mmm...oozing chocolate

My birthday was last week. I've started a couple of posts, but couldn't quite finish them. The sun was shining daily and was, well, hot- like in the south hot. 

Most people take New Year's Day to reflect & make goals, but for me, my birthday is that time of looking back, forward, onward. I had a great birthday week. Lots of calls, drinks, dinners, lunches, packages, emails arriving and going on at various times. It was really nice!

Last weekend, I just got the urge to cook... on a hot, hot day! Made some homemade mac & cheese from The Silver Palate Cookbook and these popular (with my family) melting chocolate cakes. Once baked and cutting into them, the chocolate just oozes out. YUM! I can't remember if this came from Real Simple or Epicurious.com - there are lots of variations out there, but it's easy and just delicious! 

Just a lil' something to sweeten the Wednesday Hump Day!

Melting Chocolate Cakes- makes 8 cakes

10 oz of semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped or use chips

4 Tbsp. butter

5 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

Coffee Ice Cream

Preheat oven to 325.

Melt chocolate & butter together over very low heat stirring constantly (or use a double boiler). Remove from heat.

In another large bowl, beat sugar & eggs at a medium high speed until light & fluffy.

Add flour, baking powder, salt & stir in melted chocolate. Mix with a spoon until well blended. 

Lightly coat muffin tip with veggie spray oil. Divide chocolate evenly, but don't quite fill to the top.

Bake about 15 minutes. The cakes will still look moist on the top. Remove & let cool for a few minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.

Blue

In continuing my obsession with buildings, details and colors, I snapped these downtown recently. The first picture shows just beautiful details in
brilliant blue and crisp white.

and my favorite modern building downtown with its' dashes, dots -
symmetrical, but still off kilter.

Blue Gray Days

The weather has, I believe, made a turn. Today was a bit gray, but also had some blue skies. It's been warmer so I've been trying to be outdoors more. Found these blue gray houses on a walk. I love the intensity of these blues and of course the pink bushes and blooms around them just highlight the color more.

A favorite sign in pdx

This neon sign greets you on the Burnside Bridge as you cross the river into downtown and old town Portland. I had a hard time finding complete information on this sign as it's been changed several times- additions & deletions made over the years.
The Made in Oregon sign was built in 1927 advertising White Satin Sugar (with the lettering "White Satin").
In 1959, it became the White Stag sign in 1959 with a change in lettering and the addition of a leaping deer and the word "sportswear". Then in 1989, the White Stag company moved to California. Huh, my mother had some White Stag sportswear. I remember it being sporty, stylish.
The sign, being one of Portland's best-loved landmarks, was in jeopardy after White Stag left Portland until Old Town philanthropist Bill Naito stepped up to pay the sign's electric bills.
Then with another lettering change in the 1970s for the Made in Oregon company, the sign was re-made again to say "Made in Oregon". The sign uses neon and incandescent light and is 48' tall by 46' wide. The stag's nose has been lit red (like Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer) for the Christmas holidays since 1957.

Gray Days

I have definitely been hit in the last weeks with a case of SADD. I sleep more, have less energy, want more carbs. The days are gray and cold with a few rays of sunshine here and there. It's not the drizzle rain that bothers me, just the overall gray, dark sky. Fortunately the weekends have been sunny and warmer, so at least it gets me through the next week. I'm definitely a southern girl. Nothing like warm sunshine beaming down on me. I'm making myself just go outside and find something happy out there. Not hard actually as Portland's lush gardens, flowers and colorful houses make me smile.

A cheery house in progress

Beautiful colorful tulips

and a hammock brings the promise of summer

another sweet detail

These are a couple of examples of some manhole covers in Portland. A lot of the covers here feature roses as Portland is known as the City of Roses. Washington Park in the city houses the International Test Garden which is the oldest continuously operating public rose test garden in the United States. There are over 7,000 rose plants of approximately 550 varieties. The roses bloom from April through October with the peak coming in June, depending on the weather. New rose cultivars are continually sent to the garden from many parts of the world and are tested for color, fragrance, disease resistance and other attributes.
In 1917 a group of Portland nurserymen came up with the idea for an American rose test garden. Portland had an enthusiastic group of volunteers and 20 miles of rose bordered streets, largely from the 1905 Lewis & Clark Exposition. Portland was already dubbed "The City of Roses" so this was leveraged to enhance the reputation. Between Portland Parks and Recreation and the American Rose Society, the garden soon became a reality.
Jessie Currey, president of Portland's Rose Society at the time, petitioned for the city to serve as a safe haven for hybrid roses grown in Europe during World War I. Rose lovers feared that these unique plants could be destroyed as a result of the war. Foreign hybridists sent roses for test from many countries and the garden was an immediate success. Today, Portland is the only North American city that can issue its awards to roses of merit throughout the world.

Details, Details

Three houses in a row with their own take on color.
It's all in the small details for me.

Innovative Renovation

Excuse the dark pictures. I took them in the afternoon and we have had quite a string of gray days. This house and the one next to it are identical and renovated by the same creative person. Not sure how old the houses are, but the brick seems
fairly old. Maybe the 1920's?

A lot of recycled materials were used- pipes as railings-seen above, a diner booth chair as a porch swing, beautiful tiles covering concrete steps and a stove top vent as a flower box!!

Olive Oil containers are used as ornamental gutters...

All in a row...a beautiful presentation.

A VERY interesting facade- cans mashed, flattened and molded onto this wall. Extra insulation perhaps? Ornamental only? Exquisite-definitely!

Spicy

Despite the fact that I am not loving the gray skies of Portland that have been hanging around of late, I am continually falling in love with its very colorful cottages. It doesn't rain all the time, but it is rather overcast much of the time. BUT we had a wonderfully warm sunny 3 day weekend and a friend snapped this of me in front of a very spicy cottage.

Gray Days

I don't know if Tax month has gotten me a little down or the gray days. We've had gray chilly weather the last few weeks with a bit of sunshine peeking out a little each day giving me a bit of hope of more. THEN last weekend, we had glorious-almost hot weather! Sun shining all day for THREE days straight! I couldn't stay inside. Monday arrives- early morning rain, gray skies, a tiny bit of sunshine poking through mid day, high winds & hail in the afternoon. What happened?? I hear it's just the western weather ways of spring. Yesterday, again more gray & a tad of sunshine on Tax Day. BUT everything is in bloom. Shot these Saturday, just a block from my place. Beautiful colorful hillside. Makes even a small walk a beautiful thing.

A Promise of Warm Weather

Blue Skies, blooms, people outside everywhere taking in the nice 60s weather- hopefully this means that warmer weather is finally here. Happy Friday!

Mystery Plant Identified!

Many of my friends emailed me trying to identify this very dramatic plant, but Jenn was most persistent! She posted it on a garden forum & it was correctly labeled & I found the most info through this forum on a UK site. Here's a picture of it-Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii again with some great information below. Thanks Jenn!

Upright stems clothed with fleshy grey-green leaves and topped with huge heads of chartreuse-green flowers from March to May. Edwardian garden designer Gertrude Jekyll described this sun-loving evergreen shrub as 'one of the grandest of plants'. A tall mainstay of the traditional herbaceous border, it's equally at home in a contemporary minimalist or gravel garden. Position: South , West Soil Type: Light Sandy (dries out quickly) , Acid , Normal , Light Sandy (dries out quickly) , Alkaline (Chalky) Soil PH: Acid, Neutral, Alkaline Flowering Period: Summer, Spring Ease of maintenance: Easy Fragrant: No Spring Colour: light green Summer Colour: light green Autumn Colour: light green Winter Colour: light green Leaf Colour: Blue Poisonous: toxic if eaten skin eye irritant Evergreen: Yes Season of interest: All Year Round, Summer, Winter, Autumn, Spring Garden care To promote new shoots remove flower heads in spring after they have flowered. When working with spurges always wear gloves since the milky sap is poisonous and a potential skin irritant.

Boston? Portland?

I love the old buildings here against the new ones...quite impressive & reminds me of Boston, Mass.

And the style of buildings reminds me also of Portland, Maine- especially this one.

The stately courthouse definitely recalls Boston. When I first visited Portland, Oregon, I definitely thought of it as a bigger Portland, Maine where my sister resides. The cities are both outdoorsy, artsy, socially conscious, on bodies of water and yet close enough to mountains for hiking and skiing. Once I came here to live and started walking around downtown, it definitely seemed more like Boston- in look & feel, but just smaller.
And then I found out that Portland was founded by two Easterners, Francis Pettygrove and Asa Lovejoy. AND Pettygrove was from Portland, Maine. He came to Oregon in 1842 by ship.
AND Lovejoy was an overlander from Boston. He came to Oregon with the Elijah White party of 1842, guided Marcus Whitman east that winter, and returned to Oregon with the Great Migration of 1843, the wagon train that is generally considered to have opened the Oregon Trail.

So when Lovejoy and Pettygrove platted their new city in 1845, both men wanted to name it for their respective hometowns. Following a dinner in the Oregon City home of Francis Ermatinger, a penny was flipped. Pettygrove won and saved future Portlanders from being known as New Bostonians.

Quite crazy that PDX reminded me of those two cities without knowing the east coast ties of long ago! Really quite interesting. I'm enjoying learning about my new digs and exploring the city.

Pioneer Town

I made a mistake last week in calling Portland, a bustling small city...in fact, it's a very mid size city-#23 in 2006 population census, just a bit behind Baltimore, Maryland.

It is a Pioneer town with references everywhere- Pioneer Courthouse Square, a beloved public space today & Pioneer Place, a unique downtown mall that houses Saks, J.Crew and others are among the "pioneer" names.

The city was founded around 1845. Portland grew so fast that tree stumps were left in the middle of the roads because no one could spare the time to tend to their removal. Local residents quickly found they could jump from stump to stump and stay above the muddy, unpaved streets -- hence the name "Stumptown." They went so far as to whitewash the stumps to make them more visible. The late 1860's began a cultural heyday and at the same time, the waterfront developed & soon was crammed with saloons, rooming & bawdy houses. A business boom hit in the late 1870's with the construction of banks, warehouses, transportation companies.
The photos below are taken downtown near the waterfront, which to me, looks like the oldest part of town. The buildings are beautiful and majestic. I love the details on their facades.

Downtown Portland

After the weekend's and Monday's wicked weather, Tuesday burst into a glorious spring day. A bit of chilly air with patches of warmth & loads of sunshine, blue skies filling the day! And we are still having this nice weather. I don't work in the downtown proper, but it's easy to go over at lunch. For a small city, Portland has a busy, bustling, thriving downtown. Mountains surround it and the river runs beside it as seen above.

It's a mix of old, new and colorful buildings - a combination of an artsy western town, but very sophisticated.

And it has loads of beautiful outdoor areas and parks for strolling, biking, enjoying the day! Forest Park above the city is my favorite park for biking, hiking.The Japanese Gardens is the most beautiful. The riverside park is the best for strolling, yet Karie & I enjoyed our bike ride along the river- lots of birds to see.

Wild Wicked Western Weather!

I'm a weather watcher and the weather here is much different than my Richmond weather. In the springtime, it fluctuates in Richmond between warm & cold temperatures, but usually over days- not minutes like in PDX! This picture was taken yesterday morn after an early morning rain. It was chilly when I first stepped out to walk the dogs, then by the time I was at the park- a mere 3 blocks away, turned really windy! And by the time, I got back to my place, hail started pouring down!

Later in the day, the sun was shining so bright, that even a light jacket felt too warm to wear to walk the dogs. Once in the park, the wind kicked up & I was putting on my hat & gloves and of course, by the time I reached my place, rain started. A fellow dog walker told me that this is typical spring weather. I'm learning to dress for anything. I'm learning to keep towels beside the door at all times. I'm learning to have a new respect for weather and the outdoors. Have a great day!

On the trails

I grew up on a dairy farm. One of our summer jobs was to go out in the afternoon into the fields, round up the cows and herd them down to the milking barn. It was always a bit of mayhem at first - shouting certain "code" words at the cows and the dog. Running and circling the herd to get them moving onto the trails heading back down to the farm. Amazingly once they were rounded up and moving in the right direction, the cows would just sort of line up and follow the same well worn paths back to the barns.
When I take my "cow like" dogs to the park, even our beloved Byrd Park back in Richmond, they run around & play, chew their grass and take the same well worn trails. Here are some shots of their new park & the trails..as you can see all the dogs follow the same trails. And they don't usually follow their owners, the pups are totally running ahead, following their noses in search of new scents, butterflies and an occasional small critter.

Cow Dogs

Oops, missed yesterday's post about the dogs as per requested. My day totally got away from me!
Well, Henry & Louisa are loving the new green grass that is springing up everywhere. They are munching down like cows in a pasture.

My dogs are doing well despite their rather recent cancer surgeries. They seem to enjoy the milder weather and their new surroundings. They have a couple of new buddies...which I'll try to shoot pictures of soon... and they all run around like crazy pups in big circles. Their favorite dog friends are Dexter, the Aussie Shepard and Sasha, a Husky, I believe. There's also a man who walks the trails in the park & wears a hat which they recognize instantly and run to him whenever they spy him in the distance. He's great with them, crouches down to pet them and will even take their kisses.

Everything's bloomin'

More pink blooms. The pinks are the most dominant color in everyone's yard. There's a smattering of white and yellow, a bit of purple and I'm starting to see some red tulips popping up. And ahhhh....green green grass freshly cut! One of my favorite scents!

This is the green plant from last Friday's post that starting to turn yellow. I need to find out what kind of plant it is- can anyone help? Everything is in bloom & I'm seeing bees buzzing and it's all so lovely!
Everyone's asking about my dogs. They are doing fine, loving the mild weather here, but I'm post & picture them tomorrow!

Pink & a bit of yellow

The colors pink & yellow always reminds me of Easters from my childhood. The Easter holiday meant coloring & decorating eggs, Easter egg hunts with bright colorful plastic eggs filled with peeps & jelly beans, yellow baskets, chocolate bunnies with pink bows, speckled malted milk balls, a new pink dress for church, yellow flowers on an Easter bonnet, patent leather shoes and my fav pretty little handbag-a basket with seashells covering the top tied with a yellow bow. I saw this pink flower scattered walkway on Saturday with a few yellow daffodils peeking out of the hillside just in time for Easter Sunday. Made me a bit homesick for Virginia & my childhood.

Happy Easter!

A friend took this of me a couple of weeks ago beside this awesome green flowering plant. The woman working in the yard said to check back as the flowers grow & change shape as the season progresses. I'll post it's changing updates. Have a wonderful weekend!

Growing Season

On my way to the dog park, I pass many houses that have their own take on gardening in the city. They use every inch of space - the front, side & back yards & even squeeze in around the public sidewalks. It's quite wonderful to view. For the dogs, loads of new smelling opportunities.

One home stands out for me. This woman is kinda Martha Stewart gone awry in the most delightful way! She gardens every inch of her yard plus around the sidewalk. She plants edibles on one side of the front yard, ornamental on the other and it's mixed around the walk.
In addition, she has a fountain in the back & a chicken coop..a beautifully done slant roof building that also encases a little green house. I think she has five fancy chickens. Would love to see their eggs. Lastly, on the corner is a poetry box, which she lovingly changes the content each week. This week, it's Riveted by Robyn Sarah from A Day's Grace Poems. I've met the owner- very nice and an artist, I believe. When I first saw her yard & poem box all I could think of is my artist gardener friend back in Richmond, Lisa T, whose spirit seems to reside in this plot as well. Enjoy!