At long last, vacation time has come and I’m back in one of my favorite cities–Portland, Oregon: land of microbrews, sustainable agriculture and generally fabulous quirkiness.  The header photo on this blog was actually taken last year at the Portland Farmer’s Market and I cannot wait to go there this Saturday!  We have traveled to Portland three summers in a row to visit friends and love to discover new places as well as revisit places from our prior trips.  I spent the majority of today wandering the streets and drinking in the local flavor.  We started out with a really great breakfast at a favorite spot in the Pearl District called Isabel.  What we like about it is that they have a lot of healthier options that will keep you filled up and energized for an entire day of walking around town.  I had the “avocado scramble”–eggs, avocados, black beans, rosemary potatoes and salsa.  Even though it’s filling, it’s pretty healthy and therefore, almost guilt-free!

The only problem with having such a good breakfast is that it took a while to burn it off before I was ready to find some more fun food to munch on.  So, I walked all over the place!

One of the most interesting things in Downtown Portland are the food carts.  There are small clusters of them all over the place and they have absolutely amazing fare.

Quintessential Portland:  Food Carts and a guy playing a saw!

Food Carts on 10th Avenue, Downtown Portland

Once I walked enough to get hungry again, I had the most amazing bulgogi taco from a cart called “Korean Twist” on SW 5th Avenue.  The beef was tender and well seasoned and topped with fresh slaw, cilantro and their house special sauce!  Best $2 spent all day!

Bulgogi Taco from “Korean Twist”

Next we ordered the goat cheese gnocchi with lamb necks, peppers and mint.  The flavor was incredibly complex: the peppers added a bit of heat, balanced by the creaminess of the goat cheese gnocchi.  I could have eaten another plate of this!

Goat Cheese Gnocchi, roasted lamb neck, peppers, mint

Another incredible dish was the smoked trout with creamed leeks, buttermilk blini and trout roe.  If it weren’t poor form, I would have licked the plate!

Blackberry Macarons