whole way there (with a strong headwind, might I add). Mt Tabor is an old volcano cinder cone that rises 630 ft. I know 630 feet doesn't sound like much, but trust me, it is when you are riding a bike up it. Here's a pic of Kern at the base of the mountain (the dirt trail in the distance is the one we took up):

We came to a fork at the top of the mountain. Which way? Oh, good thing they have this statue at the top to tell us the direction (or maybe he's pointing to Portland or something?):
We actually ended up going right. I guess we took the road less traveled....and it made all the difference. :) I've always been a little rebellious. We later found out that the top is a large circle, so it doesn't really matter which way you go. Wow, that's deep. OK, I'll quit with the metaphorical stuff.

There are several reservoirs on the mountain, this one has two levels and a nice fountain in the center.
Here's another view of the same reservoir from a higher vantage point. I love the building....reminded me of White Castle. Maybe that is because I just rode up a mountain on an empty stomach. I could probably murder about 20 sliders right now!
I decided to take a break on one of the steep hill climbs to catch my breath....err...take a pic of the great view of Mt Hood from here. Whew, good thing I have my camera to give me an excuse to stop!
This may be the future training grounds for Emily and I getting ready for the triathlon this summer (more to come on that in future installments). I just gotta load the theme song from "Rocky" into my iPod so we can have a montage...

Happy New Year

We are exploring different areas of the city in order to determine the ideal location to purchase our first condo/townhome/house. We currently live in downtown Portland, but we are also considering moving to the Pearl District or Nob Hill. We went walking around the South Waterfront area of Portland the other day. It is just being developed and is a short distance from our current apartment. There are some great seafood restaurants right on the dock with outdoor patios sure to be frequented by us during Happy Hour in the summer.
Our current apartment lies in about the center of the skyline of this pic (it is just to the right of the tallest building, but obscured from view by the Marriott).


We spent New Years on Mt Hood snowboarding. They had fireworks at midnight and stayed open until 2AM. Funny story about New Years actually...we were by the lodge around 1:30am and decided to do one more run. On the way up on the lift, the power to the entire resort went out! Since it was night ski, this meant that it was pretty much pitch black except for the moonlight reflecting off the snow. And it also meant that we were stuck on the lift! We ended up waiting 15 min. on the lift before they got a generator running to get those of us stuck on the lift off. Once we were off the lift, they advised us to wait until the power came back on to go down the slopes. We decided we didn't want to wait any longer, so we snowboarded down the slopes in the dark. It was an interesting way to start off the New Year! We also went snowboarding a couple more times during the holiday weekends. I know, I have already posted several pics of Mt Hood in previous posts, but I just can resist putting more up!

Here's the view of the top from the lift at Timberline:

Here's Em at SkiBowl:

At sunset we were cruising down a run at SkiBowl when I looked up and saw the mountain changing from white to pink. The color was fascinating, and it actually looked even more pink in real life than shown in this pic. I took this on my iPhone...I really wish I could have captured it in higher resolution on a real camera.

Our new tradition after playing in the snow is to stop by a Chinese restaurant named OM Seafood on the way home. We were introduced to it by Em's uncle Charlie. The food is superb and very affordable. I got a whole crab for only $12. I feel like a king when I eat there. We ordered everything in the pic below (crab, sea bass, scallops, shrimp, etc with soup and tea) and the bill was only $41. Unbelievable....and very good. We always order in copious amounts, then take the rest home and have leftovers for several days. Life is good.

PDX Random

OK, I realize you are probably getting tired of hearing about snowboarding so I won't give details about our last few trips up to Mt. Hood during our days off work for Christmas. So instead, here is a compilation of random pics I have taken on my iPhone while in Portland.


We will start off with a pic taken during our recent snowstorm on my way to work in the morning. It is a life-sized elk sculpture in the middle of the street a few blocks from our apt. In the spirit of the holidays, someone has placed jinglebells around its neck.

A movable road barrier that doubles as a park bench.

A unique sign warning of the dangers of riding a bike on the trolley tracks.

There are lots of bikes in PDX...apparently parking is an issue too. :)

Now that it's rainy season, it's time to hit up Powells Bookstore. It is the largest independently owned bookstore and occupies an entire city block.

As I was out driving the other day, I got to see the drawbridge raised and then lowered. Very impressive....a great feat of engineering. I'm just glad I was not in a hurry to get across the river.

Last weekend we went to the Kennedy school. It is an actual school which closed in the 60's and not much has changed since. McMenamins (owner of the Kennedy School) has a lot of unique establishments like this throughout the Pacific Northwest. They own and operate hotels, their own microbreweries, movie theatres, music venues, restaurants, etc. Each building has its own character and a lot of history. The Kennedy school has been converted into a movie theater, a pool hall, several restaurants, and several bars. It was very cool and erie at the same time. I liked the nostalgia it inspired, but I would NOT want to be there alone in the halls at night. The darkness in the pics accurately portrays the overall mood of the place (it is as if everything is in sepia).

The movie theater has a bunch of old couches and recliners surrounding the silver screen.

I am kinda glad we decided to get rid of this waterfountain design. I remember awkward moments in Lanier middle school when two people would try to use one of these and end up hitting heads.

The detention room has been converted to a cigar room.

Kern feels like a giant here...

I hope they are not still actually using these electrical transformers and circuit breakers.

The Boiler Room was converted to a bar with multiple levels to hang out. The railings are made from old radiators.
The End.

Holidays

Last weekend, we traveled back to Ohio to be with Mom for her surgery. She is doing well and we wish her the best during her recovery. Since a lot of us (3 out of 5 siblings, hey that's a 60% majority) were in town, we decided to do Christmas a little early. The best part was getting to visit with everyone. I had my hands full wrestling my 3 nephews (Logan, Grant, Chandler) simultaneously while Em had her hands full with Mom and Dad's new kittens. The kittens are named Salt and Pepper, can you guess which one is pictured here? A close inspection reveals that this cool cat has one green eye and one blue eye.


The best gift we received this year was a donation that my parents made in honor of us to Heifer International. Their donation bought a goat and 2 flocks of chicks for a family in an impoverished nation. As much as we all complain about the current economic slowdown in the U.S., we gotta realize how nice we have it compared to many other areas of this world. Damn us for being so selfish and materialistic that we complain when we don't get a company Christmas party this year, or that we won't get that end of year bonus, or that our stocks are worth half what they were a few months ago. I guarantee there are millions out there who are in a worse situation. We should be grateful that we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and access to modern medicine. It is our duty as humans to have a heart and help out others who are lacking the basic necessities of life that you and I take for granted every day. I am not saying that we have to drop everything and join the Peace Corps....just do a little more each year. If you're low on cash, give your time. Volunteer. Do a good deed for a neighbor. Always remember to give thanks and appreciate where you are, what you have, and who you love.

OK, enough preaching, let's have some fun.
Mt. Hood has been getting dumped on this week (47 inches of fresh powder in the last 3 days). So I chained up the tires on the car, loaded the boards, and we drove up Mt. Hood amidst the worst snow storm PDX has seen in awhile. Sweet.

Tire chains, required by Oregon state law during snow storms. We would not have made it up (safely) without them.

Here are some pics of the drive up to Mt. Hood. I am told that this very road is where the Stanley Kubrick movie, The Shining (based on the Stephen King novel of the same name...which I remember reading in 5th grade after getting it from the H.S. library....and being totally freaked out by) was filmed. Ya know the scene where the guy is driving an arctic cat up the mountain to the haunted hotel to save little Danny and his mom from the possessed Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson)....only to be axed in the back as he is walking down the hall. If you can't picture this exact scene in your head right now, you have homework, go rent it. Our destination up this road ended much more amicably with unbelievable powder and some of the best snowboarding conditions I have ever experienced. I would love to share some shots of it, but the camera battery died (probably cold-induced) so instead you just get several shots of the frosted drive up.

Look closely in this pic at the wall of snow on either side of the road:

We planned to go up again on Sunday, but the road conditions were just too bad to warrant the trip. Afterall, I gotta be able to live to tell about it on the blog. Downtown PDX was completely buried after receiving heavy snow all night. Here is a shot of downtown from our balcony:

So we called up our good friends Matt and Kristina Kern. I made a killer brunch for us all, including eggs, thick bacon, maple sausage, hazelnut pancakes and O.J. Kristina whipped up some hash brown potatoes with onions while Em played barista. Matt brought over Zoe, their bulldog/pug and we all stayed in for the day and watched movies and played some games. Here's Kristina with our cat, Jasmine, who likes to play in the snow on the balcony.
Hope you all enjoy the holidays and have a great new year!! Keep posted for more....

Snow Days in Portland

Coming from Chicago, Brad and I are naturally used to lots of snow, ice, and cold weather. Apparently, Portland residents aren't. On Wednesday, the city was estimated to get 2-4 inches of snow. What we ended up getting was about 1/2 an inch and some rain. I had a dentist appointment that day (with one of the last alumni from Northwestern's Dental School!), and they had called me asking to come in for my appointment a little early so that they could scoot out of the office before the "big storm hits". On the walk home, I noticed that the huge federal building next door to our apartment complex was completely shut down. No security guards or anything. The lights were all off in their lobby - and this is a 25 story building.

Before moving out to Portland, I have never seen chains on a tire before. On "big" snow days, they're required out here...even in the city. By law, we're actually supposed to carry chains in our vehicles at all times. What I found truly fascinating (and I wish I had a picture) was that all the buses and police cars have tire chains on now. They must take tire chains really seriously around here.

I also noticed that the city of Portland lacks snow plows and salt. They definitely have black ice out here because of the constant temperature fluctuations around 32 degrees and consistent rain...so I don't get why they don't salt around here at all? It would definitely help save a lot of people from slipping on what appears to be wet pavement but actually turns out to be sheets of ice on the sidewalks and roads.

I guess I'm just grumpy because in the last 13 years, I have never had a snow day and I feel in Portland they're just handing out snow days like it's candy on Halloween. But I guess the positive side to all of this is that Mt. Hood is getting hit by a lot of snow (22" on Thursday alone!), so there may be a chance we go snowboarding this weekend...