Pacific NW Pt. 3: Vancouver, B.C.

My aunt (mom's sister) and her husband live in Vancouver, B.C. They've lived there since they left Vietnam around the same time my parents fled the country.

Growing up in California, we would travel up to Vancouver every few years and they would come down to visit us every few years. I still have a World Expo '86 tshirt from that year!

I was so excited to see my aunt and uncle since I haven't seen them since my cousin's wedding in 2005! Entirely too long. My mom was supposed to be in Vancouver as well but she ended up having to stay home due to a detached retina. Yikes.

When we got in, my aunt made us delicious bowls of bun rieu! How did she know Micah doesn't eat red meat? Pure coincidence.

My lovely family also got me a birthday cake!! I think my uncle said he saw the bday alert on his FB!

On our first full day, we visited Granville Island. It's always a pretty place to visit.

We stopped by Granville Island Brewing Co. and had a taster set that was decent enough. The beers are pretty generic and nothing special.

 

With the help of Yelp, I found this Go Fish place on the other side of the island. Amazing seafood chowder, fish and chips and fish tacos. Small place but prices were great.

We also made a jaunt up to the Capilano River Hatchery.

 

I've been here numerous times and it still is interesting! It's also free, so why wouldn't you go?

 I would love to visit when the salmon are actually coming back up the stream  (this stream pictured!) - can you imagine that sight??

On our next day, we decided to make the drive up to Whistler. I really just wanted to see a BEAR. We stopped along several waterfalls along the way.

 {shannon falls} 

 

{brandywine falls}

So I came across this bear. He apparently was poached, stuffed and when his owner's home was seized, he ended up as an "poaching awareness" campaign. Why would anyone need a stuffed bear in their home?

While Whistler was home to the Winter Olympics a few years ago, there was only small patches of snow left. In the summer season, the mountains are used for dirt bike riding!

If I had gear, I would totally go down that mountain... I might break a leg, but I'd ride the shit out of that.

As we were headed home from Whistler, I was really bummed that I hadn't seen any bears, but halfway down I saw something brown on the side of the road, from afar I thought it was a dog but as I got closer I realized it was A FREAKING BROWN BEAR. I nearly died. Unfortunately I couldn't stop. Next time, lil one!

While we were in Vancouver, we ate at several Chinese restaurants (delicious seafood and dim sum).

We also went to the Richmond night market, where they have a durian pancake. Alas, I didn't get to try it, but you know I love me some durian.

The craft beer scene is still fairly small in Vancouver but it's on the uptick. All you need to do is avoid the giants like Yaletown Brewing. Blech.

We happened to be there during Craft Beer Week so it was quite serendipitous! We really enjoyed Powell Street Craft Brewery, a nano-brewery in east Vancouver. This area is industrial but this is where the craft brewers are opening up shop. I love it. Powell only had their porter and wit on top but both were clean and very drinkable. While we were there, numerous customers came in asking for growler fills, so kudos to the company!

Around the corner from Powell is Parallel 49 Brewing Company. The first thing you notice about their beer are the graphics/packaging. I'm a sucker for fun packaging! I mean, the beer has to be good but there is something to be said for marketing that catches your eye.

We tried all of their beers and Micah ended up buying the Black Hop (cascadian dark ale) to take home.

 

This place had the coolest growler setup as well. Powell had the same one but Parallel had 1/2 dozen of the pressurized fills. Apparently these machines can keep your beer fresh for up to 3 weeks! Austin growler shops need to step up and get on board this trend!

We also really enjoyed the Alibi Room, a craft beer bar in the Gastown area. Good selection of local beers on tap with a good food menu.

I even got my aunt to try some of the beers! My job here is done.

After saying goodbye to the high taxes in Canada (that's how they provide universal healthcare!), we made our way down to Seattle!

P.S. We totally came across several Supernatural shooting sites. Too bad the show doesn't film in the summer, because you know we would've totally stalked them... and be "we" I mean mainly ME.

Pacific NW Pt. 2: Modern-day Lewis & Clark!

On the fourth day of our trip, we left Portlandia behind us and started making our way towards the Oregon coast. You know what's the weirdest thing about driving in Portland? You can't pump your own gas. It's true. I thought it was weird when I first visited and I still think it's weird. It's so old-timey, man!

Instead of taking the most direct route to the coast, I decided that our route would take us southwest of Portland to check out some wineries on the way to the coast.

Our first stop was Chehalem Wines in Newberg. We didn't go to the actual winery since it wasn't close, but the tasting room was lovely. I could literally hear Micah groaning as we walked into the tasting room. Man up! lol.

I liked a couple of the reds and ended up buying their SEXT wine (a delicious Riesling) -- which I ended up gifting to my aunt and uncle in Vancouver.

After chatting with the wine lady, I asked her if there's a vineyard that has good wine and pretty views and she sent us straight to Alexana.

Alexana is a fairly new winery that's accessible via a gravel road. You wouldn't know it's back there, but when you get there, the views are spectacular. The tasting room is clean, modern and beautiful -- even the bathrooms were great! I mean, that's important when you're drinking!

The wines here were much more expensive than the Chehalem wines. I don't think I could say that they were that much better than the other ones we tried. They were good, but $50/bottle? I'll pass. Oh, and the tasting was expensive - I don't remember the exact price, but I think it was 4 tasters for $15?

But the view is worth the drive up here. The deck overlooks the vineyards and if you have time, it would be a great place to bring a little picnic and drink some slightly-pricey wine.

Since it was already late in the day, we decided to wrap up our wine tour and make our way through the Tillamook State Forest to find the pot of gold... and by gold I mean delicious golden CHEESE.
P.S. the Tillamook State Forest is an amazing drive. Highway 6 through the park twists and turns and you have to pay attention, but it's so lush and green and there are creeks every which way.

We got to the Tillamook Cheese Factory one hour before they closed. Whew! We didn't even take the self-guided tour, we headed straight for the good stuff!

We both thought the cheese curds was the best!

Micah seriously considered buying crackers to go with all the free cheese.

You know what else is good there? The ice cream. It's so smooth and velvety, worth every calorie. A lot of people mentioned that the lines would be bad here but when we were there, no one was in line for anything! More cheese for us, suckas.

After bingeing on cheese, we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway towards Seaside, where we would spend the night.

We stayed in the most quaint motel ever! They even upgraded us to the "SWEET" since the couple cancelled at the last minute.

Beach on one side...

And mountains on the other. Very cute city!

Seafood dinner at a place near the town square.

Coolest thing I saw in Seaside? People hunting for clams in the morning! Apparently you wait for little bubbles to pop up and you plunge a large tube in to take it out. Very cool.

After spending a night in Seaside, we finished the Oregon coast by stopping off in Astoria to see the Goonies house! Every 80s kid knows this movie! Micah was beyond thrilled.

In Astoria we stopped off at Fort George Brewing and another Rogue Public House. Ft. George was my favorite brewery we came across in Oregon besides Cascade. Very consistent but interesting beers! We took several cans home.

Five hours later, we crossed the border into Canada. Next up, Vancouver, B.C.!

Pacific NW Vacation - Pt. 1: Portland is Austin's Sister City

Portland is like Austin, but with a lot more hippies AND homeless people. I think that's a fair assessment, right? I remember when I visited Portland in 2005 for my cousin's wedding and when we went Downtown, I was shocked by the homeless population. I mean, they take up residences on the street like nobody's business! But I digress... this post isn't about the homeless population, it's about our most recent trip to the Pacific Northwest! A much happier topic.

We kicked off our 10 day vacation in Portland! Why did we choose Portland? Because Portland metro area is the largest craft brewing market in the U.S. with the 69 breweries! Spoiler alert: we did not visit all 69 breweries.

{one of the many breweries we visited}

Instead of staying at a hotel, I booked this vacation rental. It's located in a great area (Alphabet District) and was a good size, but the basement lodging did have a weird musty smell. The three days we had in Portland, it pretty much rained off-and-on every single day.

We got in late on a Saturday, but we rallied and went into the Pearl District to check out Deschutes Brewing. The food was good and we were really happy with the beer! We don't usually buy the beer back home, the beers they have on-site is infinitely better than the selection you see in TX stores.

After Deschutes, we met up with one of my co-workers who was also vacationing in Portland! What a small world! We ended up at Rogue, which is always a good choice. 

 On our first full day, we decided to check out Multnomah Falls since the next few days had a higher chance of rain. If you have time, take the historic route to the Falls. It's beautiful.

We didn't get to see THE Multnomah Falls because it started pouring when we pulled into the parking spot - but we saw the other ones, I mean, it can't look that much better, right?

I"m glad I brought a pair of tennis shoes! It was muddy out there... hence the reason why I tied up my maxi dress. Probably not the best "hiking" outfit, but whatevs.

First of many photos near a waterfall!

Look at this lil slug!


For the rest of the Portland leg, we checked out various breweries and ate... a lot.

Beer and food at Bridgeport. The mussels and mac n cheese were divine.

Our favorite beer at the Cascade Barrel House and flight of their sours.

So sour, it makes my big lips picker. lol.

I'm pretty sure I was tipsy by the time we got to Gigantic brewing. Orale!

List of breweries we visited in Portland area:

• Deschutes Brewing: good food, great sample tray prices, great selection!
• Rogue Brewing: you know their beers, consistent and interesting
• Amnesia Brewing: this place is basically in area that is like East Austin. Hipster central. We didn't love anything on their menu, unfortunately.
• Bridgeport Brewing: awesome food and good beer selection. We tried the seasonal, Stumptown Tart, which was good, but not worth the price!
• Cascade Barrel House: Our favorite place, hands down. They specialize in sours, which we love. The best one we had was the "Bourbonic Plague." They describe it as blend of strong dark porters was aged in oak, wine and Bourbon barrels, then blended with a dark porter that had been brewed with vanilla beans and cinnamon. We had two glasses. That delicious. We tried to buy a bottle but they didn't have any on-site.
• Belmont Station (not a brewery, but bottle store with bar)
• Gigantic Brewing: Nothing really memorable here.
• Hair of the Dog: Those are some strong beers!

We also came across a couple of beer fanatics who also happen to be train conductors. One was actually a bottle store owner in Idaho, but two of them were train conductors.

How many train conductors have a mohawk like this guy? I love it.

They apparently buy beers and then sell them for double the price online. These guys have no problem dropping $50-$100 on a bottle of beer. Crazy. We like beer, but that much money?! Me thinks not.

I wish we were able to get to more of the restaurants that were near the vacation rental, but we only got to a few:

• Kornblatt's and Besaw's for breakfast (both very good options!)

• We did get to check out Salt and Straw for some ice cream. This joint always had a line! It must be those fresh waffle cones!

I didn't just drink beer though! I did sneak in some coffee here and there. This was at Ristretto Roasters! It's in a cool industrial area, one side of the building is the coffee shop the other is a furniture shop that is so freakin' cute! And YES, I still read the paper... real paper! I usually pick up coffee as travel gifts - who wouldn't back of a local roaster? I know that's what I like as gifts (hinthint).

Overall, Portland was a blast. I wish we could've done more outdoorsy things but that'll just have to wait until next time!

After three beer-filled days in Portland, Pt. 2 will pick up on our trek to the Oregon coast!

Nicer tap rooms are in order!

While I was sitting at Odell Brewing in Ft. Collins, CO last December, I had an epiphany when it came to tap rooms: Texas breweries don't have nice tap rooms because they can't sell beer on-site.

I don't know why it took me so long to realize that our tap rooms are 10x lamer than other states! I mean, yes, there are nice ones like St. Arnold's in Houston, but that's few and far between folks.

Most young breweries have a warehouse, a couple of taps in the wall and a bar table to serve it from. It's functional, but it sure isn't pretty.

BUT! With the slate of beer bills close to becoming reality, nicer tap rooms might be in our future! I think if breweries are allowed to charge for samples, pints, etc. they'll put more money into a useable space! I can't wait to see what the breweries come up with!

On Friday afternoon, the Texas House used voice votes to approve the bills. A final House vote on Monday will push the bills to Gov. Rick Perry's desk. There's currently no real opposition, so this is fo'realz people!

I've been keeping up with these bills for awhile, you can read past articles
here
here 
here
and here.

Here are my favorite tap rooms (places that actually have rooms, not just an open warehouse) in Texas right now (in no particular order):

1. Hops and Grain: It's a small room but it is a good space. The room has a/c, seating and a view of the brewery. My favorite thing about this place? Plenty of toilets! Because it's in a shared warehouse, there's a communal bathroom that is HUGE.

2. St. Arnold Brewing Co.: It's a grand beer hall. I remember when they used to have that warehouse on Hwy 290... the good ol' days. The new location has a huge beer hall with plenty of taps. There's usually a line to get in but it's a good deal! Even though there are at least a dozen picnic tables, you might have to sit on the floor if it's really busy, which is only a minor inconvenience.

3. Deep Ellum Brewing Co.: The open-air space below the pergola is lovely! You get your beer inside the warehouse, but there's a nice seating area in the front of the business. There are several picnic tables and wine barrels turned into tables. Bring a lawn chair just in case!

4. Jester King Brewery: Fairly large ranch-style tap room. No seating area inside the room but plenty of space outside!

5. Tie between Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling and Branchline Brewery:
Not much seating in either place but it's a good spot to hang out if it's 100 degrees outside. I might give RC an extra point because they have cool artwork on the walls. 

Cage, Stake or Sprawl?

It's been one year since I've had my little garden growing in the backyard! Remember when I told you how Micah and his parents got me a raised bed as my 30th Birthday gift? It's a milestone because I've actually kept up with the gardening and have grown some decent stuff over the past 12 months. 

Obviously last summer's okra was a big hit and they lasted well into early fall -- I am growing okra again this year (obvious). In the fall, I removed the summer plants and put in broccoli, kale, cabbage, spinach and green onions. The broccoli seeds never took, but the kale, spinach and green onions did really well. The cabbage heads grew, but they were itty bitty -- probably the size of a medium-sized grapefruit (definitely not like the ginormous ones you see in the regular grocery stores). 

Back in March, I went to a garden sale hosted by Sunshine Community Gardens. They had a slew of tomato plants so I picked up a couple of Cherokee tomatoes, a hybrid one, a cherry tomato plant, and an heirloom one. I planted them in early March and sure enough, there was a slight freeze in early April! Amazingly enough, my plants all made it through the freeze with no issues! I didn't even put a tarp over them. 

I bought so many tomatoes thinking "surely one or two will die, especially with my luck." But fast-forward two months later and the tomatoes are creeping all over the garden! I placed cages on 2-3 of the tomato plants but I didn't cage the cherry tomato one and now it's taking over the whole garden! 

I tried to put some new cages in last week but this plant isn't playing by my rules. Some of the limbs will stay in the cage, the rest is just chilling on the grass.

But how cute are these little tomatoes?!?! I can't wait to eat them!

  

My Cherokee tomato plant is doing really well. 

 

The tomatoes are forming and these two are the biggest ones of the bunch. I hope they're not going bad with those marks on them! I can't wait to see them turn purple!

Here's hoping my tomatoes do well this season! I think I'm off to a better start than I was last season, for sure!

I also decided to pick up a couple of pepper plants at the garden sale and I currently have these babies forming: 

Jalapeno peppers

Thai Chili! I'm sure I'll be giving most of these peppers to my mom. 

I'm also trying yellow squash again. Last year, I had tons of blossoms and a couple of actual formations, but then everything died. 

They seem to be growing well right now. Fingers crossed!

 

I have the following herbs growing:

Basil

Cilantro (although it already decided to flower and try to go to seed) and flat-leaf parsley.

My green onions are still going strong. They're so big that they start sprawling too! I just trim what I need and I've given several whole bunches away to my neighbor but they're still taking up room!

 

Here's hoping this season will be a fruitful one! What are you growing your garden??