It's hot!

This year is the Centennial Rose Festival. Wow, 100 years. I'm looking forward to all the special events. I created a Rose Festival Calendar for my Concierge desk. I hope everyone else is as excited as I am. For all event details, visit the website.

In other news, I have worked 9 days straight and finally get two days off tomorrow and Friday. Sweet. I am going to the Portland Art Museum with the Portland Concierge Association to preview the Rembrandt exhibit. Yay free famous art!

I (we) installed our window air conditioner this morning, since it was 91 degrees today. In May. In Portland. I knew it was going to be a hot summer, so I insisted on an a/c. I found it used, on Craigslist. It was surprisingly hard to find one to fit our slider casement windows. We seemed to be missing a couple pieces, but we had the instructions and made it work with only a few screws! I love you, air conditioner.

Dad's Birthday Dinner - Part I

For my dad's 50th birthday, bf and I are cooking a meal for him and my stepmom. And 2 other couples at most. ( I don't think we can handle cooking for more than 6.) These are our ideas for the menu so far:

munchies: marcona almonds tossed in oil, radishes with lime compound butter and sea salt
amuse: seared ahi tuna
apps: crostini with serrano ham, manchego cheese and truffle oil, bacon-wrapped scallop
soup shots: cauliflower soup? white bean? asparagus?
salad: crab salad-topped avacado or beet salad with mache or pea shoots
entree: Paella with saffron rice
dessert: creme brulee or flourless chocolate cake w/bourbon whipped cream

Some of it will be up to my dad. He might hate beets, for all I know. But I am so, so looking forward to this. I've never prepared an elaborate meal before. It will be good experience. It helps that bf is a cook by trade. And that some of the dishes can be prepared in advance. Dad just needs to pick a date!

*Edited to add: Happy 23rd Birthday, Clayton!

Pho

I'm addicted to Pho Oregon. (Or Ph'Oregon as I'm calling it.) The combination of delicately complex, MSG-laden, slightly sweet but very spicy broth with eminently slurpable vermicelli noodles, bean sprouts, cilantro, culantro, basil, lime and thinly sliced beef is driving me wild. The broth is spicy cause I douse it with Sriracha. Customized, yo. I crave it once daily at least. To be fair, the *only* other pho I've tasted was from Pho Van (see extramsg's pho showdown here, complete with addresses and phone numbers) and that was take-out. And not hot enough. I first tried Pho Oregon at the end of April, and I've been back four times since. The days that I don't have it, I want it. The days that I do have it, I want it again later. I really can't get enough. I must learn how to make it. I have a recipe somewhere, and it's do-able, but getting all the spices and ingredients together initially is the challenge. Maybe next week or so I'll get out there and hit a Vietnamese market or two. Until then, I'm heading to Pho Oregon.