From Vineyards to the Coast…Family Fun Weekend!
i have been pretty off the grid this weekend so i could focus all my energy on soaking up the fact that my mom and stepdad were in town visiting us! it was excellent.
we went to Yamhill Valley Vineyards for some wine tasting (read here for how you can save 20% off their wine!) they had live music, truffles, cream puffs and a delicious wine sampling to complement valentine’s weekend!
can you tell which one of us lives in a state with 300+ days of sunshine and who lives in 300+ days of rain?
i have also decided that i want a wine barrel table in my future home that has a lazy-susan (who’s susan anyways) on it! also pretend i’m not awkwardly leaning in in this otherwise cute photo!
the torrential downpour stopped for a few minutes while we were at our next winery, owned by our friends Jody and John called J. Wrigley-go check it out because you get to drive through christmas tree farms to get there and it’s on top of a hill with a breathtaking view. love this photo of the hubs and my mama!
i basically need to share this photo of the pizza i ordered at lunch because it was unreal delicious and i never want to forget it. it was gorgonzola, caramelized onions (the only kind i’m okay with but still picked some off) and pears. i ate half and shared the other half. good deed of my day!
the next day we ventured to Cannon Beach, OR where it was incredibly blustery but beautiful. it’s pretty great setup to be only 1.5 hours away from the ocean!
when we got there, i’m not talking about a little wind-i’m talking like knock you off your feet and fill your eyes and mouth with sand and water type wind. it was crazy. i lasted about 4 minutes before i got whiny and we went to a seafood restaurant where i ordered a chicken sandwich (still not much into food from the sea).
i took a little video and made the rookie-mistake of not turning the camera to the side but it was crazy to see the wet sand being picked up like that on the beach!
i snapped one cute photo of my mom and stepdad before i buried the nice camera in my purse and protected it with my life.
we came back to Portland where we went to the “hair of the dog brewery” and i ordered a hard cider. i’m basically the worst northwestern (i also hate riding bikes…i know).
we are kind of a foodie family and found a new restaurant in SE portland called ‘the american local‘ that has one of the craziest menus i’ve encountered. here’s a sampling of what we ordered because my stepdad is an exquisite cook with tastebuds that like unique things. i will also have you know i sampled ALL of them, aren’t you impressed?!
raw kampachi/blood orange/avocado/black pepper mayo
crispy grit cakes/salmon tartar/creme fraiche
pork belly skewer/sriracha/maple brussels/pickled jalapeno/blood orange/miso
grill toast/pimento cheese/La Quercia proscuitto
everyone (strangely including myself) picked the brussel sprouts as our favorite!!! isn’t that super weird? i never ever thought i’d like those but however they cooked them and the flavors that were added-holy tastebuds.
they left yesterday and i basically got depressed and tried to make myself feel better by going for a run (it helped slightly) but eating 1/2 bar of chocolate helped more. so thankful they were able to come play for a long weekend but my heart always hurts a little when i part with family. it’s hard not living in the same state as any of our family but thank goodness for airplanes.
my grandma always says “if you can’t live down the street from me, at least live somewhere fun where i can visit!”
the new wifestyle: family is the most important part of life. work hard to create positive memories and savory every moment you are with them!
questions:
1) what fun places are you near from where you live (i’m claiming wine country/the coast/a mountain)
2) how far away does your family live from you?
3) vegetable or food that you could have sworn you’d never like but now you do? (i’m going with brussels sprouts, bananas and asparagus)
kristen
February 18, 2014 at 12:33 pm
Yay! It warms my heart to see pictures of you and your beautiful ma. She is always going to be one of my favorite people in the world. What a fun weekend!
chelsea
February 18, 2014 at 2:26 pm
aww yay-thanks kristen! she is a pretty solid lady (as is your mama). we really did have a fantastic weekend together, hope you did too!
Heather Hawkins
February 18, 2014 at 12:39 pm
1. Meh…the zoo or Nelson Atkins. Fun places to be sure but I don’t really get to them as much i’d like to.
2 I live like 5 miles from my mom when I’m here. When I’m at home I live 9,525 miles from mom.
3 avocado.It’s gross by itself but I miss it in my sushi when it’s not there. When I was little I hated Brussels sprouts. I cried when they made me eat them. I once had a stand off with my grandma because she said i had to eat them or stay at the table until I did. I sat at the table staring at them until bed which happened to be 3 hours. Lol now I chose them when I have the option!
chelsea
February 18, 2014 at 2:29 pm
ohhh we visited the Nelson Atkins when we were in KCMO last christmas-it’s pretty incredible! soak up that mama time while you’re still there because 9,525 miles away is a lot when you go back 🙂 ohhhh i should add avocado to my list too although i like them by themselves. love that you had a standoff with your grandma about brussels sprouts Heather-sounds like you won!
Nick
February 18, 2014 at 5:33 pm
The fact that you need to say hard cider amuses me greatly. Back home, all cider is alcoholic 🙂
1) Well, few different wine regions near by home. (I may have my mind on wine at this point
2) Right now, 9,525 miles. But when I get back home, It’ll be a little over a mile drive.
3) Hmm, that’s a really tough call, theres alot of things I only like if cooked in certain ways. eggplant for example, if its on its own, I cannot eat it, however if its part of a sauce, I can eat it if I dont think about it.
chelsea
February 20, 2014 at 11:53 am
really?? allll cider? that is pretty interesting Nick so i’m assuming they don’t have little packets of ‘hot cider’ you can buy at the grocery store 🙂 daaang 9,525 miles from home is FAR but happy to hear once you’re back you are super close to the fam! interesting with the eggplant preference..i’m still not sure i can get behind that one but maybe i’ll find a sauce like you said!
Heather Hawkins
February 20, 2014 at 4:44 pm
lol nick tells me to call those packets “warm apple juice!”
chelsea
February 20, 2014 at 5:32 pm
hahah well that sounds less appealing but still accurate!
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